August 23 ~ Barbara Chan leads the Gathering today!

The Nature of God 

Barbara Chan leads The Gathering, Part 1 of a 3 part series!

What do these scriptures tell us about the nature of God?

If God is Love, what is the opposite of love? Fear?

1 John 4:7-11  NIV
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 
1 John 4:16 NIV
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 
Psalm 86:15 NIV
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. 

Matthew 6:25-34  
²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?
²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Think of a specific time you experienced a fear-based emotion: hatred, envy, jealousy, worry or anxiety.

It could be regarding a negative experience with a friend or relative or even be something current, such as thinking about Covid-19 or racism. It could be many things.

How can knowing God is loving and caring and faithful transform your mindset?

Here is our lesson from today:

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