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I TH 4.1-8 p. 10 Mind-7 INSIGHTS FOR HOLY LIVING I THESSALONIANS 4:1-8 PART10 THE TRANSFORMED CHRISTIAN MIND PART 7 “Loving God” Part 2
Open briefly with me please to Jude 21.
Our Lord’s younger brother penned these words decades after Christ went back to heaven. He reminds us of the sacred duty we have to LOVE GOD.
Loving God is no less than a sacred closeness that is always on our minds. This past week in old Jerusalem the message could not have been clearer. There we were on the stones that cry out of the centuries they have witnessed. A camel rested under a tree. A man walked with a huge tray of bread balanced on his head. A boy rode by on a donkey and the olive trees rustled in the breeze. And then the shrill sound pierced the tranquility. It was the ring of a cellular telephone. A Jewish man speaking to some of our pilgrims was keeping in touch…
Remember? LOVE STAYS IN TOUCH! We have come to the FIFTH key Biblical command for a Biblical mind: Stay in touch with God by praying without ceasing.
Or as the Apostle Paul declares, the heart in love with Jesus Christ speaks the LANGUAGE OF LOVE. And that language is called prayer. He puts it succinctly in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing. (KJV)”
This morning look with me in the Scriptures and see that: GOD IS LOVE WE ARE TO LOVE LOVE STAYS IN TOUCH.
GOD IS LOVE
The Bible overflows with the traces of the Love of God. There are however seven powerful facets of His love we need to consider. God’s love is: 1. DEMANDING LOVE DT 10.12 it has its requirements [ 11:1,13,22;19:9;30:16,20; Joshua 22:5; 23:11; 2 Chronicles. 19:2 ‘love those who hate Me?’] 2. TESTING LOVE DT 13.3 he checks to see if you are serious 3. SUPERNATURAL LOVE DT 30.6 it doesn’t come naturally 4. SEARCHING LOVE John 21.15-17 it asks those hard questions like: • “What is the God you worship?, • What do you think about the most?
MACINTOSH HD:USERS:JOHNBARNETT:DROPBOX:1994 SERMONS:940710 AM I TH 4.1-8 P. 10 MIND-7.DOC 3/10/12 Page 2
• In what do you trust? • Who or what do you rely upon?, • What irresistibly draws you? • What is the source of your security? • What is the source of your happiness? • What is the center of your life, the center of your plans, the center of your goals?” Then comes the sledgehammer. Think of facing the risen Jesus as Peter did and Him asking: • “Do you really love Me more than… • Do you love Me? • Do you like Me?”
ended here 6/26/94
5. OVERFLOWING LOVE Romans 5.5 its not just a sip to hold you over. Its not a spare to get you to the tire store. Its not a loaner until the real thing is done. It is the real, overflowing source of the very love of God! 6. COMPELLING LOVE 2 Cor 5.14 His love releases us from self love to love of God. We are drawn to Him. Nothing can dter us. Look at 2 Cor 11:22 on…Heb 11:32-40. [ Maybe do the Joseph Scriven “What a friend we have in Jesus story] 7. ORIGINATING or REFLECTING LOVE I John 4.19 He started all this. He loves first, we respond.