‘JESUS IS LOVE!‘
(We will analyze this truth by focusing on each word of the above title.)
I John 4:19 – “We LOVE – because GOD LOVED US FIRST.”
HE (The Lord God Almighty)
The Good News: Our God is indescribably awesome!
GOD’S ATTRIBUTES
What are God’s attributes? When we talk about the attributes of God, we are trying to answer questions like, Who is God, What is God like, and What kind of God is he?
An attribute of God is something true about him. As limited human beings, it is impossible for us to totally comprehend who God is. He does make himself known in a variety of ways, and through what He reveals about himself in his Word and in his creation, we can begin to understand our awesome Creator and God.
God is unlike anything or anyone we could ever know or imagine. He is one of a kind, unique and without comparison. Even describing him with mere words truly falls short of capturing who he is – our words simply cannot do justice to describe our Holy God.
REVELATION 1:12-18 (It describes a vision of the glorified Christ. He is so awesome. He said, “I am the Living One; I was dead and behold I am alive forever and ever!” John the apostle was awestruck. He fell at his feet as though dead.)
NEHEMIAH 9:6 “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.
He LOVED
The Good News: JESUS IS LOVE!
We have learned what LOVE is from Jesus. He’s the one who showed his GREAT LOVE to all mankind by giving his life for us.
Romans 5:8 – God clearly shows and proves His own LOVE for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 4:16, ‘GOD IS LOVE’. LOVE is his character, his nature, his substance, not merely something he demonstrates. To meet God in any way is to encounter that LOVE.
David prayed, “ Show us the wonder of your GREAT LOVE.
Jeremiah 31:3 – The Lord appeared to us in the past saying, I have LOVED YOU with an EVERLASTING LOVE; I have drawn you with LOVINGKINDNESS.
Ephesians 2:4,5 – But God, being rich in mercy, because of the GREAT LOVE with which he LOVED us, that even though we were spiritually dead and doomed by our sins, he gave us back our lives again when he raised Christ from the dead—only by his undeserved favor have we ever been saved—
I John 3:1 – How GREAT IS THE LOVE the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
Isaiah 54:10 – My FAITHFUL LOVE won’t shift from you.
Psalm 86:15 – A God of compassion and mercy; you are very patient and FULL OF LOVE.
I Chronicles 16:34 – Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His FAITHFUL LOVE endures forever.
Galatians 2:20 …God’s Son – LOVED me and gave himself for me.
Romans 8:39 – Nothing above us, nothing below us, nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the LOVE OF GOD that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 4:9-10 – “This is how the LOVE OF GOD is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.”
Song: THE LOVE OF GOD:
The LOVE OF GOD is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win
His erring child He reconciled and pardoned from his sin
Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade To write the LOVE OF GOD above would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky
CHORUS:
O LOVE OF GOD, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure The saints’ and angels’ song
He loved Us – Every person!
The Good News: There is room for all of us beneath the LOVING, protective wings of the Lord.
You are LOVED, you are beautiful, and you are perfect the way God made you. Don’t let anyone ever make you think differently.
His LOVE for you never wavers.
These Bible verses about GOD’S LOVE show that even in your darkest hour, when it may seem like you’re on your own, or that you’ve lost everyone and everything you’ve ever cared about, He is there, and you are never alone.
Isaiah 54:10 – “‘The mountains may shift, and the hills may be shaken, but my FAITHFUL LOVE won’t shift from you, and my covenant of peace won’t be shaken,’ says the Lord, the one who pities you.”
Zephaniah 3:17 – “The Lord your God is in your midst — a warrior bringing victory. He will create calm with HIS LOVE; he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Romans 8:31-32 – “So what are we going to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He didn’t spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. Won’t he also freely give us all things with him?”
Psalm 36:7 – “Your FAITHFUL LOVE is priceless, God! Humanity finds refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
If God is on your side, you have nothing to fear!
He loved us FIRST
The Good News: GOD LOVED you first… before you were even born…
Psalm 139:13-18 – For You formed my innermost parts; You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was being formed in secret, And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were appointed for me, when as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape]. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
First love
LOVE is the basic ingredient for which all life on earth is formed. It is an emotion that cannot be measured in a cup or by a yardstick.
The FIRST LOVE that most of us experience is that of our parents.
Parents give their whole life for their children. They hold our hand, make us walk, teach us how to communicate, help us get educated and many more things, without a wish of getting anything in return. They sacrifice their whole life for us without thinking about themselves.
The depth of the LOVE of parents for their children is amazing. It is like no other relationship. It exceeds concern for their own lives.
The LOVE between a parent and a child affects us more profoundly than any other relationship of our lives; it is the foundation for which we base all of our future relationships and the source of our earliest understanding about LOVE, intimacy, and trust.
If a parent’s LOVE is consistent and the child feels supported growing up, he or she will more likely have the sense of security that will allow him or her to face the challenges in life with the knowledge that if he or she falters or has difficulty facing those challenges, our parents will be there to help and support them.
On the other hand when a parent’s LOVE is inconsistent, nonexistent or abusive he or she can grow up to have severe development issues.
Story – First love:
(A Father talking about his daughter) – “I was 25 years old when I first became a dad. Nothing would prepare me for the pure joy that fatherhood would bring into my life. When I held my little princess in my arms for the first time, and she looked up at me I knew right then and there that we were automatically best friends.
Sadly, at the same moment that I realized she was mine forever, I also knew that eventually some young guy was going to come to MY house and ask to take her on a date. Eventually Laila is going to grow up and I need to prepare myself for that day.
There are some very important things I want my daughter to know.”
#1. I LOVED you first:
“I hope she always knows how much her dad LOVES her. Guys will come and guys will go, but her dad will always be around thinking of the early days together. I will be there to hold her and wipe her tears and to celebrate her successes.
Ultimately, I know that I will have some influence on the boys that come over to our house. I will work hard to let them know that I am still her DAD!! Seriously though, whatever comes her way, she will always be my princess. I LOVED her first.”
Here we see an example of a father’s LOVE. And even when that child grows up and is not with Him, he will LOVE them in a way they could never understand.
As parents we LOVE our children before anyone else does..and all through life. We LOVE them enough that we’d do anything for them.
GOD’S LOVE
That LOVE we have for our children is like the LOVE God has for us – His children. It’s hard for us to comprehend it.
Ephesians 3:18-19 – “I ask that you’ll have the power to grasp love’s width and length, height and depth, together with all believers. I ask that you’ll know the LOVE OF CHRIST that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God.”
John 3:16 – God so LOVED the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.”
Romans 8:38-39 – “I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from GOD’S LOVE in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created.”
We Love – Because He loved us first!
The Good News: Because GOD LOVES you so much, you are also capable of love in a deeper and stronger way each day.
I John 4:19 – “We LOVE because GOD LOVED us first.”
John 13:34,35 – After Jesus LOVED the disciples and showed his LOVE by washing their feet, He gave them this command: “I give you a new command: LOVE each other. You must LOVE each other as I have LOVED you. All people will know that you are my followers if you LOVE each other.”
Matthew 22:36-40 – “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
I John 4:10,11 – This is LOVE: not that we LOVED God, but that He LOVED us and gave His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Since God so LOVED us – we ought to LOVE one another.
I John 4:12,13 – No one has ever seen God; but if we LOVE one another, God lives in us and HIS LOVE is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
ENTREATY TO LOVE
Dear Friends, Let us LOVE one another – for LOVE comes from God.
GOD LOVED us first. He longs for us to LOVE Him back in return, and to LOVE others.
