adminthat “God’s love never fails”.
Coty Pinckney says that human love fails. Even in the best of relationships, we let our loved ones down.
Indeed, today many couples plan on their love failing, by signing pre-nuptial agreements concerning the disposition of assets in the case of divorce.
Does God’s love fail? Admit it: Sometimes we feel like God’s love fails. Certainly, President Bingu wa Mutharika’s wife and children must wonder about the love of God, having lost their dear father and husband. So too the families of Monday’s bus crash that claimed 21 lives!
In these terrible times of tragedy, is God there? Consider the following scriptures: see verses from Isaiah: “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” (Isaiah 54:10)
And also, “But now, this is what the LORD says — he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze”. (Isaiah 43:1)
God promises us that even in the most violent cataclysm, even if Mt Kilimanjaro were to be picked up and thrown into Harare’s Central Business District, God’s love will endure.
We belong to Him, and He will stay right with us — forever. Forever!
Now look at the verses from Isaiah 43 carefully. Does God promise to keep us from troubles? Does God say, “I love you so much, I will give you an easy and comfortable life?”
No, not at all! Rather, God promises to be there in the midst of our troubles.
God says, “The path you must take may be through the rivers, but you will not drown; the path may be through the fire, but you will not be consumed in the flames.”
God’s love does not imply that He wants to make you comfortable. God uses these trials and tribulations for our good, in ways we can never understand while we suffer.
But He promises us that He will always be there with us, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the way things may look to us. God’s unconditional, eternal love never fails.
Finally, “God’s love is both individual and corporate”. Have you ever felt, “God loves Christians as a group, but not me individually?” “God doesn’t really love me!”
When circumstances seem to conspire against us, when we can’t understand what God is doing, when we don’t feel his presence while passing through the fire, we have a tendency to question God’s love for us; we have a tendency to feel self-pity.
Humanly, this type of love — a love for the group but no love for the individual — is prevalent. God’s love is both corporate and individual. Think of the biblical phrases that express God’s love for a group:
l God so loved THE WORLD
l Christ loved the CHURCH and gave himself up for her
l We are TOGETHER the body of Christ,
Paul expresses this beautifully in Ephesians, using body, building, and marital images to show how we all together are becoming what God intends us to be, His perfect bride, His well-functioning body, His superb piece of architecture.
But God also loves us as individuals. The images of him as our Father and we as His children, as those adopted into his family show his love for each of us. God loves us as a whole and does not neglect our individual needs.
God is the Father who knows His individual children, who cares about their bruises and scrapes, who tenderly holds them in His arms when they need comfort.
Furthermore, He tells us (as we saw in Isaiah 43) that we are summoned by name, that the very hairs of our head are all numbered.
His love for us is not a love that looks to the good of all but neglects the good of individuals; His eyes are not looking at the common good so much that they can’t see the good for each one of us. No!
God is indeed building His church, and we are a part of that great work; He is summing up all things in Christ, and we are part of that summation.
But God is so great that He never loses the individual trees by looking at the forest as a whole.
He is tending and cultivating each individual tree, even while he manages the whole forest in such a way that both tree and forest are perfected.
So, yes, God loves the bride of Christ, and is perfecting the church as a whole.
But God also loves you individually. You! God loves each of us individually. He cares about each of us individually.
l This is an abridged version of a sermon by Coty Pinckney, preached at Community Bible Church, Williamstown in Massachusetts, USA on June 19, 1994, courtesy of http://tcpiii.tripod.com.
Forthcoming events
Event: 2012 Call to Worship, Africa: Releasing the Glory
Date: April 20-21
Venue: Harare International Conference Centre (HICC)
Theme: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you”. (Isaiah 60:1)
Time: 5:30pm
Hosts: Ebenezer World Outreach Ministries
Contacts: 0772701939; 0772805693; [email protected]
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Event: My Resurrection Hour Crusade — Apostolic Flame Ministries of Zimbabwe
Date: April 23-28
Venue: Mutare Showgrounds, Mutare
Theme: “And when He thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus come forth’” (John 11:43)
Time: 5:30pm – 8:30pm
Speakers: Rev T O and Prophetess M Chipunza
Contacts: +263-4-772830; 0733371777; [email protected]
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Event: Conference — Jesus Reigns International Ministries
Dates: April 26-29
Theme: Exodus 35:31; Ephesians 4:12
Venue: Magamba Hall, Warren Park 1
Speakers: Pastor Zephaniah Chakava (New Life Covenant); Prophet Raphael Him (This Gospel)
Host: Apostle D Chikova
Contacts: 0772724272; 0733390233
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Event: Easter Conference — Mabasa Ezviratidzo Apostolic Church
Date: April 22-29
Venue: Goneso, Wedza
Speaker: Bishop Colin Mutasa,
Contacts: 0772958814/0733230868/055-68280
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Event: Spiritual Visitation to Equip Saints with Skills, Knowledge, Wisdom and Ability to Serve
Dates: April 26-29
Theme: Exodus 35:31; Ephesians 4:12
Venue: Resthaven
Host: Bishop P I Hove, ElShaddai Ministries International
Speakers: Apostle R D Rogers (USA); Rev G Mugane (Kenya); Pastor J D Modede (UK); Pastor G Ngorima and Mr and Mrs Grottis (Mozambique)
Contacts: +2634-794437/2936951; 0772932749
* * *
Event: Revival — Victory Church International
Date: May 1-6
Theme: Connecting People to their Destiny
Venue: Mufakose Community A Hall (near Tendayi Primary School)
Time: 3pm-5pm
Speaker: Pastor Paul
Contacts: 0772874189
* * *
Event: Prophetic Conference — International Interdenominational (Zimbabwe)
Dates: May 7-12
Theme: Such as I Have
Venue: Anglican Church Hall (N Mandela/S Nujoma)
Time: 5:30pm-8:30pm
Speakers: Prophets Nathaniel O Yeboah and Selasie Addae
Contacts: 0772213434; 0772125188; 0773452331
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“I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, ‘Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!’”(Revelation 22:8-9, NIV)
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