How To Connect With People For God

-ultimately this is the love of Christ in operation, the ultimate High Priest - v. 8 - affection of Jesus Christ – it is Christ living in us and through us – we will never conjure up enough love in our own strength – we are talking about a supernatural love that only comes from God

-do you know why so many marriages end and why so many relationships fail? Because human love is so weak – that is why the Hollywood love portrayed ion movies that seems so strong and so pure is an act – the actors have everything and in their personal lives – true love eludes them – that is why Jennifer Lopez has been married three times – marriage is a contact sport – this is why it is so important to love with Christ’s love through you

Jesus Christ’s Love

1) Can avoid revenge when hurt. – not only avoid revenge but…

2) Can wish God’s best for another even if they’ve hurt you.

3) Can repay good even when hurt.

How do you know if you have people in your heart? You make sacrifices for them. – time, money

Romans 9:1-3 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

-Paul’s love for people was so great that he is saying that he would spend eternity in hell for them

-some Christian folks wouldn’t want to spend an hour at lunch trying to build a relationship with someone who doesn’t know the Lord

transition: One of the greatest time sacrifices we can make is prayer and Paul does that for the Philippians as he says in the next verse.

To truly connect with people for God:

1) People must be on your mind (Philippians 1:1-6).

2) People must be in your heart (Philippians 1:7-8).

3) People must be in your prayers (Philippians 1:9-11).

Philippians 1:9-10 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

-I want to focus on 3 things about this prayer -- 1) The mood of Paul’s prayer 2) The goal of Paul’s prayer 3) The model of Paul’s prayer

1) The mood of Paul’s prayer – positive and affirming ewven though they were having problems w/ love

-Paul still gives them some credit - that your love may abound still more and more – he recognizes they have some love but wants it to grow -this is so interesting when it comes to motivating change

-even in his prayers Paul is showing us how to influence others and motivate them to change

-let me ask you a question -Do you have someone in your life that you would like to change? – you wish they were more this way or that way – your boss – your spouse – your child or teenager – an extended family member – Paul will shows the best strategy -Give them some credit for heaven’s sake – sometimes we think that if we give people any credit that they will think that their need to change is not urgent