According to John, all of God’s love dwells in Jesus, He writes, “And of his fullness have all we received…” (John 1:16). How have we received the Father’s love? We’ve obtained it by being in Christ.
But, you may ask, what’s so important about knowing God’s love is conveyed to us through Christ? How does this affect our everyday lives?
How does God’s love impact our lives? We have to look to Christ as our example. Jesus has already told us the Father loves us in the same way he loved the Son. So, what impact did the Father’s love have on Jesus?
“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us…” (1 John 3:16). Here was the fruit of God’s love in Jesus: He gave of himself as a sacrifice for others. The second half of this verse tells us the purpose of God’s love in our own lives. It reads, “…and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” God’s love leads us also to present our bodies as living sacrifices.
Have you ever thought about what it means to truly lay down your life for your brothers and sisters? John isn’t talking about becoming martyrs on foreign soil. He isn’t referring to being an organ donor. And he doesn’t mean we’re to take the place of some condemned criminal on death row. Christ alone made that sacrifice. No, the only kind of Christian who can bring life and hope to his brethren is a dead one. Such a servant has died to this world—to all self, pride and ambition.
This “dead” Christian has allowed the Holy Ghost to take a spiritual inventory of his soul. He sees through the corruption and ungodliness in his heart. And he willingly goes to God’s altar, crying, “Lord, consume me. Take it all.” He knows that only through being cleansed by Christ’s blood can he give his life for his brethren.
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.