“I CAN’T BRAG about my love for God
because I fail Him daily, but I CAN BRAG about His love for me because it never
fails!” ~ (unknown) There’s an old song that says in its last stanza: “Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were
the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a
scribe by trade, To write the love of God above, Would drain the ocean dry, Nor
could the scroll contain the whole, Tho’ stretched from sky to sky. O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure – The saints’ and
angels’ song!” (lyrics written by Meir
Ben Isaac Nehorai) What a beautiful
picture of how we should feel about God’s love!
That song is a picture, indeed, of us writing with more ink than we can
fathom on more parchment than we can visualize, with more pens than we can hold
in our hands to write with – our whole life long! While perhaps we cannot dip our pen into an
ocean of ink, yet our love for our God should be so deep that His love should
be our song every day! All day long …
unendingly … into eternity where we will sing praises to Him forever and ever
and ever! It’s so true that God’s love
never fails. Just about when we think we
are at the end of our rope in a situation or relationship, God’s love comes
walking in and takes our slipping hand and pulls us up to safety. His love rescues us and restores what’s gone
bad. His love redeems us from what we so
deserve and it covers a multitude of our failures and our sins. Just when we think we’ve been at something
for such a long time and we feel as if nothing is ever going to change … God’s
love comes walking in and things start happening! New things come into place, foundations are
built upon, seed that’s been planted begins to sprout and suddenly grows like
crazy! God’s love brings people right to
us and it becomes second-nature to just share His love with them. A love like His is not hard to share, after
all! It should be the easiest thing in
the world, because after all … we know what it did and does for us, even though
we cannot fully fathom it! What others
do with that love then, is ultimately up to them. But they’ve been gifted with the opportunity
to make the most important decision they will ever make – accepting, or
rejecting the love of God. A love like
God’s makes us feel valued in a world that holds little value for life or
anything sacred. While the world tells
us we are nothing … God’s love says that we are everything to Him. Sending His only Son for us is proof of just
how valuable He thinks we are! God’s
love reveals to us one more piece of His heart the closer we get to Him. Our response to that amazing love brings His
invitation to draw ever closer. So close
that we begin to see and understand things about God that we never actually
grasped before. We not only experience
that unfailing love, we begin to sense His very heartbeat for humanity. A love that would go to the ends of the earth
and back, namely, Calvary, to save mankind from themselves and ending up in the
pit of hell for all of eternity. A love
that has never diminished down through the ages. Kingdoms have risen and fallen, but His still
moves forward. The very essence of His
love cannot quit on us, give up on us, or push us away. His love compels Him to pursue us, captivate
us, and hold us in His embrace. In that
closeness, His love engages us in joining Him on His quest to finish what He
started so long ago. His Kingdom come,
His will be done, on earth as in heaven – that’s what He wants. And He wants us to want it to! Things are changing, people are
searching. They are hungry and thirsty
for more than the world can offer.
That’s where we come in: to make ourselves available and active in
helping God with the unfinished business of His Kingdom work that still remains
to be done. It’s time, dear people! It’s time to start bragging about the love of
God! (In the good sense of the word, you
know!) It never fails!
WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS WEEK . . .
TODAY, SUNDAY, SEP 29:
10:00 A.M. - PRAISE & WORSHIP
10:30 A.M, - KIDZONE CHURCH
WED/THU BIBLE "DOING", OCT 2 & 3 at 7:00 P.M.:
WED - Delving deeper into the book of Hebrews at the church
THU - Continuing in the book of I Peter at 905 El Dorado Street SE
NEXT SUNDAY, OCT 06:
10:00 A.M. - PRAISE & WORSHIP / WORLD DAY OF COMMUNION
10:30 A.M. - KIDZONE CHURCH
COMING UP:
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13th at 1:30 p.m. - Our ANNUAL PUMPKIN PATCH CHURCH FAMILY OUTING
at Oakview Nursery - call us at (507) 363-3099 for more details!
WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS WEEK . . .
TODAY, SUNDAY, SEP 29:
10:00 A.M. - PRAISE & WORSHIP
10:30 A.M, - KIDZONE CHURCH
WED/THU BIBLE "DOING", OCT 2 & 3 at 7:00 P.M.:
WED - Delving deeper into the book of Hebrews at the church
THU - Continuing in the book of I Peter at 905 El Dorado Street SE
NEXT SUNDAY, OCT 06:
10:00 A.M. - PRAISE & WORSHIP / WORLD DAY OF COMMUNION
10:30 A.M. - KIDZONE CHURCH
COMING UP:
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13th at 1:30 p.m. - Our ANNUAL PUMPKIN PATCH CHURCH FAMILY OUTING
at Oakview Nursery - call us at (507) 363-3099 for more details!
ELEVATION NORTH SPOTLIGHT!
In our
current emphasis on the Unfinished Kingdom work that God has called us to help
Him with, we are encouraging EACH ONE to REACH ONE! For the past few weeks, many of you are
catching that vision and inviting others to church with you! A few weeks ago, a lady invited her cousin. Now that person has invited her daughter to
church and to the upcoming Women of Faith Conference! And, she is going to invite her sister to the
conference, as well! See what happens
when EACH ONE – REACH ONE takes place?
God’s unfinished business on earth starts to get accomplished! It’s an exciting thing to be at work where
God is at work, isn’t it? Again, we
challenge all of you in the body of Christ here at Elevation North … EACH ONE –
REACH ONE! Remember the Great
Commission? Let’s do our part – and see
what God will do!
REMEMBER . .
. “God loves us, not because we are lovable but because He is love;
not because He needs to receive but because He delights to give." ~ C.S. Lewis
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
Pastor Doug and Debbie