SATURDAY, July 19th, 2008

Yeah! It Is The Weekend! See you in Sunday School tomorrow at 9:15am! Don't Forget! Come to church tomorrow night as well... It will be great!!

A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Lucy: How in the world do you make an upside down question mark?!?!
Cary: That was good stuff! I Like the way that you said we are little appendages of Him. :)
PHILLIP: AWESOME TO SEE YOU MAN!!!!!! Thanks for coming on!! Great Job too! I am glad that Bethany is your Partner in Crime!
Bethany: Thanks for coming on here again girl!! I am glad that you have been coming back to youth group as well!! :)
Alex: Thanks for doing your devos!
Josh LaPerriere: All I can say is WOW! I think that was the most interesting Devotion of all time! I think it defeats the purpose of doing devotions if you have to break your parents rules to do them... It is never right to do wrong to do right! :)
Anonymous... They prank call you because they can't get you off of their mind.
Mallory, Jessica or Jon... whichever one of you wrote that comment: I think it is awesome how you said we need to show the "pretenders" the real thing!
2 Cents: Chores?? :) what for?... your allowance?
Ryan: Do you believe this?!?! The days that you do them, Rachel doesn't... what is this world coming to?? :)


John 15:9-17

9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

This is a great passage about the Love of God. In verse 9 we see that we are supposed to abide in His love! How do we abide in Christ's love?? I was wondering the same thing... It is a good things that we have the very next verse that tells us: If you keep my commandments then you will abide in my love.

To abide means to live, so Jesus is telling us to live in His love... does that mean that we can live out of His love? Doen that mean that we can be separated from the Love of God? Romans 8:38-39 answer that for us... "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." So if we cannot be separated from His love, then what is this talking about.

I believe to abide in His love means to live in the mindset of acknowledging His love for us. Let me explain it like this... When I think about how much Christ loves me, then It motivates me like nothing else To live for Him Daily! When I keep my heart focused on His love for me, then I want to keep His commandments because I don't want to hurt the one who loves me so!

The passage goes on to say "greater love hath no man, than to lay down His life for His friend" That is INCREDIBLE!!! God cannot love us any greater than He already does! What a motivation to serve such a loving God with My life! And did you notice... He calls us His friend!!!

Abide in the Love of Christ today! Live every moment acknowledgeing the Love that Christ has for you, and realize what a priveledge it is to serve a loving God with your life!