Making Disciples: Goal #2 - Love
1 Thessalonians 3:12
Pastor Miles
1/31/2016
"Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."
1 Thessalonians 1:1-3 NIV
The external actions (work, labor, endurance) are expressions of the internal qualities: Faith, hope and love
1. The distinctive mark of a disciple is love.
"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.""
John 13:35 NIV
"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy."
1 Corinthians 14:1 NIV
- follow the way of love
"Do everything in love."
1 Corinthians 16:14 NIV
- do everything in love
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."
1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV
- love is patient. Love is kind
✔️Love is active, not passive.
"May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you."
1 Thessalonians 3:12 NIV
A. Love for each other.
"Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God's family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,"
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 NIV
B. Love for everyone.
Why does God call us to love everyone? Because He does. He calls us to be like Him. Every life matters to Him. As His representative he calls us to love everyone, even our enemies.
""You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?"
Matthew 5:43-47 NIV
It is not easy to love those close to us. It is even harder to love our enemies.
2. We can only love with God's love.
A. We love because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
1 John 4:7-11 NIV
✔️We forgive because God forgave us.
B. We ask God to love others through us.
"And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
Romans 5:5 NIV
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
My next steps:
- remember how God loves me
- ask God to love others through me
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