Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: how will you follow Jesus in trusting God through suffering this week?
Main Points
In this lesson shaped by Calvary Boise's teaching on LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING: What Love Looks Like, Christ invites us to receive truth with humility, practice repentance, and walk in faithful obedience.
Faith and Obedience
We are going to be continuing in a series that we're calling as you can see behind me love changes everything and the. Foundation of this series is going to be in one of the most famous chapters of the Bible it's a chapter of the Bible.
- Of a scripture in the Bible that whether you've gone to church your whole life or you're at church for the first time no.
- Doubt you have heard if you've ever attended a wedding or if you've ever walked down the greeting card aisle at a grocery store.
- Because this is the chapter of the Bible that tells us what God's love looks like and we are going to be throughout this.
- Series answering a couple questions about the incredible power of the love of God last week we looked at the question why is love.
So important as we looked at the verse now abide faith hope and love these three but the greatest of these is love and. As we looked at that we realized in the first three verses of this chapter it gives us this incredible warning and also a.
Understanding the Heart Issue
Commandment to love God and allow his love to define our relationships with everyone it actually fulfills who we are in reflecting his image. To be loving people that's the answer to why does love matter without it were nothing with it we become the design of God.
- To be like him and yet that begs the question what does love look like because last week as we preached this I knew.
- Full well that many people he hears a message about love do not have a very good reference point for what that looks like.
- In their own lives some of you grew up in households that's that had parents who said they loved you but it doesn't look.
- Like the love that we're going to be talking about the love of God is not always the love that we're talking about when.
We say I love you and I'm reminded of this not long ago my wife called me in the middle of her busy day. In the middle of me studying literally about love and I was too busy myself to really listen to what she was saying and.
Hope in Suffering
The truth love bears all things love believes all things love hopes all things love endures all things and then it will go on. To say love never fails which will set up the question of next week which is how can we be sure that love will.
- Last as many of you also have a frame of reference of a love that may be started out great but did not last.
- Until the end that also is not the love of God and that's what we'll look at next week but starting this we say.
- That love is not simply attraction but love is action and we have a frame of reference for that right out of the gate.
- When verse 4 says love suffers long now we're going to look at all of these characteristics of love there are 15 of them.
That I just read of love not being a simple act of generosity but a constant character of the people that God has given. His love for but before we do we have to remember the context remember we spent 12 weeks studying this book all about a.
Family Discipleship
One another but also in the amazing context of the love of Christ saying that non-believers can love their friends non-believers want to love. Their family non-believers want great marriages what makes this love different is that this love is for the least of these so the reference.
- Point that we have as we absorb this message and think about how we give it away to the people that God has put.
- In our lives to fulfill the greatest commandment to not only love God but love our neighbor as ourselves and you don't always get.
- To pick your neighbor in fact very rarely you get to pick your neighbor which is the incredible wisdom of God to say that.
- The love that he wants you to learn to give away is not for the highest priorities of your relationships but it's for whoever.
God puts in your life this message is not just to strengthen your marriage which it will do or strengthen your family which it. Will do but it is to strengthen your commitment to the love of God for whoever he gives you to love the most difficult.
Hope in Suffering
That God puts in our life and again we look at the very first aspect of this love suffers long so many people think. That love is emotion and this is why you hear the phrase I fell out of love because the emotion has escaped you the.
- Attraction has been lost and now the feeling you once had for someone is gone and you think that you no longer love them.
- This is also why people think they can fall in love over the course of a youth camp or over the course of a.
- High school dance because you can fall in an emotion and you can fall out of emotion but what this is saying is love.
- Is a suffering commitment that you have for the people in your life love will cost you love will be hard and challenging and.
Love requires you to make a sacrifice and we know that again by looking at the template of the love of God when Jesus. Says there's no greater love the ultimate version of love is to lay down your life and this is where we can begin to.
Grace and Justification
It says that while we were still sinners Christ died and the love of God does not run out there is no timer on. Your life for salvation now all of us have a day to choose the day of salvation but God never gives up on us.
- It is his desire that none would perish his long suffering never gives up on us as many times as we need to be.
- Presented the gospel before we accept it God is willing to wait for us and I'm reminded of my own grandfather at the age.
- Of 90 accepting the free gift of salvation in his life being baptized just months before he passed away the love of God never.
- Runs dry and he never gives up and the gospel is never losing hope that people would receive it at any age now are.
We that way with each other are we people who don't give up on one another some translations will say that love is patient. That word can be interchanged based off what translation of the Bible that you use and I think both of them are appropriate because.
Family Discipleship
Born my wife combed his hair he looked like he was ready for a job interview day one which made me very proud as. A father now fast forward five months and that hair has grown so long that he was beginning to be called Samson looking for.
- His Delilah and my wife was tired of the maintenance so she took it upon herself to cut the hair and she did an.
- Absolutely horrible job I told her it looked like she was carving a pumpkin because it was so jagged and numerous people noticed the.
- Bad haircut and in their love for us tried to encourage us was something I want to encourage you in the difference between a.
- Bad haircut and a good haircut is three weeks if you have a bad haircut just wait and sometimes in the rocky relationships of.
Our lives and we think that there's not an instant cure we can't figure out right away we think okay well then this relationship. Is just over and done with it served its purpose for its time but God is teaching you to suffer long through patience and.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.