Sermon Central
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How To Show Your Love Series
Contributed by Darrell Stetler Ii on Feb 13, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: God designed you to love Him and others, and you’ll never be happy with anything less. But how can we show this love effectively to our families and those most important to us? *HANDOUT INCLUDED*
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How to Show Your Love
This month, we’re talking about families. . . Does your family ever drive you crazy?
In the book, “Children’s Letters to God: The New Collection”, a little girl named, Nan, writes this letter: “Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only four people in our family and I have trouble loving them!”
Source: Paul Larsen on Sermoncentral.com
“Love” is a very popular word in our society. I went and typed in the word “love” on “Yahoo Launch” this week. I couldn’t believe how many songs popped up with that word.
Amazon.com lists:
2,652 book titles regarding “Heaven,”
10,304 for “Money,”
16,765 for “Sex,”
18,818 for “God,” and
30,066 for “Love.”
Everyone wants love. . . but not too many people are actually finding it. When basically 50% of marriages are ending in divorce, do you ever wonder why it’s different now? Is it even possible to find the true lasting love that we all dream about?
Let me first say what love is NOT:
- Not a warm, fuzzy feeling.
- Not sex.
Too much love in this world is like this letter:
Dearest Jimmy,
No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking off our engagement. Please say you’ll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you!
Yours Forever, Marie
P.S. And congratulations on winning the state lottery!!!
On Valentines Day, there are three things that you need to know:
1. The Best Use of Life is Love.
Mark 12:30 ’And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
31 "And the second, like it, is this: ’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."
If we were to take a truckload of all the marriage and family and relationship books and techniques and advice, and combine it all into one statement, it would be verse 31: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
There’s nothing better you can do than these 2 things:
- Love God with all your heart.
- Love your neighbor as yourself.
Simply, there is nothing better you can do with your life than to use it to love God and others.
1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Because God is love, the most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love. - Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Life
There’s a reason why God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” That reason is because he created you to love.
“Life is not measured by how much one owns. ..." (Luke 12:15, NCV)
God did not create you to:
- Make money
“Life is not measured by how much one owns. ..." (Luke 12:15, NCV)
- Have fun
Ecclesiastes 2:1 “I said in my heart...I will test you with pleasure...but this also proved meaningless.” (NIV)
- Be successful in business.
- Get a position of power.
- Have a family.
God created you to love Him and others.
In other words, love is not just a feeling – it’s an action. It doesn’t show itself automatically – it’s something you have to choose to show.
How can I show love best?
2. The Best Expression of Love is Time.
1 Thessalonians 2:8 “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”
People try to show love in many different ways. I shared this quote last week, but it’s worth repeating here:
There’s a guy who tried to show his love – he just didn’t use the BEST expression of love!
Too often, people try to share their LIFE without sharing their TIME! That’s simply not possible. . . because TIME is the stuff that LIFE is made up of.
1. Work.
2. Television.
3. Radio.
4. Internet.
5. A billion other things.
Guys, let me just tell you what she wants: It’s NOT a house that is 3,500 square feet of marble halls. It’s not a boat that’s worth half a million. It’s not a diamond ring that weighs her hand down. She wants YOU!
