Transformative Power of Love in Times of Change
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
Greg Manning could see From the Terrace of his apartment that the jet had struck near the offices of Canter Fitzgerald, where his wife worked as the senior vice president partner. For the next half hour he paced frantically, stopping only to pound the wall and cry out her name. He was certain that his vibrant and beautiful Lauren was dead but he was wrong. [00:01:19]
That morning she had lingered saying goodbye to the 10 month old son Tyler and as a result arrived at the World Trade Center a few minutes later than usual. She had just entered the lobby of tower one when a fireball descending through An Elevator Shaft propelled her back onto the street totally engulfed in flames. [00:01:48]
A bond salesman who witnessed this raced over put out the fire that was consuming her remained at her side until an ambulance arrived. At the hospital her face swollen beyond recognition, she told Greg the pain was so excruciating she had been praying to die, but then out of love for him and Tyler made the decision to fight for her life. [00:02:10]
During his Hospital shifts Greg ignored Lauren's unconscious state, reading poetry to her and playing her favorite music, all the while reassuring her that she was loved that he would take care of her that everything would be okay. During his home shifts he took Tyler to birthday parties and play dates, read and sang to him and documented his development on videotape for Lauren's future viewing. [00:02:53]
Remarkably he also found time every day to send email updates on her condition to friends and family. Saving Lauren meant replacing more than 80 percent of her skin, often multiple times. Some of the graphs use synthetic or donor skin and from the outset were considered temporary, whereas others that were hoped to be permanent simply did not take. [00:03:23]
Although Greg would SOB in the arms of friends he never wavered in his Devotion to Lauren or his confidence that she would pull through. Exactly three months after admission to the hospital Lauren saw her new scarred face for the first time. The predictable shock and sadness were tempered by the fact that her husband had prepared her through repeated reminders. [00:03:55]
We are learning together about character, that's what matters most for you and for me it's what we will take into all eternity it is out of our character out of the moral fiber of our beings that we give whatever gift of life that we will give to the God who created us and to the people and of the world around us. [00:04:55]
In the Christian understanding, they're not all 24 equal in the Christian understanding there is one at the very center at the very heart you may know the Greek word that's most often used in the New Testament for love for God's Kind of Love is the word agape and that was where there was actually around in the ancient world but not used very much at all. [00:05:26]
When Paul was writing to the church at Corinth all of a sudden in the 13th chapter there comes out of him an expression of the beauty and wonder and goodness of love that is so powerful and profound it is sometimes thought perhaps to have been written ahead of time as a kind of a poem. [00:06:29]
All the character strengths or gifts all of them are good all of them God wants to grow but the one that binds them all together in perfect Unity because I could use curiosity in bad ways I could even use patience in bad ways I could use courage in bad ways but not love but not love the the core of Love Aquinas said is to will the good for the other. [00:07:18]
The word for today is give and this is part of the teaching of Jesus and of that early church that made them look for a word that they could invest with a new level of meaning that at the heart of all reality is self-giving love this self-giving self-sacrificing love of God so the word for today is give the intervention for today to grow this quality is give God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. [00:08:01]
When Jesus came it was God In the Flesh God who was vulnerable, his vulnerability was his Achilles heel, his Incarnation was his his Achilles heel but maybe that was his superpower that he was vulnerable that he would give himself to you and me there's never been a story like him that tells us the love is at the heart of everything. [00:10:43]
Ask a question about this sermon
That morning she had lingered saying goodbye to the 10 month old son Tyler and as a result arrived at the World Trade Center a few minutes later than usual. She had just entered the lobby of tower one when a fireball descending through An Elevator Shaft propelled her back onto the street totally engulfed in flames. [00:01:48]
A bond salesman who witnessed this raced over put out the fire that was consuming her remained at her side until an ambulance arrived. At the hospital her face swollen beyond recognition, she told Greg the pain was so excruciating she had been praying to die, but then out of love for him and Tyler made the decision to fight for her life. [00:02:10]
During his Hospital shifts Greg ignored Lauren's unconscious state, reading poetry to her and playing her favorite music, all the while reassuring her that she was loved that he would take care of her that everything would be okay. During his home shifts he took Tyler to birthday parties and play dates, read and sang to him and documented his development on videotape for Lauren's future viewing. [00:02:53]
Remarkably he also found time every day to send email updates on her condition to friends and family. Saving Lauren meant replacing more than 80 percent of her skin, often multiple times. Some of the graphs use synthetic or donor skin and from the outset were considered temporary, whereas others that were hoped to be permanent simply did not take. [00:03:23]
Although Greg would SOB in the arms of friends he never wavered in his Devotion to Lauren or his confidence that she would pull through. Exactly three months after admission to the hospital Lauren saw her new scarred face for the first time. The predictable shock and sadness were tempered by the fact that her husband had prepared her through repeated reminders. [00:03:55]
We are learning together about character, that's what matters most for you and for me it's what we will take into all eternity it is out of our character out of the moral fiber of our beings that we give whatever gift of life that we will give to the God who created us and to the people and of the world around us. [00:04:55]
In the Christian understanding, they're not all 24 equal in the Christian understanding there is one at the very center at the very heart you may know the Greek word that's most often used in the New Testament for love for God's Kind of Love is the word agape and that was where there was actually around in the ancient world but not used very much at all. [00:05:26]
When Paul was writing to the church at Corinth all of a sudden in the 13th chapter there comes out of him an expression of the beauty and wonder and goodness of love that is so powerful and profound it is sometimes thought perhaps to have been written ahead of time as a kind of a poem. [00:06:29]
All the character strengths or gifts all of them are good all of them God wants to grow but the one that binds them all together in perfect Unity because I could use curiosity in bad ways I could even use patience in bad ways I could use courage in bad ways but not love but not love the the core of Love Aquinas said is to will the good for the other. [00:07:18]
The word for today is give and this is part of the teaching of Jesus and of that early church that made them look for a word that they could invest with a new level of meaning that at the heart of all reality is self-giving love this self-giving self-sacrificing love of God so the word for today is give the intervention for today to grow this quality is give God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. [00:08:01]
When Jesus came it was God In the Flesh God who was vulnerable, his vulnerability was his Achilles heel, his Incarnation was his his Achilles heel but maybe that was his superpower that he was vulnerable that he would give himself to you and me there's never been a story like him that tells us the love is at the heart of everything. [00:10:43]
Chatbot
-
I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from Aug 02, 2023. Do you have any questions about it?