16th Nov 08 - Faith, Hope & LoveSpeaker: Pastor Tani Omideyi Topic: Faith, Hope & Love Text: I Thessalonians 1: 2-3
1 Thessalonians 1: 3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul in addressing the church at Thessalonica stated that each time he prayed, he thanked God for their work of faith, labour of love, endurance of hope. These 3 things were also recurred in other letters of Paul (eg Colossians 1: 3-5, I Corinthians ). We all need these things in our lives.
People need to believe in something and what you believe in makes a difference to your life. The issue is not if you have faith but who your faith is in. A person that believes in nothing goes around in circles. Faith produces work. Who your faith is in determines the quality and longevity of your work.
Hope is essential and is always grounded on something. Without it people commit suicide. It is the fountain from which love and faith spring from. Our hope is stored up for us in heaven. Knowledge of this fact inspires endurance. Life will be meaningless and unfair if there was no heaven. The heart of the Creator is that we be with Him. The gospel is what the hope of man can be secure in. The gospel is simply that God loves us and has a plan and purpose for our lives. However, sin brought a separation between us and God. We can only enter His plan and purpose when we accept Jesus who bridges the gap by reconciling us back to God.
Love is the greatest of these 3 things (I Corinthians ) The love of God compels us to carry out loving deeds. We are the channel or vessels of God’s love. God is the source of love. We need to look beyond the vessels (men) to the Source of love (God) less we idolise men.
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