True Love
Pastor Jim Kilby • February 14, 2023
In Honor of Valentine's Day...
Sometime ago I heard an older gentleman on a Christian radio show talk about how he prays for his wife. He said that, even when things were difficult in his marriage, he has prayed Ephesians 5:25 every day for the last 25 years. He does it something like this... "Father help me to love my wife just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Friends, that is true love! It's not that warm and squishy feeling you get when you're around someone you really like. It's dedication and sacrifice--no matter what! Whether the recipient deserves it or not, and even if it costs you everything.
Not unlike when our heavenly Father sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
Pastor Jim Kilby
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Going to college was a long and painful experience for me, but as I look back now, it wasn't the degree but the process that was so valuable. Now that I think about it, so were high school, grade school, and my years in the military, etc. Although there were moments in each experience where I learned great and valuable things, the real value came when each of the segments ran together to make me who I am today. As short-sighted humans, we often miss the simple truth that God uses the "processes" in our lives to make us who He wants us to be. We far too often look at the circumstances (like one particular class, one particular individual, etc.) and figure the world is just out to get us. When that happens, we lose heart and then we lose focus! Remember, it's the process, not the specific situation that you may be facing at the moment. Sure, you're flawed, but God sees you as the finished product. Although it may not look like it in the instant, things WILL work out for God's glory in the end. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
These days if people don't like their job, they quit. If they don't like their bosses, they talk bad about them and even steal from them. If they don't like the town they live in, they gripe about it endlessly, and when they're old enough they move to a new city and learn to gripe about that one. Don't like your girlfriend/boyfriend/or spouse, leave them and find another one to hate! Is it just me, or are we just not happy anymore? If not, it's because happiness is our goal and happiness is always fleeting. Instead, the "joy of the Lord" should be our goal. Life is difficult and you can be sure that much will come against you to rob you of happiness as the years go by. But if true joy is your goal, like that found only in Jesus, even the worst of circumstances won't shake you. "Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets." Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 6:22-23) Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
The first thing a person must do before they can begin to heal is admit their faults. Alcoholics who deny they are hooked cannot be helped, and sinners who deny their sin are on their own with that sin. In my estimation, this is one of the major reasons the church is so powerless in many situations today. Far too many of those who call themselves part of the Body of Christ are caught in sin and deny it to His face. We all sin, and we need to acknowledge that fact. Then, we need to confess our specific sins to the One all sin offends! Then, and only then, will we see true healing in the Body! If we proceed with anything less than honesty, then we are not Christ-followers. This leaves only deceived Saints or willful liars. "For I know MY transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge." Psalm 51:3-4 (Emphasis mine) Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
There are a lot of people who are willing to debate whether or not Jesus is the Christ--the Savior of mankind. But, there are few who are willing to debate it using any real data. Most folks believe unbiblical things about who Jesus is and choose to essentially make Him up from what they "think"... which is generally made up from what they've heard on the streets and what they've decided to make up on their own. Any real student of the Scriptures and of history will easily determine that He was and is who He said He was--God's only Son! Anyone who chooses to believe otherwise has been blinded by Satan. "For he [Paul] vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ." Acts 18:28 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
The average Christian is ever alert to obvious moral failures in others, quickly pointing to them as the work of the evil flesh of man, or of Satan himself. When we commit them ourselves we are less apt to see them for what they are before much damage is done, but even then the Spirit in us is often able to bring them to our attention. What is the most rare of all, however, is for us to see that the moral failures we (or others) may commit are not the cause of our impurity, but actually the effect. Disaster rarely comes in one deathly storm of immorality, but generally as the result of a sequence of events that begins in a hard and prideful heart. Sure, watch out for moral failures in your life, but if you protect the heart from pride those stumbles will never come. If they do come, they are the result of a heart that long ago desired to be its own god. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
It would be nearly impossible for most wealthy and healthy Christians to understand this, but many people in the world are actively being persecuted for putting thier faith in Jesus. Most of us never face anything worse than a gossip at church or a non-believer at work or school. If we do come up against something difficult, many Christians just plain quit! Can you see why it's often important for the Lord to allow us to be persecuted by Satan so we can grow in our faith? Stand firm in the little things and you'll grow strong for the day the tough stuff comes! God needs us to be strong for others! "Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." Jesus of Nazareth (Revelation 2:10b) Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
Many who love the land and sea are mocked by conservative Christians as "tree huggers" and even worse. The truth is that nothing is wrong with loving and protecting this land and all the creatures and plants the Lord has made. As long as we acknowlege God as the beginning and the end, I have no problem with any agenda that looks to protect Creation. But the truth is that many who say they are looking out for "mother nature" are also in fact doing much damage to it by the way they live. They don't see the connection between immorality and the destruction of our environment. Prophets of God have long seen the connection and Christ followers should continue to point out that no sin goes unpunished--even the land pays for our sins. "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land. There is only cursing lying and murder, stealing and adultry; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying." Hosea 4:1b-3 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
I planted a flower garden in my yard last year and it looked great! It was one of those spots in the yard where grass used to grow and I just shoveled it all up, leveled it out, and then planted some flowers. After the mulch went down everything looked great... until this year that is. You see, I took a shortcut. I didn't put down any of that cloth (or plastic) that kills the grass. And if you don't kill the grass, it becomes a weed in what would be a beautiful garden. Now we'll be pulling that grass out of our flowers forever... until we dig the whole thing up and put down something that will KILL that grass that is! And such is the life of many a would-be Christ follower. They want to be born-again without ever dying to themselves. They want to have a God that will save them from themselves, while they serve themsleves with the life He gave them. "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Jesus of Nazareth (John 12:24-25) Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
I've had the opportunity to travel much of the world and see some amazing spiritual places, but fortunately for me as a Christian, I don't have to travel anywhere to worship my God. Worshipers of some religions must go to specific place at a pre-arranged time or face in a certain direction to get their so-called god's approval. Sure, I go to organized church services, but I don't go there because God is only there and nowhere else. The true God we serve is everywhere and in all things and at all times. We can worship Him if we're stuck in the bottom of a dungeon (as St. Paul was) or in the majesty of the most beautiful cathedral. What we cannot do is worship Him in "flesh" no matter where we go. No amount of kneeling, clapping, singing or dancing will get God's attention if it's done for show! We must worship Him in spirit--meaning that our most inner being reaches out to Him in a humble, worshipful and truthful way. Glory be to God that the restrictions of the Old Testament were washed away by the Blood of His Only Son! "Sir, the woman said, 'I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.' Jesus declared, 'Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.' The woman said, 'I know that "Messiah" (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.' Then Jesus declared, 'I who speak to you am he.'" John 4:19-26 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
