Fellowship With God - The Joy Of Loving Others Part 3 Of 5

Title: Loving One Another

Text: I John 2:7-11

Pray!!!

Read Text!!!

Introduction:

- (Explain the hitting by Todd B with the paper in hand)

- I don’t believe it was his intention to break the person’s neck nor injure him badly.

- But because of rage and anger, he acted out.

- Choosing love everyday of our lives will keep us from harm and mark us as being Christ’s disciple.

- It’s hard, but it’s something we must pursue.

- Pursuing to live in the realm of love, is choosing to live in Christ.

Transition:

- Why must we choose or pursue to love other people? I have 4 points that will help us in this area of our lives. It will also draw us closer to God.

Point 1: Because choosing love on a daily basis will heal your emotions

- Love will heal you of unforgiveness, bitterness and anger.

- It will heal you of guilt and regret.

- The Bible says in Prov 10:12, “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.”

- Also I Peter 4:8 says, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

- God does not make loving people an option, because when we choose to love people that rub us the wrong way, it brings healing to our souls.

- If it were an option to love others, we would choose not to love other people, because it’s easier to get angry. We think it makes us feel better to lash out.

- But loving people brings healing and we need to experience that part of our relationship with God.

Some years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger, noted doctor and psychologist, was seeking the cause of many of his patients’ ills. One day he called in his clinical staff and proceeded to unfold a plan for developing, in his clinic, an atmosphere of creative love. All patients were to be given large quantities of love; no unloving attitudes were to be displayed in the presence of the patients, and all nurses and doctors were to go about their work in and out of the various rooms with a loving attitude. At the end of six months, the time spent by patients in the institution was cut in half.

On ingenious teenager, tired of reading bedtime stories to his little sister, decided to record several of her favorite stories on tape. He told her, "now you can hear your stories anytime you want. Isn’t that great?" She looked at the machine for a moment and then replied, "No. It hasn’t got a lap."

- Choosing love will heal emotions, and bring the peace of God to your situation.

- Love truly covers over a multitude of sins. If it is not in your life, you are not choosing love.

- God commands us to love, but the choose to heed that command is our choice. We will either choose to do it God’s way, or suffer the consequences.

- But what happen when we don’t practice love in order for our emotions to be healed?

Point 2: Because not choosing love will produce in us evil

(Our text)

- Hatred and murder are what’s opposite to love.

- Hatred can become an all consuming obession.

Ester 5:9 says, “Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai.”

- Haman was so consumed with hatred toward Mordecai that he could not even enjoy the honor of being invited to Esther’s party.

- Many Christians today, are invited to the King’s table to dine with Jesus, we come to church and we find we can’t enjoy the presence of the Lord because of hatred toward someone.

- It’s time to confess it and release it to the Lord, making it right and choosing to love.

- Choosing not to love, and holding onto bitterness and anger will only backfire in time in your life. (Read Esther 6:13; 7:9-10)

- Bitterness only hurts the one who is carrying the grudge.

- Anger will destroy you if you choose not to love people.

- Never let the enemy deceive you or me into thinking that we have a right to be angry with our brothers or sisters, in the end it will destroy us if not confessed.

- Hatred also leads us to disobey God

Jonah 1:3 says, “But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.”

- Why did he do this because of hatred towards a sinful people.