“THE THREE LOVERS”
(Valentine’s Service – 2002)
INTRO:
· Share the History of Valentines Day
TITLE: “The Three Lovers”
· (Illustration – “Husband in the costume”)
“THE THREE LOVERS”
I. THE LOVE OF THIS WORLD
2 Tim 4:9-11
9 Do your best to come to me quickly,
10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.
(NIV)
A. Paul wanted Timothy’s company and help; and the reason he gives is because several had left him.
· Timothy was an Evangleist, a good friend of Paul, he was Paul’s spiritual son. Timothy was not a Pastor that was settled in one place, thus making it possible for him to tend to the needs of the Apostles.
B. Paul mentiones one of the people who had left him.
“Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica”. – II Timothy 4:10
· One would ask ..
“WHY DID DEMAS QUIT ON PAUL?”
1. Fear of suffering (because Paul was now a prisoner, and he was afraid
of coming into trouble upon his account)
· One of the biggest mistakes a person can make is to quit on God because the journey seems to difficult!
· “I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed, than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail”.
· “Do not be surprise at the painful trial you are suffering as of though something strange were happening to you”.
· “Problems are everywhere and everyone has them, if you can’t do anything about your problem, then it’s not yours, it’s God’s!”
· (Call up Sister Candy for a personal interview about her miracle).
2. He was called off from his ministry by secular affairs and he fell in
love with the world.
a. Why did Demas depart to Thessalonica?
Answer: It’s believed that it was a trade, or by some other
worldly business.
· Crescens had gone one way and Titus another way. But never the less, Paul was deserted for the love of this world.
Review:
The First lover is ..
I. THE LOVE OF THIS WORLD.
II. THE LOVE OF GOD
I John 4:8-16
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
(NIV)
A. “God hates the sin but loves the sinner”.
B. The Bible just read … “This is how God showed his love among us: He
sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through
him. – I John 4:9
C. The only reason why we can live is because God loves us!!
· (Share the true experiment that scientist did with infants in another country).
1. When we don’t pray in the morning God loves you through the day.
2. When one don’t read his Bible in the morning or at night God still loves you through the day.
3. When one falls out of the race God loves him.
4. When one commits an extreme crime such as murder, God still loves him. (It was people who killed Christ, yet Jesus said; “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they do”.)
5. When one feels as of though Christ can never love them or never love them again, God says wrong!! I will always love you!!
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”. – I John 4:10
Review:
THE THREE LOVERS
I. THE LOVE OF THIS WORLD
II. THE LOVE OF GOD
III. THE LOVE FOR OTHERS
“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another”
– I John 4:11
“WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WE SHOULD LOVE?”
1. Our Enemies
Matt 5:44
44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
2. Our Spouses
Eph 5:33
33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as
he loves himself, and the wife must respect her
husband.
3. Our Church
Acts 2:44-47
44 All the believers were together and had everything
in common.
45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to
anyone as he had need.
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the
temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and
ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the
people. And the Lord added to their number daily
those who were being saved.
4. Our Family
Acts 16:27-34
27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul shouted, "Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!"
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-- you and your household."
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.
33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God-- he and his whole family.
a. How did this jailer love his family?
Answer: He loved them to the cross.
5. Our Children
Matt 23:37
‘..how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings..’
CLOSE:
6. Our City
