The Open Door

~~~ Malachi 3:13-20B ~~~ Psalm 1 ~~~ Luke 11:5-13 ~~~

And I tell you, ask and you will receive;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives;

and the one who seeks, finds;

and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

You are most likely very familiar with this text

 from the Gospel of Luke.

In this passage a visitor arrives late and the host does not have 

any bread so he goes to a neighbor's house.

The host believes his neighbor to also be his friend

until he fails to unlock the door.

Instead the neighbor calls out his excuses 

for not getting out of bed.

It is often during difficult times in our life 

when we discover those who are our true friends.

Sometimes we are surprised...

We can be surprised by those who do not respond,

and surprised by those who do respond.

It seems that those we thought were friends are unpredictable.

This is precisely where Jesus enters into the picture.

Jesus is your friend...

Jesus is reliable...

Jesus will always be there for you.

Jesus gives freely of himself to you.

Jesus opens his heart to love you.

Jesus never leaves the door closed.

Jesus is never too tired to be there for you.

Jesus wants you to find him...he wants to take care of you.

For everyone who asks, receives;

and the one who seeks, finds;

and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

The eternal love Jesus has for you is there for the asking.

A true friend's love is a mere drop in the bucket

compared to the love Jesus has for you.

Open my heart, Lord so that I may know

 the great power and strength of your love.

No door can separate you from the love

 and friendship of Jesus.

You have a friend in Jesus forever.

~~~Peace~~~

The Spirit of Love

~~~ Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 ~~~ Ps. 98 ~~~ 1 John 4:7-10 ~~~ John 15: 9-17 ~~~

While the central focus of today's message is obviously love, I want to look at a couple less obvious points...The Holy Spirit and the concept of friendship.

If you ever wonder or doubt about God 'thinking out of the box' just listen closely to today's passage from the Acts of the Apostles.

We have been hearing for weeks about how the early church made decisions to allow us, the Gentiles, to become Christians. I wonder if you noticed the sentence telling of the Baptism of those who already had the Holy Spirit?

'...the believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit should been poured out on the Gentiles...'

Yes, the Holy Spirit did not wait for these believers to be formally Baptized. The Holy Spirit does not adhere to our guidelines...instead he goes and blows at his own discretion.

Then the Holy Spirit inspires the early disciples to accept these people who had been touched by the Holy Spirit and welcome them with the formal rite of initiation...Baptism.

God knew that in order for Christianity to flourish and remain there needed to be a sweeping conversion movement. If in the early church thousands had not become believers, where would Christianity be today? The Holy Spirit went to work right away showering the people with the gift of desire, with the flame of belief.

This is the picture you want to see...people flocking to embrace Christianity. This is still what we want today in our churches. Missionaries in foreign countries receive those people who come in hope of finding the missing part of their life. But what we may overlook is that many times the Holy Spirit has preceeded the missionaries, just as it happened in the early church.

I am so enriched each year as I get to know our converts. I am eager to hear their conversion stories. How they came to the church. How they made the choice.

I am constantly amazed at the workings of the Holy Spirit...past...present...and I am sure the future as well. The Holy Spirit is busy spreading love throughout the hearts of people all over the world. And thank God for that, because then they do not have to wait on the rest of us to reach them.

God calls us friends. A friend shares your love, hopes, joys, sorrows. A friend cares. A friend understands when you have no words to speak. A friend stands by you no matter what. A friend tells it like it is...even if it hurts. A friend extends unconditional love.

I could go on, but if you have a true friend you know what I am speaking about here.

So when Jesus calls us friend it is very special.

To think about my Creator as a friend is a bit mind boggling and

at the same time wonderful.

If Jesus is my friend there is nothing I should fear or be anxious about because friends want only goodness for one another. Friends want to be together.

Friends want to share experiences with each other.

Talk to Jesus as you would your best friend...he will listen.

He only wants what is best for you.

The greatest commandment is Love.

Whether through the actions of the Holy Spirit or those of your closest friends

love says it all.

The Spirit of Love is all around.

May you be blessed with this unbounding love in your life.