The Greatness Of God's Love

“The Greatness of God’s Love”

Ephesians 3:17-19 (NLT)

INTRODUCTION

We are taught very young age – God is love

Bible tells us that GOD IS LOVE

Jesus loves me this I know…bible tells me so

But, I am not for sure that we grasp THE GREATNESS OF GOD’S LOVE

It is so great I don’t think it can be fully comprehended

But this morning, I want us to look at the great love God has for you and me

Read Eph 3:17-19 (NLT)

TRANS: Paul is a man in this text that is speaking from an experiential base…and the first thing he is telling us that…

1. God’s Love is Total

It reaches every corner of our experience

Paul is praying that Christ will be more at home in our hearts

There is a saying that home is where the heart is

Christ truly desires that our hearts become his home

During this last week, God has begun to show me how total His love is

I have looked more at the cross this week than I have in a long time

Because the Cross is screaming to you and me “My love is total”

Jesus did not die for a cause…He died for His people…total love

John 15:13…Greater love has no one than He lay down His life for a friend

Jesus paid the full penalty of love…He paid the total price to redeem you and me

His love is so total that it surrounds us like the mountains

Turn to Psa 125:2 (Mountains of Colorado Springs)

God’s love is big enough to surround all His children…none are left out

I have truly begun to experience this magnificent, total love of God in a way never before

TRANS: Paul is telling us that God’s love is total…and he says also that…

2. God’s Love is Wide

There is a saying “I asked Jesus, how much do you love me? And He stretched out His arms and died.”

God’s love is wider than the widest oceans…widest canyon’s

It has been said that the horizontal of the cross is a depiction of the wideness of God’s love

When ask, “How wide is God’s love?”

Psa 103:12, says “He has removed our rebellious acts as far as the east is from the west…”

But God, don’t you remember how I disobeyed you…He says “My love is wider than that.”

But what about when I…”My love is wider than that”

Remember the song we learned as children “deep and wide”

God’s love is that fountain that flows deep and wide

The hardest part we have is being able to comprehend it…but we really never will

His love is so wide it is beyond our ability to reason or think

TRANS: Paul says not only is God’s love wide but…

3. God’s love is long

His love reaches out to us…His hand is not too short to reach us

And it continues the length of our lives…it is everlasting love

It is like the never-ending river that flows to the oceans

Just like the rivers that flow to the far corners of the earth…God’s love flows to the far corners of our hearts

John 7:38 says, “If you believe in me come and drink! For the scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within”

God’s love is so long that once it is in you…it overflows like rivers of living water into others life

TRANS: We see that God’s love is total, it is wide, it is long, and Paul says also…

4. God’s love is high and deep

Micah 7:19 says, “Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean.”

God’s love reaches to the deepest part of our lives

Into the darkest, most unloveable parts…the secret places

It reaches to the depths of discouragement and despair

Explain how I felt this past week

When you feel shut out or isolated…God’s love is there

When you feel afraid, persecuted, overwhelmed, anxious…

God’s love is deeper than any of it still

Romans 8:38-39 Paul says again experientially, “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Psa 103:11 “For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above.”

What a comforting promise of the depth and height of God’s love