MOTIVATED BY LOVE
BREAD
16 “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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17 (NIV)
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 (NIV)
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11 (NIV)
17 “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)
3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:11 (NIV)
19 We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (NIV)
7 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. 1 John 4:7-11 (NIV)
BUTTER
“God’s love is always supernatural, always a miracle, always the last thing we deserve.” Robert Horn
“Many people have difficulty believing God is a God of love….If you really want to know the reality of God’s love, look at the Cross….It was love that restrained Him when He was falsely accused of blasphemy and led to Golgotha to die with common thieves. He raised not a hand against His enemies. It was love that kept Him from calling legions of angels to come to His defense. It was love that made Him, in a moment of agonizing pain, pause and give hope to a repentant sinner who cried, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom’ (Luke 23:42)….Does God love us? Yes….and the proof is the Cross.” Billy Graham
“There is something contagious about a heart of love. People who are selfless with their love can make giant waves in this world where those who cling to selfish desires cause only ripples. In fact, those who have hearts of love view the people around them as being most important. A heart that bears the marks of God’s intimate love is not a selfish heart. When we look directly into God’s heart of love, we are transformed forever. The selfish desires that once dominated our heart’s landscapes vanish in an instant, replaced by a desire to lavish love on others. As God begins to transform our hearts through His grace and kindness, we become vessels willing to reciprocate this type of love. Something happens inside of us. We begin to realize the twofold effect of loving God and loving others – not just friends and family, but others who cross our paths every day. Hardened hearts begin to melt beneath the warmth of Christ’s love overflowing from our lives. People who we never thought would let the name of Jesus roll off their lips suddenly praise Him because we have taken the time to love them the way God has commanded us to love. Once we learn how to abide in His love, our feelings of jealousy, greed, and anger die a quick death. A true champion extends grace and kindness because he knows the transformation that has taken place in his own heart, and he realizes those who receive God’s love and grace have no other course of action but to give God’s love away.” Michael Youssef
“Only by fidelity in little things can a true and constant love of God be distinguished from a passing fervor of spirit.” Francois Fenelon
“For the love of God is broader than the measures of man’s mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.” Frederick William Faber
“The love for equals is a human thing–of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing–the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world. The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing–to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints. And then there is the love for the enemy–love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.” I echo that. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.” Frederick Buechner
“Why does God want us to remember? God’s desire for us to recall His past mercies has nothing to do with His own personal insecurities, but everything to do with us worshiping Him rightly. Every time you recall the depth of God’s love for you, He is inviting you to love Him back more deeply and more fully. Every time you remember His matchless love, it brings healing and wholeness, challenging you to respond with praise and surrender. Every time you recall His immense sacrifice, it brings hope and trust that He will do it again. Remembering Him is for His glory and for our good.” Michael Youssef
“God’s desire to communicate happiness to the creature entails a willingness to experience loss to the sake of the beloved. It is exceeding congruous for God, a being of infinite goodness and love, to give to the creature the highest sort of expression of love—which is expensed for the beloved. Therefore through the mission of the Son, God reveals a love that suffers in behalf of the beloved. Now I can clearly and distinctly conceive how the giving of Christ is the perfect expression of love, as the greatest expense in a lover. For the incarnation expresses the love of God in a way that is exceedingly noble and excellent and agreeable to the glorious perfections of God.” Jonathan Edwards
“Love of man necessarily arises out of love of God.” John Hooper
“We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.” Brother Lawrence
HEART SAVOR
• We will never get to the depth or breadth of God’s love for us. Paul states: 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)
• I am called to love as Jesus loves me – through the power of the Holy Spirit. I cannot do this in the flesh. Again, Paul states: 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-13 (NIV)
• God’s love is super natural – other worldly and wholly undeserved.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 