Do you love me?

Peter, do you love me? This was the question posed by our Lord to the Apostle after Peter’s denial of Him the night of His crucifixion. Notice that Jesus didn’t ask him if he believed in Him, or if he had professed or confessed Him, or obeyed Him or even if he had placed his trust in Him. No Jesus asked Peter if he LOVED Him.   

Our Lord knew that on the very night he denied Jesus, Peter had professed that he would never fall away. That night, he had participated with Jesus in the most intimate of times, the first communion service and sat under Jesus’ most passionate and personal teachings. And only hours before his denial, Peter had come to the defense of His Lord by drawing a sword. If anyone expressed evidence of devotion for Jesus, it was Peter. If ever their was one who should not have denied Jesus, it was Peter. But he did.

In asking the question, ‘Peter do you love me’, Jesus was probing the very heart of one who had not known the weakness and depravity of his own soul until that night. It was only after being confronted with his great falling away, that Peter truly understood the depth of the mercy of our Lord and the freedom of forgiveness. As Peter ran from the courtyard and wept bitterly, he demonstrated his repentance of his great sin. And having just seen in the ‘look’ of Jesus (Luke 22:61), the immeasurable grace and offer of forgiveness, he could not help but love the One who would forgive so great a sinner. For love is the natural response of forgiveness shown.

What if we were asked today if we loved Jesus? As a Christian, we might find ourselves confused when asked if we belong to the elect, if we have truly professed Christ, or if we are a disciple of the Savior. But there should be no confusion or doubt when asked, if we love Jesus. If we have wrestled with our sin, turned from it’s appeal and experienced the liberating forgiveness of Jesus Christ, then we cannot help but say with some confidence that we love Him.

How is it with you today? Do you love Jesus? If the answer is no then evaluate if you truly are of the faith. If you answered, yes, then celebrate this Easter week with renewed assurance of Jesus’ love for you and His unending mercy and grace in granting forgiveness to His repentant children.

soli deo gloria

April 26th, 2009 Worship of a God who saves, part 2

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An incredible weather weekend here in western Pa. Also another incredible Sunday at CHCC.

Our focus in the morning messages, both in worship service and Sunday School has been appropriate and inappropriate worship of God. We are in the book of Isaiah and will be for the next couple of weeks. What an eye opening passage this has been for me as preacher. How shallow our worship has become in the contemporary church today. We must find ourselves worshiping our God as He has demanded and not in our hollowed out worship that we are so quick to bring to Him. Isaiah understood this as he got a glimpse of our Holy God and cried out that he was a man of unclean lips in repentance. There is much to say to the church today in the year 2009 from this OT book. Join us this week and listen to the past two weeks here online.

Don’t forget the Mother/Daughter Dinner this Friday at the church. Call if you haven’t signed up and we will reserve a seat for you. Great food, entertaining skit, and a short encouragement from God’s word by Tammy is planned. A great time is promised. The men have even authorized a money back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied. (since there is no cost to begin with, this isn’t much of a drawing point, so come for the great time).

Great being here at CHCC.

April 19th 2009, Worship of a God who saves

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Isaiah 1:1-20

Another great day at Center Hill.  This morning’s message was the introduction of a several week series from the book of Isaiah, chapters 1 and 6.  We will be looking at a biblical perspective of worship.  The evangelical church today is marked by worship with a consumer mentality and not the theocentric (God centered) emphasis of the scriptures.  We began this morning by an introduction and definition of biblical worship and examples from the Old and New Testaments.  It’s not about ‘me and my needs’ but about God and His glory.  The true worshiper is fulfilling the very reason he was created, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.  It should be an enlightening series.

Easter Sunday services. A great day!

What a great day at Center Hill on Easter Sunday! Sunrise service at 6:30, breakfast at 7:30 cooked and served by the men, and a great worship service following with resurrection music and God’s word proclaimed. I heard many great comments as everyone was leaving, ‘great people’, ‘loving group’ and the most satisfying for a Pastor, ‘God’s Word is amazing’.

The morning text was 1 Peter 1:3-5 and the center point of ‘a living Hope’ through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is that hope that we want to proclaim here at Center Hill. See ‘Our Hope’ page on the website. It was the basic outline of the morning’s messages this week.

It’s great being the Pastor at Center Hill as there is certainly a hunger for God’s word and not simply an attitude of ‘me and my needs’ among our people. In the short couple of months that I have been here, good doctrine has manifested itself through our people’s lives by love toward God and others. That can be attributed to past preaching from previous Pastor Todd and his commitment to the word of God.

The church was full this week, not only with people but with the overflow of God’s love toward each other, to His Word and to God Himself. It was a good week!