Perceive Love

Theme first ¼ - True Life

Thesis: True life – a life that matters for eternity and pleases God is one which is based and rooted in truth. Jesus said he is the “Truth.” He is God’s truth to this world and all measurement of true and false are measured against Him and His teachings. If you want to live a true life instead of a deceived life you have to place you faith and trust in following Jesus.

Scripture for theme: John 14:6 (NIV): “Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Series 1: Perceive

Scripture for series 1: Proverbs 29:18 (The Message): 18If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.

Definition of Perceive: To become aware or conscious of (something); come to realize or understand.

Thesis for series: For us this month of Jan. we are seeking to become more aware of Truth – actually we are seeking to become more conscious of what is truth and what is deception. This all has to do with perceiving and understanding truth. When we understand truth it’s easier to discern what is deception and therefore it’s pitfalls. When we understand truth as Jesus taught then we will not fall prey to deceptions or lies. If we cannot discern truth from deception then we live a life which is called a “Deceived Life” not a “True Life.” Our goal is to perceive and understand what is called a “True Life.”

Reality Check: The truth is some people are more deceived than they may know!

Sermon 1: Perceive Vision

Sermon 2: Perceive Faith

Sermon 3: Perceive Love

Thesis: We need to perceive what true love is and then live it out in our lives. When we do this we encounter God and please God. We also see lives transformed and changed!

Introduction:

Love was what God had me explore in my first year of being a Christian. I read the Bible over and over looking up the word love. I read Christian books on this subject any I could find. I was amazed by His love and wanted to learn all about it. So I studied it and researched it so much that my first sermon I ever preached was on love. I was mesmerized by the subject of God’s love.

Francis Chan states, “Would you say that your life is characterized by love? Love for God? Love for the people around you? Or is there something else that drives you? We’d probably all be quick to affirm that we love God and love the people around us. But how many of us could really say we are driven by love?...I suppose love would be easy if we could define it any way we’d like. But at the heart of the biblical concept of love is a God who demonstrate His love by making the supreme sacrifice: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners. Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). When you put it like that, love does seem to easy. Add to that Jesus’ statement in John 14:15: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Clearly love is far more important, far less fluffy, and far more involved that we tend to think” (page 9, Living Crazy Love, Workbook).

As a Christian our lives should be characterized by love!

1. We should have been transformed by the love of God.

2. We should understand that the Creator of the Universe – the God who spoke the world into being actually loves us personally and He sacrificed for our love.

3. Perceiving this thought and believing this reality should change us forever!

4. We because of love should think differently, feel differently, live differently and be living a life filled with truth and love.

5. This amazing reality of love should cause us to love God even more.

The subject of love – wow talk about a 4 letter power pact word filled with emotion-heartache-ecstasy and misrepresentation.

LOVE – When I say that word what crosses your mind? Let me say it again LOVE! What perceptions race through your minds. What do you perceive about LOVE – what do you see in your mind when I say love.

I did a unofficial survey of our school asking the teachers to ask the students what comes to mind when you say the word LOVE!

Weddings, sweet, romantic, a kiss, kisses, kissing, heart, everything, emotion, doves, joy, caring, violets, serving, John 3:16, God, hug, some said huge?, kind, kindness, peace, like, k, family, others, unconditional, nothings some said!

God has His own definition of love – the Bible makes it clear what it looks like and how it acts.