To Love and Serve Him Supremely All My Days
by
Colonel Janet Munn
GOD LOVES SUPREMELY
Victoria & Albert Museum
London, England
Diana Ross & The
Supremes – (originally simply The Supremes
Motown soundtrack
“Ain’t no mountain high
enough
ain’t no river wide enough
and no valley low enough
to keep me from you . . .”
Though you pass through the
waters I will be with you.
When you pass through the
rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the
fire you will not be burned; the flames will not set you
ablaze. (Isaiah 43:2)
LOVE; THE LOVE OF GOD
The Love of God is greater
far
Than tongue or pen can ever
tell
It goes beyond the highest
star
And reaches to the lowest
hell
O love of God
How rich and pure
How measureless and strong
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angels’ song
Could we with ink the ocean
fill
And were the skies of
parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a
quill
And every man a scribe by
trade
To write the love of God
above . . .
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain
the whole,
Though stretched from sky to
sky.
Nothing in all creation can
separate us from the love of God.
Romans 8: 35-39
Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
. . . I am convinced that
neither life nor death,
neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height, nor depth. .
.
Neither mountains nor rivers
nor valleys . . .
Nothing in all creation can
separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
The love of God
How wide, and long and high
and deep.
Surpasses knowledge
(Ephesians 3)
Past finding out
Love surpasses knowledge
The love that will not let
us go.
This love seeks and saves
the lost.
This love is supreme, and
extreme – it desires to cleanse the leper, to forgive the
sinner, to heal the broken hearted, to rescue the perishing,
to care for the dying.
This love of God – supreme
love, this God who loves supremely – always protects, always
trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails
Love covers over a multitude
of sins
Love is the most excellent
way
1 Corinthians 13
The supreme love of God
God loves us supremely
. . . We love Him because He first
loved us.
Because ours is a responsive
love -- We can love supremely.
Mad Munn
– husband’s ancestor, contemporary of Wm & Catherine Booth.
Do anything to communicate the gospel.
Love and serve God supremely
all my days?
Is this madness? There are
lots of other things we could all be doing!
Making some money
Living where we want to live
– be comfortable.
Do what we want – not under
people’s criticism, scrutiny, authority.
Wear what we want.
Office door in Manchester
corps:
2 Corinthians 5:13-15
If we are out of our
mind, it is for the sake of God.
If we are in our right mind,
it is for you.
For the love of Christ
compels us
– because we are convinced that one died for all.
And therefore all died.
And he died for all, that
those who live should no longer live for themselves but for
him who died for them and was raised again.
Our lives are not our own –
because we believe Christ died for us and for all – therefore
we MUST live to love and serve Him supremely.
To serve the present age.
Beyond our comforts.
Beyond what is to what can
be
Beyond our personal
preferences to the will of God,
To love and serve him
supremely all my days
ALL MY DAYS
Basketball team with an
excellent record during the games, but their record showed
that whenever this very good team got into overtime, if the
game was ever tie score at the end of the regular time, and
therefore the teams went into overtime, this particular team
always lost in overtime. Otherwise good record.
Don’t lose in overtime –
all my
days!
Live in obedience for a
while and then falter – suffer great loss.
Victim of our own
successes. Great grace, anointing, prosperity, blessing upon
our lives, ministry. Labours.
-
Retired International Leader of TSA – great
spiritual pressure and temptation
-
Order of the Founder – elder, hero, mentor of
mine – “under tremendous demonic oppression”
-
Retired life-time missionary to Africa –
faced death many times, nearly 4 decades in highly unstable
African context. Now retired in England – described this
time in her life as the most difficult yet – most
temptations to her own soul, to compromise, to say “no” to
the Spirit’s demands.
-
My own father in retirement – lifetime of
obedience and faithful service to the Lord as devout
follower of Jesus and local church pastor over period of 50
years.
Love and serve him supremely
all my days
Don’t lose in overtime –
-
Best wine for last. Deepest communion with
Jesus Christ.
-
Revival among our retired officers
-
Wisdom and covering of authority from older
to younger
-
But receiving of zeal, passion, creativity,
vision from young to older too.
Let’s love and serve Him
supremely –
Not with mediocrity – but
supremely
All our days.
Rejecting cynicism,
callousness, coldheartedness, lukewarmness, unbelief.—tender .
.
Stay fresh and hopeful and
clean hearted and trusting – in our earlier days and now..
Dad as young pastor –
summoned urgently to elderly man in his church, on his
deathbed, who had something important to say to his young
pastor. My father hurried to the man’s bedside, leaned down
to hear the words, “I still love the Lord”.
This is the way to end –
devoted in love to the Lord, supremely, all my days, to the
very end.
SASB
All my days and all my hours
All my will and all my
powers
All the passion of my soul
No a fragment but the whole
Shall be thine dear Lord,
Shall be thine dear Lord.
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