Short sermons of the United Pentecostal Church of Mannheim Short Sermons Index

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"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you." - Deuteronomy 6:5 and 14. " He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." Matthew 10:37-38

Love is losing its meaning more and more in the world, such as in the sense of what it actually is and how powerful it can be. We can thank God for His Word, which reveals to us what true love represents; "Love is strong as death."- The Song of Salomon 8:6

Nowadays love is on a temporary basis but is that really love? Somebody may love wealth yet it cannot save their soul. The world offers its love, but the price you have to pay is losing your eternal life. Couples live together with one another in marriage on a trial basis; people say, "Yes, but something might go wrong" - and that is supposed to be love? In Proverbs 10:12 " Love covereth all sins." Love freely forgives, forgets and does not continue to hold on to past wrongs. In 1. Corinthians 13:8 "Charity (love) never faileth."

The world loves you only so long as it can get something out of you. Therefore John writes in 1. John 2:15 "Love not the world." God's love is different. Jesus says: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13.

A person who loves gives everything he owns, and when there is nothing else left to give, he still carries on loving and even lays down his life for his friends. Jesus describes this as being one of the greatest expressions of love. HE Himself would be giving His own life.

Judas came and went up to Jesus and said, "Hail, master;" and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, "Friend, why have you come?" Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him. - Matthew 26:50. They brought him before the Council, the Sanhedrin, who questioned him. "Are you the Messiah, the Son of God or not?" Jesus answered, "You have said it, then they spat in his face and smite him with the palms of their hands. Several of them hit him in the face, saying, "Prophecy unto us, thou Christ, who is it that hit you? Satan had his party - Jesus did not complain. The only reason why no angel from heaven was allowed to come and help Him and why he did not want anyone else to help Him, was due to His desire to set His people free from the world and the devil. At the same time outside of the palace, the cock began to crow. Peter denies his best friend, he leaves the court and weeps bitterly. They deliver Jesus to Pilate, then to Herod, who happens to be staying in Jerusalem, and he sends Him back to Pilate. Yet again, He undergoes beatings, mockery, whipping, and a crown of thorns. Then endures being nailed on the cross, from which He would never come back down alive. And it was only now at this point that the worse was yet to come for Him: - the sins of the world would be thrown upon Him. "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him," - Isaiah 53:3. There was no grace for Him, no chance of being spared, no easing of the torture, pain, and fear of what was yet to come.

Deuteronomy 21:23 "For he that is hanged is accursed of God." He would taste of the curse of God. Then suddenly the Holy Ghost abandons Him. Jesus cries, " My Father why have you forsaken me?" What is the reason? Have I done something wrong? It was at that moment He was the loneliest person on earth. The blood runs down from his brow, pain is throbbing all over: it is midday and the sun is still burning harshly upon him. Seconds become minutes, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." Luke 2:34-35. Down below, the Scribes and the religious people are standing there and are ridiculing Him; but the time is drawing near when they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only child (Zechariah 12:1).

My friend, He died for a message which gives the people freedom and eternal life. A message which is feared by the churches which have fallen away from God. It is written what a person has to do. Salvation cannot be bought with money and politics but solely through the message of the Apostles. It has already been paid for long ago on the cross at Calvary, where both extremes of God converged with one another - His love for the people and His hatred of evil and sin. Do you understand why Jesus said, " ...he is not worthy of my love?"

Pastor R. Wey

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