Walking With The Greatest Part 4 Series

REVIEW LOVE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL Because God is Love

1. the selfless promotion of others is applying GOD DIRECTLY TO THE PERSON.

i. It is the one sure fire way to make sure your faith doesn’t work

i. Faith doesn’t work without the selfless promotion of others…it is dependent on love in order to work.

ii. You can’t treat people badly and expect your faith to reach out and pull in the blessings of God

j. It is HOW people know you’re a Christian! IT IS THE EVIDENCE OF THE RENEWED SPIRIT.

k. The greatest enemy to LOVE

i. The world is hurting and that pain will never stop unless we get the root of the problems that plague individuals and societies. THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM IS THE GREATEST ENEMY TO LOVE

If the LOVE of God is the greatest, then we need to understand what it is. It is NOT natural human love. Natural human love can turn in a matter of minutes….But God’s love never fails. And that is what we are called to walk it.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

The reason Love is greater that all these things Paul lists here is because one day all of those things are going to pass away. We won’t have need of them anymore. BUT LOVE WILL NEVER PASS AWAY. There won’t be any tongue talking in Heaven, no prophesying, no word of knowledge, or any other gifts of the spirit. BUT EVEN IN HEAVEN, LOVE WILL BE THERE.

And here on earth, Love will endure everything that comes along. If you decide to walk in it, it will last through everything.

1 Cor 13:4-8 (AMPLIFIED) 4 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

5 It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

6 It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

7 Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

8 Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].

I. Love endures LONG and is patient and kind

a. 1 cor 13:4 a 4 Love suffers long and is kind

b. Endure - suffer (something painful or difficult) patiently.

c. Under action or speech that makes someone annoyed or angry, especially deliberately from others.

d. A lot of people will endure long but are not patient and kind while doing it. They endure long because they have to, but they let everyone now they’re enduring.

e. When it comes to dealing with other people in life, we are very quick to give someone a moment of our time and if they don’t measure up to what we want, we quickly remove them out of our life OR if we have to or choose to be around them, we are quick to let them know, “I’m only doing this because the Lord is leading me to” or “I’m only doing this to help you out. Don’t get used to this”

i. When it comes to other people, MOST EVERYONE will bring out some kind of suffering or cause some kind of endurance out of you because EVERYONE is different than you.

f. Spouses will suffer or endure things for their spouse but they are real quick to point that out to the spouse.

g. People at their job have other people treat them horribly or pass them over or do things to make their job harder. THEY ARE QUICK TO COMPLAIN OR TRASH THAT PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ALL OVER THE PLACE AND TO THEIR FRIENDS.