Meditations on Love, Part 7: Unity of Love

Believers in Jesus Christ are one body.  Not the Baptist body... the Catholic body... the Pentecostal Charismaniac body... but we are all one in Christ.  

Okay... so we don’t seem to be acting that way.  But, we should!

BEHOLD, HOW good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

Psalm 133:1 [AMP]

The opposite of Psalm 133:1 would be that it is very unpleasant for brethren to dwell together in antagonistic cliques that hate and despise and contradict.

For just as the body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). For by [means of the personal agency of] one [Holy] Spirit we were all, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, baptized [and by baptism united together] into one body, and all made to drink of one [Holy] Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 [AMP]

A body that does not function has difficulty achieving many tasks.  The mind may be as bright and sharp as ever... but without limbs and organs that function in synchronicity...

Just think about it...

May grace (God's unmerited favor) and spiritual peace [which means peace with God and harmony, unity, and undisturbedness] be yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:2 [AMP]

For He is [Himself] our peace (our bond of unity and harmony). He has made us both [Jew and Gentile] one [body], and has broken down (destroyed, abolished) the hostile dividing wall between us

Ephesians 2:14 [AMP]

In order to be in unity, we need love.

Love is the cement that holds us together.  When we are held together by love... we have peace.  And peace is a whole lot better than the alternative!

Listen to This Podcast:


Download:
Click here to download the MP3 of this podcast.

Meditations on Love, Part 6: Debt of Love

Love is not just a nice thing to do... it is the only thing to do. It is a debt that we owe to others.

⁴³You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy;

⁴⁴But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

⁴⁵To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].

Matthew 5:43-45 [AMP]

As with finances... we want to stay current on our payments to avoid getting a bad credit score. When that happens... you will ride around in a bummy car with a brick-sized cell phone and have the cool people laugh at you.

At least, that is what happens in those commercials.

You have a debt of love. Pay your debts!

Listen to This Podcast:


Download:
Click here to download the MP3 of this podcast.

Meditations on Love, Part 5: Community of Love

This podcast in our series Meditations on Love talks about the community of love.  Sad that so many churches and even individual believers can’t get along.  But in order to truly fulfill the calling of Jesus Christ, we are to create and live in a community of love.

⁹[Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.

¹⁰Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another.

¹¹Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.

Romans 12:9-11 [AMP]

Follow the instructions that Saint Paul gives us in Romans 12 and you will find yourself beginning to enjoy life that is lived within a community of love.


Listen to This Podcast:


Download:
Click here to download the MP3 of this podcast.

Meditations on Love, Part 4: Love Fu

In our audio teaching The Art of Fighting Without Fighting, we discussed the spiritual aspect of Bruce Lee’s style from the motion picture Enter the Dragon. Feel free to click the link above to download or listen to that album.

This podcast takes a look at the same topic... but from the perspective on our Meditations on Love.

³For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.

⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,

⁵[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 [AMP]

The weapon that we use is the weapon of Love.  Love Fu, so to speak, would encompass the art of using the agape love of God to disarm those who would be our enemies.

Listen to This Podcast:


Download:
Click here to download the MP3 of this podcast.