Celebrating God's love
Celebrating God's love
God created us to love us
· God created us to be infused, empowered, and live life in the fullness of his love.
Only God’s Love can totally satisfy Your Soul
The need to be loved is a fundamental human motivation deeply rooted in our psychology and biology.
It's considered a basic need, akin to food, water, and shelter, and plays a crucial role in our survival and well-being.
We can be sure that God loves us, unlike man proclaim love for selfish reasons.
Example of an Italian woman in Naples in 1975
Spoken in poor broken English: “I love you no lie”… … …
Being told we are loved to exploit our feelings
How do we know that God loves us?
· Psalm 136
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
Lamentations 3:22-23
“The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
The depth of Gods love
Hosea 1:2 “The LORD said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom.’”
God instructed the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer. This unusual command was meant to illustrate the relationship between God and the people of Israel, who had been unfaithful to God by worshipping other gods.
Hosea's marriage to Gomer, who continued in prostitution even after their marriage, was a symbolic representation of God's love and faithfulness despite Israel's unfaithfulness
The Dimensions of God Love
How wide is God's love?
· It's wide enough to be everywhere.
· There is no place on this planet or universe that God's love isn't.
· There will be no place you go where God is not.
And although you may feel lonely and you may feel alone at different points in your life, you will never, ever, ever truly be alone.
Because God's love is there whether you are aware or not.
It's wide enough to be everywhere.
How long is God's love?
It's long enough to last forever.
Now, that makes it different than human love.
Because human love wears out.
And that's why we have divorces.
And that's why we have breakups.
That's why we have conflict.
And that's why we have people estranged from each other that are not reconciled.
Human love often wears out; But God's love never wears out.
· GOD WILL NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER STOP LOVING YOU.
· EVEN IF YOU CHOSE TO REJECT HIM AND GO TO HELL, GOD WILL STILL LOVE YOU.
Because God's love is eternal.
· He made you to love you.
· God loves you with an everlasting love.
How deep is God's love?
It's deep enough to handle anything.
· Deep enough to handle no matter what pain you're going through, what problem you're going through, or what hurt you're going through.
God's love is deeper still.
You say, man, I'm in the pits.
I've hit bottom.
I'm in the pit of hell right now.
I'm in the pit of despair.
I can't get any lower than I am.
· God's love goes deeper and lower than your problem.
· There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper.
It is deeper than any problem you're going to ever have.
· Deep enough to handle anything.
How high is God's love?
It is high enough to overlook our sins, to overlook our faults, to overlook our mistakes.
· Because of Jesus Christ, God is able to overlook my faults, my failures, my flubs, my sin, my rebellion.
· And God offers forgiveness through the cross because of his love.
· And he offers you a fresh wind to fill your sails and the Gift to start over.
God loves us with all His being
· It's a love that doesn't depend on human merit or actions, but is freely given simply because God is love and loves His creation.
· This love is demonstrated most powerfully through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Unconditional: God's love is not earned or based on our behavior; it's a gift freely given.
Infinite: It's boundless, without limits, and transcends time, space, and human understanding.
Sacrificial: God demonstrated His love by sending Jesus to die for humanity, even when we were still sinners.
Transformative: It has the power to heal, renew, and change lives.
Consistent: God's love remains steadfast and unchanging, even when we falter or turn away.
Personal: God's love is a personal commitment to our well-being.
Forgiving: God's love is forgiving and full of grace.
Understanding God's love is crucial because:
It offers hope and security: Knowing God loves us unconditionally provides a sense of hope and security, especially during challenging times.
It shapes our relationship with God: Recognizing God's unconditional love can lead to a deeper, more trusting relationship.
It impacts everyone we meet and interact with.
His love inspires us to love others with the same unconditional grace.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer — Love That Stands Against Evil
In Nazi Germany, silence was the easiest path. Many church leaders looked the other way as Hitler rose to power. But not Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who saw clearly what others tried to ignore. He believed that love of neighbor — real Christian love — meant resisting evil, not cooperating with it.
So he spoke out. He helped form the Confessing Church, a group that refused to swear allegiance to Hitler. He helped smuggle Jews out of Germany. And eventually, he joined a secret plot to overthrow the regime.
For that, he was arrested. In prison, Bonhoeffer didn’t despair. He wrote letters filled with courage and hope. He ministered to fellow prisoners. He trusted God even when the future was dark.
Just weeks before the war ended, Bonhoeffer was executed. But his words still speak today: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
That’s love — not sentimentality, but sacrificial courage.
1 John 3:18 says, “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
BONHOEFFER DIDN’T JUST PREACH LOVE. HE EMBODIED IT — costly Christ-shaped love that stands when it would be easier to sit down.
The bottom line is that
LOVE IS MORE THAN WHAT A PERSON CHOOSES TO FEEL.
LOVE IS WHAT A PERSON CHOOSES TO BE.
Our Identity is when our life is transformed by God’s Love
At the end of the day, love is the most powerful thing we’ve have.
It’s not just a feeling – it’s an action, a decision, and a lifestyle.
When we choose to love the way God loves us, we reflect His heart to the world.
Love is showing, not telling
The world will not believe that God loves sinners until they see His love at work in His children’ lives.
A Salvation Army worker found a poor, destitute woman alone on the street and invited her to come into the chapel for help, but the woman refused to move. The worker assured her “We love you and want to help you. God loves you and Jesus died for you.” But the woman still refused to budge.
Then, as if on divine impulse, the Army lady leaned over and kissed the woman on the cheek. The woman began to sob, and like a child, she was led into the chapel where she trusted Christ.
“You told me that God loved me.” she said later, “but it wasn’t till you showed me that God loves me that I wanted to be saved.” (Source Unknown).
Is Gods Loving heart, beating through you?
