What’s in a Word?                                                             “What’s Love Really Got to Do With It?”

1. Storge  — Most commonly, the love between parents and children. It’s the love that is ____________________ to be there —      when there is an ___________________ for love to be there.

Romans 12:9-10, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

Also see Romans 1:28-31 and 2 Timothy 3:1-3

2. Phileo  — Brotherly Love; it’s the attraction of people to each other who are _______________________________________    through friendship and family.

2 Peter 1:5-7, ”For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.” 

3. Eros — Has to do with erotic, sexual love. It is about   ______________________________________________.

See Song of Songs

4. Agape — Meant _____________________________ love; the kind of love that is completely ______________, completely sacrificial.

Romans 5:7-8, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Again, What’s Love Look Like? 

“What’s Love REALLY Got to Do With It”

First, do you see Jesus in this description?

Second, how do you compare to this description?

Third, with the people in your life, if you were to love like this, what or how would it look?

“The Blind Spot Test” 

John 20:11-16, “Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.¹³ They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put Him.’ ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.¹⁵ He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking He was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have put Him, and I will get Him.’¹⁶ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means “Teacher”).” 

The Urgency

“Sending You” 

The Challenge

“Sending You” 

 Are we a Battleship or a Cruise Liner?

Making History: Is This Your Time 

See Esther 4:1-8 

Keys to Making History:

Esther 4:12-14, “When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, ¹³ he sent back this answer: ‘Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?’” 

So how did Esther respond?  

Esther 4:15-17, “Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ ’Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.’ ¹⁷ So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.”

Up There Is Coming Down Here                                

  Opening Question: What is the gospel that Jesus came to preach?

Mark 1:14-15   After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵ “The time has come,” He said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”  

Luke 8:1; 9:1-2, “After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God…. When Jesus had called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, ² and He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”                                                         Acts 1:3; 28:31,” After His suffering, He presented Himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God…. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!” 

Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”

See Matthew 13:44 and Romans 14:17

 Matthew 6:9-10, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, ¹⁰ Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’”                  

The Testimony of a Tower                                                          “In the Beginning”

Genesis 11:1-9, “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.  As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.  That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”

What’s Love Look Like?                                                                      “What’s Love REALLY Got to Do With It?”

1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing…  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”                                                                                                       1 Corinthians 13:4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Calvin Coolidge, 30th President, delivered this on January 17th, 1925: “Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

How do you compare to this description?

Did you see Jesus in this description?

It Looked Like Rain                                                                    “In the Beginning” 

After The Fall: See Genesis 4:1-8 

Genesis 6:1-8  When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

See Matthew 24:37-39; 1Peter 3:20-22