Growing in our love of God is the point of life, and particularly the Christian life, is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the point, and that's our topic today. We need to remind ourselves of who God is and what He has done for us if you're a believer. Then once you're a believer, we're called to draw near to him every day. James 4:8, draw near to God and he will draw nearer to you. Spend time communicating with Him. You hear from him through reading his word, meditating on his word, hearing it preached, and then you communicate back to him through prayer. It takes effort to cultivate a close relationship, it doesn't just happen. Love can grow cold if Neglected. Another thing is to fellowship with other believers who love God, especially within the context of the local church. And if you're a Christian, we need to remind ourselves that the purpose of reading the word and hearing it preached and fellowshipping with other believers is ultimately to love God more and more. [... more]

The apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians is known as the Epistle of Joy, and it carries a great deal of credibility given Paul's circumstances. Paul expresses his thankful heart, joyful spirit, gospel focus, confident hope, and affectionate love for the Philippians, encouraging them to rejoice in the Lord despite their circumstances. [... more]

Jesus Christ describes his heart as gentle and lowly, offering rest to those who come to him, and inviting people to take his yoke upon them, which is easy and light, rather than the burden of religion, which is heavy and oppressive. He calls people to come to him, not because God sent him on a mission he didn't want to do, but because he is gentle and humble towards them, and his heart is full of love and compassion. [... more]