Title of my message is: Why Love People?
Love means: Living for the other person’s good.
So why? Why love people?
1. Because you are loved.
(John 3:16) "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.”
(1 John 4:11) “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
(1 John 4:12) “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
(1 John 4:20-21)“If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”
(1 John 4:8) “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
2. Because we are created to love
(Matthew 22:36-40) "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
5 Ways to Love People
1. I need people who will walk with me.
(Genesis 2:18) “It is not good for the man to be alone…”
(Hebrews 10:25) “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Small Groups are God’s answer to loneliness.
(1 Corinthians 14:26, 30-31 Message) “When you gather, each one of you be prepared with something useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight…Take your turn, with no one person taking over. That way…you all learn from each other.”
(Ephesians 4:16) “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
2. I need people who will work with me.
(Ephesians 2:10) “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
(Ecclesiastes 4:9) “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.”
Small Groups are God’s answer to fatigue.
(Galatians 6:10 Message) “Every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.”
3. I need people who will fight for me.
(Philippians 2:4) “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
(Ecclesiastes 4:12 NLT) “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”
Small Groups are God’s answer to defeat.
(Ecclesiastes 4:10 NLT) “If one person falls, another can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble.”
4. I need people who will cry with me.
(1 Peter 3:8 LB) “You should be like one big family, full of sympathy toward each other...”
(1 Corinthians 12:26) “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”
Small Groups are God’s answer to despair.
(Romans 12:15) “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:11) “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
5. I need people who will partner with me.
(John 15:4-5) “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
(Deuteronomy 32:30) “…one man will chase a thousand… two put ten thousand to flight…”
Small Groups are God’s answer to significance.
(Philippians 1:27 CEV) “...You are working together and struggling side by side to get others to believe the Good News.”
