Love Wins!

Love Wins! | Why we need to abide in God's love

“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” ‭‭Acts‬ ‭2:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“I never knew how hard or would be to be in one accord in one place.It demanded a group of people who would lay down their own lives in pursuit of Him” -Pastor Charlotte-

1 heart

1 mind

1 focus

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” ‭‭Acts‬ ‭2:2-4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In John Jesus is summarizing his ministry and message to His disciples as He is nearing the end of His earthly life

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.” ‭‭John‬ ‭15:9-17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

1. Abide in My love (remain and be present in) “Your number one focus is not to bear fruit, your number one focus is to abide in His love”

2. Love one another “If you love God and love His body, you will bear fruit.”

 

“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

 ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:14​‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!”

Galatians‬ ‭5:15​‬

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Galatians‬ ‭5:16​‬ ‭

4 major Kinds of Bait

1. Distraction: “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. ‭‭ II Timothy‬ 2:3

2. Disconnection: “keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Jude‬ ‭1:21​‬ ‭ “If you are not feeling the love of God anymore, it hasn’t changed, you need to connect to it” “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10:24​‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ “There is growth that happens when we are connected to a body.

3. Discouragement Unmet expectations causes us to lose hope.

4. Dread: “to anticipate something with apprehension or fear”

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” ‭‭I John‬ ‭4:18​-19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” ‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭13:1-5, 7-13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Might be a good arm, might be a good foot, but if it’s not connected to the body, it can’t do what it’s meant to do”