28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31 (NIV)
We put love at the top of our logo because this is where our relationship with our creator begins. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NIV)
The cross reminds us that God loved us so much that He was willing to sacrifice Christ for us. When we accept His wonderful gift, we enter into a love relationship with Him. (If you would like to learn about entering into a love relationship with Christ, click here).
The day we respond to God’s grace and obey Him, He comes to live in us. Our lives become an expression of our love and gratitude for Him. We reciprocate God’s love by living for and with Him. We also let Christ’s love flow through us so that we love others.
This love relationship with God is not static but fruitful. The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) becomes a natural part of our lives because of His presence.
This love relationship is not just about an individual relationship with God. It leads us to join together with others who love God and express our love to Him in worship. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:19-20 NIV)
We join together on the first day of the week as the early believers did to hear the Word of God. On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people... (Acts 20:7 NIV) (If you would like to join us for worship, click here for our schedule of worship services)
We not only sing and hear a message from God's Word but we want to have the same devotion that the early church did. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42 NIV)
This leads us to make another commitment—a commitment to GROW:
To hear a sermon by our senior minister, Charles Cline, about this LOVE commitment, click the following link: What's Central? - LOVE God!