Nothing we do in life means anything without love!

John 13:34,35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Nothing we do in life means anything without love!

Pastor Sharon T. Spencer - September 11, 2010

Love begins with God

1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for^[a^] our sins.

God defines love by His actions.  Without God’s active demonstration of love, we would never know what it means to love. Without God’s revelation, we might think of love only as an emotion.  In reality, emotion is only part of love.  God taught that love is ACTIVE, love takes initiative.

God’s demonstrated Love

St. John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,^[a^] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  Perish refers to eternal destruction.

God has given us the opportunity to live again after this life through His Son by exercising Faith in the gospel.  This is his DEMONSTRATED LOVE for mankind.

The Extent of God’s Love

Ephesians  3:17-18 - so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

We cannot Earn God’s Love

Romans 5:6-8

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Because Christ died for us while we were still sinners, we cannot earn his love.  In other words, on the cross he was loving us while we were h Because ating him in our sins and unbelief.

Sharing God’s Love

1 John 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

If God could love us while we were hating Him, who do we think we are that we cannot love the hard to love or the ones that do not like us.

God’s love must be given away!!

There is a standard to use as we love others

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.