First United Methodist CHURCH Sermons
Jesus’ instruction to love our enemies is not something most people want to hear. At best, we want to ignore our enemies. At worst, we want to hate them. But neither of those is acceptable to Jesus – we must love them. The standard Jesus sets is made clear: as his followers, we must share the love we find in God with all people, even our enemies. The love Jesus demands has is not reciprocal, it is a giving with no thought of return. Loving our enemies as ourselves means that we have learned to love ourselves and that we treat our enemies no less than we would treat ourselves. In accepting God’s love, we admit that we were enemies of God too. He doesn’t call us to do something for him that he hasn’t done for us.
Today's sermon is "Tough Love" and comes from Matthew 5:42-48
Points from today's sermon:
1) Understanding love as Jesus defines it means we have to change our perspective. Jesus calls us to see the world from his perspective.
2) Jesus gives us a new standard by which we should live: “Be perfect as God is perfect.”
3) Following Jesus means loving others like he loves us: selflessly and indiscriminately.
Miss a Sunday? Maybe you couldn't make it to worship this week because you were on vacation or recovering from an illness? We understand. We missed seeing you, but you can still see us! Check out our online sermon videos to view a message you might have missed from either our Traditional Service or Praise and Worship Service.
This week’s bulletin can be accessed HERE.
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Join us for our upcoming sermon series!
The Songs We Sing
The songs we sing inform our faith in more ways than we imagine. Some songs help us to better understand parts of the Bible. Others help us to make sense of life. Still others help us to put words to our experience of God's grace. Whether the music is old or new - a "hymn" or a "praise song", music gives voice to our faith. During this series we will look at a variety of songs, and seek to learn more about how music is a key way that we can both worship God and deepen our faith.
