Theology

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Source SM Recap: Volume #50

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Series: Love IsWeek 4 – “God”LoveIs____ The Word: 1 John 4:7-13, Psalm 139:14-17, 1 Corinthians 13:4-10, 13. Main Thought: Love made the first move, we respond to His love.

Message Explanation: God’s love is selfless, PURE and fully available. Love does not define God but GOD defines love.

 But one of the biggest questions that we all struggle with is, "Why do I not FEEL God’s love?"

- We are not seeking God. - We don’t love like God loves. We naturally frustrated with other people, annoying people. - We feel unworthy of God’s love. Feeling separated from God so we try to EARN it instead of simply accepting God’s love. 

The first part of what God reveals to us…

1.       God has UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for us

1 John 4:7-10: “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

This is how MUCH God Loves you: “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

John 1:12 “all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the RIGHT to become children of God.”

God made the FIRST MOVE, we respond to THIS love. 

Do we love God only for what He DOES for us or for WHO He is?

2.     God has ADOPTED us into HIS FAMILY

We can have a personal Relationship with God through Jesus. 1 John 3:1a: “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!”

Parents who adopt a child go through a lot of sacrifice and time. God went through a lot to make us His children.

God knew us before He made us. Your existence is not random or an accident.

Psalm 139:13-18: "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! 18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!”

God’s love does not begin with us. It originates FROM God. Because we have received His love, we need to…

3. Start reflecting God’s love to others

The test of Love is how we treat the people right in front of us (family, friends, enemies, teachers…). What actions need to change in order to show them God’s love?

If you and I are going to live like Jesus lived, then we are going to have to love like Jesus loved.

1 John 4:11-12: "Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. “No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”

The 1 Corinthians 13 challenge: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Take the phrase, “Love is patient” and insert my name….”Josh is patient, Josh is kind, Josh is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.”

Do this for every phrase of this verse.

We have an opportunity to reach OUT with God’s love. Commit to loving others the way that God loves us. 

- Thank Him for His love for you - Thank Him for belonging to His Family - Thank Him for dying for you

Element of Fun: The students played the game, ”Bite the Bag.” It was a fun game to watch at all campuses!

Music: Alive, Your Love Never Fails, Your Presence is Heaven to Me, How He Loves (closing).

Favorite Moment: We had 5 students receive Christ this past week at Source!

What’s Next: We are having a special kickoff night for Decrease Weekend!

To watch any of the series messages, check out the vimeo page