© 2009 Cross Creek Community Church
370 Carverton Road, Trucksville, PA 18708
(570) 696-0399
370 Carverton Road, Trucksville, PA 18708
(570) 696-0399
Service Times
Sunday Worship and Bible Studies @ 9am & 10:45am
Wednesday Family Night @ 6:30pm
Tuesday Night Celebrate Recovery @ 6:30pm
Small Groups meet at various times
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“Victorious Living” God’s Passion - part 2 of 6 God’s Presence - God’s Passion - God’s People - God’s Power - God’s Purpose - God’s Promise
“The Heartbeat of Love” Victorious Living series part 2 Mark 12:28-31 & Selected
· Love is always a hot topic in today’s world. A search on Google returned 1,350,000,000 hits in .9 seconds · Amazon.com showed over 58,000 books on the subject of love... thousands of songs singing about love. · Tuesday is Valentines Day where you do special things for the one you love. Cards, flowers, dinner... · Did you know there will be 192 million cards sent this year? Every 100 single women there are 120 men? · There are over 2.2 million marriages per year or over 6,000 per day · You can even go on the internet and plug your names into the love calculator to see your compatibility · Love is often compared to the heart... The human heart is beyond comprehension...
Human Heart – a muscle, the size of your fist, beats 75 times / minute or 2.5 billion times over an average 70yr lifetime. Pumping 3000 gallons of blood per day or 650,000 gallons per year - enough to fill 81 RR tank cars.
Heart in Scripture – is our innermost being, it’s your feelings, desires, passions, thoughts, understanding and will. It’s the “place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity”
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. o Christian’s today must guard their hearts... your innermost being in which your life springs forth. o Guard your thoughts, emotions & values... be guarding what you say, see & do.
The Greeks used various words for “Love”... (Each describes a different level or aspect of love) “Eros” – Erotic, Sensual Love (A totally human type of love. “I love you because you make me happy”. This word does not appear in the New Testament.) “Storge” – Caregiving, Compassionate Love (especially the affection between parents and children It does not appear in the New Testament, except in compound form in Romans 12:10 (philostorgos) where it is translated as "devoted.") “Philio” – Friendship, Brotherly Love (A general word - attraction of people to one another without regard for family relationships, love for knowledge, Col 2:8) “Koinonia” – Mutual, Giving & Receiving Love (occurs 20 times in the Bible. It’s primary meaning is “fellowship, sharing in common, communion.”) “Agape” – Self-giving, Sacrificial Love (Word seldom found in Greek literature. This is the word used of Godly love, the highest form of love)
As we explore
the heartbeat of love, the first truth to understand is... 1 John 4:7-8 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. · God is the author and originator of true love... we’re able to love because God first loved us. Ø Wondrous Love! Psalms 17:7 Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. · God shows His distinguished, set apart, special, awesome, marvelous, wondrous agape love! · The wondrous Love of God is a depth of reality far beyond human comprehension · Represents absolute goodness and justice – perfect in character and truth · A Sovereign, Transcendent God who created all things and chose to reveal Himself – Word · Who but God could so lovingly create you and me – highly complex, unique, special
Psalms 103:8, 11 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love... v11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
A young man said to his father at breakfast one morning, “Dad, I’m going to get married.” “How do you know you’re ready to get married?” asked the father. “Are you in love?” “I sure am,” said the son. “How do you know you’re in love?” asked the father. “Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend good-night, her dog bit me and I didn’t feel the pain until I got home.” Ø Everlasting 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 loving-kindness. · God made a covenant of love with you & He will remain faithful to His vow! · There is nothing you can do to make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less! His agape love is Unconditional, Impartial, Everlasting, Infinite, Perfect! · God’s love never ends – it’s like a ring that seals your wedding vows – eternal, everlasting love · The Agape Love of God sets no conditions... He loves you unconditionally – enduring forever! Psalms 118:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. (phrase seen 41 times in the Bible!)
Ø Sacrificial Love! 1 John 4:9-10 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. · God’s agape love is wondrous, it’s eternal but it’s also sacrificial... self-giving, demonstrated love · There are so many verses in the Bible that speaks of God’s Awesome sacrificial love for us · God loves us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins · The sacrifice Christ made at Calvary satisfied God’s righteous demands – Making Grace available!
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 3:16a This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
· Jesus died a substitutionary death at Calvary for the sin of the world... for MY sin. (“i” in the middle) · The first thing you need to ask ourselves is – have I experienced the sacrificial love of God? · Nothing else matters in life... without saving faith in Jesus Christ there is no forgiveness · I encourage all who are here this morning to give your “heart” to Jesus Christ · He’s the Healer, He’s the lover of your soul... He’s the Savior & Forgiver - you need Him in your life · When Jesus comes into a persons life – they are changed – they begin to love agape style! · The heartbeat of God’s love flows through us because of Christ living in us.
· When I was a young boy growing up our home had an artesian well... · An artesian well is where there is so much water & pressure in the ground, it just keeps overflowing · You needed to cap it off & run a pipe to drain off all the “extra” water that flowed up from the well. · As a believer we need to be so into God, so practicing His Presence – that His love just flows out! · When Agape Love is given to us thru Christ... all five types of love are enhanced for God’s glory · Your heart starts to beat in a new “rhythm” a self-sacrificing, unconditional, demonstrated love beat · Your love begins to overflow from your heart to others, to others, to others, to others, to others... · Do you ever feel like your love tank is tapped out? Nothing more to give? Used up? Wasted?
2. Teardown Some Barriers to Love
· Impatience? Toleration of sin? Internal struggles? Depressed, defeated? Wrong values? Noncommittal? · You see, it’s far easier to see pride in others than in yourself... Jesus condemned harshly, the pious legalism that was so prevalent in his day. Legalism is a barrier to love. · Sin is the major cause of spiritual problems, stagnation, cold & anemic love
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails..
· Gary Chapman wrote a book entitled: “The Five Love Languages” · In it he speaks of “languages” you need to learn to build healthier relationships...
1.) Words of Affirmation 2.) Quality Time 3.) Receiving Gifts 4.) Acts of Service 5.) Physical Touch
Dearest Jimmy, No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you’ll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever, Marie. P.S. And congratulations on winning the state lottery.
· The three most powerful words you can tell someone is: I LOVE YOU – turn and tell someone! · Most powerful and yet sometimes the hardest words to say. Early formulative years very important. · Dr Satir recommends 4 hugs per day for survival, 8 hugs per day for maintenance and 12 hugs per day for growth! · Hugs are needed, they relieves pain, depression, tension, unhappiness, healthy & it’s exercise!
1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. · Anybody can be a heart specialist. The only requirement is loving somebody. —Angie Papadakis · To love always requires a choice to do it. · C. S. Lewis, On this love the engine of marriage is run; being in love was the explosion that started it.
Living victoriously always involves a choice... 3. A Choice to Be Loving... Ø God Supremely! Ø Each Other Sincerely!
Mark 12:30-31 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." · LOVE is the Key, the solution to all our problems – Love God with your entire being! · If we love God supremely & genuinely love our neighbor – every problem known would be solved · There would be no more lies, no more stealing, no more adultery if we loved the way God says.
GOD’S LOVE: Love Thoughtfully, Passionately, Practically John 13:34-35 34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
The loneliest place in the world is the human heart when love is absent. —E.C. McKenzie As a Christian - Can you ever be separated from the Love of God?
Experience Victory with the Heartbeat of Love!
Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Heartbeat of Love is Jesus!
Victorious Living is when we allow Christ’s Love to flow through us! |