Sermon Study #247 – “LOVE ONE ANOTHER”
Illustrate:
In a supermarket, Kurtis the stock boy, was busily working when a new voice came over the intercom asking for a carry out at checkout register 4.
Kurtis was almost finished, and wanted to get some fresh air, and decided to answer the call. As he approached the check-out stand a distant smile caught his eye, the new check out girl was beautiful. She was an older woman (maybe 26, and he was only 22) and he fell in love.
Later that day, after his shift was over, he waited by the punch clock to find out her name. She came into the break room, smiled softly at him, took her card and punched out, then left. He looked at her card,
BRENDA. He walked out only to see her start walking up the road.
Next day, he waited outside as she left the supermarket, and offered her a ride home. He looked harmless enough, and she accepted. When he dropped her off, he asked if maybe he could see her again, outside of work. She simply said it wasn’t possible. He pressed and she explained she had two children and she couldn’t afford a baby-sitter, so he offered to pay for the baby-sitter. Reluctantly she accepted his offer for a date for the following Saturday.
That Saturday night he arrived at her door only to have her tell him that she was unable to go with him. The baby-sitter had called and canceled. To which Kurtis simply said, "Well, lets take the kids with us." She tried to explain that taking the children was not an option, but again not taking no for an answer, he pressed.
Finally Brenda, brought him inside to meet her children. She had a older daughter who was just as cute as a bug, Kurtis thought, then Brenda brought out her son, in a wheelchair. He was born a paraplegic with down syndrome. Kurtis asked Brenda, "I still don’t understand why the kids can’t come with us?" Brenda was amazed. Most men would run away from a woman with two kids, especially if one had disabilities. Just like her first husband and father of her children did. That evening Kurtis and Brenda loaded up the
kids, went to dinner and the movies. When her son needed anything Kurtis would take care of him. When he needed to use the rest room, he picked him up out of his chair, took him, brought him back. The kids loved Kurtis. At the end of the evening, Brenda knew this was the man she was going to marry and
spend the rest of her life with. A year later, they were married and Kurtis adopted both of her children. Since then they have added two more kids.
So what happened to the stock boy and check out girl? Well, Mr. & Mrs Kurt Warner, now live in St. Louis, where he is employed by the St.Louis Rams and plays quarterback. He was selected Most Valuable Player of the National Football League this week before he leads his team Sunday in the Super Bowl.
SEVEN REASONS TO LOVE ANOTHER:
1. LOVING ONE ANOTHER REFLECTS CHRIST: (John 13:34-35) "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
2. LOVING ONE ANOTHER COMPLETES THE LAW: (Rom 13:8-9) Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Illustrate: Woman’s Letter =
"Dearest Jimmy, No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking 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 willing the state lottery."
3. LOVING ONE ANOTHER IS A RESULT OF SALVATION: (1 Pet 1:22) Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Pet 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
4. LOVING ONE ANOTHER IS AN EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY: (1 John 3:10) This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:11 NIV) This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
Illustrate: Childs Letter =
> Dear God,
> I bet it’s very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. Nan
5. LOVING ONE ANOTHER IS A DEMANDED COMMANDMENT: (1 John 3:23) And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
6. LOVING ONE ANOTHER IS A RESPONSE TO GOD LOVING US: (1 John 4:7-11) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
“Love is more than a characteristic of God; it is His character.”
7. LOVING ONE ANOTHER DEMONSTRATES GOD’S EXISTENCE: (1 John 4:12) No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
What does your love say about your commitment to God?
