Condemnation

I just had to share a little bit about what happened to me at church on Sunday morning. Patty and I were up early so we went to the early service at 9 instead of the later 11 am service. I am so glad we did.

The sermon was from 1 John 3. Here are verses 11-24 from The Message.

11For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.

12-13We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.

14-15The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together.

16-17This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

When We Practice Real Love

18-20My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

21-24And friends, once that's taken care of and we're no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we're bold and free before God! We're able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we're doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God's command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

After the sermon Pastor Jack said he felt that there were some who felt that they were under a lot of condemnation. He then invited anyone who felt like that to come up for prayer. I had been feeling condemnation after talking to another brother about some things. I felt that God wanted to do something for me right then and there so I went forward. I received prayer for about 10 minutes and just felt this warmth that I had never felt before. It was just like the peace of God washed over me and He told me that He loved me and is in control. All of the condemnation I was feeling just fell right off of me.

I just had to share that. Our God is a God of Love. He loves you just the way you are, right here, right now.

Peace!