Peniel Pentecostal Holiness Church

3239 Rosebud Road Walnut Cove NC 27052
Pastor: Dr. Tim Nelson -  Church Office 336-591-36112
A Place To Encounter God Face To Face. Gen. 32:3

A Word From The Pastor Archives 2024
February 2024
 

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  John 15:13

What is love?  Some say, "love is a feeling, and if you don't love somebody, you can't help it."  Others say, "love is our master;  we do not master it."  Those who say these things reveal that they have a serious misconception of love.  Our culture promotes and thinks of love as a feeling we have, a feeling of affection toward another.  But love, as Jesus speaks of it here in John's gospel, is far different.

Jesus had commanded the disciples, "love one another." We can be sure of one thing:  He would never command us to do what is impossible for us to do.  The secret, of course, is that we are to love, He says, "as I have loved you."  This kind of love is to arise out of some kind of relationship that He has with the Father that made it possible for Him to love us.  Jesus goes on to define for us the aspects of love that mark the quality of His love for us, which we also are to show to one another.

He said,  "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."  Love lays down its life for another.  We all know how fully Jesus Himself exemplified this.  His is the greatest love that anyone can demonstrate toward friends.  Yet this means more than simply dying physically for them.  If it meant only that, there would be very few of us who could or would ever fulfill this, largely because we would lack the opportunity to do so.  And, of course, one could do so only once!  But our Lord is commanding us to do this repeatedly.  So He means by this that we are to give ourselves up for one another.  When you go outof your way to meet a friend's need, when you are willing to spend time with someone who is a Christian just because that one is Christian -- not necessarily because you are drawn to that person -- and you are willing to go out of your way and to give yourself up for him or her, you are laying down your life, a part of it at least, for that person.  This is what Jesus had in mind.  To whom is God leading you to be this kind of friend?

Adapted from:  https://www.raystedman.org/daily-devotions/john-13to17/the-greatest-love 

You are My friend if you do whatever I command you.  15 No longer do I call you servants...,  John 15:14-15a

Audrey Christophers wrote a poem entitled, "Jesus My Friend."  The first verse is:

"Jesus wants me for a friend,
A servant he no longer calls.
This is an honor I'll defend,
True though he sees my sinful falls.

A friend indeed we are agreed.
Jesus wants you for a friend.
Yes Jesus desires to call you friend.
Ponder that unfathomable reality."

Jesus has demonstrated this desire by His love - a love that would soon be demonstrated for those first century disciples in a way no man had ever shown His love for another.

Jesus said in John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  Yet this demonstration of love was not just for the first century disciples,  it is also for every disciple since, who will believe, follow, and treasure the One who demonstrated a love beyond comprehension.

Will you believe?  Will you follow?  Will you treasure this greater love?

In a prophesy about the coming of Jesus the Messiah, the prophet Isaiah writes:

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him -- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord -- and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.  (Isaiah 11:2-3a)

Isaiah prophesied that the Holy Spirit would give Jesus the fear of the Lord, a fear that Jesus would delight in.  So, what brought Jesus delight?  Responding to God in prayerful, reverent awe, trusting in God completely, and demonstrating an unwavering obedience to His instruction.  Could this be what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Corinthians, encouraging them in their faith.  He instructed them to "work out" their salvation "with fear and trembling."  (Philippians 2:12).  Paul is referring to a sober, reverent, acknowledgment of an all-powerful, ever-present God who loves them and us deeply and walks with those who fear Him to guide and protect them.  There is a great need in the Church today to recapture what it means to "delight in the fear of the Lord."  Someone said,  "The lack of an awe-filled reverence is an indication that we do not truly know God, and by association, His son Jesus;  therefore, we cannot fully trust God or please Him.

PRAYER:  Lord help me recapture delight in the fear of the Lord as I place my fearful confidence in the almighty God, who walks with me.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Adapted from:  https://wheatonbible.org/daily-devotional/delight-in-the-fear-of-the-lord/

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;  yes, I will remember your wonders of old.  I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.  Your way, O God is holy.  What god is great like our God?  You are the God who works wonders;  you have made known your might among the peoples."  Psalm 77:11-14

The Psalms are so faithful in reminding us life with God is a daily invitation to choose faith in who God is and how he has revealed himself to us throughout Scripture and in our lives.  Here in Psalm 77, the psalmist is in deep anguish.  He begins the psalm crying out to God, acknowledging his plan before the Lord.  At the time, he feels forgotten or spurned by the Lord.  He even asks the question, "Has God forgotten to be gracious?" (Verse 9)  Clearly, the psalmist is wrestling with the Lord just as you and I often do.

After pouring out is lament to the Lord, the psalmist calls himself to stop lamenting and start remembering God's past faithfulness, and he reminds himself God is holy and great.  There is none like him!

We might ask, "Why or how can this psalmist move from deep lament to focus on the Lord's faithfulness?"  Could it be this transformation happened as he took his eyes off himself and placed them on the Lord?  It is about remembering God's faithful works in the past so that he may trust that God once again will work in the present.  When he does this, he can look beyond his painful circumstances and trust that as God has worked, he will work again.

Like the psalmist, let us call ourselves to focus on God and not on ourselves and our pain.  As the psalmist remembered God's faithful work in the past, knowing God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8), let us also.  God was and is a wonder-working God.

Adapted from:  https://biblestudymedia.com/blogs/daily-lectionary-devotional/the-wonder-working-god