Who Am I Becoming? The Issue Of Love Series

INTRODUCTION

• WOODLAWN VIDEO

• SLIDE #1

• When you give your life to Jesus, what should happen in your life?

• Should you be the same person you have always been or should your life change, should who you are change?

• When one gives their life to Jesus they are not simply waiting to go to heaven, something wonderful should be happening in their life.

• SLIDE #2

• 2 Corinthians 3:18 (HCSB) We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

• When one is in Christ, they should be in the process of BECOMING more of reflection of Jesus!

• This happens when we stay connected with Jesus.

• SLIDE #3

• John 15:5 (HCSB) I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.

• For the next few weeks we will explore WHO AM I BECOMING in Christ.

• Since God is not someone we see, the fruit that we produce in Christ will help us to have tangible evidence of our relationship with Him.

• Today we begin with the fruit of love. When one gives their life to Jesus, the way and reason we love will be different. Let’s see why.

• SLIDE #4

• 1 John 4:9–10 (HCSB) God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

• SLIDE #5

SERMON

I. God modeled true love for us.

• One of the reasons the way and the reason we love should change is because God modeled true for us.

• One of the problems we have when we start to consider the issue of God is the fact that He is not physically in front of us, He is the invisible God.

• In verse 12, which we will get to in an HOUR , we are told that no one has seen God at ANY time.

• So how are we to engage with a God we cannot see? Without getting into a deep apologetics discussion, according to the book of Romans, and probably common sense, God has made Himself known through creation.

• However, creation itself does not really offer one a full picture of the character of God, we needed something more!

• Verse 9 reveals HOW God revealed His character to us. God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

• We needed some visual aid for us to understand the character of God, and God offered us that visual aid through Jesus. John 3:16 reminds us that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.

• The word in verse 9 translated REVEALED is a word that denotes an OBJECTIVE FACT, not SUBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE. It means something that is CLEARLY REVEALED to the mind, senses or to judgement.

• Jesus was something one could put their hands on, lay their eyes upon, to listen to with their ears. Jesus was something visible to the human eye!

• The verb tense of the word REVEALED points to a DEFINITE moment in the past when God’s love became visible in space and time, this time was the incarnation of Jesus!

• Jesus showed us the type of love that God possesses for mankind, and the love we are to express to others.

• In verse 9 we are told that God SENT Jesus. The word SENT expresses the thought to send away towards a designated goal or purpose. God sent Jesus here with a purpose.

• That purpose is revealed in verse 9 where we are told that, “God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”

• This the emphasis of verse 9. This is why God revealed His love by sending Jesus, so that we might live through Him!

• The word LIVE means more than existing, it means to live life to the fullest and to live a life a God would call one to live.

• We are further reminded in verse 10 that God loved us well before we even considered loving Him.

• This is important, I do not want you miss this.

• SLIDE #6

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