“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16 ESV)

God’s kind of love for you is the greatest love

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13 ESV)

God loved you sacrificially

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 ESV)

God loved you while you were still a sinner

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God’s love for you surpasses knowledge

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:17-19 ESV)

Therefore…

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 ESV)

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31 ESV)

 “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” (Psalm 143:8 NIV)

 What is love?

• God is love - “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16 NIV)

• Attributes of love - “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” (1 Cor. 13:4-5 NIV)

The greatest love

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13 NIV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 KJV)

 “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (1 John 3:1 NIV)

Therefore….

•  Bear with one another in love - “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Eph. 4:2 NIV)
•  Love others because He loves you - “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 NIV)
•  Be established in love - “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love.” (Eph. 3:16-17 NIV)
•  Be devoted in love -  “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” (Rom. 12:10 NIV)

 What they said about God’s love

“Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not” – C.S. Lewis

“The nature of God’s love is unchangeable. Ours alternates all to readily. If it is our habit to love God with our own affection we shall turn cold towards Him whenever we are unhappy.” – Watchman Nee

“When the time comes for you to die, you need not be afraid, because death cannot separate you from God’s love.” – Charles Spurgeon