Transformational Love Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• What is one thing that can change the course for life for a person? What can change one who is selfish and self-centered into a person who loves and puts others first?

• What is something that can change who and what we are?

• What changes the person who is leading a life of destruction into a person who has a heart and passion for Jesus?

• There are a lot of lonely, hurting people in the world who need something that God wants to offer to them.

• People need to know they are loved by God. We need to be the harbinger or the ones who carry that message to the world.

• Love can change people; God’s love can totally change us and everything about us.

• I know the love my wife has for me has changed me in many ways.

• Take a child and put them in a home where they are not loved and see what happens to the child when they grow up.

• I know the love we receive from other people can make a dramatic difference in one’s life; however the love we receive from God is transformational.

• The real change that happens at one’s core comes when one allows themselves to both realize and accept the love God has for them.

• When I gave my life to Jesus, He loved me, but He loved me too much to let me stay the way I was in the condition I was in.

• God’s love transformed me, God’s transformational love will transform anyone who allows it to touch them.

• Today as we continue with our journey through 1 John, we will examine three ways that God’s love transforms us into a new creation! Let’s begin with verse 1.

• SLIDE #2

• 1 John 3:1 (HCSB) Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know Him.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

God’s transformational love transforms…

I. Who you are.

• God’s love is BEYOND wonderful!

• John begins this section by trying to get our attention. John is saying, “Quick, look” when he says “look how great a love…”

• One of the issues we need to get a grasp on is how great the love God gives to us really is.

• The word “great” signifies amazement, a sense of awe and wonder.

• If we are going to let God’s love have an affect on us, we must first realize how awesome His love is! The love we experience comes from the Father!

• Think about the love the world offers. More times than not it is conditional.

• When we think of the makeover shows, why do these people want to be made-over?

• It is because they do not feel loved and wanted because they are not thin enough, good looking enough, athletic enough to be totally accepted by the world.

• There have been studies that have been done to show that tall good-looking people will get jobs over people who are not so tall and good looking. The love the world has to offer is shallow.

• God even loved you when you were not so loveable!

• SLIDE #4

• Romans 5:8 (HCSB) But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

• God has loved you from the beginning, when you were not so lovable. God will not desert you when you mess up, He will love you for eternity.

• The first part of the passage tells us that God “has given” us something. That something is His unconditional love!

• If you have ever felt the unconditional love of another, you can get a small taste of how wonderful God’s love is for you.

• God loves us so much that He wants to see us be all we can be. He wants us to have the best relationship with Him possible. God wants what is best for us.

• How many of us want our children not be a failure? None of us. We all want our children to fulfill their potential and destiny.

• IF we want that for them, we will do all we can to help them grow in life. God is the same way. His love is so deep that He does not want us to waste our great potential in Him.

• If we trust God enough to let Him love us, His love will transform us!

• Because of God’s transformational love, He has brought us into His family!

• DO you know why we can be a part of God’s family? It is because of His great love. It is not because we have done anything to deserve to be in His family. It is not like we won a reality TV. Show like, “The Bachelorette,” it is because God loves us!