The Love of God

Love's Reel Dimensian

YOUTH MINISTRY LEADERS Teaching Materiall {#YM-0201{1} Prepared by: Pastor RodelC. Catuy

INTRODUCTION: In the story of Francis and Cecille ('I Loved A Girf), we have leamed that tnre love gives. When you say you love someone? it means loving tbat someone, everything in that $omeone at all cost We need to respect the personality and rights of the person loved" Love smks tnrth and aims for transparency. This is the kind of love whieh can be expressed at the height of feelings toward each others. Thi$ is the essence of human lwe. Butwhat then is tnre
love? The essence of tnre love is more than feelings, more than physical and semral athaction, more than all the thirgs and circumstances thst we may associflte with love; tnre love has moral qualities. We can say that this love is great. Bu! is there an)r other love greater tban this? Yes, there was and there is! If you want to know if let's open our Bible in Genesis 3:l-21...

The message of the story (Gcnesis 3:1-21): Here, God created humans according to His image (Gn. l:26,27). When God ereated the nniverse and other created things, He said "it was good" (Gen. 1:25). But when He created man, He said, "it was very goad"(Gen. l:31). In Genesis 2, we find that God provided everything the man needs, including thewoman (whichmeans "taken out of man'). We can leam from Crenesis 3 that they were deceirred by the serpent which indicates they disobeyed God and this was accounted as srn. And because of this srg"they hid themselvesfrom the preserrce of the Lord (Gen 3:8)." If you were God what would you do? IMaybe, we will punish them. Or, we will no longer love the,m because of what they had done. Is this the resllon$e of God? Did Ciod forsake them? rfrIhat did God do? God nesponded in lwe! He eolled to the mwt md said, 'bhere we yoa? (Gen. 2:9)" Gad boftedfor thanl In spite afwhd they had done, God still /o.vw theml He did not respond on the basis of wbat rnan did? Instead, he exemplified a love called forgivine grace. And it doesn't stop therre. God continued to love them with His saslaining grace by providing a good shelter for them - the tord God Himself made garments for both of them (Gen 3:21). Could you imagine this love - God killed an animal just for the couple to erpress His tmcanditional lave- this rs true lwe. God in His grfrce g6ve w whd we do nat daqve md in'His mercy did not gut'e as whil we do deseme! lbis is the supre,me love! Its the love of Go{ ihe love's real dimeosion (Eph. 3 : 17-20).
The Scriptrne says "God is love (I Jotm 4:7,8),"' and so love forthe Lord and for others is now the very essence of our life and walk with Him. (Read I John 4:7-12; you may include

w.l3-21).

TIIE 3 KINDS OF LOYE: In the original Greek language in which the I'[ew Testament is vrifie,lr, there are three words which are written hanslatd "We" in our English translation:
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1. Ercs - Sensual love,lust 2. Phileo - Love of a friend, family S. Agape - God's love "one - way" love. ulnured into our heorts *k is agrye love that is now -W the Holy Spirif' ufiich we are now to
share

with others (Rom 5 : 5 ). The love that Francis gave to Cecille is caned a, "sensual

lwe, lysf"-

eros. Why?

phileo. Buf there's greater love than this. It's unconditional, it's mercifirl, it's by grace! No one can measure it's real dimension! It's rgrye - the lwe af God! It's the kind of love granted

Because Francis yrelds in to the desires of his flesh untimely and improperly and it's not used within the bounds of rnarriage" The love we gane to our family and friends, vrhich is sofiretimes conditional, is called

by God to Adam and Eve. We can easily learn and do the fimt 2 loves - Eros & Phileo. Watch a bold movie and you will leam eros (the word 'etrotic' comes from this word). lnve your friends and parents and you have performed phileo. See, it's so easy to apply the first two loves. Bu! it'u so bard to apply agape love. Why? Because it bas a great high pni**. It requires not only 6us fselings, head and body. But it takes our whole being, otr vrhole soul, everSrlhing in us. In u/hat way? How can wB have and do it? Do you want to have it? This is how you can get it.. You need to accept God in your life to be your personal Savior. l{hy? Because you cannot give somethiqg you do not have. If God u&o is lwe and lhe source of love is not pnresent in your life, you will not have that love to give. Only ufien you accept God in your life can you be able to love everyone eve,n the unlovely. 2. When? God said in Hebrews 3:15 tbat "taddJ/ dyou hear His voice, do not harden your hear$!" 3. Who? We are all cornnranded by God to love (Romans l3:8). It's a conunand. Therefore, if we are not doins this, we are disobeying Him. But how can you love someone on the basis of His love without Crod in your life? There's no way you can do it except by accepti4g God and let Him mter into our lives. If you have God's love, then you can love the following group$ of people as commanded by Ood to us we should... Lrwyaarneighbor (t\4ark 12:31). h. Lweyour ensnies (tuke 6:27-28). e. Love ane wrcIhq (John 13:34).

Do you want to be a loving person? Do you want to be as lovely as you can be? Do you want to love even the rmlovable penson? Do you want to experie,nce the agape love and e4perience its real dimension? The only way to do it is to accept the love of God by accepting Jesus. If we accept Jesus, we accept the love of God the Father because Jesus is the Wa5 the Truth and the Life; no one somes to the Father except by Him $ohn 14:6). His love is better lhnn lif6. It never ceases ; His mercies never come to an end and they are new every morning (Iarnentations 3 :22,23).
Response

song:

Your Love by Darlene Zsehech 2