WEDDING WEEKEND

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Last weekend was “wedding weekend”

Saturday: - Wedding rehearsal in Cinci, officiated a wedding in Xenia, and attended a beautiful affirmation service that night in Kettering.  Followed by a wedding and reception in Cinci on Sunday.

And with all of them came their share of wedding “drama”.  Late bridesmaids, over-zealous planners, stressed out moms, rain, even a unity candle falling over putting the entire room in danger of a 4 alarm blaze.  But in spite of the drama and “missteps” that accompany EVERY wedding, one thing was shared in each and every service and rehearsal.

GOD’S definition of LOVE; what it is and how we are to "exercise" it.

I know it is a familiar passage.  In one service the KJV was used, another the NIV and for my folks in Cinci I shared it from the Message.  But I thought I would share it with all of us today.

It is wedding season and love is never more fresh and prominent than at those gatherings and ceremonies. BUT GOD called us to EXERCISE HIS brand of love even when the wedding bells stop ringing and the confetti is swept and thrown away.

So here it is for us as we enter what will I am sure be another full “wedding weekend” for some of you!  

The question is will YOU along with those bride and grooms love this way?

1 Corinthians 13 (MSG)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.

Love doesn’t strut,

Doesn’t have a swelled head,

Doesn’t force itself on others,

Isn’t always “me first,”

Doesn’t fly off the handle,

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Let’s love like that.

I love you all.

Be blessed!

Opportunities for Hope (Champions Charge)