Connect in Love
Angela Walker
Living the Dream • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Love is in---the air
Stop in the---name of love
I can’t help---falling in love with you
What’s love—got to do with it
Love makes—the world go ‘round
Love me—tender—love me—sweet
Oh how I—love thee—let me—count the ways
With all—my love
Dream Statement #1
Connect - We dream to be a church that connects all people into meaningful relationships with God and one another, in a caring and loving environment.
How?
Text: 1 Peter 1:21-23
21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.
Transition
In the Scripture we can clearly see an effective approach to connecting with God and with one another through real love.
I. Starting Point—Jesus (vs 21a)
I. Starting Point—Jesus (vs 21a)
Where to be begin?
21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
Our starting point—our foundation—begins with Jesus!
When you examine the Gospels—the life of Christ—you will discover that He loved deeply, sincerely, and compassionately.
A. Experience love
19 We love each other because he loved us first.
We learn to love because Jesus loved—He modeled love.
B. Sacrificial love (Agape)
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.
10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
The love of Jesus was unconditional and sacrificial.
24 Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.
C. Steadfast Love
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
It does not ebb and flow but is steady/steadfast.
Ill. Jonathan & David—Jonathan had the right to the kingdom as the firstborn son of the king; but he stepped aside for God’s plan—David was chosen to lead the kingdom.
App. We need to begin with Jesus and experience His sacrificial, steadfast love.
Transition: In this passage I see next steps
II. Next Step—Trust God (vs 21b)
II. Next Step—Trust God (vs 21b)
A. We trust God because He saved us!
20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
Really main point that Peter is making in vs 20,21.
as Christians trust in Christ they are also through Christ trusting in God.
B. We trust God because He Keeps His Word
33 Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true.
30 God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
C. We trust God because He shows us what to do.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Ill. Birth of Jesus foretold all the way back in Genesis—even through years of silence—God fulfilled His promise.
App. We need to trust God because He is trustworthy.
III. Continued Steps—Faith and Hope in God
III. Continued Steps—Faith and Hope in God
A. Our faith and hope are rooted in the Resurrected Lord.
10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.
30 But God raised him from the dead!
B. Our faith and hope is fueled by God’s presence in our lives.
11 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.
ILL.
APP. We need to continue our steps putting our faith and hope in God
IV. Final Stretch (vs 22)
IV. Final Stretch (vs 22)
1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Love One Another, Now and for Ever (1:22–25)
philadelphia
1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Love One Another, Now and for Ever (1:22–25)
phileō—root (‘affection, love’
1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Love One Another, Now and for Ever (1:22–25)
agapaō (‘love, especially strong, deep love’) here
A. Testimony of our relationship with Christ
35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Love One Another, Now and for Ever (1:22–25)
It is a reminder that one of the first marks of genuine growth in holiness in individuals and in churches is earnest love for fellow Christians.
B. Holy Spirit produces fruit
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Ill.
App. We need to love others deeply.
V. Finish Line (vs 23)
V. Finish Line (vs 23)
1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Love One Another, Now and for Ever (1:22–25)
Christian growth cannot be self-centred and individualistic, for it occurs in the context of fellowship, a fellowship which must deepen and remain for all eternity.
A. New Life
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
B. Transformed Life
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
C. Eternal Life
11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
13 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
Ill.
App. We need to live a transformed life.
Conclusion:
In our church world today I often hear people say they want the deep things of God —they past the elementary things. We want to jump into the “deep” end so to speak when we struggle to stay above water in the shallow end.
Some listening to the message today may feel it elementary or for newer believers. However,
A report by Pew Research Center and the General Social Survey published in September found a skyrocketing number of Americans are leaving Christianity to become atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular."
The study predicted that if the number of Christians under 30 abandoning their faith accelerates beyond the current pace, adherents of the historically dominant religion of the U.S. could become a minority by 2045.
We, as believers in Christ and as a body of believers MUST connect with others in love!!
Begin with Jesus, (First Love),
Trust God,
Continue steps of putting our faith and trust in God
Final Stretch—love one another deeply
Finish Line—really the beginning of eternal life.