Make Room for God's Love

Revelation 2:4-5 (NLT)

4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first 5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.

Most of us lose our love of anything over time.  

Things fade over time.  

Love is a commitment.   

1. Our love for God must never fade.  

Matthew 22:37-39 (NLT)

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Whatever God treasures, Satan always targets.

Ephesians 3:18 (NLT)

18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

It is more than information.  It has to be revelation.  

God loves you.  

God is greater than all your mistakes. 

What consumes you?  

Satan will introduce good things to distract you.  

2. Sin will mess you up.   It destroys.  

We must remember God's love for you.  

Fears starts to diminish when we focus on God's love.  

What people think begins to fade.  

We become less concerned with people's responses.  

We begin to love ourselves.  

1 John 4:19  (NLT)

19 We love each other because he loved us first.

Leviticus 19:18 (NLT)

18t love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

We must return to God.  

His grace will always meet you.   We must repent.  

Sin is strong.  

As long as you have this flesh on, sin is always a battle.  

1 John 4:4  (NLT)

4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 

Church of the Highlands 19 Anniversary

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2 Timothy 1:13-14 n (NLT)

13 Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me (Paul) —a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. 

14 Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.

1.  Let's guard our passion for more of God.   

Ask what do I need to do to go all in for God?

Jeremiah 29:13  (NLT)

13 If you look for me (God) wholeheartedly, you will find me.  

2.  Let's guard our pursuit of the lost.  

We never quit searching for the lost because God never quit searching for me.  

God will leave the found ones to find the lost.  

We keep fellowship with God if we seek the lost with Him. 

Mark 16:15 (NLT)

15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

We seek everywhere for everyone lost.  

Ask who can I invite to church this year?

3.  We must guard our priority to seek God through relationships with other Christians in small groups.  

Hebrews 10:25  (NLT)

25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

We can't tell every one, but we can tell someone.  The value of the group is not the topic, but knowing each other.  

Ask will I let someone know the real me?

4.  Let's guard our own progression in Spiritual  growth.  

Philippians 3:13-14  (NLT)

13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 

14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

If Paul who wrote a majority of the New Testament, thought he had room to grow, so must we.  

5.  Let's guard our participation in our church.  

We must not be a Spiritual consumer, but a Spiritual contributer.  

1 Corinthians 3:9-15 (NLT)

9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.

10 Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. 

11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.

12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 

13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 

14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 

15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.  

Ask how can I use my time and treasure to make an eternal difference?  

Hide and Seek

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John 4:23 (NLT)

23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.

If you can't find God, worship Him, and He'll find you. 

The people were in despair with no place to turn. 

2 Chronicles 20:14-15  (NLT)

14 the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there. His name was Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite who was a descendant of Asaph (worship leaders).

15 He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

The man who worshiped had faith.  The other's did not.   

2 Chronicles 20:20-22 (NLT)

20 Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and said, “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.”

21 After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang:

“Give thanks to the Lord;
    his faithful love endures forever!”

22 At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.

When the people worshiped, they defeated their enemies.    

David lost everything and wept in pain.  

1 Samuel 30:1-4  (NLT)

30 Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negev and Ziklag; they had crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. 

2 They had carried off the women and children and everyone else but without killing anyone.

3 When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, 

4 they wept until they could weep no more.

David changed his weeping into praise that made all the difference.  He recovered everything.  

1 Samuel 30:6-7 

6 David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

7 Then he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring me the ephod (the garment of worship)!” So Abiathar brought it.

Paul had an encounter with God in the depths of a prison.  

Acts 16:22-26  (NLT)

22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 

23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 

24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.

25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 

26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!

Jeremiah 29:13  (NLT)

13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me (God).

Mark 12:28-30  (NLT)

28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 

30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’

Heart and Soul: We show our love to God by expressing our affection on Him in worship. 

Mind:  I worship God by focusing my attention to God.  

Strength:  I worship God by using my abilities to serve God.