{"id":10687,"date":"2016-02-16T16:36:17","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T20:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=10687"},"modified":"2016-03-01T12:32:55","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T16:32:55","slug":"whos-your-valentine-21416","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=10687","title":{"rendered":"Who’s Your Valentine? (2\/14\/16)"},"content":{"rendered":"

February 14… Valentine’s Day!\u00a0 Is it just another “Hallmark Holiday?”\u00a0 What is Love?\u00a0 What do we do with it?\u00a0 And bigger than that, what does it mean to be loved by God?\u00a0 And- really important- what do we do with THAT??? Pastor Jim took a look at these questions (and at some questionable pop music) during his sermon of February 14, 2016.
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Click the below “Play” button and scroll down to follow along (the recording is from the 9:30 service)…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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The scripture was from “the other Love chapter”- John 15:9-17. \u00a0 Open the drop down boxes to read along (Pastor Jim used The Living Bible; the NLT is shown below)…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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John 15:9-17<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.<\/span><\/p>\n

10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.<\/span><\/p>\n

11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!<\/span><\/p>\n

12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.<\/span><\/p>\n

13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

14 You are my friends if you do what I command.<\/span><\/p>\n

15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.<\/span><\/p>\n

16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.<\/span><\/p>\n

17 This is my command: Love each other.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/p>\n

What is Valentine’s Day????<\/span><\/h3>\n

Many of us approach Valentine’s Day with mixed feelings.\u00a0 We ask our wife, “What do you want for Valentine’s Day?” and the answer comes back “Nothing.”\u00a0 Do you believe your wife at this juncture???\u00a0 Things were simpler when I was a kid.\u00a0 I may have been the only boy doing this, but I would give a Valentine to every girl in my class.\u00a0 But as I got older, I realized that I was never getting one back!\u00a0 One year, as I got older and “wiser”, I just stopped giving them out.<\/p>\n

So it all makes you wonder:\u00a0 Who Is Your Valentine?\u00a0 What is love?\u00a0 Who do you give Valentines to?\u00a0 Who gives you Valentines?<\/p>\n

God wants to be YOUR Valentine!\u00a0 And, He wants YOU to be HIS Valentine.\u00a0 My question for us today is: how do we develop and nurture a love worth giving on Valentine’s Day and on every day?<\/span><\/p>\n

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St. Valentine…<\/span><\/h3>\n

The following “Bonus Material” was not included in the sermon delivered on Sunday.\u00a0 To learn more about Saint Valentine, check out the below drop down box…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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St. Valentine<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

About 250 years after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, there was a priest by the name of Valentine.\u00a0 He lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius, who was committed to rebuilding the once great Roman army.\u00a0 However, he believed it was important for men to volunteer for armed service, rather than in drafting men into service against their will.\u00a0 But given a choice, most young men in the Roman Empire refused to serve.\u00a0 They’d rather stay at home with their wives and children than to go off into battle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Claudius came to believed that only single men would volunteer for service, so he issued a ryoal edict that banned all further marriages.\u00a0 He actually outlawed weddings in the Roman Empire, earning himself the nickname of Claudius the Cruel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Valentine thought it was ridiculous!\u00a0 One of his favorite duties as a priest was to marry people.\u00a0 So after Emperor Claudius passed his law, Valentine secretly continued performing marriage ceremonies.\u00a0 He would whisper the words of the ceremony, while listening for soldiers on the steps outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

One night, Valentine did hear footsteps at his door.\u00a0 The couple he was marrying escaped, but he was caught.\u00a0 He was thrown in jail and sentenced to death.\u00a0 Valentine tried to stay cheerful.\u00a0 Many of the young couples he had married came to visit him in jail..They threw flowers and notes up to his window.\u00a0 They wanted him to know that they, too, believed in love.<\/span><\/p>\n

One day, he received a visit from the daughter of one of the prison guards.\u00a0 Her father allowed her to visit him in his cell and they often sat and talked for hours.\u00a0 She believed he did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and performing weddings.\u00a0 On the day Valentine was to die, he left her a note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty.\u00a0 He signed it, “Love from your Valentine.”\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

That note started the custom\/tradition of exchanging love notes on Valentine’s Day.\u00a0 It was written on the day he died… February 14, 269 AD- a day that was set aside in honor of a man who gave his life for God and for love.\u00a0 Now, every year on this day, people remember Saint Valentine, but most importantly, they think about love.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor Jim isn’t the only confused about Valentine’s Day…<\/p>\n

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Some of us are as confused about love as little five-year old Kari who told her teacher, “Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”\u00a0 \u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

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Love, Love, Love…<\/span><\/h3>\n

Jesus had a lot to say about love, and His final night with His followers just before His crucifixion, Jesus spoke about “Love.”<\/p>\n

During the course of the evening (which began in John 13 and carries on through John 17) Jesus uses the word “Love” 30 times!\u00a0 It’s His last night; His last chance to instruct His disciples.\u00a0 So you’d have to think this was important.\u00a0 You take notice of a person’s final words.<\/p>\n

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Tina Turner asked “What’s Love got to do with it?<\/span>”\u00a0 “What’s love but a second hand emotion?”<\/span><\/p>\n