Fervent Love 09
13 September 09
· Matthew 22:36-39 - “Great Commandment: Love the Lord wholeheartedly, love your neighbour fervently”
· God calls us to: 1) Represent Him on earth => manifest His character – Love
2) Extend His Kingdom => manifest His life and power
· 1st place to practice loving people is the family of God
· Loving God is expressed in how to relate to and love His family
· 1 Peter 4:8 - ‘And above all things have fervent love for one another’
· Fervent = 1618 = to stretch out, to be intense or passionate
· Above = 4253 = prior to, in front of, superior to
· Loving God’s people is more important than all the acts of service we do
· 1 Peter 1:22 - “… sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart”
- Loving God’s people is a vital part of obedience to God
- We cannot see God but we can see His family
- John 13:34-35 - God commands us to love His family
· Romans 5:4 - “ … the love of God is shed abroad In out hearts by the Holy Ghost”
· ‘Love of God’ => the way God loves people
=> the very love and nature of God expresses through us
· ‘Shed abroad’ = 1632 = to pour forth, gush over, spill over
· Whatever is in our heart will spill over, flow out and impact people
· Whatever the heart is full of will spill over
· People “feel” or “sense” what is in the heart of others eg acceptance, gentleness or eg judgmental, hard, covered
· The heart = the innerman, your soul and spirit
· The Holy Spirit desires to manifest the love of God tangibly to people through us by words and actions
· Romans 8:5-6 - “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh”
- Mind = 5426 = phoneo = to excuse the mind, direct your mind towards, take interest in, to seek after, to set affection upon
- Whatever you direct your mind towards you open up your heart and life to express
- “Mind the flesh” = set mind on negatives, lacks, failure and sin
- Mind the things of the Spirit” = when we set our minds towards the Spirit of God, conscious of God
- When we set our minds towards the Spirit of God you open your life to be filled with God
- The God who loves people is able to flow out of you to impact others
· Genesis 4:1-4 - “Am I my brothers’ keeper?”
· Cain “fixed his mind” on his negative feelings verse 6
He focused on feelings of rejection, injustice. He became resentful and angry
His anger could be seen on his face – expressed visibly, felt!
· Cain concealed his anger and hate verse 8
· Verse 4, he talked with his brother => covered his head with a show of friendship eg Joab kissed Abner – then killed him
Absolom feasted with Amnon – then killed him
Judas feasted with Jesus – then betrayed him
· Cain murdered his brother verse 8
· His unresolved conflict with God overflowed towards his brother
· 1 John 3:15 - “He who hates his brother is a murderer”
Anger and hatred release a spirit of murder that takes away life
· Murder = to take away life with malice or ill will eg anger, gossip, judging, criticizing
- Great people talk about ideas – small people talk about people
- Our tongue has power to release demonic spirits against people
- When people agree together in criticizing – evil spirits are authorize to operate
· God holds Us Responsible for How we Treat our Brother verse 9-11
· God places his priority on how brothers treat one another
· Keeper = to guard, protect, attend to
· Cain lied and then accused God of acting unfairly verse 9
· Cain was held responsible for his actions and reaped the consequence
1) Lack of Fruit 2) Frustration of purpose
· God calls us to Walk in Faith and in Love
Hebrews 3:12-14 - “Exhort one another daily”
· “One another” => members of the family of God
· “Exhort” = to call near, come alongside, encourage, strengthens
· “Depart” = to withdraw from, stand aloof or distant
· Draw near to God for Grace to overcome and encourage others