Don't Let Your Love Grow Cold

Short Talk (SHT070) Don’t Let the Love in Your Heart Grow Cold © Jane Hulme 2017 SHORT TALK: “DON’T LET THE LOVE IN YOUR HEART GROW COLD” Aim of Short talk: Use of Short talk: Main themes: Biblical references: Lectionary: Props: To encourage people to stay close to Jesus and not to allow discouragement over what is going on in the world to cause the love in their hearts to grow cold towards God. This is a short All Age talk picking out one issue from the Lectionary Gospel reading of the Sunday main service. The talk stands alone and assumes that the Gospel Bible reading may not yet have been read to the congregation. It could be used for example, for the whole congregation before the children go out to their age specific groups, leaving the adults with a full sermon later. Heart, Discouragement, Loving God Matthew 24:1-14 Year A – Proper 26, CW The 4th Sunday before Advent Set up a table at the front of the church on which is placed a large glass bowl, a thermos (or kettle) filled with hot water and a bottle of red food colouring. Out of sight have a kettle containing very hot water and a couple of dozen ice cubes ............................................................................................................... I wonder how many of you here can remember when you first met Jesus.  Perhaps some of you can. One of the most wonderful things that happens when we meet Jesus is that He shows us that we are deeply loved by Him.  Even though Jesus can see every part of our life and knows all about the bits that we hide from other people, He loves us completely.  In fact, we are so precious to Jesus that He was even willing to give up His own life for us, so that we can enjoy friendship with Him....  That is real love. Now I want you to imagine that this bowl (Hold up large glass bowl) is your heart;  not the heart that beats around 70 times a minute and keeps you alive,  but the inner part of you that is able to give and receive love. Now imagine that you have just spent some time with Jesus and that He has shown you how much He loves you.  Let’s show that by filling this bowl with hot water and adding some red colouring to it. (Pour hot water from thermos or 2nd kettle into a large glass bowl until it is about half full, then add a couple of drops of red food colouring) Here we have your heart and my heart full of the love of Jesus. It’s really warm.....  We know that we are loved,  and we love Jesus in return. © Jane Hulme 2017 2 Each day as we spend time in Jesus’ presence; reading our Bibles, praying and worshipping Him,  He fills us with more of His love (Add more hot water into the large glass bowl)  Our heart gets warmer.  That is all very good isn’t it? For the next part I need someone to come and help me. (Bring the volunteer to the table)  Could you dip your finger into my bowl of water and tell me how hot that is? (Person dips their finger into the bowl)  It’s pretty hot isn’t it? A bit like our hearts being on fire with the love of Jesus. Now I want you to imagine that you have just seen the news on television or read a newspaper,  and heard that there has been a big earthquake in one of the poorest cities in the world.  I wonder how you feel towards Jesus now.  I wonder if you are feeling angry with Jesus because somehow you blame God for it.  I wonder if your love for him is getting a little colder. (Drop a few ice-cubes into the bowl of water) A week later you turn on the news again and hear that there is a terrible famine in Africa and thousands of people have died.  I wonder how you feel towards Jesus now.  I wonder if your love for him is getting a little colder. (Drop a few ice-cubes into the bowl of water) (Turn to volunteer) How warm is the “love” in my “heart now? (Volunteer dips finger into water)  Is the water colder than it was before?  So my love for Jesus is getting colder. We have heard about the earthquake and famine, what about closer to home?  Someone at school or at work hates you because you are a follower of Jesus and makes your life very very difficult.  I wonder how you feel towards Jesus now.  Why isn’t Jesus stopping people from being hateful to you?  Has He abandoned you?  I wonder if your love for him is getting a little colder. (Drop a few ice-cubes into the bowl of water) And then a Christian leader that you really look up to is found guilty of doing something really bad, and ends up being arrested by the police.  You are so discouraged that you don’t even want to come to church anymore.  I wonder how you feel towards Jesus now.  I wonder if your love for him is getting a little colder. (Drop a few ice-cubes into the bowl of water) (Turn to volunteer) How warm is the “love” in my “heart now? (Volunteer dips finger into water)  Is the water colder than it was before?  It is pretty cold now isn’t it?  The love in our hearts is going cold.... Can you see what has happened? © Jane Hulme 2017 3 When we look at all the bad stuff in the world, and allow it to make us doubt Jesus’ love and who He is, our love for Him goes cold. Over two thousand years ago, Jesus warned His disciples that lots of bad stuff would happen in the world before He finally comes to rule the world as King. Jesus warned them and He warns us that there will be wars and famines.  People will hate each other and do lots of bad stuff.  We will have times when people treat us badly because we are Christians....BUT.... These are like birth pains before Jesus finally comes to reign over the whole world as King. For those of you who are mothers amongst us, you may remember the birth pains you went through before your baby was delivered.  Birth pains are just that.....painful.  However, at the end of the pain is the joy and hope of a new life – a baby. The birth pains in the world are all the bad stuff that we can see going on around us,  and it is all very painful.  However, at the end of time Jesus has promised that He will return as King to reign and all the bad stuff will finally come to an end.  We have the joy and hope of that to look forward to. So as we wait for that wonderful day, let us not allow the bad things that we see and hear to cause the love in our hearts for Jesus, to grow cold.  Instead let us draw close to Jesus and trust Him. (Pour very hot water out of kettle into bowl)  He hasn’t abandoned us. (Pour very hot water out of kettle into bowl)  He does love us deeply and is at work bringing about His purposes both in our lives and in the lives of other people. (Pour very hot water out of kettle into bowl) (Turn to volunteer) How hot is the “love” in my “heart now? (Volunteer dips finger into water)  The water is getting hotter again isn’t it?  Stay close to Jesus and don’t let the love in your love grow cold. © Jane Hulme 2017 4