THE POWER OF LOVE
1 John 4:7-13
Dionne Warwick song a most beautiful and timeless song What The World Needs Now is love sweet love, that's the only thing that there is too little of. Love for everyone, not just for some
Christmas is a time of love. It should be a joyous occasion. But for some, it is a time of sadness.
For others, it is a time of frustration. For others, it is a time of loneliness and depression. For others
it is a time of madness, We rush to this and to that, to get hear and to go there. We spend
money we don’t have and put ourselves on a guilt trip if we do and if we don’t.
All in all, we forget we are celebrating Christ and not us or others. It is a time of Love
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 We know that we live in him and he in us because he has given us of his Spirit.
I want to look at these verses to see what we can gain about Love,
LOVE HAS A PSYCHOLOGICAL VALUE
V:7 “Dear friends, let us love one another”
It reduces self and magnifies others
It connects us to each other. Love forces us to see each other as more than a person.
We are friends. We have a friend in Jesus.
LOVE HAS AN EMOTIONAL VALUE
V:7 "For love comes from God."
Emotionally we are connected through our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To love you, I have to commit to express my love
in words and actions.
Love is concerned about the welfare of others.
Love overcomes hate
Love overcomes envy
Love overcomes jealously
Love tolerates others with forgiveness
Love finds the good in everybody
LOVE HAS A PHYSICAL VALUE
Love moves me to come to you from time to time to speak words of
encouragement. It may be the prayer of GOOD MORNING. I
am moved to shake your hand and give you a loving hug
“LOVE HAS A TRANSFORMING VALUE
V:7 “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
We were first born of a woman. To know God is to be born of God
To know God we have to have been drawn to God
To know God is to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior
To know God we died in Jesus' death and were resurrected into His life
We are transformed from the family of the world to the family of God.
LOVE HAS A HEALTH VALUE.
Those who are lonely or depressed should consider
Ephesians 1:4
It is healthy to know that someone loves you
It is healthy to know that you are not alone
It is healthy to know that you are known by God
It is healthy to know that you are approved by God.
Those who feel alone, and devalue their worth and may not know that they are known by God and that He cares for them
LOVE HAS THE POWER OF SELF-AWARENESS
V:7 “Everyone who loves has become God’s child”
It is good to know who you are and who’s you are.
I know people who can recite scripture verse by verse.
Who claim Jesus as Lord but refuse to apply scripture
to their lives. They refused to apply the promises of God
to themselves.
I heard a man say that nothing is going right in my life.
Yet, he has a house, a car, money in the bank, and family
who love him and is depressed and angry.
He claims he is stuck and can’t get out of being stuck.
He refuses to believe he has kingdom privileges.
He refuses to be aware that he is in a war with Satan Ephesians 6:12
He refuses to rejoice in the Lord. Philippians 4:4
He refuses to be aware that he is not alone Hebrews 4:15
Embracing the Love of God would resolve his loneliness
LOVE PROMOTES FAMILY VALUES
V:8 God is Love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in Him.
We are part of God’s Family. We are part of the family that God has
chosen for an eternal union with Him. We can rejoice because this is
a special favor of the Lord. We may not have all that some have
on earth, but we have a joyous future that most human beings will
not be apart.
LOVE PROMOTES GRATEFULNESS
V:9,11 “This is how God showed His among us, He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice”
Because God has been good to us we ought to be thankful for His works in
our lives. These are times when we need to reflect on the blessings of God
in our lives. We have a measure of health, a mind to know who we are,
we have breath, we have eyesight, and many other blessings that make
life possible. Man cannot do any of this, but God does. In Him we live,
we move and have our being.
LOVE PROMOTES FAITH
V:12 " No one has seen God at any time, but if we love one another, God lives in us"
We have never seen God, but we know He exists because we love others
There is no way to love others without the love of God. (V:19).
The world likes us for a day, but God loves us forever. True love only
exists through Jesus Christ.
LOVE COMPLETES US
V:12 God’s love is made complete in us.
We don’t need anyone to make us complete. Those who live alone
are made complete in the Lord. Our worth does not depend on a
relationship with any human being. God established our worth
before we were born. God validates us continuously with His love.
God validated our worth with the death of His Son.
We are worth Jesus birth. We are worth Jesus death and resurrection.
We are worth a place in heaven because of God’s grace and mercy.
LOVE GIVES US CONFIDENCE
V:13 We know that we live in him and he in us because he has given us of his Spirit.
We have this divine knowledge from the Lord Himself that we are with Him at
all times. His Spirit makes known to us His continuous presence. All we have to
do is open up our minds and allow the Holy Spirit to remind us of all Jesus said
and did on earth. The world cannot receive the Spirit because it is foolish to them.
LOVE GIVES US POWER TO MOVE FORWARD
V:18 Perfect Love drives out fear
We do not need to concern ourselves about tomorrow. God
has tomorrow taken care of. What will happen tomorrow is in
God’s hands. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Love rejoices in today and hope in tomorrow. Love has an outlook
that is beyond human imagination. Love sees prayers answered as
they are made known to God.
Love draws others to you and you to others through our relationship
with Jesus Christ.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY
LET THE LOVE OF GOD RULE YOUR HEART
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