This week Pastor Andy speaks about the love of God.  One crucial purpose of the church (all of us) is to introduce God to a needy and broken world. But this must be done in a way that is life changing. Hence it is important that as the people of God, we not only represent God, but that we represent Him properly. Over the years, ‘religion’ has caused many problems by tarnishing God’s image and confusing who He is and what He is like in a broken world bewildered about its origins. It is therefore imperative that we show the world that God is love.

We must understand that love is who he is. It is not just what he does – often this is where confusion sets in. We might say we are loving, but this is not the same for God, He is love. God loves because He is love. In His essential nature He does not become good when He does good things or become loving when He loves. He loves because He is love; He is good because He is good. These are expressions of His nature, the very person he is. 

This message begins with 1 John 4:16 – God is love; if we live in Him He lives in us. Do we live this way? John 15 speaks of the vine and the branches, if we abide in Him, he abides in us, and we can bear fruit and change lives. Therefore we must ensure we have accepted Jesus as Saviour, then the above scripture is true for us. We can then know God, experience His love, live in His love, and represent Him properly in the world to change lives.