Love Bears All Things | 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love covers.

-Love covers in forgiveness, not avoidance.

Love is patient.

-Patience is a season of honest grace.

Love is kind.

-Kindness is good from a good place for a good purpose.

Love does not envy.

-Love does not strive for self.

Love does not boast.

-Love does not fill self by emptying others.

What is Love?

Love is everything…without it, life is nothing

To know HOW to love, we must first know WHAT love is

-Without Love….Words are just noise

-Without Love…Spiritual gifts mean nothing

-Without Love…Generosity, Knowledge and even faith accomplish nothing

1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 1 John 4:7-8, 1 John 4:19, Romans 5:8

Loved people love people

Do you KNOW God’s love?

New You | Mark 12:38-13:2

A Follower is a Giver.

A Giver is…

-Cheerful (2 Corinthians 9:6-7)

-Given from cheer not for cheer.

-Given from grace not for grace.

-Given from conviction not compulsion.

Charitable (Matthew 25:34-40)

-Personal compassion in action.

-Caring enough to change something for someone.

-Giving dignity not getting recognition.

A Contributor (Acts 2:44-46)

-Regular not regulated. (1 Cor. 16:1-2)

-Cooperating not controlling. (1 Cor. 16:3-4)

-Reward not return.

A follower is a WORKER.

1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and 27-31

The LORD is WORTHY.

-Not for RETURN, but REWARD.

-Not for RECOGNITION, but RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The LABOR is WORTHWHILE.

-Not to be SERVED, but to SERVE.

-Gifts are Spirit PROPORTIONED, Spirit EMPOWERED, individually STEWAREDED, mutually BENEFICIAL.

The BELIEVERS are WORTH IT.

-Not for MY BENEFIT, but MUTUAL BENEFIT.

The LOST are WORTH the WORK.

-Not for GAIN, but for the GOSPEL.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

A follower is a member.

Every person has a place and a purpose.

The church is an organism not an organization.

-The church, illustrated, is universal.

-The church, instructed, is local.

The church is personal, functional, tangible, and spiritual.

-Membership is not attendance; it is identity.

-The body protects and provides for its weaker parts.

-The body works to heal and change its unhealthy parts.

Fellowship will be corporately what we are individually.

-Fellowship will do corporately what we do individually.

-Fellowship will have corporately what we give individually

Go Fishing

Mark 1:16-20Fisher of Men = Be a Bringer

Go now.

Go learn.

Go completely.

You aren’t a follower of Jesus until you are making followers of Jesus.

John 4:21-16A

Follower is a Worshiper.

-True worship is about the reason, not the result.

God seeks true worshipers.

-True worship is true of God and true from us.

-God is not seeking performance; He is seeking people who worship

.God is worshiped because God is worthy.

-God does not need but deserves worship.

-Worship is giving God what is due Him not what we owe Him.

The Lord is worthy of right words, righteous ways, and real work.

New You

Romans 10:1-17

A follower is a believer.

-We follow who (and what) we believe.

Believing creates our living.

-Belief is convictions held so deeply they create and cause our motivations and actions.

-If what we say we believe is not changing how we live, do we believe it?

Is my belief correct?

-Correct belief changes how we live.

Am I committed to my belief?

-Committed belief changes what we do.

Is my belief confessed?

-Confessed belief changes who we are.

Redo: Regret to Restoration

Matthew 26:14-16, 30-35, 45-51, 69-75, Mathew 27:3-5

Our expectations are often good, but our confidence is misplaced.

Our failure doesn’t make us a failure.

You only sell what you never truly treasured.

You don’t have to do the things you used to do because you’re not the person you used to be in Christ Jesus.

Grace pursues us at the place of our failure.

The only way to come to Jesus is by surrender.

Turn your regret into repentance.

Turn your shame into surrender.

And follow the Savior who is greater than all your sin.

Do’s and Don’ts of Gift-Giving

James 4:13-17

Do live today.

-Don’t live for today.

Do value time today.

-Don’t sell today for tomorrow.

-Don’t sell tomorrow, today.

Do faithfully today, honoring what is ahead.

-Don’t presume; do plan.

Do the right you know.

-Doing what is right requires learning what is right.-

-Don’t allow what you feel to overcome what is true.

Don’t just ask, “Is this wrong?”

-Do ask, “Is this right?”