Email Pastor Blake at blake.woodfcc@gmail.com

What does LOVE4 mean? I am truly glad you asked because this reality, the four directions of love, has radically changed my life … and I believe it can do the same for you.

V  You are loved by God lavishly

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

God created you and longs to be authentically connected with you. However, our disobedience to Him has damaged that relationship, creating a seemingly insurmountable gap. And yet God paid the ultimate price to make it possible for you and Him to be reconciled and live in close relationship here on earth and in the life to come in heaven.

^  God desires for you to love Him fully

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. (Matthew 22:37-8; Deut. 6:5)

Someone once asked Jesus which was the most important of all of God’s instructions. Jesus turned to a passage in his Bible, what many of us call the Old Testament, and pointed to a truth that Jews reminded themselves of day after day – love God fully!

God loves you and longs to be in a life-giving relationship with you. Of course, all genuine relationships are built on mutual love. We, in response to His lavish love toward us, love God in return. Throughout the Bible we learn that to love God means to trust Him and follow His instructions for our own good.

><  God’s love enables us to love One Another (family and friends) deeply

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Mat. 22:39-40)

Jesus wasn’t finished when he had said that the greatest of all God’s instructions was to love God fully. No, Jesus continued on and elevated the love for others, for neighbors, as essentially on par with loving God! 

>> As God’s love transforms us more and more, we are empowered to love the Other (strangers, immigrants, etc.) sacrificially

 And if that isn’t shocking enough, we learn from Jesus elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew that this love for others is not limited to our so-called “loved ones” but to strangers and even enemies.

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Mat. 5:43-5)

These words of Jesus lead us to embrace by faith this final “love direction;” 
 

Next step?

Friend, if you are ready to take the next step in developing an authentic relationship with Jesus then I strongly encourage you to work through the M2820 manual. In Matthew 28:20 (hence the title “M2820”), Jesus calls us to not only learn His teachings but learn how to put them into practice. M2820, therefore, is a systematic and practical journey through Matthew’s Gospel which will help you learn, and learn to put into practice, the core teachings of Jesus. There is a manual you can work through as well as video teachings that will reinforce the manual.
 
M2820 Manual click here            M2820 Video Teachings click here