Dear Heavenly Father I thank you for this day and the opportunity to share. Father I ask in the name of your son Jesus Christ that you pour out your Holy Spirit in the hearts of everyone here and fan into flames the fire of your love. AMEN.It is said that Mary the Mother of God in Medjugorje Bosnia-Hercegovina never addresses anyone as believers or unbelievers, only those who do not know the love of God.
The main purpose of our lives is to do three very important things, “To Know God to Love Him and to Serve Him.” Because you cannot love God if you do not know Him and you cannot truly serve Him if you do not love Him.Today I pose a very important question to you “Do you know God? Do you know the Love of God?” There are many who know about God and Jesus Christ, but do not know Him. Do you know Jesus? If not, my greatest desire and prayer for you is to come to a personal relationship with HIM and experience the fullness of His Love, because God does exists.1 Corinthians 2:13 says “No eye has seen, no ear has heard no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”GOD’S LOVE IS REAL
I am not a theologian; I have very little background in theology. I am also not a fisherman or an actor my profession for seven years was engineering, but I am not here to talk about chemical or mechanical systems but to tell you that God exists and his love is real.
I was a cradle catholic and never realized how real God and his love were, until a very sad moment in my life when I lost my JOY. I did everything everyone told me would make me happy, I had the education, the job, my own home, and the list goes on, but none of these things truly satisfied. You see God was not the foundation behind all that I was doing and, as a result, I did not understand the purpose of it all. After awhile I found myself tired and empty until One Christmas. I was heading to Florida with my friend and in that moment in her presence ……You see when God wants a change in our life he always sends someone, who is he going to send and who is waiting for you?.... I gave a very desperate prayer with tears flowing. I said to God, “if you are for real, reveal yourself to me and I will do anything you ask.” God did not hesitate to answer that prayer; within minutes what seem like a comedy of errors, was “God getting my attention intervention” and my prayer was answered. After that initial experience I kept my promise and sought God with all my heart though prayer, penance, reconciliation and daily mass (Holy Communion). As the months followed he kept leading me and that is the reason I am standing here before you today, because Jesus has asked me to leave everything behind and move from the Northeast to the Northwest. Of course my family and friends were thrilled.After my conversion experience and on the morning prior to giving in my resignation, I asked God one more time, are you sure this is the plan? God did not hesitate to answer me, when I got to church where I go to my usual morning mass the priest was giving out a free book, “Trusting God’s Purpose by Edith Stein,”Jeremiah 29:12-13 says,
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.Even though I am away from my family and friends I am not alone. Jesus love is real.
God’s desire is for us to be with HIM on EARTH as well as HEAVEN, we say the Our Father all the time thy kingdom come thy will be done. The day Jesus was born the Kingdom of God came to earth. Jesus came to heal the sick, give sight to the blind and set the down trodden free. God is not just waiting for us in heaven, the Father’s spirit, the HOLY SPIRIT is with us and Jesus is with us. Jesus said. “I will never leave you or forsake you. The spirit of God is here and now and HE wants to do great things with us, for us and through us, but we must walk by faith and RECEIVE, un-wrap those buried treasures which are there to help you in this life and that will launch you into eternity.God listens! God Speaks! God touches us and intervenes in our lives and offers us the fullness of life. What is it going to be?
Did you have your encounter with Jesus?
The bible from the beginning to the end is a love story and after reading numerous passages I have come to realize that God is in the business of the heart. It does not matter to him who you are, what you look like, where you have been or what you have done, because when you meet Jesus everything can and will change in your life. You will be a new creation.The bible is filled with great saints who have had their encounter with Jesus and they were not all models of holiness and sanctity…… This is not an excuse not to thrive for holiness. …There were murderers, prostitutes, adulterers, and liars in the blood line of Jesus, we have, David, Tamar, Jacob…….. Who all loved God and were very repentant of their sins.So come on in there is room for everyone.
Psalm 103 David wrote:The LORD is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger, abounding in love.He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
TRANSFORMATION
Paul’s story is one of the most phenomenal stories of transformation I have ever read. Paul was a persecutor of Christians and they were deathly afraid of him. When he was heading to Damascus to imprison more Christians, a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground and heard a voice “Saul why do you persecute me?” By God’s immeasurable grace the scales were removed from his eyes. Saul was renamed Paul, What happened to Paul is very symbolic of many people; we are spiritually blind and cannot see the truth even though it surrounds us. Paul was transformed by the love of God, because you cannot give what you do not have, and Saul did not have any love in his Heart, until he met Jesus. Paul wrote many books in the New Testament, Corinthians 1 and 2, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 timothy, Titus, Philemon, he went from persecuting people to proclaiming God’s Love. Love is patient, love is kind….faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.
Have you had your encounter with Jesus?
Zacchaeus the chief tax collector a very wealthy man was very short in statue. He heard Jesus was coming, but because he was short, he could not see through the crowds. So He got a bright idea and climbed a sycamore-fig tree… He was seeking…. Jesus saw him and said, “I must stay at your house today”. At his home Zacchaeus, says to Jesus, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."Jesus said today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Have you had your encounter with Jesus?
Jesus encounters the woman at the well and he asks
“Will you give me a drink?” The Samaritan woman replies “How can you ask me for a drink?” I am a Samaritan and you are a Jew” Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God and who that asks you for a drink, if you only ask him he would have given you living water. Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed the water I give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.Don’t miss the opportunity to encounter Jesus?
DEFINING GOD’S LOVE
God’s love is an agape love, but it is much more real than that, it is an Eros love, an intimate love; it is a pursuing and a passionate love. A love that burns so deep in your heart you cannot contain it. The emotions are so strong that you are not sure whether to laugh, cry, sing or just be still. Have you experienced that kind of love? If not, today is an invitation from God to spark into flames the fire of his love. Today is the day to say YES to the HOLY SPIRIT. We have to say YES with our whole being, our minds, hearts and soul to God. God said “Seek me with all your heart and you will find me."
RECEPTIVITY
The question some maybe asking, why don’t I experience that love. We have free will and God will not force his love on us. We have to say Yes to Jesus Christ. Mary the mother of God had to say yes even though she was set aside for this one thing. Mary’s Yes was the most important Yes any human being would have to make. The gravity of her CHOICE, would affect mankind for all eternity. Therefore the question is not if God is ready for us, but are you and I ready to receive HIM?
We have two sisters Martha and Mary. Jesus is in their home. Mary is sitting at the Lord’s feet listening to what he is saying. But Martha with her 2000 year old to do list was distracted by all the preparations. She got mad because Mary was not helping and says to Jesus “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work myself? Tell her to help me!” "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Mary, Martha’s sister got the message, she was the one who anointed Jesus with the perfumed oil in preparation for his death. When no one else, not even the disciples…they thought she was wasting precious oil…. who were with Jesus day and night understood but Mary did. So I am asking, if anyone has brought there to do list with them today. Put it away.
The second most important reason we do not experience the love of God in our lives is our references and life experiences. If our life experiences have been distorted, our ability to comprehend spiritual truths can be off center. We cannot recognize the heavenly Father’s love if our earthly father does not love us or we have been abused, neglected or subjected to many evil in this world…….. The sacraments and the love of God through his chosen people are there for our healing. Silence, Solitude, Scripture, Sacraments (sacraments of reconciliation, and communion) Jesus said, “Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” As a man thinketh……We are the bride of Christ and our bridegroom is waiting for us. God loves us so much he marries us every day here in this church and he gives his body everyday for his bride.
SURRENDER
The last thing is that I call you to Surrender. We need to surrender our lives to Christ. We have to stop holding on to our small notions of life and GOD and allow JESUS through the HOLY SPIRIT to create for us something bigger than ourselves. We need to trust God’s will for our life.
God is always calling us not to be afraid, from Genesis to Revelation and I quote:
Genesis 46:3"I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.
Deuteronomy 31:6Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Isaiah 12:2Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
Revelation 1:17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.”
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only SON that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus in the Gospel of John 10: 14, 10 says “I am the Good Sheppard” “I know my sheep and my sheep knows me. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy but I ( Jesus) have come so they may have life and have it to the full."
