Pretty Days And Hurricanes - All You Need Is Love Series Sample

Live Sacrificially

Christians are the light of the world and they reveal truth. When light is shed, it changes things. The light was shed on Cain’s sin by his brother Abel's righteousness and he hated him. The Word of God will always speak the truth to you. If we want to be righteous and love, we need to go to the Word. 

1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” Isn’t it interesting how this verse sounds so familiar to John 3:16? These verses are the answer to preventing and preparing for a storm in us. Instead of going straight to frustration and hate, we can choose to be guided by love. 

Trust the love flowing from the cross. Do you know how much Jesus loves you? Do you know how much God loves you? Build your life on the love of God so it can fill your heart. Jesus loves you. If you experience the love of God, it will change the way that you love everybody else. Our mission is not only about loving others on calm days but on stormy ones. 

Our society is filled with hate because we have removed God from the equation. Our frustration moves us to anger, indifference, and resentment. Resenting turns into hate, which ultimately seeks solutions without God. That is the progression of Hurricane Hate in our heart and home. 

John is saying that Jesus’ love frees us to live sacrificially rather than resentfully. We live sacrificially in most of the roles in our life already. Parenting requires sacrifice. Marriage comes with sacrifice. Being a student has sacrifices. And there is sacrifice in Christianity as well. We will never live lovingly if we live resentfully. 

There are hurricanes that happen in your life, but God can lift you up. Jesus Christ can clothe you in His righteousness. He is your Rescuer from even the most painful hurricanes. Allow Jesus to grab you so that you can live sacrificially, letting God do His work through you. 

A hurting heart moving towards bitterness is never the answer. Take it to Jesus and let the bright blue sky come out again. 

If you would like to know more about this sermon, please visit: https://houstonsfirst.org/message/pretty-days-and-hurricanes