A legacy driven church / Legacy week 1

Luke 5:17-25 17 “One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, 19 but they couldn’t reach Him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.” 21 But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does He think He is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” 22 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so He asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 23 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? 24 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” 25 And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”

Legacy-anything handed down from the past by a predecessor.

1. A legacy driven church is a passionate church with an urgent message. 
1. When churches began to meet the needs of those within their community, influence, and reach; uncharted growth, unparalleled vision and unprecedented discipleship begin to happen. 
1. If you have an urgent message and you don’t share that urgent message does that change it’s urgency?  
1. No. 
2. The message is still urgent even though the messenger may have lost their sense of compassion.
3. The message is still urgent although the messenger has lost their feeling of responsibility.
4. The message is still urgent despite the fact the messenger has lost their urgency. 
1. We generally overestimate what we can do when it comes to short term but we always underestimate what we can do through a lifetime of faithfulness. 
5. It seems like when we start something we are like I have to do this now, as quickly as humanly possible.
1. Every thing is important. 
1. Every detail matters I have to get them done immediately, I can stall no longer. 
1. So if you urgently do the right things you will likely see success. 
2. The challenge is that success feeds pride, and pride kills urgency: that’s why nothing fails like success. 
1. When we started our Christian journey the message was urgent, the mission was urgent, the calling was urgent, we must never lose that sense, that responsibility, that passion and urgency.  
1. Prayer, fasting, reading God’s Word, worship and serving others helps us to stay passionate and urgent. 
1. Get around some passionate, some urgent people of God and the fire of passion, the fire of urgency, and the fire of God will explode in and through you! 
2. In many organizations, urgency is not the default mode, complacency is. 
1. The problem with complacency is it’s difficult to see in the mirror. 
1. We see others, judge others, compare others and rarely look within. 
2. We see complacency in others and refuse to see it within ourselves. 
1. The Spirit of God is saying look within. 
2. If we could only hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
1. What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?
2. It’s time to declare war on complacency and embrace urgency. 
3. Complacency breeds selfishness, urgency breeds passion. 
1. This is why we pray and fast, this is why we worship, give and serve.
4. Urgency breeds followers, urgency breeds mission, urgency breeds hunger, urgency breeds desire.
1. You cannot change what you are willing to tolerate.
2. We need to acknowledge our sin of complacency and remember we are called, connected and commissioned to be a passionate people with an urgent message. 
2. A legacy driven church is a church that exposes and expresses God’s eternal love. 
1. What is the message of urgency? 
1. Well Jesus stated: 

John 3:16-17 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”

1. God’s love is not lacking in movement or self-centered; it reaches out and draws others in. 
1. Here God sets the pattern of true love, the basis for all love relationships; when you love someone dearly, you are willing to give freely to the point of self-sacrifice. 
2. God paid deeply with the life of His Son, the highest price He could pay.
3. Jesus accepted our punishment, paid the price for our sins and then offers us the new life that He had bought for us. 
1. When we share the Good News with others, our love must be like Christ’s; willingly giving up our own comfort and security so that others might join us in receiving God’s love. 
4. Gods love is eternal so no matter what I am experiencing He is there to love me through it, love me in it, and love me in spite of it.
2. Vs 26 stated that they were exclaiming, they were shouting, crying out, “We have seen amazing things today!”
1. That’s our mission, to exclaim, to shout out,  to cry out the amazing things God is doing in our lives, our friends, our enemies and our generation! 
1. God’s love is not based upon your performance but as your position as His child. 
1. God allowed His son to take our punishment in order to purchase our forgiveness. 
1. So the question is “do I trust Jesus as the payment for my sins?”
2. Have you placed Jesus in charge of your present plans and eternal destiny? 
3. If you’ve never trusted Christ, let this promise of everlasting life be yours, and believe. 
1. A legacy driven church is a life giving church. 
1. Do we bleed people, suck them dry of their time, their talent, and their resources; that’s a resounding, life altering “no!” 
1. We inspire them to pray, to give, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
2. We empower them to serve, to minister, to connect the generations and love like they’ve never been hurt! 
3. We build them up so they may pursue their God given calling! 
2. The goal is not activity; the goal is productivity.
1. Let’s get together and do this, that or whatever…listen, if it’s not productive for the Kingdom of God, or those lost without Christ, why do it? 
3. Here in Luke chapter 5 it wasn’t the paralyzed man’s faith that impressed Jesus, it was the faith of his friends.
1. Do you walk and operate in this kind of faith? 
2. Do you have faith enough to get your friends right in front of Jesus? 
1. For better or worse, our faith affects others.
2. I can’t make someone a Christian but my words, my actions, my respect and my love for them can make a life giving, eternal difference in their lives! 
1. Jesus responded to their faith and healed the man! 
1. Jesus will respond to your faith...
2. A legacy driven church is a generationally minded church. 
1. When we speak of generations, we assume people understand; that includes all people. 
1. Every age, every background, every socioeconomic stance, extending over every educational barrier, including every race, tribe and people group from all over the world. 

Luke 12:16 16-21 “Then He told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ 21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

1. Urgency is where he started but complacency set in and overtook him. 
1. He’s like, “I’ll take it easy, I’m already successful, I might as well enjoy it.” 
2. The greatest threat to future success is current success.
2. He had no sense of calling, no sense of urgency, no sense of passion, no sense of the generations to come, no concern of the responsibility that was upon him for the future. 
1. We can’t just sit around talking about, or only encouraging one another in what God has called us to go and do. 
1. We must go. 
2. We must do.
3. We must make disciples. 
4. We must take action. 
5. We must continue the legacy, the commission that Jesus has handed down unto us. 
3. God gives only one reason for choosing Abraham, saying in: 

Genesis 18:19 NLT "I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.”

1. God selected Abraham because he knew Abraham would think and act generationally; that he would take the things he had learned from God and pass them on to his children and grandchildren. 
1. If you were to ask me where I believe the church has fallen short today, one of the first things I’d mention is our failure to raise up and work with the next generations. 

Illustrate here: *We need each other!*

1. We are hesitant to empower our young people; fearing their style, their worship, their ways, fearing that we’ll be out of a job.
1. Listen, I don’t have to like everything the other generations like to be impactful and influential in their lives but I do have to be present. 
2. Rather than building on the shoulders of what’s been done, the church tends to go downhill. 
1. I have to impart now more than ever before.
2. I have to make room for the younger people in my life to reach, raise up, and release the coming generations for God’s Kingdom. 

Psalm 78:4-7 4 “We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about His power and His mighty wonders. 5 For He issued His laws to Jacob; He gave His instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, 6 so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children. 7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting His glorious miracles and obeying His commands.”

1. This was not a suggestion, God commanded His people to take what they had learned and transmit it to the coming generations. 
1. God’s design is for the generations to be connected, serving together and using their time, talents and treasures to impact their world for Christ! 
2. The price of dropping the baton of faith is far too high. 
1. Be intentional, pass along faith, impart belief, pour out passion and you’ll empower the coming generations! 

Matthew 28:19-20 19 “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

1. Arrest and destroy any area of complacency in your life and walk in passion, urgency, expressing and exposing God’s eternal love.
2. Be life giving and take responsibility for your generation and the generations to come! 
1. Legacy is about one generation being commissioned and delegated to hand down and impart their faith into another. 

A beautiful exchange week 1 Against all odds Easter 2018

In 1996, all the odds makers and probability forecasters agree that a man by the name of Leland Capps ought to be dead. Leland didn’t know how to fly, took off in a private plane with a friend who was a pilot. When they got up to cruising altitude, his friend, had a massive heart attack and died. “Help!” Leland screamed, until air traffic control heard his cries and said “I’ve got good news for you, I’m a flight instructor. Would you like a quick flight lesson?” “Tell me everything and tell me fast!” Leland yelled back. So, the flight controller proceeded to give a few instructions on basic maneuvers such as how to keep the plane level and get it under control. When Leland got control of the plane, the traffic controller said, “Now, Lee, this is your most important lesson. You must apply everything you’ve just learned without any exception because now you’re going to have to land this thing. “It’s your only hope.”

Capps tried once unsuccessfully to land the float plane in the water. On the second try, he landed it at the shoreline of Lake Washington.

The floats collapsed, and the plane slid out of the lake, skidded across the runway on its belly and came to rest on grass. The plane sustained heavy damage.

Capps, who climbed out after landing, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was treated for scrapes and released, authorities said. 

"The guy, by some miracle successfully landed the plane," said Woody Cummings, an FAA duty officer. On a scale of 1-10 landing a water landing is between a 7-8 and that’s for experienced pilots. 

This amazing air traffic controller/flight instructor talked Leland Capps down to an ugly but successful landing. 

There are people who, by profession, are odds makers and probability forecasters. People who make their living by sorting out the sure shots from the long shots.

They will tell you things like injury is 10 times more likely riding a bicycle than driving a car. And, they can tell you that a Honda Civic, it is 57 times more likely to be stolen than a Dodge Neon. The odds makers can even tell you if you’re still driving one of those old Ford Pintos, you can actually leave your keys in the ignition because it’s mathematically impossible for someone to steal it!

These people make their living by figuring out odds like these and they are usually very accurate. Yet they were absolutely and utterly wrong about Leland Capps. He defied all the odds against him.

In the same way, the odds makers in Jesus day were wrong about whether or not he was going to come back from the grave, because He did.

1. Jesus was faced with an against all odds situation of epic proportion.   
1. Crucifixion equals death. 
2. Therefore, Jesus resurrection was against all odds. 
1. But He came back from the dead.  
2. There is an empty tomb in Israel that still bears witness to that historical reality.

Matthew 28:1-7 NLT [1] “Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. [2] Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. [3] His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. [4] The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. [5] Then the angel spoke to the women. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. [6] He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as He said would happen. Come, see where His body was lying. [7] And now, go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and He is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see Him there. Remember what I have told you."

1. Eyewitnesses who saw Jesus after the resurrection wrote down a record that has been preserved to this day in the Bible. 
1. Beyond that millions of people every year all around the world are experiencing inner spiritual transformation, salvation, healing, and deliverance when they trust in the Name of Jesus.
2. This baffles the skeptics who think this Christianity thing should have just gone away centuries ago. 

Romans 8:11 NLT “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”

1. The very same power that raised Jesus from the dead is now available to us, so that every followers life can come against and defeat the odds.
2. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead gives us the power to defy the everyday odds and resistive forces that face us when the alarm goes off every morning.
1. A lot of people have lost hope and faith to believe in the possibility of a long shot ever happening in their lives.
1. Easter should be a constant and continual reminder to us that impossibilities still happen. 
1. Even for those this morning who have the odds stacked against them in these areas:
1. Those who grew up in a dysfunctional family.
1. Some lives are weighted down every day by the efforts of growing up in a family that didn’t work well. 
2. So many are sinking into seas of hopelessness because something inside of them got broken in their years of growing up. 
3. Now, they believe what is broken is unfixable. 
4. That was once lost cannot be restored. 
5. That the wrongs done to them can never be righted. 
6. They live on the edge of despair.
2. Some of you grew up in families where rage, shame, abuse and controlling patterns were normal. 
1. Existing with an absence of nurturing love. 
1. You can’t seem to get beyond that.
2. Well, God is telling us, whatever you do don’t give up. 
1. Easter power, resurrection power is available to overcome those odds. 
2. The Bible tells us there’s a loving, Heavenly Father who’s ready and willing to adopt you into His family. 
1. You can be restored to wholeness.  
1. Don’t waste your time calling the psychic hot line, having your palm read or checking your daily horoscope; Easter power, resurrection power is available because of Jesus Christ! 
3. I’ve got to tell you Easter power, resurrection power is available for you; move out of that stuck, fearful, destructive position and take a step of faith. 
1. Break the curse, break the cycle, overcome the defeat!
3. There is another group who needs a long shot this Easter. 
1. Those in need of healing because of devastating loss.
1. Those who have experienced great loss question if life will ever be the same again.
1. Some have lost reputation, employment or financial investments. 
2. Some have lost health or their way.
2. Maybe you’ve lost loved ones or friends to death.  
1. Lost a husband, a wife, a parent, or a child, some have lost children to divorce or addiction.  
3. Hear it again this day of miracles: The Power that brought Jesus back to life is available for you who have lost.  

Matthew 11:28 NLT “Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

1. He desires to relieve your suffering, loneliness and questions but you’ve got to come! 
1. You must walk out of the sadness, the depression, the bitterness and the darkness, take a step of faith; reach out to the hands that are already reaching out to you with love. 
2. You can live and breathe again. 
1. Life will be different but it can still be life in great abundance. 
1. Death is not the end, there is hope, because there is eternal life after death! 
1. Another group who needs a long shot are those crippled by destructive habits.
1. Destructive patterns that you just can’t seem to shake, whether they be secret, or wide open crippling habits.
1. There’s not much worse than to get in the grip of a destructive habit that’s eroding your life.
1. No wonder people addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, pornography, work, or eating disorders lose the hope of ever breaking or living free.
2. They can’t see a way out.
1. But there is good news:

John 8:36 NLT “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

1. Which means if there is air in your lungs and blood moving through your veins, you are a candidate for liberation. 
1. Freedom is in your future!
2. The same power that broke death’s hold over Jesus is available to those of you who think no power can break you free.
1. You have got to believe that on Easter, the day of impossibility, the moment of the ultimate long shot, that a miracle can still happen in your life. 
1. All the Easter power in the world, all of heaven’s resurrection power can’t help you unless you access it.
1. Another group here present are those with a case of the ordinary’s. 
1. A lot of people gave up hope long ago that their life could ever be anything but ordinary.  
2. They can’t see themselves doing anything extraordinary so the ordinary’s set in.
1. They are good people. 
1. They’ve just exchanged vision for survival.
2. They’ve traded miraculous for mediocre. 
3. Listen, shortly after the resurrection, Jesus stood before such a group of people and shattered their case of the ordinary’s.  

Acts 1:8 NLT “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere-in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

1. Jesus said, “ordinary” people, just like us, will begin to help people who are drowning in guilt, shame, addiction, fear, sin and they will find forgiveness, healing and deliverance, through the cross.
1. People whose hearts are bitter and hateful will experience God’s transforming love, which turns a cruel heart into a compassionate one. 
2. Forgiveness changes lives. 
2. Jesus told ordinary people, “You will overcome the impossible and defeat the enemy, against all and every odd.”
1. And as you do, your life will be catapulted out of the mediocre, and your case of the ordinary’s will be banished forever. 
2. You will become purposed, playing a pivotal role in turning the world around, one life at a time.
3. That same power that brought Jesus back from the dead is available to empower your life to serve His cause.
1. So I want to ask you, do you need a long shot?  
2. Are all of the odds stacked against you? 
1. What do you need today?  
2. Power to get past a dysfunctional family?   
3. Power to get healing from destructive and demonic addictions?  
4. Power over death, loss or defeat? 
5. Power to shake off the ordinary’s and march into the future with vision and purpose for your life?  
6. Power over the incarceration and degradation of sin? 
1. Grab hold of the resurrection power of Christ that faced and forged ahead against all odds and lay hold of the promise of God. 

Hebrews 13:8 tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” 

1. That same Jesus, the one who made the lame to walk and the blind to see.
1. Who raised the dead, caused the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak.
1. Jesus healed the sick and delivered the demoniac, is the same Jesus who is ready, willing to move and work in your life right now. 

Love Actually week 2 An unparalleled work

For over thirty years the Salvation Army and William Booth in particular were subject to some of the most vile persecutions Christians suffered in modern times. But General Booth lived to see the day his army would be honored around the world. His own King Edward VII invited him to Buckingham Palace in 1904. All the persecution and trials of the previous decades must have seemed insignificant to Booth as he heard King Edward say, "You are doing a good work, a great work, General Booth."

When the King asked Booth to write in his autograph album, the old man now 75 years of age  bent forward, took the pen, and summed up his life's work:

Your Majesty,

Some men's ambition is art,

Some men's ambition is fame,

Some men's ambition is gold,

My ambition is the souls of men.

1.     How valuable are people?

1.      God made all things, made lots of creatures, but He made people with a special purpose and gave them a special gift, His image.

1.      The more you study God’s creation, the more you'll learn about Him.

John 1:3 "He created everything that exists there is. Nothing exists that He didn't make."

2.      You have The Maker, The Creator, and The Designer of all things image upon you, and within you.

1.      You were individually, specifically, and uniquely designed by God.

Scripture declares, Jeremiah 1:5 "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations."

1.      If you were to count the thoughts that God has about you, they would be more than the grains of sand on the beach!

2.      The Bible tells us that God specifically chose each one of us, set us a part for His purposes and that we were carefully put together by Him.

1.      There are no accidents, mistakes, or uh-oh's in the Kingdom of God.

Psalm 139:13-14 13 "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!"

3.      God made your body in such a marvelous and complex way that scientists are always, discovering new things about how our bodies work.

1.      You did not evolve from a germ, a monkey, a bang in the atmosphere, or any other bacteria, nucleus or life form in or out of this universe; you were custom designed and uniquely created by God.

1.      You are valuable because you carry God’s image stamp:

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like Us."

Genesis 1:27a "So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them;"

4.      Shortly after this came the fall, the disobedience and the sin of mankind, then the curse of sin upon the earth.

1.      Then came the rescue.

1.      The rescue of mankind.

2.      Jesus is God's rescue.

3.      The Holy Spirit is God's power, God's voice, God's witness of that to the earth!

Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost."

5.      That is how valuable.

2.     Why did Jesus come to earth?

1.      To seek out and to save lost people from sin and the hopelessness of this life and to save them from eternal death.

2.      People are valued so much Jesus came for them, He came for you and I.

1.      If your sunglasses are lost, does that mean they are worth less just because they are under your car seat?

2.      The 10 dollars you lost down the back of the couch, is that worth less because you can’t find it?

3.      No, their value is the same as those who aren’t lost.

1.      When Christians refer to "the lost" they're speaking about the individuals who are unbelieving, unknowing, or deceived.

1.      Referencing Luke 15 the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son.

2.      All of these gaining greater and greater value, yet none greater than mankind.

1.      Jesus came to save all the lost no matter what their background or previous way of life.

1.      William Booth said "Go for souls. Go straight for souls, and go for the worst."

2.      Through faith in Jesus Christ, the lost are forgiven and made new.

3.      Do you see Non-Christians, non believers as valuable?

1.      Do you see Muslims, Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormon’s, Gang members, or Satanists as valuable?

2.      Do you recognize and realize that Jesus came to seek and to save all people no matter how they may classify themselves?

1.      All the Atheists, Athletes, Agnostics, Hollywood stars, racists, homemakers, murderers and politicians?

2.      God demonstrated His love toward them in that while they were still sinners Christ died for them.

1.      Do you show them, demonstrate unto them the love, the forgiveness, the compassion that Jesus has shown you?

4.     Our instructions are clear.

John 13:34-35 NLT 34b "Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."

1.      I am a disciple of Christ and my love for others proves that.

1.      We would not know true love, actual love if it weren't for Jesus Christ, if it weren't for God.

1.      He embodies love, He encompasses love, He is enveloped in love.

2.      His death on the cross is Christ's demonstration of love.

1.      It's His payment of the debt.

2.      His rescue of the condemned.

1.      "The greatness of a man's power is the measure of his surrender." William Booth

1.      Are you that surrendered to Christ’s cause?

5.      Love isn’t just this weak kneed, love song singing, warm, fuzzy, roses, diamonds and chocolate feeling.

1.      Love is active.

2.      Love is seen.

3.      Love is demonstrated.

1.      Love is about showing you want the very best for someone, regardless of what that means, regardless of what it costs.

Illustrate here: if someone is drowning, what do you do? You jump in and pull them out. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to get wet, it doesn’t matter if it’ll make you late, it doesn’t matter who may see you. That is what love does.

1.      Love is reactive.

1.      re-means in regard to.

2.      act-means the doing of a thing, to take action, something done voluntarily.

3.      ive-means doing something specified.

6.      That is why Jesus said, the reason I came here was to show all the lost people out there, I love them.

1.      Pastor Mike it's impossible to show the world this kind of love.

1.      "God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible." - William Booth

3.     There is nothing like the love of Jesus.

1.      That is the bottom line when it comes to evangelism.

1.      The focus of our conversation and our preaching is not hell, sin, good works or self-effort.

1.      It's Jesus.

1.      He is what the Gospel is about, He is the good news!

2.      People ask me, all the time, what about this, what about that?

1.      My answer is always, there are so many questions I have as well, but the truest, most real, and complete answer I do have is in and through Jesus Christ.

1.      Jesus is the answer to the needs of all of humanity.

2.      He's the answer to every situation, every circumstance, every problem, or concern.

Galatians 5:14 "For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

3.      What does it look like to biblically love one another?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NLT “⁴Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. ⁶It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. ⁸Love never fails.”

1.      Patient/Longsuffering: enduring difficult situations, especially those caused by others, with an even temper.

1.      When you get ripped off or get a raw deal – it’s your opportunity to show love by being patient.

2.      Kind: considerate, helpful, and friendly, extending good to others.

1.      Want to see your friend/friends family saved?

1.      “God’s kindness leads us to repentance.” Romans 2:4

3.      Not jealous: It is never greener on the other side.

1.      Don’t covet what someone else has going in their life.

2.      I know people who if their friend, coworker, or even their spouse/sibling gets a better ________ they freak out, love sincerely says “man that looks good on you! I’m happy for you!"

4.      Not Boastful: Showing excessive pride and self-satisfaction in one's achievements, possessions, or abilities.

5.      Not Proud: Humility is the lifestyle of a Christ Follower.

1.      Don’t always seek to elevate yourself, try elevating other people.

6.      Not Rude: not having or showing concern or respect for the rights and feelings of other people.

1.      There is never a moment when this is okay.

2.      God values everyone equally.

7.      Not self seeking: love isn’t about me, it’s about others.

1.      Love is always outward.

1.      Some people think the greatest evidence of God’s presence or work is power, popularity or passionate feelings.

1.      But the greatest evidence of God’s presence and work is love.

8.      Not easily angered/irritable: Easily angered = selfish.

1.      Means that you refuse to see God’s grand design.

9.      Keeps no record of wrongs: Love doesn’t hold grudges or keep a running tab on disappointments and disagreements.

1.      Love forgives.

2.      When Jesus forgave on the cross Colossians 2:15 says it “disarmed and shamed the powers of Satan.”

10.Doesn’t delight in evil: Love is the opposite of evil.

1.      God is love, He does not orchestrate evil. 

11.Rejoices in the Truth: Your heart will leap for what it loves.

1.      Love is real, raw and honest.

2.      Love is not an undercover agent.

3.      Love does not take pleasure in other people's failings, but rejoices with the truth that saves us.

12.Always Protects: Love wants to protect God’s name.

1.      Protect others from hurting; so you try and keep them from all things hurtful and destructive. 

2.      Love bears all things without speaking of what it has to bear.

13.Always trusts: love trusts because we know we can trust God.

1.      He works all things together for our good.

14.Always Hopes: Love hopes that things can and will change.

1.      The beliefs, thoughts and actions of others will change, circumstances will change but keep your hope in God.

15.Always Perseveres: love perseveres to see lost people saved.

1.      Goes with the first one, patience, the two book ends, Christianity defined.

1.      Perseveres persecutions in a patient and loving spirit.

16.GOD’S love never fails means it never is to be out of use; it always holds its place.

3.      We build God’s Kingdom by doing the small things, encouraging people, hearing people, reaching out to people, and loving people.

1.      You talk about challenge, William Booth's passion and conviction continues to ring out to us this day: 

1.      "'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world."

4.      What will you do with the love of God this morning?

1.      Will you just selfishly hang on to it or will you selflessly give it away?

    Make sure to join us December 24th 2017 for one of our Christmas Eve Services 9am or 10:30am