God Loves You!

Telos:

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Information

The opposite of love is not hate but apathy or indifference.

Inspiration

Malachi 1:1–5 (NKJV)

The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

“I have loved you,” says the Lord.

“Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’

Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?”

Says the Lord.

“Yet Jacob I have loved;

But Esau I have hated,

And laid waste his mountains and his heritage

For the jackals of the wilderness.”

Even though Edom has said,

“We have been impoverished,

But we will return and build the desolate places,”

Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“They may build, but I will throw down;

They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness,

And the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever.

Your eyes shall see,

And you shall say,

‘The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel.’

Revelation

I have loved you, and continue to love you.

The word love is in the Hebrew perfect tense, indicating that God not only loved Israel in the past but loves them in the present as well.

His love is unconditional, it was an act of grace, not dependent on anything they did.

His love for Israel was totally His choice.

His love is everlasting.

Application

How have you loved us?

Where love is most manifested, it is often least appreciated.

We’re all prone towards indifference to God’s love (1:1–2a).

Malachi Lesson 1: God Loves Us: “Ho Hum!” (Malachi 1:1–5)

We grow indifferent to God’s love because we focus on our circumstances rather than on God’s purpose.

What have you done for me recently?

To overcome indifference towards God’s love, consider the wonder of His grace towards you.

Our lack of Awe is a major block to miracles.

It is, at its’ roots unbelief.

Matthew 13:58 NKJV

Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Revelation 19:9–10 NKJV

Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Transformation

Repent!!!

Receive Forgiveness!!!

Review your thankfulness!!!

3 Questions:

What is God saying to you?

Closer, or further.

People far smarter than I explain that if you’re going somewhere and you’re off course by just one degree, after one foot, you’ll miss your target by 2/10ths of an inch – not a big deal.  After 100 yards, you’ll be off by 5.2 feet. Not huge, but noticeable.  After a mile, you’ll be off by 92.2 feet. One degree is starting to make a difference. After traveling from San Francisco to L.A., you’ll be off by 6 miles. If you were trying to get from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., you’d end up on the other side of Baltimore, 42.6 miles away.  Traveling around the globe from Washington, DC, you’d miss by 435 miles and end up in Boston.  In a rocket going to the moon, you’d be 4,169 miles off (nearly twice the diameter of the moon).  Going to the sun, you’d miss by over 1.6 million miles (nearly twice the diameter of the sun).  All of that is because of being off by a single degree.

What are you going to do about it?

How can I pray for you?

Souls, Souls, Souls!!!!!!!!!