His Love Endures Forever

read more sermons >>

(NIV) Psa 136:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. :2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. :3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. :4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. :5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. :6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. :7 who made the great lights-- His love endures forever. :8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. :9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.

In these verses of Psalms is an explanation of who God is, His qualities, His doings and His feeling towards us.

This God has always been present as long as humans have existed and since God created humankind. The bible is full of the experiences with God and humankind and it attests to the power and to the mercy of God.

But these experienced of humankind and God which we find in the NT & OT constantly tell us also about the struggle between our own being and issue of being able to make choices and the God who is declared in the Psalms.

The struggle is always "Who is greater? (Me or God) I can make it on my own! (Because I know better) I can do better (let me prove it to the world);" And funny enough in all instances God wins.

Now God does not win because God likes to slap us around, but because he has a system set up from which we can not escape. It starts with our birth, the geographic location, the parents we are born to, and it ends with the death we will experience. Even though human cloning will give us the right to proclaim that we now are able to make the choice of parents and geographic locations. . that is not quite so, because our thought of the same is foreknown by God. If you truly believe any different, then you have to believe that the universe is a matter of chaos; that we are created as a matter of chaos and there is no order in all of our existence.

The problem of recognizing God is only in the time period between birth and death. . .the span we call ‘our life.’ And there is only one issue that stands between us as individuals and God. Yes . ..I said individuals! It is the gift of choice.

We can really believe what we want. We can worship the moon, nature. . .we can believe in reincarnation, we can believe that we will be transported to a distant star. . .we are free to do so.

But depending what and how we believe will deeply impact our sense in this world, it will impact the purpose we may see in our life and it will deeply impact others.

All of us have been touched in a very different way by our God. For some of us our parents lead us to our faith, for some it was another relative or friend or for some of us we heard this voice in our soul to come home. They heard it through circumstances, readings, experiences, etc. Those who have come to God late in their life often have a much deeper connection of appreciation of God, because they know the other channels of searching.

Each one of those who have come to god later in their life will tell you that God has always called them through different ways, but often enough they resisted the calling. Now, let me make this clear: There is NO actual voice that calls us personally! This ‘call’ comes when we experience this world and comprehend circumstances. This ‘voice’ in our soul offers to be a reminder to us of the existence of God.

One of these way how God called upon us is mentioned in:

(NIV) 2 Ki 5:1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. {SYRIA} He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. :2 Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. :3 She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." :4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. :5 "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.

:6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."

:7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!"

:8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."

:9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. :10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."

:11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. :12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

:13 Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" :14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

Now you also have to read the rest of the story. . .

This is the story of us. It is the letter of solutions to the problems of this life and it the story of the methods God is using to touch us.

As we heard God does use us, and we resist this path of finding God in circumstances and in other people.

In our humanness we seek the appearance of God. And even when God sends us answers through other people we resist the answers.

If we look at the King of Israel. . .amazingly enough he misunderstands the one who is calling for help. Once he get so the prophet, he denies his ways of healing him.

Let me bring this into contemporary terms. Here is a man who seeks healing . Many of us in life seek healing. In fact we all do. Healing which we seek so that we can experience happiness in this life.

That is really all we want in this life. Happiness!

So, we hear this voice of God , either spoken to us through others to seek a specific answer that can bring us healing and we go there.

Some time ago a relative was on her death bed and she was dying. I had just given my life to Christ and I felt compelled to seek a pastor. I could not find any pastor, so I sought a Catholic Priest. The priest, as I was standing in the door made the following clear to me: If she is not Catholic she will not see the Kingdom of God. . .and this is his lunch hour and he does not have time.

There are many of those who seek who received a similar answer from those who they put their trust in.

If they have not given up on their faith journey they then make an effort to seek ‘the prophet Elisha’ for their healing. . . .finding an answer for their hurt.

And as they have met the answer, they bring their human reason, because they are unable to acknowledge the divine. The going into the river Jordan is not in the act, but rather in the faith of overcoming own owns human conviction.

And then when the healing has taken place and one is convicted we will be encountered again by those who take advantage to the miracles by our God for very personal reasons of worldly gain.

God’s love cannot be bought. You can not even give gratitude for that which God is giving you. The only gratitude which is acceptable is prayers of thanksgiving.

It is our obligation to give the same love to those who seek as God’ love for us endures forever.