“The DNA of Love”

John 3:161 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Valentines 2012 – “Which gift would you be most excited to see on Valentine’s Day?”

5. Candy4. Jewelry - $4.1 billion out of $17B spent3. Flowers – 16.4% hoping for a delivery2. Gift certificates – 28% men, 19% women1. Romantic date! Men 30%, women 34%

Conclusion: give “time,” not “stuff!”

1. Love Grows With Self-Revelation.• John 3:16 – Emmanuel! • Beth Moore’s caution – beware of instant intimacy – too

much too fast• Self-revelation grows with trust• Needs become known,

met via love! • Place of small group

ministries in 2013• But with “revelation,”

brokenness, sin appears, • Result:

Shame, guilt, hiding “one’s self”

2. Love Means Being Vulnerable, Risk of Being Misunderstood, and Rejection.

John 1:11 – “He came to His own, and His own received Him not” Isaiah 53:3 – “He was despised and forsaken”

Unlike Jesus, exposure for us reveals “cracks” in character, flaws, shortcomings, sin. “A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

So When You Love, Your Investment May Not Be Returned

But that’s the nature of God’s love – it is unconditional – do the right thing, period. You give, but your love might be rejected! Agape love anyway!

3. Love Triggers a Sacrificial Response.

2 Corinthians 5:14 – “For the love of Christ controls us…” 1 John 4:16 – “We know by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for one another” Paying the price to win the lost! Meet Mayor Cory BookerNewark, NJ

Staying on Target as a Church:Sacrificing to Rescue!

• Birgilio Marin-Fuentes – Portland Hospital

God’s Demonstration: The Beauty of the Cross!

• “But God demonstrates His own love toward us…”• “For God so loved the world He gave…”

• Love gives… what is needed to reconcile!

• Because Jesus died for those who have sinned against you, the door is flung wide open to forgiveness, reconciliation.

• 2 Corinthians 5:20 – “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation….”

Because Love is Committed to the Well-Being of the “Loved.”

• “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous” … “does not take into account a wrong suffered…does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth”

• The test: how you respond to your “enemies”and those most unlike you.

• What must happen to bring this person to the “max” level of living, one step closer to Jesus?