HOLD FAST TO OUR LORD AND BE VERY CAREFUL TO LOVE HIM!

But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now… So be very careful to love the Lord your God. —Joshua 23:8, 11

Then Jesus said to them, “Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David?  David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’  David calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?” —Luke 20:41-44

             Yes, we “are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.”  We are also to “be very careful to love the Lord your God.”  This is the first command (Exodus 20:1-7) — “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).  And what is it to love our Lord? — “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them” (John 14:21).

             When we understand Who Jesus is, they we will understand why David called the Messiah to come, Lord—-

 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” —Romans 1:1-4

The resurrection proved who Jesus is. —

“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.  But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…” —I Corinthians 15:13-20

             Brothers and sisters, fellow followers of Jesus, we do not worship a figment of our imagination, but the risen Jesus.  We say with the unbelieving Thomas after he saw the resurrected Jesus— ““My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).  “But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now… So be very careful to love the Lord your God.”  Yes, may it be so, Dear Father, by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSAN5ObaRQg&list=RDvSAN5ObaRQg&start_radio=1