you can’t get your external in order while your internal is out of order. – Pastor Mike Carlton
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-13
1. Deeply Authentic Love
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” – 1 Peter 4:8
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:18
“Hate what is evil and cling to what is good.” – Romans 9:9
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“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” -Romans 12:10
2. Sacrificial Love
“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” – John 15:13
“honor one another above yourselves” -Romans 12:10
“And walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” – Ephesians 5:2
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” – 1 John 4:10-11
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Philippians 2:3-4
“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” – Colossians 3:14
“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” – Romans 12:11
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. – Galatians 5:13
3. Love through Serving
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” – Romans 12:12
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. – Hebrews 10:23
You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls – 1Peter 1:8-9
Patience in affliction,– Romans12:12
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. – Romans 8:28
Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
faithful in prayer. – Romans12:12
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth – Psalms 145:18
Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” – Romans 12:13
Hebrews 13:2 – “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
4. Love through generosity and Hospitality
And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. – Revelation 12:11
“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.” – 1 Corinthians 13-4-7