Redeeming Love Jeremiah 31:3 Romans 5:6-8 John 3:16 John 15:12-14 1 John 3:16 1 John 4:7-11 John 13:34-35 1 John 3:11 1 Thessalonians 4:9 Ephesians 5:1-2 12.12.16

REDEEMING LOVE

BREAD

3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”  Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.    Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   John 3:16 (NIV)

12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.”    John 15:12-14 (NIV)

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  1 John 3:16 (NIV)

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.  1 John 4:7-11 (NIV)

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

11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.  1 John 3:11 (NIV)

9 Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.   1 Thessalonians 4:9 (NIV)

1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Biblical love is neither a secondhand emotion nor a sweet, old-fashioned notion. Love is actually a battlefield designed to reshape us into the likeness of the one who first loved us when we were not friends with him, but enemies…We love, not in the sentimental sense, but in the gutsy, costly sense, because He first loved us. We do not have the resources in ourselves to extend such selfless love. We are resourced by another, by Jesus Himself.”   Scott Sauls

“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.  The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day; and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more. E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply, redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.”    William Cowper

“Because Jesus wasn’t about doing big things. He was about doing the right thing. And often for Him, the right thing was noticing one simple soul…Could we try to be more like Jesus, this perfect man who was never too busy to notice someone who needed His touch?  He could peek into the heart, respond with love, and then do it all over again the next time He encountered someone who simply needed to be seen…The simple act of noticing someone as they journey through life can lovingly mirror the behavior of God.”    Karen Ehman 

“Jesus died in the place of the powerless (‘feeble’), the ungodly, sinners, and even His enemies!  One primary command was given by Jesus to believers: they must have mutual love (Love each other).  Christians grow by caring for and nurturing each other. The standard for that love is Christ's example of humble sacrificial service: as I have loved you.”   Bible Knowledge Commentary

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken.”  C. S. Lewis

“A heart drop is when a person, either directly or in a cryptic way, gives you a tiny glimpse into their heart…Hearing a heart drop is a way of listening between the lines, gaining a glimpse into another soul’s longings…Hearing a heart drop is an art we can intentionally cultivate. It can lead to the most wonderful times of encouragement as we make it our habit to listen and to love…But Jesus is calling us to stop and notice. To live alert. To give a special touch that may heal a heart or cheer a weary soul…I once heard it said that Jesus’ real ministry was the person He found standing in front of Him…Who is that for you today?”   Karen Ehman

“Hearts that get tougher — leave you with nothing of value to give.  Love is what we have to give —- and love comes from places that are vulnerable and soft and tender enough to feel — to break.   Only those who are really vulnerable enough to be broken — get to be the ones who really love.  It can be that when you feel broken — it’s proof that you’ve given.”   Ann Voskamp

“We are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehend it.  No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them.”  Julian of Norwich  

HEART SAVOR

·       Biblical love is sacrificial.  Yet one can never out give God – as we bow down He ever lifts up.

• ·       4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.              1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

·       God loves us with an everlasting love and empowers us to love as He loves.  It is impossible for us to love like this apart from His indwelling Spirit.