text:
When I originally began to plan to preach a series on the love of God, I thought through all of the various things that I wanted to share with you and say, and last Sunday I told you it would be the last in the series, message number 5, but on Monday as I arose early and began some time in my study to think about the subject that I had finished, it really was heavy on my heart that I hadn't finished it at all, that there was one other issue that needed to be addressed to bring the subject of the love of God to some kind of completion. And so, this morning, I want to bring you message number 6 in our brief series on the love of God.
One issue remained after last week that must be addressed, it is a critical issue, and it is the issue of response. We went deep and high and far and wide in our discussion of God's love. And we tried to wrap our arms around the height, the depth, the length and breadth of the love that passes knowledge. And when we got our arms as wide as we could get them and we were finally left in silence, unable to unscrew the unscrutable, we weren't done because there needed to be one other discussion and that is the one this morning on how do we respond to that love? What is required of us? We can't just put that great understanding of the love of God out there and walk away from it, it has immense and it has specific and clear implications for us. What is the appropriate response to being so greatly loved by God as He loves us? What is the proper reaction for believers to having received this surpassing love, this perfect love? And the answer is very, very clear in Scripture. Our response is to manifest that same love to others. That's it in one statement. Our response is to manifest that same love to others. How God has loved us is exactly how we are to love. And this then is really the capstone of everything.
In Ephesians chapter 5 let me just read you very briefly what Paul says at the beginning of the chapter. Just listen. "Therefore be imitators of God and walk in love." You are God's beloved children, imitate Him. How? By walking in love. That's our response to God's love is to walk in that same kind of love.
But I want to take you to Matthew chapter 5 for a moment because I think this responsibility, this duty, this implication of God's love is so crystal clear in Matthew 5. Verse 43 and I'll read down to verse 48, "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." Now Jesus is simply saying common knowledge, or if you want to use the contemporary parlance, conventional wisdom says that you are to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. In other words, they were not a lot unlike our society today, they wanted to give room for hate. They thought it was not only reasonable and acceptable but it was even religious to hate people who gave you trouble. Conventional wisdom said love your neighbor and hate your enemy. "But I say to you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you." Why? Verse 45, "In order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." Why? He loves His enemies.
The question is, does God love the world? Yes. Does He love those who hate Him? Yes. He loves His enemies and it is on that premise that we are commanded to love our enemies. There it is. We are to love the ungodly just like God loves the ungodly. And how does He love them? Through common grace, verse 45, "He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." There is a love which demonstrates itself commonly to everybody regardless of their spiritual condition or whether they are God's own beloved or not. There's nothing commendable about just loving the people that are in your group. If you love, verse 46 says, those who love you, what reward have you? I mean, that's not noble. Even tax collectors do that. Tax collectors are, in the New Testament, synonymous with the scum of the earth because not because of their profession itself but because they were Jews who sold out to exorbitant illegal taxation on the part of Rome and so they were seen as traitors of their own people.
Verse 47, "If you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? How different is that? Everybody does that, even the pagans do the same." You need to love as God loves and He says it this way in verse 48, "You're to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Nothing more demonstrates the perfection of God then the fact that He loves those who hate Him. Nothing more demonstrates the perfection of God more than that He loves the enemies who set their life against Him. And you are to be perfect as your Father is perfect. You see, that verse Matthew 5:48 is in the context of loving people who hate you.
So how are we...how are we to respond to God's love? We're to mimic it. We're to imitate it. We're to copy it. Ephesians 5, he used the word mimetesfrom which we get mimic. We are to reproduce the same kind of love. And that starts with loving the ungodly the way God loves them. And we shared with you God loves the world in an unlimited sense, God loves all sinners. And it manifests itself in common grace or goodness, kindness and secondly in compassion, pity, tender-heartedness, sympathy. Thirdly warning, warning about judgment, warning about hell. Fourthly, calling them to repentance or giving them an invitation to believe the gospel. That's how we are to love, just the way God loves His enemies. We are to treat them with kindness and tenderness and sympathy and pity. We are to warn them and we are to give them the gospel. That's to demonstrate, as verse 45 says, that we are the sons of our Father who is in heaven.
You see, we started out by saying the first proposition in this series was God's love to the world is unlimited in extent. That is, He loves the world, John 3:16, "God so loved the
world..." Titus 3:4 speaks of His love for mankind. And as I said, it is demonstrated in common grace, compassion, warnings and a gospel call. It was His love for the world that motivated Him to send His Son to be the Savior of the world, as Scripture calls Him. And so we are to love the world in the same way that God loves them, that is to say we are to love them with kindness. That's why Galatians 6:10 says do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith, but do good to all men. Or 1 Corinthians 16:14 says, "Let all that you do be done in love." Love them with kindness, love them with goodness. Help to make the sunshine them on a little bit and the rain fall, bring a little joy into their life, treat them with courtesy and tenderness.
Then we remember that the Lord loved also in a way that made Him speak about judgment. Our tenderness cannot mitigate against a warning. We are to love the world and warn them. We are to say to them that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent, Acts 17:30, and He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world by that man whom He has ordained, whom He raised from the dead, even the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to warn them, and warn them, and warn them about impending doom and judgment and hell.
And then as Mark 16:15 says we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So just like God loves in those same four ways, we are to love. We are to reproduce His love in the world with kindness and compassion and warnings and invitations to believe.
Secondly, the second great proposition we said was that God's love to the world is limited in degree. It is unlimited in extent but it is limited in degree. God does not love the world the way He loves His own. He loves the world in a temporal temporary way, He loves them in a limited way. He doesn't love them like He loves the elect, He doesn't love them like He loves those He has designed to save. He loves His own, it says in John 13:1, He loves His own unto perfection. He loves His own eistelos, to the max, to the end, to the limit, forever. And we saw that God loves His own, that is believers, those who belong to Him with a lavish forgiving, generous, merciful, gracious, inseparable, unbreakable, unconquerable, unwavering, unfading, sanctifying, cleansing, purifying, nourishing, cherishing love. And He loves them as much as He has a capacity to love because He loves them unto perfection...to the max, to the end, totally. And that's how we're to love them. That's how we're to love the brothers. We're to love them the same way He loves us.
In John 13 in that upper room the night of Jesus' betrayal, He demonstrated His love and an example of how the disciples were to love by washing their feet. And you remember they had come in from a day in the dusty roads and their feet would have been dirty, significantly dirty and it was a custom to have the most menial slave available to do the foot washing because it was the dirtiest and lowest task on the...on the responsibility chart. But Jesus who was King of Kings and Lord of Lords stooped and did it. And in John 13:12 it says He washed their feet and then putting back on His garment He reclined at the table again and He said to them, "Do you know what I've done to you? You call Me teacher and you call Me Lord and you're right for so I am, and you're wondering in your minds why is the Lord doing this, why is the teacher doing this, why is the master doing this?" And He said, "If I then the Lord, the master, the teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet for I have given you an example that you should do as I did to you. Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, neither is one who has sent greater than the one who sent him." I'm telling you if I did it you need to do it.
And then down in verse 34, "A new commandment I give you that you love one another even as I have loved you that you also love one another." There is that lavish, unselfish, humble, sacrificial bowing of the knee to do the dirty task that benefits a brother or a sister. That's how we're to love. It is a magnanimous love, it is a far-reaching love, it is a lavish love. It is a love, as John...1 John 3:16 and 17 says, it is a love that opens up our feelings of compassion toward one another. We are to love other believers to perfection. We have a love for the world but it's not to the extent that we love the brotherhood. We love the brotherhood like God does, to perfection, to the max, to the limit, with a limitless unbounded love. Peter says, "Love one another with an ekteneslove," it's the word fervent, ektenesis used of the stretching of a muscle to its absolute limit. We are to love believers to perfection. That's how we are perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.
To understand that let's turn to 1 John chapter 4 and this is the text the Lord really laid on my heart...1 John chapter 4. And here we are given a tremendous call to perfect love. If we are to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, then we have to manifest love for love is that perfection of God. And if we are to be godlike we have to love like God loves...with a perfect love. Perfect meaning, again, to the max, to the end, complete, thorough, whole, carried out to the full, permanent, supreme, all of that.
And John is writing here to believers calling them to this kind of love, verse 12, at the end of the verse he talks about His love being perfected in us. Verse 17, "By this love is perfected with us." Verse 18, at the end of the verse, "Perfected in love." John is not writing about some small component of love or some diminished amount of love or some lesser degree of love, he is writing about perfect love so that we can be like our Father...perfect. We are to love supremely, we are to love to the max.
That's John's theme in verses 7 to 21, I want you to look at it with me and we're going to go through it just briefly. It starts in verse 7, here is the opening statement that sets it all in motion, "Beloved, let us love one another." Yes we learn from Matthew 5 that we are to love our enemies, we are to love the world, as we said, with common grace, compassion, judgment and warnings and gospel invitations, but we are also to love the brotherhood. And this love here is commanded of us...beloved...and again he emphasizes we are the loved, that's why he calls us beloved, and so we are to love one another. We are to demonstrate the perfect love that will make us the perfect children of our perfect heavenly Father.
So verse 7 gives the exhortation, "let us love one another." Then there are six reasons why we are to obey it...six reasons. And they do overlap. John overlaps himself all the time. In fact, if you read the gospel of John you have the feeling you are going in circles...I should say if you read the epistle of John you have the feeling you're going in circles. He cycles back through the same things, interweaving, overlapping and rehearsing. But you will see here six reasons why the believer manifests self-sacrificing love that is like his Father's love to him.
Reason number one, because love is the essence of God...because love is the essence of God. In other words, if we are going to say we are the children of God as Ephesians 5 puts it, then we better walk in love because that's the character of God. Look at it, verse 7, "Let us love one another...why?...for love is from God." That's why. Love is from God. And we who are God's children will reproduce His nature.
Clement of Alexandria long ago wrote something that some might think borders on blasphemy, but this is what he said, "The true Christian practices being God." Do you think like that? When you come to the moments and days and issues of your life do you say to yourself, "I want to do what God would do? I want to think like God would think and say what God would say and feel what God would feel and do what God would do. I want to play God in the best sense of the word."
Alexander had a soldier in his army, Alexander the Great, who had his name, same name. The soldier was caught in some kind of unfaithfulness to the task at hand. And Alexander simply said to him, "Change your behavior or change your name." If you're going to say that you belong to God then you ought to behave in a way that is consistent with the nature of the one whose nature you possess.
So back to verse 7, "Love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God and the one who doesn't love, doesn't know God for God is love." And so we would expect His children to walk in...what...in love...in love. God's people bear His reflection. Everyone who habitually loves gives evidence of being born of God. Since love has God as its source, those who show that love give evidence that they are the children of God. Their life and their love is derived from Him.
You know, there were people in the church, the assembly to which John wrote this epistle, who were being influenced by mystical teaching that later became known as Gnosticism. And that mystical teaching said that we've elevated ourselves to the higher planes of human consciousness in which we have come to know God. And they looked down on humble Christians, demeaning, denigrating them, looking them as if they were low life, as if they were wallowing around in the muck of earth and these people by virtue of their transcendence, by virtue of their mystical experiences had ascended from the mud and were floating in the clouds of the true knowledge of God. That's why they were called Gnostics, from the word gnosis, they were the people who thought they were in the know. And to them John writes these words, "The one who goes around saying he knows God but does not demonstrate love for the brothers is not one who knows God because God is love and whoever is born of God and knows God, loves like God loves."
So, he says, first of all, we love because it is the very essence of God's nature to love. And we who belong to God will share that nature. Is God really love? Yes. You look at that little phrase at the end of verse 8, "God is love," and as we've been going through the series somebody might say, "I question that. Look at the world around us." You say history has this long tale of man's inhumanity to man, history is one long massacre. Spain had its Inquisition, Britain its Atlantic Slave Trade, Germany had its gas chambers, Russia its Siberian labor camps, United States its own abuses. The world is still swept by fear and lust and greed and it seems to me escalating racial tension and hatred. Nature too seems as twisted if not more twisted in our time than ever. Babies are born depraved. They inherent diseases and tendencies toward all kinds of trouble. Ours is a world of preying animals, parasites, viruses, deadly bacteria. And when you read the Bible you certainly don't read about Utopia. You open your Bible and you find tyranny, cruelty, mutilation, people having their eyes gouged out, their hands lopped off. God opens the ground and swallows them up. And the Bible is full of the stories of deceit and licentiousness and wickedness and immorality and homosexuality and war. And not only war but war that God starts. And Assyria, one of the most pagan, wretched, ungodly, cruel nations in the history of the world is called "the rod of God's anger." And then you read God is love? Easy answers can't possibly be right. You must realize that we are children, that we are fools, that we are self-conceited, stiff-necked rebels who will get everything wrong unless we are willing to give up telling God what He has to do and what He has to be like.
And we're right back where we were last week and we stand firmly in Romans 9 and we hear Paul say, "Who are you, O man, to answer God, close your mouth." God is love because it says He is. But His love is never unmixed or untouched by His other attributes. But God is love and in spite of how it might look, He wants this world to know He's love. And He puts it on display through His children. We who are His children will manifest His perfect love, that's why we're to walk in love. So, we are the offspring of God and His essence is love so let's love one another.
Secondly, we are to have perfect love for one another because love was manifest by Christ. Not only is it the essence of God's nature, it was manifest by Christ. Look at verse 9, "By this the love of God was manifest to us, or in us," literally in our case, "that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him in this is love not that we love God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Beloved, if God so loved us enough to send His Son, we also ought to love one another. Hey, we're supposed to manifest godlike love. God's love was manifest in sending His Son. That's Paul...that's John's second argument here as it's Paul's thought in Romans 5:8, while we were yet sinners God commended His love toward us in sending Christ. John is saying, "Look, you need to love like God loves the world and the believers, first because it's God's nature to love and you're His children. And secondly, not only based on God's eternal nature but on God's historical gift. God gave Christ."
The God who is love expressed His love by sending His Son for us. The origin of love is in the nature of God, the manifestation of love is in the coming of Christ. We are to love one another because we see the essence of that love manifest in Jesus Christ.
Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. Jesus gives us the classic, the all-time, the perfect, the glorious illustration of what loving one another means when He gave His life. That's how we're to love. We're to love by sacrifice. John says if you see somebody in need and you close up your compassion, how in the world can we say the love of God dwells in you, where is the sacrifice? Where is the sacrifice? God's free, spontaneous love is revealed in the sacrifice of Christ whom He gave...it says in verse 10...to be the propitiation, hilasmos. That's a wonderful word. You find it in pagan literature, pagan religious literature. And it is used to speak of appeasing an angry god. Pagan religions are always trying to appease God. They're always trying to get God off, whatever deity they worship, off their back. They're trying to remove the fear factor, the judgment aspect. And so they try to appease or assuage God, or to satisfy God. That's what the word means. Jesus Christ came and appeased an angry God. Jesus Christ came and assuaged a hostile God, a holy God sitting in heaven who was angry with the sinners every day. And Jesus appeased His anger with His sacrifice. And God wanted it that way because He sent Him. God bears a just and holy wrath against sin. God has a holy antagonism against evil and iniquity. And so He had to send His own Son to die on a cross to satisfy His own anger, to satisfy His own vengeance.
A related word to hilasmos, from the similar root is used in Hebrews 9:5 and translated there "mercy seat." The mercy seat was the place where the blood was sprinkled to satisfy God, the blood was sprinkled to make the atonement and God was satisfied, Exodus 25:22 says. Christ was that mercy seat, He's the satisfier of an angry God. Now remember, beloved, it is not the incarnation that is the preeminent manifestation of God's love, it is not Bethlehem that is the preeminent manifestation of God's love, it is Calvary, it is the atonement that is the preeminent manifestation of God's love. And that's what he says here, He sent Him to be the propitiation for our sins. God loved us so much that He wanted His own wrath assuaged and appeased, so He sent His own Son to satisfy His own wrath. No one who has ever been to the cross and seen God's love displayed can go back to a life of selfishness. God was so unselfish that He sent His own Son. And he showed us how to love, not just by washing feet, that's humble, but by giving our lives.
So we are to love one another because God is the source of love and we're His children. We are to love one another because Christ is the manifestation of love and we're to follow His example. Thirdly, we are to love because it is our testimony. Love is our testimony. Look at verse 12, "No one has beheld God at any time." Let me stop you right there.
Now the point that John is making here isn't very subtle, you have to think about it a moment but it's pretty clear. What he is saying is nobody has seen God. And we understand that. Exodus 33 says nobody could see God and live. Nobody has seen God. Now the point that John wants to make here is how is anybody going to know about Him if they can't see Him, right? God is going to reveal Himself to the world, He wants to put Himself on display, He wants people to come to know Him, He wants them to bow...why?, you say...because John 4 says the Father seeks true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. So God is seeking true worshipers. He wants men to see Him, know Him, fall down before Him and honor Him and glorify Him and praise Him. But John says nobody has seen Him. How they going to know Him?
Verse 12, "If we love one another God abides in us and His love is perfected in us." You know what the key is? If we love one another they'll see God...see that? That's our testimony. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples if you have...what?...love one for another, John 13:35. God puts Himself on display through the love of His people. And you know what, all of those philosophical questions, all of those grandiose theological questions that grapple in our minds with our feeble brains to try to sort out why God lets happen what He does let happen and all those queries about is God really a God of love...they all just wash away in the flood of Christian love. You can have people who are philosophical and analytical and they say, "Well I just can't accept God because I can't figure out..." they can literally be drowned in the power of Christian love. And what they see is a dimension of love the likes of which they know nothing about. And it is apparent to them that it is not an earthly love. No man sees God at any time, he says, that hasn't happened. Well the pure in heart shall see the Lord in the future, we'll talk about that tonight. But no man has seen God, you can't see Him and live. But if we love one another then God is in us making Himself visible through this perfect love, this love to the max, this limitless love, loving believers the way God loves them, lavishly, generously, graciously, forgivingly, cleansingly.
God wants us to love like He loves so the world can see Him. "Oh, I see what your God is like, He's a God of immense, forgiving, sacrificial love." So we are to love because God is love, because God sent Jesus Christ to love us and to show us the example of how to love and because love is our testimony. Number four, we are to love one another because love is our assurance, love is our assurance. Lots of people wonder whether they're saved. Oh, that's pretty common. They worry about whether they'll go to heaven if they die. They struggle, perhaps, with confidence and assurance. Let me help you, look at verse 13. Here's a wonderful little flow here...I wish we had time to deal with it in detail. Verse 13, "By this we know we abide in Him and He in us."
How do you know God is in you? How do you know you're a believer? How do you know you're in Him, He's in you? That's the question. "By this we know." By what? "Because...verse 13...He has given us...what?...His Spirit." The indwelling Spirit, Paul says, is the down payment, the arrabon, the guarantee, the engagement ring, the promise of an eternal glorious future. So we know we're believers because He gave us the Spirit. You say, "Well that's great." Follow this one, verse 14, "And...here's another way we know we're Christians...we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world."
You know how we know we're Christians? Because we understand the gospel. That's right. We have come to see and to understand that God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. And then he adds to that verse 15, "And we know that whosoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God." How do you know you're a Christian? You know you're a Christian because you have the Holy Spirit within you, you understand the gospel and you've confessed Jesus as Lord, right? You say, "I know I'm a Christian, I know I'm a Christian, why God gave me His Holy Spirit, I know I'm a Christian, I understand the gospel, I heard it, I saw it, I comprehended it, He came into the world to be the Savior and I confess with my mouth Jesus as Lord and Son of God, I'm a Christian." And that's all true. But all that is preliminary to the real issue in verse 16, here's the real kicker, "And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us."
When you become a Christian, you above all things are grasping the infinity of God's love for you, while you're a sinner He loved you, He loved you so much He sent His Son to die for you. He loved you so much He planted His Spirit within you. You have come to grasp God's love. And listen, God is love, he says again, and the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. And there's the ultimate. You know how you know you're a Christian? You say, "I know I'm a Christian because I have the Holy Spirit." That's right. But how do you know you have the Holy Spirit? "Well, by His work in me." Oh, what is it? The fruit of the Spirit is...what's the first one...love. It's one thing to confess Jesus as Lord, it's necessary. It's crucial that you see and bear witness to the truth that God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world which indicates you understand your sin, you understand your need for a Savior, you've confessed Jesus as deity, you've affirmed Him as Lord, you understand God's immense and infinite love for you, and all of that in a sense is...all of that in a sense is fact, theological truth, but where you really come to grips with the reality of the fact that you are a believer is when you see the flow of God's love in your life. That's it. The Holy Spirit, Romans 5:5, has shed abroad the love of God in us. It's a tremendous truth.
His love is poured into us and manifest through us. Do you love believers? Do you love to be with Christians? Does your heart rejoice when somebody becomes a believer? Do you care when believers suffer? Do you feel their pain? Do you have any inclination to pray and to intercede on behalf of any other believers? Those are evidences of love. Do you want to help somebody who is confused about truth? Do you have some kind of desire in your heart to show somebody a straighter path in their Christian walk so they can walk away from debilitating temptation? That's love.
When you see somebody who has need, does your heart ache? Do you feel like you want to reach in your pocket and meet the need? Do you want to throw your arms around somebody who is struggling in their Christian life and try to hold them up? That's love.
I mean, how else am I going to know the Spirit is in me if I can't see the fruit of it? And the first fruit that's listed is love. If you're wandering around wondering whether you're a Christian, don't go back and say, "Well I must be, I remember the day I signed the card. I remember the day I stuck the hand in the air, walked the aisle, sat down, stood up, genuflected," or whatever you did. "Oh I remember the day I was baptized," or "I must have been cause I prayed the prayer, I..." You could even say, "Well I must be cause I certainly understand the gospel. I know Jesus came into the world to die for sinners, I know I'm one and I..." But until you see the fruit, you see, you really don't have anything tangible. Oh you can take God at His word, absolutely, but not without the affirmation of the evidence.
We're to love one another because God is love, it's His nature, because Christ manifests the standard of love which is our example, because love is our testimony and it's the way the world is going to see God, and love is our assurance of salvation. Number five, because love is our confidence in judgment...love is our confidence in judgment. This is really an extension of the last one, it has to do with assurance or confidence, but let's take it separately. Look at verse 17, "By this love is perfected with us that we may have confidence in the day of judgment."
Boy, what he is saying is when your life is characterized by love and you're manifesting love everywhere, you're going to have confidence in the day of judgment. And verse 18 says, "There's no fear in love, perfect love casts out fear." The fear of what? The fear of judgment because fear involves punishment, and listen to me, if you're living in fear that Jesus might come or fear that you might face the Lord...hey, there's something wrong in your life and what's wrong is you're not manifesting love because if you were manifesting perfect love you wouldn't have any fear.
I've had Christians say to me, "I don't want the Lord to come right now, I don't want Him to find me like I am, I'm afraid of what might happen. I might not even get through, I might get cast out into outer darkness. I have anxiety." And it's because there's not the manifestation of love. When I look at my life and I say, "Is John MacArthur a Christian?" And there are times when I rehearse that in my own mind. I don't say, "Well he must be, he's preached thousands of sermons. Well he must be, he's a pastor of a church. Well he must be, he has all this theology in his head." No, he must be because he has a heart for God's people and he wants to love the flock like Jesus loved His flock. I fall short but the desire is there.
And when I think about judgment, I don't fear...I don't...I'm not concerned that I'm going to stand ashamed and get cast out because the Spirit of God has produced the fruit of love in my life. It's not love as it should be and it's certainly not perfected yet and that's why we have those little breaches in our confidence because the love isn't perfect as it should be, but it can be perfect in the sense of mature. Love is our confidence in judgment, it casts out all the fear. And we know as back in 2:28 it says we're not going to be ashamed when He appears.
There's a little phrase in there that's interesting at the end of verse 17, "As He is so also are we in this world," did you see that? "As He is," capital "H", that's Christ, so are we. As Jesus is so are we in this world. What does that mean? Well, Jesus in this world pleased God and God said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," and He said it many times. Jesus is God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased, and so are we. We please God, we please God. We don't have anything to fear. We please Him when His love is manifest through us and we can share the very confidence of Christ who looked at the cross and saw the joy, said, "Pass the cross," cause He knew He pleased His Father.
Well last point, we are to love one another with a perfect love because love is of God, because love is manifest by Christ, because love is our testimony, because love is the assurance of our salvation, love is confidence in judgment, and finally, because love is reasonable. That's the only thing that makes any kind of sense. This is really kind of a review. Verse 19, "We love because He first loved us." Does that sound reasonable? It's just the most obvious thing to do. We love. It doesn't say we love Him, that's not in the manuscripts. We love others because He loved us. And if someone says, verse 20, "I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar, for the one who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen can't love God whom he's not seen. And this commandment we have from him that the one who loves God should love his brother also." It's just reasonable, it's just normal, it's just logical.
How you going to love a visible man when you can't love an invisible God? It's easy to love a visible man, it's difficult to love an invisible God. But if you've learned to love the invisible God, the visible man is easy. Every claim to love God is a delusion if isn't accompanied by unselfish perfect love for others.
Now listen. What is our response then? One, we're to love the world the way God loves them. How does He love them? With common grace, with compassion, and with warnings and with a call to the gospel. We're to love the brotherhood the way He loves and that is we're to love them to perfection, perfect love.
I just want to say one other thing. There's one other aspect of God's love we have to copy and it is this, most supremely beyond God's love for sinners which is limited, beyond God's love for saints which is unlimited is God's love for His Son which is from all eternity. This is My...what?...Son? Beloved Son. This is My beloved Son. He said it over and over in the gospels. In John chapter 15 Jesus knew He was loved, John 15:9, "Just as the Father has loved Me I have also loved you. Would you please abide in that love? Would you do the same?" John 17 verse 24, "Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am in order that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me, for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world." Verse 26, "The love where with Thou didst love Me," Jesus knew He was loved by the Father. That's why on the cross it was so horrendous when He said, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Because He knew He was loved, He knew He was the beloved.
The Father loves the Son eternally and supremely, and so must we. We must love the ungodly with the same kind of love God loves them. We must love the godly, the saints, with the same kind of love God loves them. And we must love the Son as God loves the Son, supremely. Loving the Lord Jesus Christ is crucial in our lives. It's everything. Peter said, "Whom having not seen you love," 1 Peter 1:8. We are to love the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to be the object of our affection. It is He for whom we make the constant sacrifice joyfully.
Ephesians ends with these words, "Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible." We're to love Jesus with an unwavering and undying love.
You say, "What does that mean, John? Is that an emotion? Do we sort of sing songs until we feel it?" No, no, here's how it works. Listen to this, John 14:15, "If you love Me you will obey My...what?...commandments." Verse 21, "He who has My commandments and obeys them, he it is who loves Me." Verse 23, "If anyone loves Me he will obey My Word."
"Peter, or Jonas, do you love Me?" Yes, Lord, You know I love You. "Then feed My sheep." Do what I tell you. "Jonas, Simon, son of Jonas, I mean...Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?" Yes I love You. "Feed My lambs." "Simon, do you really love Me?" Lord, You know everything, You know I love You. "Then feed My sheep. Do what I tell you."
And there you are, right, in 1 John 4 at the end of the fourth chapter, but not at the end of the discussion. Look at chapter 5 verses 1 and 2, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and whoever loves the Father loves the one born of Him," so if you're going to love God you're going to love Christ. "And by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe His...what?...His commandments." The whole things ends up there. Verse 3, "For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not a burden."
So we love the world with goodness, compassion, warning and gospel calls. We love believers with lavish, generous, sanctifying, purifying, forgiving love. And we love Christ with obedient love. And when we do that we are responding in the only appropriate manner to the love of God for us.
Father, we thank You this morning for the truth, the power of Your Word, for the exhortation to our hearts. O God, how grateful we are that the vast reality of an infinite plan can come down to such a simple, simple directive...do what I tell you, do what I tell you. Make us obedient children, that's it, that's the issue, who keep Your commands, never considering them a burden, always a joy. We want to love the way You love. We couldn't do it with all of our human love, it would fall short. So we thank You that You shed the love of Christ abroad in our hearts by Your Spirit and may it flow through us to those who are lost, to those who are found and most of all to our Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


text:
Tagged: Brent Clevlen
5-23-2010 PNC Park
It was a dreaded Sunday game. The game last night ended around midnight. Surely there wouldn't be batting practice.
Each Sunday, I head down to the stadium and peer through the gates around 11:15 or so. If the cages are up, I will stay, if not, I just turn around and go home. No big deal.
I hate Sunday games because there's always kids everywhere, and there's always some special event bringing throngs of people.
I was floored when I saw this through the gate Sunday morning:
Game: 5 balls (4 hit, 1 thrown)
Season: 135 balls (83 hit, 29 thrown, 9 device, 14 found)
Games: 20 games
Average: 6.75 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 713 balls
Streak: 116 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 23,045

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Scorpio Greeting Card (October 24 - November 22) by Josephine Wall
Product Information
Card dimensions: Scorpio Greeting Card by Josephine Wall - 184x138mm (7"x 5.5") approx.
Information: Comes with a full colour envelope. Each card also features internal artwork and the front illustration is highlighted with fine glitter which adds sparkle.
Prose on the inside left of card reads (by Josephine Wall):
October 24 - November 22
Though Scorpios' appearance
is mysterious and cool,
beneath their calm facades,
the deepest passions rule.
Most sensual of the signs,
they feel intense desire.
Idealists to the core,
they're forever reaching higher.
Strong-willed with hidden depths,
Scorpios stand tall,
and when embracing a cause,
they give it their all.
Prose on the inside right hand side of the card reads (by Josephine Wall):
You are a very special part
of my universe.
Dictionary Terms Explained
Leanin' Tree
- 100% recycled cards
Leanin' Tree is a family owned company in USA which has some wonderful artists designing greeting cards for them. Their cards are high quality, having beautiful printed envelopes and also designed insides of cards.
* All of their cards and envelopes are printed on premium quality recycled paper. All cards are Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF).
* They use "Zero VOC" vegetable-based soy inks that are formulated without petroleum solvent.
* They plant trees to compensate for their carbon emissions from our manufacturing process and have a comprehensive company recycling programme. They also invest to conserve resources by having motion sensors, lighting upgrades, thermal equalizers, waterless urinals and underground irrigation systems at their company.
Their long-standing commitment to the environment is central to their company ethos.
Josephine Wall
- Painter
Josephine Wall was born in Farnham, Surrey, England. Her work now is receiving worldwide acclaim inlcuding a nomination at the Arty Awards (the artworld equvalent of the oscars). She works mostly with acrylic paint and has been infuenced by the romanticism of the Pre-Raphaelites, surrealist artists like Salvador Dali and the illustrative work of Arthur Rackham.
From childhood she has had a passion for light and colour, fantasy and visual story telling. Much of the inspiration for her mystical images comes from her close observation of nature and her interest in its preservation. Though she often strives to impart a message in her scenes, she also hopes to inspire in her audience a personal journey into the magical world of their own imagination.
"The art of painting is more than a career to me," she says, "it is an all consuming obsession and a love of colour and form. In fact, if I am away from my easel for too long I become restless and anxious to paint again."
Astrology is the study of the planets, stars and cosmos and how it affects our lives from day to day and year to year. We sell a range of astrology items. Please just click the link above to list them all.
Scorpio Greeting Card (October 24 - November 22) - Josephine Wall
This was added to your basket.
Delivery Price & Returns Policy
UK Delivery - More info
Return - In good condition within 60 days for full refund. More info


text:
LAS VEGAS — Patrick Cummins bit off a little more than he could chew.
While his offer to fight former wrestling partner Daniel Cormier on 10 days' notice was admirable, his decision to taunt Cormier proved foolhardy.
Cormier needed just 1:19 to make a statement and overwhelm Cummins with punches leading to the fight's stoppage in the co-main event Saturday at UFC 170 at Mandalay Bay Events Center.
"I'm mad he hit me twice with all the talking he did," Cormier (14-0) said in the post-fight interview in the Octagon.
Cummins (4-1) accepted the fight after former 205-pound champion Rashad Evans had to withdraw because of a knee injury. Cummins then decided to make public the fact he once made Cormier — a two-time Olympian — cry during a workout.
Cormier, making his debut at light heavyweight, patiently waited before hurling uppercuts that staggered Cummins. As Cummins walked away across the cage just a minute into the fight, Cormier smiled and stalked him down. A flurry leveled Cummins and the end came soon.


text:
Records in this category
- Why is my advertiser account ON HOLD?
- Strategic Bidding at 7Search
- 7Search Advertising Rules and Guidelines
- What is a cookie?
- Does 7search offer any tutorial videos to help advertisers get started?
- Can I Create Separate Bids for Mobile Traffic?
- What Countries Get the Most Impressions?
- What Is The Minimum Deposit To Begin Advertising?
- Where Are My Ads Showing Up?
- Who Uses 7search?
- Why Can't I Verify The Code?
- Campaign Assistance Tips
- How Does Click-Free Direct™ Navigation Traffic Differ From Traditional Search Traffic?
- What is a Desktop Search Ad?
- What are Mobile Search Ads?
This entry is in revision and can not be displayed.
Tags: -
Related entries:
- How does 7Search protect me (the advertiser) against Click Fraud?
- What Type of Keywords will be Mapped?
- How do I modify my default URL information?
- Why do I need an Authorization Form?
- How do I Update Bids on Existing Keywords?
141725/37%Last update: 2019-08-25 08:39
Revision: 1.0
You cannot comment on this entry


text:
New York state's highest court refused to reinstate New York City's ban on the sale of big sodas, ruling that the city's health department overstepped its bounds when it approved a cap on sugary beverages.
The unprecedented ban was championed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his successor Mayor Bill de Blasio, who vowed to fight a lower court's decision to overturn it while campaigning last year.
The court largely ignored the merits of the ban on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces (453 grams). In a 20-page ruling it determined the city's Board of Health engaged in policy-making, and not simply health regulations, when it imposed the restrictions on restaurants, delis, movie theaters, stadiums and street cart vendors.
"The Board of Health engaged in law-making beyond its regulatory authority," the opinion reads. "... It is clear that the Board of Health wrote the Portion Cap Rule without benefit of legislative guidance."
The city had hoped Thursday's ruling would overturn a lower court's decision that blocked the restrictions after restaurants, theater owners, beverage companies and small stores sued.
Soda has been under fire for years, with health advocates saying the sugary beverages are especially harmful because people don't realize how much high-fructose corn syrup they're guzzling. The bad publicity has helped lead to a steady decline in U.S. soda sales for nearly a decade. But other sugary drinks such as sports drinks and energy drinks have been growing.
Bloomberg had called it a reasonable way to fight an obesity problem that takes a toll on many New Yorkers' health and cityhospitals' budgets.
City Health Commission Mary T. Bassett said the city administration continues to look for ways "to limit the pernicious effects of aggressive and predatory marketing of sugary drinks and unhealthy foods."
"Today's ruling does not change the fact that sugary drink consumption is a key driver of the obesity epidemic, and we will continue to look for ways to stem the twin epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes," Bassett said.
The case was decided 4-2, with the majority opinion written by Judge Eugene Piggott Jr. Piggott wrote that city health regulators appeared to carefully weigh the economic, social and health implications of the ban — a policy function that Piggott wrote was not the health board's to exercise. The two dissenting judges wrote that they believe the Board of Health was within its rights to impose the ban, and that the judiciary shouldn't "step into the middle of a debate over public health policy."
The city hasn't said whether it plans to try to appeal. But it's unlikely that an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court would be accepted because the case centers on local government authority and legislation, not federal issues.
To help curb soda consumption, lawmakers and health advocates around the U.S. have proposed soda taxes in recent years. None have succeeded, however, in part because of heavy campaigning and lobbying from the beverage industry. In California, a measure that would have slapped a warning label on sodas was recently defeated.
In the meantime, Coke and Pepsi have also been rolling out smaller cans and bottles, some as small as 7.5 ounces (212 grams). The idea is that people would be more willing to drink soda if they could control the portion sizes. The smaller sizes are also more profitable for companies.


text:
Monday, September 7, 2009
Memory Monday: Band
Before writing this article I was wondering how I could write about the huge role band played in my high school life. Luckily, I was seized by a file organizing frenzy this weekend and came across a tribute and compilation of band memories I had written as my contribution to a presentation to be made to our band teacher, Miss S., at a Seymour High School Band reunion a few years ago. For many high school students, their high school identity was in large part defined by their participation in a particular high school activity group: athletics, performing arts, or academic competition. And very often, the loyalty and esprit de corps shared by the members of these groups can be traced to the strong presence of the teacher/advisor/mentor figure of these groups.
So it was with Miss S. She was a force of nature, and she guided the band to a state championship among the strong competition of several hundred other schools. Though technically "retired," she is still active and going strong and was recently inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame. Below are some excerpts from the tribute and recollection I wrote (with comments added later in brackets):
"I played the oboe and remember sitting in the front row between the flutes and clarinets. I was in the band my junior and senior years. I had never played an instrument before but had always wanted to, so I began lessons with the director of the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra. I do remember:
• Spending tons of time making new reeds and trying to keep the old ones in shape.
• Embouchure (had to look the spelling of that one up).
• Trying to coax a decent sound out of the school oboe (and usually failing). [Our band was filled with an amazing number of talented musicians for a small-town high school band; I was not one of them. I had studied violin for a few months, but it didn't help much. Nor did a previous severe ear infection, which impaired my hearing in one ear, especially when I had to blow hard on the cheap high-school oboe.]
• Trying to keep warm when we played at late fall football games, trying to keep cool when we marched in the blazing sun, trying to look cool when we had to wear … those uniforms. [Think of the typical block-cut band coat and pants, heavy wool, maroon.]
• Pride in our stride.
• Welcome to Flying Bandstands....
• Instruments … UP!!!
• Band study hall. [I remember friends copying the music for our school song to be used by the high school band playing in the Peter Bogdanovich movie "The Last Picture Show," the location shooting for which was being done in a couple of nearby towns; Archer City itself is not far from Seymour and Seymour is mentioned once or twice in Larry McMurtry's book.]
The pieces I remember best: "Them Basses" (repetitive, thus easy to remember) and Russian Easter Overture (my favorite among the pieces we played during my two years in band). When I mentioned to my husband that I would be writing about band memories, he told me I should just put on my coat and walk briskly around the block several times (it's about 90 degrees here in Virginia). That's more or less what I remember: heat. Especially the time I passed out from the heat (see "Most Embarrassing Experience"). And the boards. And diagonals. And trying to achieve a 180-degree field of view without turning my head. [Explanation for "the boards": a hellish contraption consisting of eight or ten boards, about 8" high when stood on a side instead of lying flat, nailed to two long boards at about one foot intervals to keep them upright. We had to march back and forth over them while playing our music for a God-awful number of repetitions; this was to give us the proper marching interval and to make us lift our knees and feet high when we marched. Practice started about three weeks before school did, early in the August stretch of 100+-degree days.]
As for concert season: the excitement of a new piece of music, getting to know the music, getting bored with the music, and finally rediscovering the music as the band finally got it all together on a piece – usually just in time for concert competition. The contests are mostly a blur. I mainly remember the look on Miss S's face before a competition – the look that said she expected nothing less than our very best.
Most embarrassing experience: see above. There were far too many funny moments to recount them here, though this brings to mind some of my favorite memories of Miss S., which have mainly to do with her reactions when we played various practical jokes on her.
There have been at least two important areas where Miss S. influenced my life. The first would be fostering a love of music. More than that, she helped to transform what was a passive appreciation for music into an active one, a fascination for the structure of music as well as for all the elements that go into a performance. And I am always a sucker for any TV entertainment involving marching bands or band contests (my family knows to expect dismissive snorts on the low quality of the diagonals).
The other area where Miss S. was a tremendous influence was in the area of self-discipline and the ability to take criticism without being intimidated and to use the criticism as a spur to improvement. This was a lesson that was actually easy to apply in my chosen area of study (and eventually work), foreign languages. My Russian professor at Georgetown was a renowned practitioner of incentivization through intimidation (his Intensive Basic Russian course was known as "Terror Tactics I" and there was a thriving underground literature – apocryphal, I think – of incidents of students fainting/fleeing/dying from fear over minor lapses in his classes), so the thick hide developed from being one of Miss S's students served me well. And I realized that both of these great teachers cared passionately not only about the music or language, but also about making their students learn to go beyond what they had always believed were their limits and refuse to accept anything but the best effort from themselves.
Another component of the discipline that we learned from Miss S. was the ability, or more precisely, the willingness and patience to repeat the same phrase or passage or marching maneuver over and over – to the point of boredom and despair and beyond – until we got it right, and this is the essential element in learning a foreign language.
What message would I like to give to Miss S. today? – Thank you. From you I learned what high standards are and hot to set and achieve them."
6 comments:
Gretta. BAND was the favorite class, eh?? MINE TOO! I loved band. When I had 2 teenagers in marching band at the same time I was in my 7th heaven, by the time my teens came along they had devised Marching Band Competitions. I would go no matter what the weather, rain, pouring rain, freezing cold, clap till my hands were red, and screamed till I was hoarse. Ohhh, such great memories! I even have photos of me in the NEW band uniforms we got when I was a senior in high school. I don't remember much else about high school, or junior high for that matter, but, I remember band, and orchestra, pep bands, marching down the halls. WOW, OH, WOW.ReplyDelete
Thanks for this blog!
Omigosh, Carol, another band geek! My older daughter was a chorus kid at her high school, and she always referred to the band kids there as "crazies." I had to bite my tongue to keep from rushing to their defense. Band was definitely my "culture" in high school. There is nothing like another band person to understand what it was like!ReplyDelete
Sadly Greta, I was not a band geek. I funked flutaphone in elementary school and just never gave music another try. However, I do love to listen to music ;-)ReplyDelete
I was a swimmer and can identify with your memories of being in an organization in high school and the lasting imprint it made on your life.
My closest contact with the "athlete culture" is through the aforementioned (in the above comment) daughter who was a coxswain on the crew team - I believe swimmers and rowers have a similar discipline and devotion to their sports. She was close to her team members the way I was close to fellow band members.ReplyDelete
I never followed through to high school band but took music(piano) along with the flute, a long time ago. This sure brought back those memories and you are so right, music study gives us all a great base for the future and brings with it the wonderful memories. I have 8 grandchildren in one family and they all are in the music/band program. I pray it serves them as well. Great blog!ReplyDelete
If you're in a school band - marching band, concert band, jazz band or even rock band, you have to check out the new Rhett & Link School Band Rap video.ReplyDelete


text:
Tuesday, August 14, 2018 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Buy a ropes course ticket at Pocono TreeVentures and get two zip rides for free! Offer valid on Tuesdays from June 19 - August 28, from 10 am - 12 pm.
Spend the day in the trees while you climb, balance and zip, and then soar through the air while you zip down our 1,000 ft. dual racing zip lines.
Tickets must be for the same person. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Weather permitting.
Pocono TreeVentures
1575 Fairway Villas Blvd
East Stroudsburg, PA 18302


text:
Looking for a luxurious look and feel in a phone cover? Made of Alcantara material, this case exudes softness and sumptuousness. Its inside is also lined with Alcantara, helping cushion your phone's display from wear and tear.
The cover provides soft touch similar to suede. It is also stain-resistant, meaning you can wipe the cover easily when it gets dirty.
* Alcantara is a covering material manufactured and marketed by Alcantara SpA. Alcantara is produced by combining an advanced spinning process and chemical and textile production processes which interact with each other.
Compatible with
Samsung Galaxy S8


text:
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Meet your fellow owners in our Owners Clubs
Chrysler Sebring Problems and Solutions
Owner's Clubs
halliday Posts: 2"Mee too". 98 Sebring convertible as well. We may have had the problem from the beginning, since we drove it every day, but we first saw the same behavior after we trailered the car to Phoenix when it was 1 year old. Sometimes it can sit longer, but sometimes after 2 days it will be dead dead dead. We had 3 or 4 batteries replaced under warranty and two different dealers say there was no drain in the system. Now that I think of it, it might have something to do with rain, since I remember it was raining at the train station last time it happened (March '05 in Virginia this time). I just can't remember if rain was an issue in Phoenix. (Yes, actually, it does rain in Phoenix.)
Some low power component shorting out when it gets wet?
Either of you notice rain being an issue?
sjm308 Posts: 3My 2003 Sebring Limited Conv had the same problem with its 16" chrome factory wheels. Was having new tires mounted at all corners and the shop owner called me out back to show me the flaking chrome plating on the wheels where the tire bead makes contact. He said he sees this often on Chrysler chrome wheels. His solution is always to apply black goop on the tire beads before mounting them onto the wheels. This cuts back on the chances of air leaking out at the bead/rim contact area. Personally, if I find that in the future I need to replace the rims, I'll order new tires mounted on rims from a discount tire house like "Tirerack" or "Discount Tire" - not through Chrysler. No point in having the same problem all over again.0
steve1947 Posts: 2I am in the proces of replacing my 3rd wheel. After the 2nd one I was told by the after-market wheel mfr. that Chrysler uses the "softest alumnium in the industry".Admittedly each replacement was necessitated by hitting potholes,but the impact didn't seem to be that serious.Is the "softest aluminum in the industry" statement valid? Has anyone had a similar experience? Does Chrysler offer any assistance in replacing the wheels?0
mbaesch Posts: 1I own a 2001 LXI. I previously owned a 97 JXI. The 97 was a dream to own. The 2001 is a different story. I like the new body/interior design but the shifting of the automatic transmission with the 2.7 is not as smooth as the 97 / 2.5 V-6. Anyone noticing the same with theirs? I have spoken to the dealership and they state it is operating normally. I beg to differ. It clunks when reversing and then moving into the forward drive gear. In addition the upshifting when accelerating is jumpy from one gear to the next. I have owned several Chryslers and this is the first automatic to operate this way.0
beezy Posts: 1My wife and I love the car, and just purchased another one (2002 LXI, different color.) But, the 2001 has not been without its problems:
. Central command control module failed - interior lights wouldn't go off, etc. Replaced.
. Passenger window wouldn't operate - replaced window motor.
. Rear window defroster failed - replaced entire rear window.
. Front windows don't lower completely when lowering the top. Haven't taken it in yet.0
kmconnors Posts: 1I have had sixteen flat tires since owning my '98 Sebring -- I cannot get to the bottom of the issue, though much like Steve above I have had two rims replaced (at the dealerships cost) but the dealership refuses to acknowledge that the rims are faulty. Aggravating enough that I may just sell the car!!!! I've shelled out about $1,000 of my own $$ to fix the repeated tire issues. I complained to the Better Business Bureau and that at least got the dealership to start paying for the repair costs and to replace the two rims, which is the least they can do, since the car is unreliable due to the tire problems......0
dianall Posts: 1I bought a brand new (leftover) 2001 Chrysler Sebring in Nov. 2001. It was a quiet ride...for about 2000 miles. Dealt with a rattle under the middle of the car which was remedied after 2 visits by tightening exhaust. Around 4500 miles noticed a loud creaking noise in the front end when turning. Have been back five times since. So far the Five Star Chrysler Dealer service dept has replaced the control arms on the left side, the stabilizer links on both sides, and lubed an area on the tire rod which "should" have been factory lubed. In between all that I was told those noises are normal. Within the last two weeks I took it to 2 independent service technicians. They feel it is in the struts. Chrysler said they cannot authorize repair
because they cannot hear the noise. Also, the warmer the weather, the less sound is heard. Pulling out of my garage in the morning it sounds like an old rocking chair for several miles. I will be leaving my car for them to drive "cold" again. There is currently 8000 miles on it. In addition to the creaking noise in the front end, I notice a clicking noise from the steering column, and a shift in the seat on quick acceleration/stops which I am told is normal for these vehicles. The garage did replace what they said was a defective bolt in the seat, it is only a little better. This is my 4th new Chrsler product and I am greatly disappointed. I never returned to the garage with the others.
Anyone else having problems with their 2001 Sebring sedan?0
ddeboer44 Posts: 1humming trans up 60 mps . what is causing this .0
bbunch Posts: 7Not to sound dumb, but how and the heck do you change the air filter on this thing?(2001 convert) I have a K&N ready to go. I found the snaps and can see the top of the old filter but with all the piping and wiring etc. the top "circular housing" wont get out of the way. Its ironic that in the plastic it says "to service filter see owners manual". But when you look in the owners manual, all you get is the schedule to change it. K&N didnt provide instructions as well. HELP!0
shirleys Posts: 2Have owned my first mid life crisis convertible with the 2000 LXI. Have been a Chrysler purchaser for 30 years, but next month I believe I'm going NISSAN. Have had plenty of trouble with the clicking in the engine, windows that won't go down, total replacements of parts not warranted replacement with only 20,000 miles on the thing and the inferior interiors. I am not going back.0
parran Posts: 1Similar to dianall, I purchased a used 2000 JXI with a little more than 13K miles. Have noticed the creaking and crunching under the left front when driving over changes in grade and while turning. Dealership never heard the noise while under warranty but also replaced the control arms on the left side, the stabilizer links, etc. Suspect struts too - will be taking it in for that noise, brakes (an annual event), and work on the top. Have also had the cruise control replaced, AC button replaced, and both rear tail lights. Now the elastic straps that keep the header close to the top are wearing out and the header in the top is sagging. Although fun to ride with the top down - I'll be trading soon. Not worth the worry.0
oursler Posts: 1we recently purchased 2002 Chrysler Sebring convertible. It seems there is a lot of body flex when going in & out driveway or on rough roads. The popping or groaning noise seems to come from the body binding on the doors. Has anyone had this problem and if so what was the fix?0
... a sebring convertible. have wanted a ragtop for awhile.could also use an alternative to my long bed ext. cab f-250 diesel. rented a sebring convertible on a trip to nawlins'. while going thru several forums have read some real horror stories; mostly concerning jx series. things like car filling with water in heavy rains (top up ), body panels falling off doors, mystery electric problems. i truly enjoyed the ltd. experience i had with the car. the 2 used jxi's i've driven ( both 99's w/mid 40k on the odometer ) had front end shimmys & the seat retaining bolts were rusty. i've heard that the rack & pinion bushings are not available so the whole unit gets replaced, the intake manifold requires diassembly for spark plug replacement, & a few other quirks.
what do you owners have to say?
candyman85233 Posts: 43I used to have a 97 sebing convertible jx and was very disappointed with it. In 2001, Chrysler basically remade the car, and it is a MUCH IMPROVED car. I am actually considering purchasing a 03 Limited, after test driving the Toyota Solara, BMW 3 series, Saab 9-3 and Volvo c70 (all convertibles). Good luck! Go test drive an 01-03 models and but those, not the old ones!0
jin_satx Posts: 40whit4,
Hope your car is still under warranty. Just had a similar humming in my 2002 at 6k miles. Damn noise was so loud that it was driving me crazy. Well, my dealer heard it, knew what it was immediately, and fixed it right away. It was a front wheel hub. Mine was a defective left front hub (drivers side), but I'd have them check both. Only took the dealer about 45 min. to fix. Unfortunately, this is starting to sound like an endemic problem in the 2001/2002, therefore, if you're just out of warranty, I'd have them contact Chrysler for a free fix. As for me, with the problems I've had lately, I'm buying an extended warranty in the next year.0
drove 00'-a jx & a jxi & an 01'lxi & 02'lx. all 4 had a slight wobble in the front end. the lx's had noticably more road noise rear view mirror & window rattles. top noise on one was at the windshield & would be an wasy fix by adjusting tie down clamps. the jx's actually looked better as far as body fit & interior finish. they also had noticably less power & weaker brakes. now thinking about another auto maker, mitsubishi perhaps.0
plrod Posts: 13I purchased a 00 JX ex rental with 15K 2 years ago and while I've only logged 10K during that time, I'm happy with the car but I did have it go into limp mode once because of a tranny problem. That was fixed with the rebuilding of the transmission valve body. I had noticed some clunking when going from neutral to reverse and sometimes from park to reverse prior to this and this has not happened again.
The breaks on these cars (at least 1st generation)are very noisy when cold. They squeak alot when cold but once they warm up that goes away. Dealer says it's normal with the OEM pads - I'm still on the original set with 25K. Anyone using a pad they can recommend that doesn't make this noise?
Prior to purchasing the car I researched here and elsewhere and became aware of the TSB's that were out on my model. One in particular addressed the water in the cabin issue and offered a fix which the dealer did on my car. I'd never had this happen bc my car is mostly garaged but I asked for the fix to be done and they did it. Check out the TSB's on this site or at: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/service1.cfm?SearchTopic=Vehicle
My car's original 3/36 waranty just expired, now I have 7/75 extended warranty. During the last two years my car would go to the dealer for every little thing. They replaced: all weather stripping, passenger visor/mirror, couple of brake lights which kept going out at first, the transmission valve train and various other details which I can't even recall w/o getting out the file.
Bottom line is: Let others pay the depreciation of the new car, buy the last model year of any American car (never the first) used while still under factory warranty, then get an extended warranty (a must for Chryslers IMO) which will cover you for the time you will own the car. If the car has many problems during your time with it, unload it around 1 year before the extended warranty expires. I realize this formula doesn't work for everyone but I've grown to like it. I do like new cars too, just haven't bought one since 95.
On the wheels, my JX came with 15" steelies w/hubcaps and man those stock tires would squeel around the twisties - they didn't hold the road at all. I purchased aftermarket 17's and am running 215 50 series and the car handles much better. I've also installed an aftermarket rear sway bar which further improves cornering.
Safe motoring!0
chinajohn Posts: 4Any clue why the dealer has asked me to come back in after I just leased an 03 Sebring two weeks ago and sign another agreement just so they can change the excess mileage charge from 0.15 to 0.20?? What if I say no thks, I'll just keep what I have that you signed already? They tell me it is now Chrysler policy and they just got the word.0
I've never leased a car, but to me a contract is a contract. If they screwed up, they eat the extra .05. I think any lawyer would agree.
Good luck,
Lee B.0
jsosinski9966 Posts: 1Bought my 2001 Sebring Sedan LXI in July 2001. Loved it from the first time I saw it in 2000. Several irritating problems though:
1.) 2-Months old - Rattle under middle of car. 5* Dealer tightened but every time there is a temperature change w/ weather (warm to cold) rattle comes back.
2.) 4-Months old - Whinning/Humming Noise coming from front end (transmission) dealer says not transmission. Replaced rt/frnt bearing hub assembly. (only after 4 trips to 5* dealer who couldn't duplicate noise) Happens usually between 30 & 45 mph & in cold weather only. Had tires rotated - noise coming back. (dealer deaf again)
3.) Crunching noise when turning and braking at the same time. Dealer can't figure it out.
4.) Rear brakes grind in reverse. Usually when wet & cold. Rear brakes replaced by warranty. Never stopped the problem.
5.) Interior light flickering. Switch replaced.
6.) January 2003 Heater went. Would only blow on level 4. Warranty - blower resistor faulted...resistor replaced.
7.) Driver's side passenger window switch faulted - warranty repair
So far no recalls - but Chrysler doesn't admit to anything being wrong w/ their vehicles.
Love my car but these minor noises that can't be fixed are irritating. Wondering when they will turn into major fixes. Putting on alot of miles. 27,185 in 18 months. Warranty will be up soon (before I pay off) Wondering whether or not to dump it off. Again - I love this car -- it's a head turner, but when it spends more time at the dealer than in my hands??? Any advice?0
wxjon Posts: 4I bought a 97 Sebring JX back in 98 as a program car. The car now has 95,xxx on it, and would I buy another? NO. Don't get me wrong this is a fun car to drive, and for anyone consider buying one, consider it. If you want a convertible for not a whole lot of money, this is a great car.
Now that being said my days with Chrysler are probably coming to an end. This car has not been a nightmare just lots of little things.
1) 4 sets of front brakes, front roters once.
2) Fuel gage replaced (not cheap)
3) Standing water in the back seat floor after the car was parked at the airport during a rain.
4) Door switch replaced (you know the thing that turns off the dome lights) That was fun driving down the road with the map lights going off and on and the car dinging.
5) Hydrolics went out top (that is really not cheap)
6) Back window defroster disconnected itself (never been fixed by dealership)
7) Hydrolics on trunk -dead
8) Trunk release button -dead
9) Black cover over transmission hole (broken twice once under warranty, second time was on my dime -was told it would be $250 -it stayed broken.
10)Heat sometimes switches to just blower and then back to heat.
11) Countless other things.
Again nothing huge, the car still starts and it still gets me to work and home.
Just thought I would add my 2 cents!
Now have 14,000 miles on 2002 LX. Car has settled down quite nicely. Still have crunch and grind when turning and do expect A/C groan to return in hot weather (when it comes). Biggest complaint so far is wiper blades, they don't last long. Dealer has replaced for me (3) times. A positive note, I live in Delaware, lived most of life in Pittsburgh PA, believe in snow tires for winter. Bought some 15" wheels and run of the mill real live snow tires for the car. In a recent 8" snowfall just get out of the way! This Sebring went everywhere, plowed roads or not! Great car in snow with right tires. Wouldn't even try with the 16" factory tires. Maybe I'll keep it after all.0
runpanther Posts: 44Yea, I get the "crunching" noise also. Especially on cold mornings and/or evenings after the car has sat a while. It seems too always happen during "right" turns.
My dealer is also stumped. Please post should you find anything out (and vice versa). thx0
tswartz Posts: 1has anyone had this problem? The aluminum wheels on my 98 jxi have a clear plastic coating on them that has started to peel off. I'm the 2nd owner and Chrysler says they won't pay for refinishing. Seems like a clear defect to me.0
jotek Posts: 2We have a 2001 LX convertible w/15,000 mi. We have taken it to the dealer several times with minor complaints, however lately we've gone in with the same complaint. Tapping in the engine has gotten very loud. The first visit the dealer stated there was sludge in the engine and indicated that it was due to poor maintenance. We quickly informed them that simply was not the case. They changed the oil, even though we had just had it changed 2,000 miles prior to the visit. The second visit they "could not duplicate the concern" and suggested we use synthetic oil at the next oil change. The third visit, the tapping was so loud it was ridiculous, they changed the oil to synthetic oil. (even though they had recently changed it) It now is tapping as loudly as ever. This is a five star dealership and of course our frustration is mounting. We are thinking of taking the car to another dealer to see if we can get any results. These people appear to be deaf. We are very displeased with the performance of this vehicle. We have owned convertibles in the past and this has been the worst. (the original top frayed with worn areas,sagged a little, and had to be replaced in Oct. 2002, seems it was immproperly mounted) The replacement was done only after we insisted that something was wrong. Is anyone else experiencing a problem with very loud engine tapping?0
Nope, my 2001 Limited has only about 4,000 miles and is still very quiet. From what I have seen at a couple of Sebring convertible message boards, your level of trouble is unusual. I have seen very few complaints with the 2001's.
Definitely go to another dealer if there is one in your area and you're not getting satisfaction at yours. I've seen dealers that get hard-of-hearing if they think the noise might be of a serious nature. My father-in-law had that problem with a Mercury and even the Ford district rep "didn't hear the noise in the engine". All it took to clean their ears was a letter from the Mass. Attorney General's office. They found and fixed the problem.
Good luck,
Lee B.0
kathyc4 Posts: 1I am considering buying my first convertible, and I am very impressed with the Sebring so far but am nervous about the cloth top. What's the best way to care for this type of top? I live in an area where we get intense sun in the summer, and some snow in the winter. I park in a garage both at home and work, so that should help. Advice?
Also, I'm looking at a 2002 LXi really loaded with only 30 miles (except for the 15 I put on it today!). The dealer has shown me an invoice of $27,507 but is giving me a $4,500 rebate so my final cost out the door (including tax and other charges) is $24,812. Is this a good price?0
I wouldn't be concerned with the cloth top if you keep it garaged at work and home. I keep my '01 Limited (Blue cloth top) garaged and it looks like new. Soap and water should keep it clean. I generally use clear water often. New England summers aren't too hot, but we get plenty of snow. I must confess that usually in bad weather I'm able to leave the convertible in the garage and use my T&C.
I'm not much of an expert on price, but if my dealer came in with that deal, I'd take it.
Good luck,
Lee B.0
Beware the "Great" price with rebates etc. My 2002 LX Sedan stickered for $18,300. I bought for $15,636 before down payment. To trade in car now (1)year later (bought Jan 17th, 2002) can only get $9100 for it. Trade in is only 50% of sticker after (1) year. If you want a convertible, buy a certified used one from a dealer and take the best warranty they offer, total negative cash flow will be less than buying new. Rebates and incentives are killing resale values, the industry knows it!0
lexingtonian Posts: 1...from up North. I have a Sebring LXi 2001; only some 15000 miles in. Regular oil changes and more gas -- that's all I've been needing after bad radio was changed (warranty).
I shipped my car to Scandinavia about a year ago and now live way up north. For weeks in a row we have -20F temperatures. No problems for Sebring. No rattles or anything. I could use heated front seats, though.0


text:
The Public Works Department's online system for right-of-way permits has a link on the City's main website for residents and private contractors. It can also be accessed internally by all other City departments. This allows for more timely communication between departments and better cooperation with residents and contractors complying with City regulations. Right-of-way permits can also be obtained by coming to the Public Works Department on the 3rd floor of City Hall, 111 E. Maple.
View online right-of-way permit brochure.
Apply online for right-of-way permit.


text:
PC » Puzzle » Hidden Object
Vacation Quest: The Hawaiian Islands
Discover your passport to the world's most exotic locations! Relax in the tropics as you search for hidden clues to extend your vacation and unlock new adventures. Are you ready to go?Explore 28 island scenes in search of over 2,300 hidden objects. If you find the seashells in each location you'll earn bonus days and tour new sites. Fill your vacation journal with your achievements and go for a Perfect Search to boost your score! Kick back in untimed Vacation mode or compete against the clock. It's your own tropical paradise!
Release Date: March 29, 2011


text:
Artist skates into new territory, puts painting talent on wheels
By JOHN FLOWERSRIPTON — Like most artists, Jean Cherouny has a routine she follows before putting paint to canvas. She goes downstairs to her makeshift studio, clears her mind of stress and gets out her supplies.But that's where most similarities end.While many artists at this point would be taking a brush in hand, Cherouny purposefully snaps on her rollerblades, gently dips them into a glistening pool of paint or ink, and proceeds to glide, hop, and amble across her canvas.It's an unusual technique to some art purists, but there's no denying that Cherouny's work is getting noticed. Representatives of the South End Arts and Business Association Art Hop in Burlington have asked her to "perform" in skates and exhibit some of her paintings this year. She will, later this month, hold a demonstration at the gazebo on the Middlebury village green.As an abstract expressionist, the Ripton artist knows her technique will draw some gasps and skepticism. But she doesn't mind at all."In the art world, you have to be careful, because there is an immediate judgment — a 10-second reflection — and they either like what you've done or they don't like it," Cherouny, 41, said on Thursday. "But it doesn't matter, as long as I like it."It actually seems quite natural that Cherouny would combine arts and athletics in her painting.She developed a keen interest the visual arts when she was 8 years old."It was my mom who saw that in me," Cherouny recalled.She stuck with it in through high school, sketching, painting and taking photos. She juggled that passion for art with her love of skiing. Indeed, Cherouny was a skiing wunderkind in high school, seemingly ticketed for stardom until she sustained a bad ankle injury during a tour of Sweden. Though she would continue to ski competitively for the University of Vermont, Cherouny saw the painting on the wall and decided to immerse herself fully into art — first as a teacher. After earning a degree in art education, Cherouny spent the next several years teaching art at schools in Oregon and then back in Vermont. She taught at several local schools in the Addison Central, Addison Northeast and Rutland Northeast supervisory unions.Then, two years ago, she decided to make the transition from art teacher to student. Cherouny enrolled in Johnson State College's graduate program in fine arts. It has proven to be a transformational experience in her artistic career."You're basically in an 'art world,'" Cherouny said. "You end up opening your soul to the world."Cherouny began her studies using the traditional brush-in-hand on canvas. But it was around a year ago that she got an artistic epiphany that would dramatically change her style.She was spending a rainy day at home. Looking around in her garage, Cherouny's eyes came across a pair of rollerblades and a stack of interlinking floor mats that were among possessions she had recently cleared out of her late father's home. Cherouny wondered what kind of designs the paint-coated rollerblades could make on a blank surface. So she donned the rollerblades, immersed them in paint she had loaded onto one of the floor mats, and began skating on some Typar construction paper.She loved the designs she had made — a series of intertwining lines, some straight, some circular, some faded, all meandering into compositions that Cherouny believes can inspire different emotions in different people.Painting in this fashion has also become a liberating exercise for Cherouny."It's a simple way of processing the way I feel," she said.Her enthusiasm has been validated by her college instructors, who believe the rollerblade work is her best yet.Cherouny at times spends four or more hours a day in her studio rollerblading across canvass, paper and other surfaces to create artwork that has measured as large as five-feet-by-eight-feet.Some of her paintings may take only a few minutes to produce; others have been months in the making. It all depends on Cherouny's inspiration and frame of mind when she dons the rollerblades."You have to exclude the world and be with your legs and your paint," Cherouny said. "It's almost like a meditation. The emotions can flow through you like a storm."Depending on how she feels, Cherouny may use dark ink, or a panoply of paint colors. Her paintings can range from a seemingly random collection of straight lines, to a complex mélange of curves. Cherouny occasionally free-hands a design, creature or object into her rollerblade art."Every time I start a painting I don't know what I'm going to be confronting," said Cherouny, who at this point has become so proficient at rollerblading that she does not fear taking a spill.She hopes to soon firm up her painting appearances in Middlebury and Burlington. In the meantime, she'll keep on skating up a storm, a bird's nest and the many other designs that emerge from her unusual art activity."I feel like I've uncovered something about myself that I can share with the world," Cherouny said.


text:
Come get connected! Sing, dance and clap your hands with Chicago's beloved Mr. Singer every Wednesday and Friday at 9:15 and 10 a.m. in the Main Barn of Lincoln Park Zoo's Farm-in-the-Zoo. Join Mr. Singer as he performs original songs while the wee ones dance and sing along. This joyful jamboree features animal songs and dances for children ages 6 and younger accompanied by a caregiver. Every show features a "Kids' choice" and a "Grown-ups' choice" giving you the opportunity to request your favorite sing-along song. Let's have fun!
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: March 28Week 5 of Music Classes with Mr. Singer
Later Event: April 2Week 6 of Music Classes with Mr. Singer