Sister Timberly Sunday School 11/20/11

Sister Timberly Sunday School 11/20/11

God’s love to us, our love to others, Love to our enemies

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Mat 5:46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

Mat 5:47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

Mat 5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

This is a high standard and the only way we can do this is through God’s love.  All love comes from God.  This takes the pressure off of us and He can impart to us all we need for all we encounter.

I’m thankful to be a mother and to have children.  I’m also thankful to have other children in our life.

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Psa 127:2  It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Psa 127:3  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Psa 127:4  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Psa 127:5  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

We’re endeavoring to build a house; it will take God’s love to allow us to do this.

God’s love to us:

Deu 7:7  The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

Deu 7:8  But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deu 7:9  Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

In verse 7 the word love: It means to cling, to join, to love or delight in.  He didn’t love us because of how great we were in number.  It is amazing that God would love us in this way.  To deliver, to long for, He longs for us.  He made us so that He could have that love for us and it could be reciprocated.

In verse 8, love means the same as love, just because He loved us, that is all.  This is where Love begins, not because of who we are or how many we are; it is unconditional love.  We love Him because He first loveds us, God is love.

Deu 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deu 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

This means to have affection for, to love or like as a friend. 

I like this because in my mind this sounded like a lot of work: to love God with all.  When you like someone it just comes naturally.  This is how our love to God is.  Like is love in a sense that just comes freely.  This is the kind of relationship we can have to God.

This is the first and great commandment to love God in this way.  God is our friend and we can have a friendship with Him.

Mat 22:34  But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

Mat 22:35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.

Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The second commandment is to love thy neighbor as thyself.  These are great commandments, all the law and the prophets hang on them.  The end of the commandment is love.  Age doesn’t’ matter, the young and the old are instructed to love.

1Ti 4:12  Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

2Ti 2:22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Tit 2:2  That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

Children sense how you feel about them.  It means something to them when you are tired and yet do not speak sharply to them. 

1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1Jn 4:9  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1Jn 4:11  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

1Jn 4:12  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

1Jn 4:13  Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

1Jn 4:14  And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

1Jn 4:15  Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

1Jn 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Verse 13, it ties into the fruits of the spirit.  Love is a fruit of the spirit.

This is a beautiful description of love.  This word love means to love in a social or moral sense.  It is the kind where you brush elbows with people; you love them because you want to see them saved.  Another meaning of love in this chapter: love or affection or benevolence a love feast or feast of charity. 

Feast of charity can mean fellowship with each other.  Love is of God.  Whenever you love someone it is not from you, God put that in you and you can’t really take the credit for it.  If we are born of God or saved we will have the love of God in us.

How we know that God loved us is because he gave the most precious thing that He had for us.  It is not any of our doing but because God loved us.  We need to have the same love toward one another. 

We know if we are saved or not if we have the fruits of the Spirit working in us.  That is God in us; it doesn't come from our self.  It is not something we can muster up, this love to each other.  If it does come from our self it will come out flat.

How do we get love to someone?  I may be the type of person that doesn’t understand love the way that you express it.  You may not understand love the way that I express it.  Listen to God because He will help you express love in a way that someone else will understand it.  When the saints reach out to you personally it means something.

God is love; it is the foundation of love.  It is where it starts.  The goal is to not just have a small circle but to love in a big way.  You don’t know how it will come back and affect you.

Our love made perfect will give us boldness in the day of judgment.  This is what helps us live in the way of God. 

Brother Gyme - We miss out on much when we let fear dictate how we act.  If we live in fear of hurt it will cause us to avoid situations that will hurt us.  Successful people embrace their fear.  Every time you give into fear it is that much harder to overcome.  If you embrace your fear you can overcome.  We love Him because He first loved us.  If we love others it opens a door to hurt.  Love anyway.

Brother means someone from the womb, near or remote, literally or figuratively.  We are born of one father.  The real test will be to love your family members or those that are around you.  You cannot take any credit for love, God is love.

Our focus is on parents, teachers, janitors, neighbors all play a part in raising children.  If you are in a place where you are in contact with children then you play an important part in their life. 

The other day at the gas station I overheard a phone conversation.  A man in his seventies was talking to his daughter that had a wayward daughter of her own.  You never stop being a parent.

We need to eat right, exercise and take care of our self so that we can be our best for those that are around us.

We are building relationships and memories every day.  Make sure they are good ones.

Languages of love:  Physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, and acts of service.

One language will speak more strongly to some than others.  We all need to speak each language and learn to receive each language in order for us to be healthy.  This can help you even on your job.  To some it means a lot to them for me to buy them coffee.  Others don’t care.  To some that gift really speaks to. 

Brother Gyme - When Timberly asked each of our children what they would rather have.  Some would rather have just a special day with their mom or dad than to have elaborate gifts such as Disney Land.  They all had different takes on it. 

When I asked again two years later, each one gave fairly the same response that they had before. 

Once the children’s emotional love tank is full than it is easier to train them.  Love needs to be unconditional, not “If you please me than I’ll love you.”  It needs to be regardless of what they do or don’t do. 

God’s love for us is unconditional.  While we were yet sinners He died for us. 

Charity covers a multitude of sins.  It is not permissiveness;, it is filling their love tank so they will accept authority.

Children are children and will act like children.  They will act immature.  If I love them only when they please me than they will feel incompetent and will feel they cannot do their best.  If I love them unconditionally than they will be confident and able to move beyond their faults and become mature and healthy adults.