What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Today’s Message
What’s Love Got To Do With It?
God’s love is unconditional and it is His love that invites us to believe and receive His eternal life!
John 3:16
For this is how God loved the world [everyone]: He gave his one and only Son… SO THAT everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life…
God loves eternally, and without reservation - but the gift of eternal life is something we are invited to receive. It’s a free gift, by the grace of God, that we receive through faith (belief).
God’s love is not dependent on your good deeds or anything you could do!
Ephesians 1:4
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us IN CHRIST to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God doesn’t just want you to KNOW that you are loved. He wants you to fully and extravagantly experience that love!
1 Corinthians 12:27 - 13:8, 13:13 - 14:1
All of us together are Christ body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of the parts God has appointed to the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.
Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ...
Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love.
Let love be your highest goal!
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If I could speak in all the languages of earth and of angels, but don’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
How smart we think we are…
If you don’t think about WHAT and HOW you say what you say, it’s just noise!
Proverbs 18:21
The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. -
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.
How gifted we think we are…
The misrepresentation of God is one of the worst things in this world. When someone experiences a human “ministering in the name of God” and ends up walk away hurt or worse off than when they came in, it breaks the heart of God.
We are intentionally about fostering and developing HEALTHY COMMUNITY!
To believe in Jesus is to commit to Him, to follow Him, to entrust our lives to Him. And in that IS the path to life.
It’s not good enough to have spiritual ability, ministry ability, prophetic power, without love it all means nothing.
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If I give everything I have to the poor and even sacrifice my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing…
How awesome and generous we think we are.
Just because you gave and received abundance in return, doesn’t mean you gained anything worth gaining.
Matthew 16:26
…what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?Be careful not to “boast” about your giving…
Matthew 6:1-4
Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do - blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.The question is this:
Are we giving to be admired by others, or bring admiration to God our Father? Are we calling attention to our acts of charity, or calling attention to the love of God for the person?It is all about the motive of the heart!
What you do isn’t nearly as important as WHY you do it, because the why should always come from love and love always starts with God.
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HOMEWORK: Read 1 John 4:7-21
Highlights
vs 7 …love comes from God.
vs 8 …God is love.
vs 10 …This is real love - not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son, Jesus Christ!
vs 19 …We love each other because He loved us first.John 13:34
A New CommandmentLove each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.It starts with how God loves us, SO THAT we know how to love others.
The invitation is to be loved BY God so that we have love to give.
What’s love got to do with it?EVERYTHING!