Rhythms of Endurance – Love
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Faith, Hope, and Love
1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Endurance: The fact of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way, the capacity of something to withstand wear and tear.
Pastor Craig: Faith is the ability to move imagination towards reality. Faith brings God’s dreams for us into focus despite our circumstances.
Pastor Frankie: Hope is a joyful expectation. A feeling of trust or being confident in God’s promise and faithfulness.
1 Corinthians 13:7-8a
(Love)bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
1. Love BELIEVES! – It stirs up our faith, wakes it up, breaths life into it!
2. Love HOPES! – Love rekindles our imagination and helps us dream again.
3. Love ENDURES! It cannot be stopped!
You Have Been Loved from the Beginning!
Genesis 1,2
God demonstrated His love for mankind from the beginning. They were placed in a perfect world with a perfect God, lacking nothing.
Broken Relationship
Genesis 3:9-13
Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
So, he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded (John 14:15) you that you should not eat?”
Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Afraid – 1 John 4:18
They stopped allowing God to perfect them by His love.
1. Insecurities
2. God is mad at me
3. I don’t deserve, healing, forgiveness, blessings etc…
Don’t project your thoughts on God!
Commanded – John 14:15
Humanity did not obey the command.
1. Broken trust
2. Where’s the love?
Deceived – Colossians 2:8
Humanity believed the lies of the enemy
1. Lies we believe either about ourselves or God shift our focus off of His love.(desert)
2. Believing a lie as if it is true will affect you as if it is true.
The sin of humanity did not affect God’s love for us, but it did affect our love for Him and each other.
Romans 5:7-9 TPT
“Now, who of us would dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly! And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God.”
John 15:13 TPT
“For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.”
Psalm 136:26 NLT
“Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.”
Psalm 139:17-18 NLT
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”
Develop a rhythm of meditating on scriptures that declare God’s love for you.
Matthew 22:37-40
“Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.””
Deuteronomy 6:4-9““Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Why were we commanded to love God and People?
(No heart change)
Ezekiel 36:26-27
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
(Jeremiah 31:33)
The born again experience results in a new heart and spirit that leads to a restored relation to God.
Imitators of God!
Ephesians 5:1-2 TPT
Be imitators of God in everything you do, for then you will represent your Father as his beloved sons and daughters. 2 And continue to walk surrendered to the extravagant love of Christ, for he surrendered his life as a sacrifice for us. His great love for us was pleasing to God, like an aroma of adoration—a sweet healing fragrance.
We are to be….
1. Transformed by His love!
2. Reproduce after it! Multiply it!
3. Be made just like it!
We were designed from the beginning to be an expression and extension of God’s love.
Develop rhythms of expressing and extending God’s love to all you come in contact with.
Walk it out
1. Find one scripture that declares God’s love for you and meditate on it.
2. What is your favorite song about God’s love? Put it on repeat and share it with a friend or family member!
3. Call or text someone who showed you God’s love and tell them how much you appreciate them.
4. Perform one random act of kindness today. Snap a pic of the persons face and post it to Facebook.
Groups
1 Peter 4:7-10
But the end of all things is at hand; therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” (Rehoboth) Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Acts 2:46-47
So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Groups
1. Serve our community
2. Serve our church
3. Study the word
4. Be lead by the Spirit