Last week's RECAP:
John is going drive home an incredible truth that is ours as believers in Jesus and then an incredible reality it should introduce to us. We are children of God through faith in Jesus and we're invited to now bare a family resemblance of our heavenly Father because of that new given identity. (see 1 John 3:1-10)

LOVE is the central mark and the main way in which you know that you are IN the family of God.

Quote:
A pastor from Oxford named Vaughn Roberts pointed out Christianity’s revolutionary love, this way:

“When you love people who are like you, that’s ordinary.
When you love people who are unlike you, that’s extraordinary.
When you love people who dislike you, that’s revolutionary.”

The love of Jesus has radically changed the world...

Q) Are Christians obligated to love?

In the Christian life, loving others is standard equipment. It’s not optional.

EVALUATION:
Consider the people God has placed in your life. Is your love for them characterized by cautious restraint, or do you apply your love at full strength?

So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

After telling the disciples to love one another, Jesus reminded the earliest disciples that the world would hate them (see gospel of John 15:18–19).

The world—the community that is hostile to God (2:15)—might just hate Christians.

Jesus wants his followers to be distinctive; he sets them apart from the world. His choosing and setting believers apart makes them holy and helps them grow closer to him.
==Their very separation, however, arouses unbelievers’ animosity.

To understand real love, believers need only to look at their Lord for the example.

Christ’s example shows believers that real love involves self-sacrifice, which, as 3:17–19 points out, must result in self-sacrificial actions.

Jesus’s death is not only the source of forgiveness of sin; it is also the yardstick by which believers gauge their own love for other believers.

Selfishness and God’s love are mutually exclusive.

Real love is an action, not a feeling. It produces selfless, sacrificial giving. The greatest act of love is giving oneself for others, serving others with no thought of receiving anything in return.

Seldom will believers be called upon to experience martyrdom for another. However, every day we will face needy people whom we ought to be willing to help if we have the resources and capacity to do so… live LOVE out lout - choose to live out the mantra:

Do for ONE what you wish you could do for EVERYONE

Talk is cheap, so (mere word or speech) are worthless. Faith not accompanied by love for others (shown in truth and action) is worthless.

Anyone can claim to have faith, but if his or her lifestyle remains selfish and worldly, then what good are the words and speeches?

True love expressed in action is the fruit of a living faith.
LOVE IS A VERB

Consider the people God has placed in your life and ask yourself, “What does an active love require me to do for them today?”

How can I LIVE LOVE OUT LOUD?

CLOSING THOUGHT:

The height of our love for God will never exceed the depth of our love for one another.
—Jesus links these inseparable (greatest commandment: love God, love others *see Matthew 22:34-40)
—love of our brothers and sisters is the litmus test to our love for the Father

Have a blessed week ahead friends and we'll see you in Egroups and back for next weekend's service as we continue to look into 1 John together - Walking in the Light...

Remember: we're collecting bags of candy to stuff Easter Eggs for our Easter Family Festival on March 23rd - so please bring in some candy for the collection here in early March on Sundays. Thank you.