ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

A couple of weeks ago, I borrowed a title from an old Beatle's tune and now, here I am, doing it again. I promise I will try to make this the last one--for a while. It should not surprise you that I once did a marriage retreat where each session featured a Beatle's song! As Valentine's Day is this week--a day to celebrate love and romance--I thought it timely to address this topic.

Now--to the point--from the Bible and not the Beatles--Jesus said that all God's commands, the law and the prophets, can be distilled into one word, "love," to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Paul would write that of the holy trinity of Christian virtues: faith, hope, and love--that the greatest of these is love!

God is love and this attribute is reproduced in His children as the fruit of the Holy Spirit's indwelling. Our Lord said that by our love for one another, we would be identified as His disciples and display to the world the credibility of the Gospel.

As I prepare for a series of revival sermons at Allen's Creek Baptist Church this weekend, I intend to preach on faith, hope, and love. The church at Ephesus had "left their first love," and Jesus told them if they did not repent and return to that passion for Him, that He would turn the lights out. We have churches that have turned out the lights, locked the doors, and gone out of business since I have been here as Mission Strategist. Others are teetering on the brink, and a lot more will face the possibility, if something does not change.

We need revival! We need to recover that zeal for Christ that we once had.

All you need is love!

With Love to You All,

Dennis Thurman, AMS