Messiah is referred to in Isaiah 9:6 as "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Imagine the person or people group who we despise the most—that person or that people group is also our neighbor. And we're supposed to love them as we love ourselves.

One of the most well-known phrases in the Bible, whether you're a Christian or not, is "Love your neighbor." In fact, one of the primary criticisms of modern Christianity is that Christians are hateful, particularly when it comes to certain people or people groups. When I look at this criticism objectively, I wonder if the critics are right?

Pastor Joe shares the final sermon in a six-week series called "First Things First." Over the last five sermons, he's talked about the absolute most-important commandment. The commandment on which every other word of scripture depends.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and...love your neighbor as yourself."

There is a Sunday School song that goes, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are week but He is strong.”

 Pastor Joe preaches on loving God with all our strength. He demonstrates different ways we think about strength – strongman competitors, superheroes, and ants! Did you know that an ant can lift and carry 10x to 50x its own body weight?? Loving with our strength takes practice, and it takes sacrifice. Sometimes the sacrifice is relatively painless – like giving up a couple of hours of TV a day. Sometimes the sacrifice can be ultimate – like being persecuted, imprisoned, or killed for our faith. The source of our strength is the Lord God.

Do you ever think about your faith? Do you ever question WHY you believe what you believe? If not, why not?

Pastor Joe speaks about loving God with all our MIND. Do we believe the Bible because we’ve read it, and studied it, and applied Christ’s teaching to our lives, or do we believe what we believe because we grew up in church with Christian parents and simply decided to believe whatever our parents and the pastor told us?

It is crucial, if we are to love God with our minds, that we know Scripture. It is even MORE crucial that we LIVE SCRIPTURALLY. That we LIVE the commandments of Jesus. If we will not live Christ’s commandments, there is no way that we will ever be able to convince another soul that Jesus is our only HOPE. If they can’t see us living our faith, there is no reason for them to believe us when we say that Jesus died for our sins, or that God wants us to live in eternity with Him. They won’t even believe us when we say that God exists.

We are encouraged to read the Bible, and in particular the words of Christ, and to use the minds that God has given us to understand how to live, and to put our understanding into practice.

Is love all about feelings? Fluttering hearts and butterflies in the stomach? Or is love a choice? Something we do in our free will?

Pastor Joe speaks on loving God with all of your SOUL. The soul is the eternal part of our being that God breathed into humans at creation and the center of our human will. When we love God with all our soul, it's not just a feeling that we have, but also a conscious, willful decision that we make, every day.

Jesus may be your Savior, but is he really your LORD?

Pastor Joe continues the sermon series, “First Things First”. He talks about loving the LORD our God with all our heart, which literally means with the central part of our emotional being. What does it truly mean to consider Jesus our LORD, including obeying His commandments and following His instruction, no matter what?

The word LORD literally speaks of the person who is the master, and that those who call a lord “Lord” do so with the understanding that is not only reverent and respectful, but also obedient and humble.

Jesus will be where we are going. 

Stained glass windows remind me of our role-- to reflect Christ to one another.. the astounding way they hold the form so that the light can shine through.