What an amazing day at a2 Church! Here's the rundown on today's worship set:
Go by Hillsong United
We kicked off the worship experience with this new song from Hillsong United and it rocked the house!
Our God Is Love by Hillsong
Here Is Love by Bethel Live
I loved hearing our people sing, "Here Is Love." What an amazing hymn. My favorite line in the song?
"Grace and love, like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above
And Heaven's peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love."
Wow!
After prayer and announcements, worship continued with another new song from Hillsong United.
Like An Avalanche by Hillsong United
Since we're walking through 1 John and focusing in on John's challenge to "love," Kevin and Shannon Johnson led us in a2's own LOVE QUIZ. Stephanie and Eric Thomas did a great job writing the quiz, and Chelsea Norton and Caley Goins did a great job on the answer key. If you want a copy of the quiz, shoot me an email at cgoins@a2church.org.
After the quiz, and just for fun, the band kicked into an abbreviated version of Michael McDonald's version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Their cover was "smokin'!"
Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Michael McDonald
This morning's message may have been one of the most important messages I've delivered. I really felt passionate about the message. Here are the extended notes. As always, you can check out the podcast on our website or via iTunes.
Have a great week!
LOVE TEST 2.0
Proof of Life - Part 10
July 10, 2011 * Chris Goins
1 John 4:7-12 (NIV), Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
The Directive: “…love one another…” (1 John 4:7, 11, 12)
The Basis: “…God is love.” (1 John 4:8, 16)
NOTES: This passage contains one of three great statements that 1 John makes about the nature and character of God…
1 John 4:5, “God is light…” — God is absolute truth and blazing holiness, completely without sin, darkness or any kind of imperfection.
1 John 4:24, “God is spirit…” — God is not bound by time or space…
1 John 4:8, “God is love…” — God’s very nature is love. Love is at the root of all He does, even His judgments are an aspect or result of His love.
1 John 4:7 (NIV), Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
NOTES: If we’re really “children of God,” we ought to bear the family resemblance… We ought to take on some of the characteristics of our Heavenly Father…
1 John 4:8 (NIV), Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
NOTES: The word “know” is the same verb that is used in the Bible to describe the intimate union between a husband and a wife… It refers to intimacy or to “know by experience…” Deepening intimacy, growing closeness, a dynamic connection with God is impossible, if you’re not walking in love.
John 13:35 (NIV), By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
NOTES: “[loving] one another” doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know how to love the people in your own house… People who don’t believe aren’t going to be impressed by the way we love them, if we don’t love each other all that much…
What It Looks Like When We Really Love One Another:
1. Real love will always cost you something. It always involves sacrifice.
1 John 4:9 (NIV), This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
John 3:16 (NIV), For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
A Definition for Love: “Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.” — Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect?, page 188.
Recommendation: How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt
2. Real love is radically inclusive. It kicks down barriers and reaches out to those who are difficult or challenging to love.
1 John 4:9 (NIV), This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
Romans 5:8 (NLT), But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
"Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives." — Henri Nouwen, quoted by John Ortberg in Everybody’s Normal Til You Get To Know Them
Philippians 1:6-7 (NIV), “[I am] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart…”
THOUGHT: Have you ever noticed that if you don’t have people “IN YOUR HEART” they tend to GET ON YOUR NERVES?
NOTES: Understanding is crucial if we are to really love difficult or challenging people.
3. Real love does the hard work of extending forgiveness when you’ve been hurt, wronged, wounded or sinned against.
1 John 4:10 (NIV), This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
“In this phrase we find the deepest meaning of the term ‘love’: love means forgiving the sins of the beloved and remembering them no more. This is what God has done for rebellious mankind: he pardons their sins against himself at his own cost.” — I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John, page 215.
Ephesians 4:31-32 (NLT), Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
1 John 4:11-12 (NIV), Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
4. The Holy Spirit gives us the capacity to love beyond all reason.
1 John 4:13-15 (NIV), This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
Romans 5:5 (NIV), “…God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
1 John 4:7 (NIV), Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:11 (NIV), Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:12 (NIV), No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
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