We in a throw-away culture.
Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
We have an ingrained cultural expectation that everything is , and if it stops working for us, we’ll just throw it away and get a new one.
Sadly, we often have the same mindset about human relationships today.
Why are human relationships worth the effort despite the trouble they might bring?
Genesis 45:1-8
What is wrong with Joseph?
Genesis 37:3-4
So what does Joseph do?
What Joseph does is teach us why relationships are so important despite the trouble they may bring.
First, Joseph teaches us that relational might be for our own spiritual formation.
Genesis 41:16
Difficulties lead us into a spiritual wilderness which becomes the school for our growth where God grows inside of us His deeper love.
Second, Joseph teaches us that relational trouble might be God’s way of working all things for our good.
Genesis 45:5
How has God used relational trouble for your own good?
Last but not least, Joseph teaches us that relational trouble might be God’s way of teaching us the value of His forgiveness.
In a very real sense, if we give up on relationships with other people, we are giving up on God who made us in His image to be in relationship with Him and with each other.
What is God teaching you through your most difficult relationships?
1 Corinthians 13:6
What does have to do with love?
Love without truth isn’t love, rather, it’s a distortion of love.
Distortions of love abound in our time.
The first prevalent distortion of love in our culture is that love equals sexual expression or activity.
Unrestrained freedom of sexual expression is not love, it’s a denial of God’s authority and boundaries.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Matthew 19:3-6
Matthew 18:5-6, 10
Boundaries keep us on the straight and narrow path that leads to abundant and eternal life in Christ.
The second distortion of love that is prevalent in our culture is that inclusiveness is greater than truth.
The final distortion of love in our culture is that love equals affirmation.
Love rejoices in wrongdoing. But love rejoices with the truth.
If the Church of Jesus Christ abandons Biblical truth in the name of love, it has abandoned the One who is the Author of love and truth.
God’s love is other-worldly.
God’s love is .
Hosea 1:2-3
Occasionally, God asks us to do the absurd to invite us into the absurdity of His love.
Three primary religious roles in Israel: the Prophet, the Priest, and the King.
The King ruled
The Priest mediated
The Prophet spoke
You have to understand this one thing above all others: the Prophets and Prophetesses were men and women of holiness and great personal morality.
Deuteronomy 13:1-5
Matthew 7:15-20
Hosea 1:2
Occasionally, God asks us to do the absurd to us into the absurdity of His love.
Leviticus 21:6-7
Hosea 1:3
Jezreel = God Will Sow
Lo-Ruhama = No Mercy
Lo-Ammi = Not My People
God is not only speaking a message TO Hosea and THROUGH Hosea; God is making Hosea’s life the message!
Hosea 3:1-2
The love of God isn’t conditioned, it is UN-CONDITIONAL.
Occasionally, God asks us to do the absurd to invite us into the absurdity of His .
Matthew 5:38-48
Why would our Lord ask such absurd things of us?
Like Hosea, God wants to make our lives the message.
What could happen today if you allowed Jesus to touch and heal that place inside that needs the restoration of His love?
Character
John 13:34-35
How do YOU define love?
“I called my doctor on the telephone
Help me Doc there’s something wrong
I can’t shake it it’s gone too far
He said, ‘Tell me what your symptoms are.'”
“I said, ‘My hands are sweaty and my knees are weak
I can’t eat and I can’t sleep
It’s turning me every way but loose.’
He said, ‘It sounds like love’s got a hold on you
no doubt love’s got a hold on you.'” – Alan Jackson
Love originates in the very being of God.
1 John 4:8
Chesed = times = God’s loyal, persistent, everlasting love
Isaiah 54:8-10
Agape = times = unconditional, sacrificial, love…the highest form of love
A new commandment I give to you, that you “unconditionally, sacrificially” love one another:
just as I have “unconditionally, sacrificially” loved you, you also are to “unconditionally,
sacrificially” love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you
have “unconditional, sacrificial” love for one another.
Romans 5:8
1 John 3:16
1 Corinthians 1:18
We have to come to the understanding that love as it originates and flows from God goes beyond feeling. Love is a choice.
#1 – The first choice we have to make is to RECEIVE the love of God.
1 Timothy 1:12-14
#2 – The second choice we have to make is to REFLECT God’s love to Him and to each other.
If we will make the and the to love, the Holy Spirit will birth His love in us and through us.
God’s love is not primarily based on feelings. God’s love is based on choice.
Why does love matter?
1 John 3:14
What is the one thing Jesus would most want you to do after hearing this message about His love?
To follow Jesus as His disciple takes GRIT.
“Passion and perseverance for long-term, meaningful goals.”
Read Romans 15:5-7; 16:17-20
Why does it take to follow Jesus as His disciple?
“Many have the heart for a disciple-making movement, but few have the grit for it.” – Robby Gallaty
1. Discouragement
2. Disunity
3. Distractions
The Gospel is more than a ; the Gospel is a .
The enemy desires to stop the flow, the movement of that message through us.
Where do we get the grit to in following Jesus?
Read Romans 15:5-6
So how does God give us endurance and encouragement to become the ONE UNITED VOICE for the glory of God?
#1 – God gives us endurance and encouragement through the Scripture.
Read Romans 15:4
Read John 14:12
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#2 – God gives us endurance and encouragement through the unity of the saints.
Read Romans 15:7
Read Hebrews 12:1-2
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#3 – God gives endurance and encouragement through His authority.
Read – Matthew 28:18-20
Read – Romans 16:20
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Exodus 15:3 – The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His Name.
1 John 4:4 – He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
What discouragement, disunity, or distraction has the enemy tried to use to hinder my walk with Jesus?
What do we need most in this ominous, threatening, discouraging world?
The answer is HOPE!
Read Romans 15:13
What has been your source of discouragement most recently?
I’ve been feeling discouraged lately by .
Today, you’re going to leave having your discouragement erased by .
So what does Paul want us to understand?
The first thing Paul wants us to understand is WHO our God IS.
Our God is THE GOD of HOPE.
What did Paul mean when he wrote, God is THE God of HOPE? What is hope?
Expectations based on God’s .
Hope is expecting God to do what He said He will do…in me…in you…and in US.
Read Romans 15:8-12
God keeps His promises.
Read 2 Corinthians 1:18-20
Who is the most reliable human being you know?
Paul wants us to what our God DOES.
Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope FILL YOU with all JOY and PEACE.
God’s greatest desire is to fill you with supernatural joy and supernatural peace that is beyond your circumstances.
Read John 14:27
Read John 16:33
Read John 15:11
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Paul wants us to understand how HOPE, PEACE, and JOY are .
Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace IN BELIEVING.
Read 1 Corinthians 13:13 – So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Faith, hope, and love are so deeply intertwined, you can’t have one without the other two.
Romans 8:24 – For in this hope we were saved.
In the KJV, it says: For we are saved by hope.
Paul wants us to understand the result of hope in Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:13 – …so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may ABOUND in hope.
When was the moment you first realized, “Wow, I’m a Dad!”? How did that change your life?
What has fatherhood taught you about God that you didn’t fully understand before becoming a Dad?
What is your heart’s greatest desire for your children?
How does your faith in Jesus Christ guide and influence your role as a father?
What is the best advice you could give to other Dad’s?
Read 1 Corinthians 16:13-14
To be the man and the father God has called and gifted you to be, you need to know and experience the love of your Heavenly Father.
Read John 3:16
Read John 14:6
Where in the Bible do we find what it actually looks like to LIVE as a disciple of Jesus?
Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7 and Romans chapter 12
Read Romans 12:1-2
Living as a disciple of Jesus means:
#1 – Sacrificially
#2 – Abundantly
So what does it mean to live sacrificially?
“Jesus is to be Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.” – Chip Ingram
Read Luke 9:23-24
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” – Romans 12:1 The Message
#1 – You’ll never be able to do this in your own strength, but only through God’s and the of the Holy Spirit.
#2 – You’ll never be able to do this until you’re willing to the idols you keep that give you identity and security.
Secondly, living as a disciple of Jesus means abundantly.
Living sacrificially leads, not to deprivation, but to the abundance of God’s blessings.
“Surrender is God’s channel through which His biggest and best blessings flow into our lives.” – Chip Ingram
Read Romans 12:2
Your mind is the real battlefield, and your heart will follow your mind.
Read Philippians 4:8-9
Living sacrificially…thinking abundantly…this is the life of a disciple of Jesus.
Three Questions:
#1 – Who is God?
#2 – Who am I?
#3 – What am I here to do?
How is God speaking to you this morning? What do you need to do about it?
1. Salvation is from the .
2. We Gentiles, who once had no entry into salvation, now have an opportunity to enter it.
3. God is not finished with His people, the Jews.
Read Romans 11:17-25
Read Romans 11:13-15
Context
1. He tells us he’s writing to the Gentiles.
2. He tells us he’s an apostle to the Gentiles.
3. He tells us he’s writing for both the benefit of Jews and Gentiles.
Read Acts 13:44-46
Read Acts 9:15-16
Read Ephesians 3:8
Read Genesis 12:1-3
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God raised up…
…a man named Abraham…
…to raise up a grandchild named Jacob/Israel…
…to raise up a people and a nation names Israel…
…to put God on display for the nations…
…and to bring a Messiah named Jesus…
…to save His people and the world from .
Context
He’s a Jew…
…writing to Gentiles…
…about salvation in Jesus…
…and filling in the key missing pieces…
…about how Judaism and Christianity merge in the salvation of Jesus.
#1 – Salvation is from the Jews.
Read John 4:22
#2 – We Gentiles who once had no entry into salvation, now have an opportunity to enter it.
Read John 1:11-12
Read Romans 11:11
Read Romans 11:25
Read Romans 11:17-18
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#3 – God is not finished with His people, the Jews.
#1 – There are covenant promises God made to Israel/the Jews that He will fulfill.
Read Amos 9:11-15
#2 – Many Jews have come to believe in Jesus and many more will.
Read Romans 9:27-28
Read Romans 11:23
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What does all of this have to do with me?
Invitation:
1. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. (Psalm 122:6)
2. Pray for the remnant of Israel to believe in Messiah Jesus. (Romans 9:27)
3. Stand against the evil spirit of this age that rages against the Jews. (Revelation 12:13)
4. Be thankful that you can be grafted into the olive tree of Israel through the New Covenant
in Jesus’ blood. (Romans 11:17-18)
Read Luke 22:19-20
Salvation is a matter of the .
Read Romans 10:8-10
Church, we have a heart problem.
Read Genesis 6:5
Read Jeremiah 17:9
Read Matthew 15:18-19
So what is the real nature of our heart problem?
“Sin is the failure of human beings to love God, to love themselves in the way God loves them, and thereby the failure to love other people with the love of God.” – J.D. Walt
What is the Bible referring to when it references the heart?
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Most every time the Bible mentions the word “heart” it’s talking about the combination of everything inward.
When God looks at us, what He sees more than anything else, is the condition of our hearts.
Read 1 Samuel 16:7
Read Proverbs 21:2
Read Luke 16:15
“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.” – C.S. Lewis
So if the Lord looks at the heart and sees corruption, division, and a lack of love, what are we to do?
Read Romans 10:8-10
Read John 7:38
Read 2 Corinthians 4:6
Read Galatians 4:6-7
Read Ephesians 3:14-17a {ending with…Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.}
Are you believing in your heart?