Sermon 9-19-2010 Gods Devine Love Read Mathew: 18 verses 1 through 14 Eternal life, how do we achieve eternal life

in the Kingdom of Heaven? Jesus explains to us what we must do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says, WE MUST BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN. What does this mean? As a child has complete faith in his mother & Father so must we have the same type of faith in God. A child trusts his good & loving parents implicitly. He knows nothing else. All he knows is that love & safety surround him. When a father plays with his son & he throws the boy up into the air catching him & then doing it again over & over, does the boy cry out for someone to help him? Does he scream in fear? Is the boy afraid that his father will drop him? Does the boy worry that he will fall to the floor, & when the father stops & places his son gently back on the floor, does the boy run & hide from his father? Does he seek the comfort of his mother or anyone else in the room while crying because he is afraid? No, he does none of these things. While the father is tossing him in the air & catching him over & over, the boy is laughing & giggling unafraid. He does not even consider that his father may drop him to the floor. The boy knows with out a doubt in his mind that his father loves him. He knows with no doubt what so ever that his father will catch him every time. He knows that he is safe in his fathers arms & when the father is done playing & he sets his son back down on the floor, what does the boy do? Does he run away? No, he tries to climb back up into his fathers arms & says what to his father Do it again daddy. No fear, no doubt. He knows with total surety that his father will catch him every single time he is tossed into the air. He has complete & total faith with no doubts in his mind what so ever. He knows that he is totally & completely safe in his fathers arms.

This is what Jesus is talking about when he says we must become as little children. We must have the same faith in God our father as a little child has in his earthly father. No fear, no doubt, knowing with total surety that the father will be there to catch us if we fall knowing with out a doubt that he loves us & is there watching over us, protecting us his faithful servants, his children always. We need to be able to put away our flawed human fears & be able to trust in God completely & whole heartedly. Read John 3:16 says For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, That who so ever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. This is a perfect example of how our father loves us. He sent his only begotten son to teach us, to show us the way to eternal life & the Kingdom of Heaven & then to die on the cross & accept our sins so that we may be forgiven. What a complete, total & undying love our father has for us. Now, God asks us to accept his son as our savior & to love him in the same way he loves us. It always astounds me when I meet people who turn away from Gods love. How could anyone not want this? This makes no sense to me & subsequently they turn away from everlasting life in the Kingdom of heaven but, regardless God still loves them & gives them the opportunity to accept Christ & to accept his undying love & he gives them the opportunity to enter the Kingdom all the way up to their last breath. God gives us every opportunity throughout our entire lives to accept the gifts he is offering us. What he asks for in return is our love & faith. The same love & faith he has placed in us.

Lets read Mathew 19:16 through 20:16 & hear more of Jesus own words on this subject This is a great example depicting the love & generosity of our father. The words many who were first will be last & many who were last will be first accurately describes Gods infinite generosity towards us. Jesus uses the parable of The Workers in the Vineyard to show a comparison in which he describes the nature of God. The land owner who hired people in the morning offering them a generous sum to work in his vineyard then hiring more people at mid day & then again near the end of day, pays each person the same amount regardless how much time they spent working in the vineyard. This is the same generosity God shows us out of his love for us. Our father loves us so much that he will even wait until we are taking our last few breaths in this world before turning to him & accepting Christ as our savior & our reward in heaven will be no different than the reward given to those who have spent a lifetime serving him. This is how much he loves us. He wants so much for each & every one of us to join him in the Kingdom of Heaven that he will allow us to wait until the very last minute to acknowledge him. Friends, this is unconditional love. Love with out boundaries. It stirs my soul just to think about it. Now, Jesus challenges us to see Gods love & in turn love God the same way he loves us & then to love each other in the same manor, unconditionally & without boundaries. Easier said than done aye friends? Our flawed human nature makes this very difficult because of all of the negative human emotions we are born with, fear doubt, mis-trust, jealousy, anger & the worst one, hate but, when we open our hearts & ask the holy spirit to come in, we are changed. It then becomes possible to love as God intended us to & as we grow closer to God, our ability to love as God intended becomes possible. The closer we walk with God, the easier it becomes to love like God.

Become as a little child & love God with all your heart & soul just as he loves us then, in turn show that same love to your fellow man & you will have achieved what God had intended for all of us but was snatched away by Satan in the Garden. This is the challenge we face everyday as Christians who know Gods word. We are flawed humans but we are challenged to overcome our humanity & walk with God in a constant state of Grace, listening to & heeding his words so that we may achieve eternal life in the Kingdom of heaven. Lets go to the Lord in prayer.