Sermon Rewind 10/23/2011 - Abide WITH His love

John 15:9-17
New International Version (NIV)
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Last Sunday, Peter Park continued the WITH series, further expanding John 15:9-17. As previously learned, Jesus asks us to "abide in the vine" - to be in a deep relationship with Him and bear fruit of love. But we as humans love imperfectly and conditionally, so how do we learn to love? Jesus has shown us true love by laying down His life for us AND his enemies! He gives us the choice to receive and participate WITH this perfect love. Without His love, we cannot love others. But as we build our relationship and "abide" in Him, we learn to love as He does - unfailingly, patiently, and without pride. To end the message, Peter teaches a practical lesson to how to love: by dedicating to your work, your day, your friends, your coworkers, your family, and strangers - "in health and in sickness." Do everything in life WITH God, abiding in his love.

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