Give Love A Try
April 9-July 19, 2015
Wk 2: Love Saves
April 19, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 1:5–10
How do I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Admit that you are a sinner. Believe that when Jesus Died on the cross that it counted for you Confess Jesus as your Lord. 32Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left… 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him,[d] saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:32-33;39-43
Wk 3: Love Obeys
April 26, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 2:1–6
God’s acceptance is the power that liberates us from sin, not the reward for having liberated ourselves- JD Greear Final thought: "I keep a close watch on this heart of mine I keep my eyes wide open all the time I keep the ends out for the tie that binds Because you're mine, I walk the line I find it very, very easy to be true I find myself alone when each day is through Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you Because you're mine, I walk the line – Johnny Cash
Wk 4: Love Reconciles
May 3, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 2:7–14
The Love of Jesus IN you changes the way you Love the ones Beside you. -The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:6b (NIV) Action Steps: * With whom do I need to reconcile? ____________________ * What is my next move? __________________ * By When? ____________________ Final thought: 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24
Wk 5: Love Abides
May 10, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 2:15–17, Genesis 3:4–7, Matthew 4:1–11
The GOSPEL gives us the power to live lives of INTEGRITY, GENEROSITY and HUMILITY. Final Thought: So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5
Wk 6: Love Belongs
May 17, 2015 • Pastor Ryan Britt • 1 John 2:18–27
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” - AW Tozer Final Thought: Abiding in Christ can only be fully experienced by wholly and completely surrendering ourselves to Jesus, just as he wholly and completely surrendered himself for us.
Wk 7: Love Lavishes
May 24, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 2:28—3:10
Righteous deeds that rightly reflect a relationship with God come only as a result of our right standing with Him through Christ’s death and resurrection. Final Thought: “Grace is glory begun, and glory is grace completed.” Jonathon Edwards.
Wk 8: Love Does
May 31, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 3:11–18
The #1 reason to rescue a child from poverty in Jesus name is because Jesus rescued you. Action Step: 1. Sponsor a Compassion Child today: Love in Deed 2. Write your child a letter where you share Your testimony: Love in Truth. http://www.compassion.com
Wk 10: Love Knows
June 14, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 4:1–6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 Final Thought: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” – C.S. Lewis MERE CHRISTIANITY
Wk 11: Love Sacrifices
June 21, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 4:7–12
God is Love. If God lives in us then we should Love. Final Thought: “For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be.” – John Stott
Wk 12: Love Perfects
June 28, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 4:13–21
Love is revealed in Freedom and Forgiveness while FEAR is rooted in control and condemnation. Perfect Love (Jesus) casts out fear. Final Thought: And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Matthew 8:23-26 "So, we know and believe as a settled reality in our souls that the God who is love indeed loves us. Furthermore, as we abide in the love of God, the God of love abides in us! Thus we see faith and love and knowledge working together to assure our hearts that this God of love is our God and Father" – Daniel Akin
Wk 14: Love Lives
July 12, 2015 • Pastor Joby Martin • 1 John 5:6–12
The Point: Get off of the merry go round of normality and LIVE the Life that Jesus has for you. Final Thought: "If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." – CS Lewis "If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world." – CS Lewis