The Amazing Love Of God John 3:16-17 2 Corinthians 5:21 1 John 3:16 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 John 15:9-14 1 John 4:7-11 1 John 4:16-18 Romans 8:38-39 Romans 11:33-36 05.28.21

 

THE AMAZING LOVE OF GOD

BREAD

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. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”   John 3:16-17 (NIV)

 

²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:21 (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)

 

¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NIV)

 

 ⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 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 15:9-14 (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)

 

¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷ In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  1 John 4:16-18 (NIV)

 

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:35-39 (NIV)

 

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord?  Or who has been his counselor?”  ³⁵ “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”  ³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be the glory forever!  Amen.  Romans 11:33-36 (NIV)

 

BUTTER

“The love for equals is a human thing–of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.  The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing–the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.  The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing–to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.  And then there is the love for the enemy–love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.”  I echo that.  This is God’s love. It conquers the world.”   Frederick Buechner

“God is love. Love is Who He is.  Love is fundamental to His nature – always has been and always forever will be.  He commands His children to love as He loves and equips them with the power of the Holy Spirit to love rightly.  We are not even capable of it in the flesh.  He seeks to maximize Biblical love in our lives because this points others to the Author and Perfecter of love.  Jesus perfectly demonstrated this love when He walked this dusty earth and those who follow Him are called to do likewise.”  BHY   

“There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.” Corrie ten Boom

 

“God carries His children through this world through a variety of conditions.  Sometimes we lack, and at other times we abound.  This allows our graces to be tested.  We will find that God’s love is stable, certain, and constant in a variety of conditions.  God does not change, and His love is constant however our lives might change.  We must learn not to quarrel with God’s government.  Let God do as He pleases as He brings us to heaven.  It is no matter what the way is like, or how rugged it is, as long as He brings us there.  God’s grace is able to carry His children above all conditions.”  Anonymous

“Nothing is more Godlike or gives God more glory and delight than love. Nothing is more morally beautiful, profoundly meaningful, and joy-producing in the human experience than love. And nothing is more offensive, violent, or destructive to the forces of darkness than love.”  Jon Bloom

“There is something contagious about a heart of love. People who are selfless with their love can make giant waves in this world where those who cling to selfish desires cause only ripples. In fact, those who have hearts of love view the people around them as being most important. A heart that bears the marks of God’s intimate love is not a selfish heart. When we look directly into God’s heart of love, we are transformed forever. The selfish desires that once dominated our heart’s landscapes vanish in an instant, replaced by a desire to lavish love on others. As God begins to transform our hearts through His grace and kindness, we become vessels willing to reciprocate this type of love. Something happens inside of us. We begin to realize the twofold effect of loving God and loving others - not just friends and family, but others who cross our paths every day. Hardened hearts begin to melt beneath the warmth of Christ’s love overflowing from our lives. People who we never thought would let the name of Jesus roll off their lips suddenly praise Him because we have taken the time to love them the way God has commanded us to love. Once we learn how to abide in His love, our feelings of jealousy, greed, and anger die a quick death. A true champion extends grace and kindness because he knows the transformation that has taken place in his own heart, and he realizes those who receive God’s love and grace have no other course of action but to give God’s love away.”   Michael Youssef

“We are to love one another with aggressive grace. Such aggressively gracious love is otherworldly, a taste of heaven on earth. We all sinfully stumble in many ways (James 3:2). Which means we repeatedly offend one another. It takes persevering graciousness to keep love genuinely affectionate.”  Jon Bloom

“Many people have difficulty believing God is a God of love….If you really want to know the reality of God’s love, look at the Cross….It was love that restrained Him when He was falsely accused of blasphemy and led to Golgotha to die with common thieves.  He raised not a hand against His enemies.  It was love that kept Him from calling legions of angels to come to His defense.  It was love that made Him, in a moment of agonizing pain, pause and give hope to a repentant sinner who cried, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom’ (Luke 23:42)….Does God love us?  Yes….and the proof is the Cross.”   Billy Graham   

“For the love of God is broader than the measures of man’s mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.”   Frederick William Faber

“My hope is not in a cure today. My hope is not the absence of suffering and comfort returned. My hope is in the presence of the One who promises never to leave or forsake, the One who declares nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God.” (Romans 8:39). Nothing. Your story is a good story. In the grief, pain and hard, the Author has a plan. It may feel like a desperate breaking of your very heart, but suffering is not the absence of God or good.”  Kara Tippetts

HEART SAVOR

• ·         Be a vessel willing to reciprocate God’s love to others.  Those who have received God’s grace have no other course of action but to give God’s love away.
• ·         As God loves us with aggressive grace, we too are to love others likewise.
• ·         We can know and rely on the love God has for us as He has demonstrated it – even while we were sinners Christ died for us.