Every Saturday, Pastor Mike and Sherry write our congregation a letter of encouragement as well an introduction for the sermon topic he will preach the following morning. Below you will find the letter from June 2nd, 2024. To watch this sermon, follow this link: The Debt I Owe A sermon on the inexhaustible debt we owe, why it's a blessing, and how we pay such a debt. Romans 13:8-10
Week of June 2, 2024
Blessed good day to all of you. It’s nice to be back with you. I pray God has blessed each of you richly and has shown Himself to be gloriously powerful in your life. May His mercy and grace surround your every thought and action.
There is an old song that needs to be making its rounds again in the day in which we live.
The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;
it goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell.
The wand'ring child is reconciled by God's beloved Son.
The aching soul again made whole, and priceless pardon won.
When ancient time shall pass away, and human thrones and kingdoms fall;
when those who here refuse to pray on rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love so sure, shall still endure, all measureless and strong;
grace will resound the whole earth round— the saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made;
were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill, and ev’ryone a scribe by trade;
to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry;
nor could the scroll contain the whole, though 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.
(The Love of God: Frederick M. Lehman, 1917)
Now why would I say such a thing? Well, I’ll tell you. Something I have come to witness in the last few years is the ever-growing cacophony of bitter hatred and vitriol. And, if you are anything like me, sometimes, I just want to shout, “Make it all stop and go away.” Then, as if someone turns on the light, I hear that still small voice crying out, “There is an answer, and you know what it is.” I remember that the answer is NOT shouting louder from my soap box. Nor is it returning hate with hate or trying to destroy the other side. I remember there is only one enemy, and that enemy is not flesh and blood but the very principalities of darkness. And there is only one answer that will conquer the raging fires of hatred that he ignites.
The answer to hate is the major theme that runs throughout the Word of God and is expressed so beautifully in the song above, especially in the chorus: “O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure—the saints’ and angels’ song.”
Those who have never experienced true love cannot imagine its power. It is so powerful that Solomon said that it is “as strong as death.” It is not mere emotion but much deeper, cutting to the core of our being. It consumes us, body, soul, and spirit. The Bible tells us true love is not a passing feeling but an entirely new way of living. It is a byproduct not of human emotion but the fruit of the Spirit. Love truly is a person, the person of Jesus Christ flooding in and taking over the heart of men and women then gushing out to quench the hatred inspired by the “evil one”, the hater of men’s souls.
This love so everlastingly shown to us from Calvary’s cross, this love that took all the hatred that could be thrown at Him, this love that sustained during those hours of agony, this love that endured the darkness of the soul deeper than any mortal man could know. It is this love that at last cried out, “It is finished!” It is that love that pushed back the gates of Hell, that love conquered, hate, and sin, and darkness, and the grave. It was that love that reached out to you and me when we were completely helpless to do anything about our hopeless estate. It was that love that met my anger, met my rebellion head on and embraced me when I least deserved it and conquered me and forever changed me. And it is that love that can conquer, no, WILL conquer, to the very end for not even rivers of flood stage waters can quench the power of the Love of God.
This is why Paul can say that we have an inexhaustible debt of love owed to all men. A debt that we will never come to the end of until we are safely in the living presence of the One who loved us from the Cross. Paul says to each of us who follow Christ, “Owe nothing to anyone EXCEPT to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law” (Roman 13:8).
This will be our theme this week and next as we explore the power and depth of so Great a Love. This week we’ll explore “The Debt I Owe”, and next week I want to show you “A More Excellent Way.” So please come join us and let’s celebrate worship together. Come for Bible Study at 9:45 and stay for worship. God is Good and God is Great and we, more than ever need to keep our eyes on Him.
Thank you for indulging me. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers for my health and strength. See you then.
All our love,
Mike and Sherry.
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