Collective Church

We continue our series through Song of Songs and this week we're talking about dating.` Dating isn't just for the single person.  No matter the season of life you should continue to pursue or date your spouse.  If we're not married, how do we pursue a potential spouse in a way that honors God?  If we are married, how do we date or pursue our spouse in every season of the relationship?  If you're single, what are the characteristics you should be looking for in someone to pursue?  If you're married, what are the qualities you should be cultivating in your life individually and collectively in your marriage in order to strengthen your relationship?  We answer all those questions and as we continue to unpack this book of the Bible.

The world is constantly sending messages about love, sex, dating, and marriage that don't line up to God's word.  It's trying to restructure and redefine these things, but we don't get to redefine and restructure what the Lord has already defined and structured.  This week we continue our study through Song of Songs looking at what scripture says about love, sex, dating and marriage.

Part 1 of our Song of Songs sermon series begins this week.  You can follow along with the sermon notes below...

Sermon Series: Song of Songs:  

Love, Sex, Dating, Marriage

Sermon: Love is...

“...but the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

What we believe about love can often be dictated by our environment.

Two things we will choose between:

• World defined love

• God defined love

Love Devine:

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you. I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions? If you do not know, O most beautiful among women, follow in the tracks of the flock, and pasture your young goats beside the shepherds' tents. I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.”

The Song of Solomon 1:2-10

The passage was from God (Passion in Love) and of God (Divinely Given)

David Platt says it like this: “Love Poetry Divine”

Love Defined:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 

LOVE IS:

• Patient

• Kind

• Rejoices with Truth

• Bears, Believes, Hopes, Endures

LOVE IS NOT:

• Envy 

• Arrogant

• Rude

• Rejoices in Wrong-doing 

The greatest of all is LOVE

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 

Freedom is found in the ultimate display of Love // Jesus Christ

Isaiah 53:5 // We have freedom through sacrifice

Love - Action on display, sacrifice of self.

We're concluding the 2020 Vision sermon series today. So far we've talked about how to get the clearest vision for our lives by asking God what his vision is for our lives.  This week we see that when we ask God WHAT his vision is for us that He'll also provide the HOW.  

Key Thought:  He provides the vision and supplies what we need to bring the vision to life.
Key Passage: Philippians 4:1-20

Recap:
Jesus is Our:
 - Message (Phil 1)
 - Model (Phil 2)
 - Motivation (Phil 3)
 - Means (Phil 4)

As followers of Christ we should be living a legacy motivated by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We continue part 3 of this sermon series in Philippians 3.  Where we see Paul's motivation in verse 10, his vision for living, "My goal is to know him..."

Key Thought: Jesus is our message, our model and our motivation.

Passage: Philippians 3:1-21

What word describes what will determine fruitful work for the Lord?  Attitude.  Adopting the attitude of Christ is not something that comes easy to us.  Which is why Paul used the word adopt.  It may seem like a tall order, to adopt the attitude of Christ, but through Paul's letter we find 3 things that will be required of us to adopt that attitude.

Key Thought: Your attitude determines your altitude as a follower of Jesus.

Key Passage:
"Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus," Philippians 2:5

What's your vision for living?  Paul had a clear vision for living and it was Jesus.  We see that in his letter to the Philippians.  Jesus was his message, his model, his motive and his means.  Despite his difficult circumstances, in his letter we can see Paul's vision for living in different aspects of his life.

Passages in this sermon:

Philippians 1:1-30
James 1:2-4

The holiday season can be difficult for many.  Especially when you are constantly being told that you should be joyful.  That this is the most wonderful time of the year.  If you're going to be happy, kind and generous this is the season to be all of those things.  However, our joy should not come from a season of the year.  It should not depend on how many presents we can buy or how many we receive.  The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ should be the reason we have overwhelming joy.  Join us as we continue studying the wisemen's reactions to the birth of Jesus Christ.

Throughout this sermon series, Come Let Us Adore Him, we'll be studying Matthew 2:1-12.  There's so much to unpack in this short passage of the night Jesus was born.  This week we talk about why it's important to give, what the first fruits are, and the greatest gift we can give God.

Additional passages mentioned in this sermon...

John 3:16
Romans 5:8
Proverbs 3:5-10
Romans 12:1-2

We give God thanks because His faithful love endures forever.

In this sermon....

1. Three biblical words for love
2. His enduring love toward you is:
   1. uninfluenced
   2. immeasurable
   3. unceasing
   4. infinite
   5. holy