THE DEFINITION OF LOVE…THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES AS BELIEVERS…

—> Loving God…is tied to our OBEDIENCE
We can measure our love for God by our obedience to his commands ||
Jesus Said…believing, Jesus is the way, love = obedience, he won’t leave us alone, send HS, teach us, enlighten us…these are amazing promises…I am so thankful for them…and I want everyone to also know Jesus and have these realities for them…

—> Loving Your unbelieving “Neighbor"
...love is defined by selfless, sacrificial, love for each them, with the desire to DEMONSTRATE and DECLARE the gospel so that they might hear about, see and know Jesus

—> GC2 || Make Disciples

[MATTHEW 28:19–20]
[19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)

- a disciple is… “a follower of Jesus who is increasingly submitting all of their life to his Lordship and to the Spirit’s empowering presence and calling others to increasingly submit all of their life to the Lordship of Jesus and to the Spirit’s empowering presence”

—> Only by the Empowering Presence of the Holy Spirit can we do what Jesus is calling us to do in Loving God and Loving Others

[GAL 5]
“[16] But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do…[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. [24] And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25] If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. [26] Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

[ACTS 1:8]
[8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…”

PEOPLE MATTER TO JESUS…THEY SHOULD MATTER TO US…

[LUKE 15]…The lost coin, lost sheep, lost son
Jesus moved toward, not away, from the broken and lost…unclean vs clean meaning in the bible (moral dirtiness)…he is the Clean One and he moved toward the ‘unclean’ and made them clean…like Jesus, we need to follow his example and move toward the broken and lost so that they might see and know Jesus… || because they matter to Jesus, they should matter to us

[MARK 2:1-12] Friends who brought paralytic friend to Jesus…
- whatever it takes for them to know Jesus

[LUKE 10:25-37] GOOD SAMARITAN…Jesus and the Lawyer
“[36] Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” [37] He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

- Jesus tells him (and us) to be neighborly, to love our neighbor, people who don’t know Jesus, even our enemies…who are far from him…to both DEMONSTRATE and DECLARE (or SHOW and SPEAK) the gospel to them

- WHERE DO WE EVEN START? I have a strategy
Earthly CPR and Eternal CPR…farming analogy…CULTIVATE, PLANT, REAP

CULTIVATE…
WHERE IT STARTS…WHO ARE YOUR PEOPLE, WHO IS YOUR NEIGHBOR?

It starts with CULTIVATING a relationship with the people God has placed in your life (family, friends, co-workers, strangers)…every relationship is at a different stage…some you are super close to and others you barely are acquaintances…but all of them require us to cultivate it, to build trust, to have a foundation to be heard…

- TLC…

- TARGET…[open your eyes] identify who they are…in your natural LOVE path (location, occupation, vacation, educations)

- LISTEN…[open your ears] get to genuinely know them, their life, their fears, their questions about God (FROM family, recreation, occupation, memory)

- CARE…[open your hands] serve them sacrificially…not a project but a person, deeply loved by God

PLANT…
GO FROM PLAYING IT SAFE TO PLANTING A SEED…

- 3 types of people in planting the seed of the gospel with your friends…
1. CHAMELEON…over emphasis on love
2. CACTUS…over emphasis on truth
3. CONTAGIOUS…a life ‘full of grace and truth’ (like Jesus)

- Scary part of our own journey of faith, stepping across that line…what will my friends think? Will I be judged? Will I be left out?

How to move from playing it safe to planting a seed...
— Share what God is teaching you with your friends
— Ask them if there is anything going on in their life that you could pray for, ask them if they have questions about God or the Bible or their journey of faith
— Demonstrate the gospel by genuinely caring for them, serving them at every opportunity you are given
— In your small group, design nights that are welcoming to your friends who don’t know Jesus…giving opportunity for them to be around believers — Invite them to church, to events that are planned
— Know the scriptures… “be prepared to give an answer…”
Roman Road (3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9-10, 10:13) || bridge[ROM 6:23]
— Know your story and get comfortable sharing it with others when it is appropriate, not just the good things but even some of the mess ups and times of disobedience, giving glory to God for his forgiveness
— Begin to share the reality of mankind’s sin, God’s grace and the love the Father has towards mankind by sending Jesus, his death, resurrection…

REAP…
CALL FOR A RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL…

[2 Cor 9:6] … ‘sow sparingly reap sparingly…”
[Gal 6:9]… ‘reap a harvest if we don’t give up…”

-- OUR JOB…is to GO and SOW, its God's job to MAKE IT GROW

1. OUR JOB...“GO AND SOW…”
- faithfully share the gospel clearly with our friends…(we need to know it…justification/sanctification/glorification)
- call them to respond to the gospel message

2. GOD’S JOB…“MAKE IT GROW…”
- He will convict them of sin
[JOHN 16:8] “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”

- He will draw them to himself
[JOHN 6:44] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

- He will open their eyes/ears, enlighten their darkened mind, soften their hearts||
[2 Corinthians 4:3-4] “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
[Matthew 13:15] “For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’”
[2 Corinthians 4:4] “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
[John 14:26] “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

We can’t do it all, nor are we expected to, and we certainly need the Power of God
[JOHN 15:5] “…apart from me you can do nothing…”

What happens if you have spent years cultivating and planting and praying and talking and showing the love of Jesus and speaking the love of Jesus…and they say no? You keep doing all that stuff…cultivating, planting, praying, talking, showing and speaking the love of Jesus… [GALATIANS 6:9]…if we don’t give up.

PRAYER AND COMMUNION…

- Who are your three?
- Where are you in your relationship? CPR?
- What can you do this week to take steps towards them this week?