by admin | Mar 6, 2020 | Relationship Goals, Sermon Audio and Notes
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
1 Corinthians 13:7 says that “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.” In our 9th week of Relationship Goals, Pastor Humphreys Mkandawire from Flood Lilongwe brings us to the reality that it is impossible to bear or believe all things until you fully entrust yourself to Jesus. For it is Jesus, he reminds us, who first loved us and who now gives us the ability to endure all the difficulties that come with loving other people.
The kind of love that Paul invites us into is a reflection of the way that Jesus loves. And while we are wise to ask “will this be safe for me?” and “can I trust this person?” when we consider entering into any kind of loving relationship, the reality is that the Jesus kind of love is NOT safe. Jesus did not hold himself back from loving us until we shaped up and became a people who were going to receive him joyfully and carefully. Jesus loved us to the point of his death, even though he fully expected us to betray him. This is our challenge. It is a challenge that we cannot meet on our own. However, when we give ourselves over fully to the care of JESUS, we are able to trust that our souls will be taken care of no matter what hurts we incur in the process of loving. Love, the love that flows from Jesus and allows and empowers us, will always hold us well.
Next Steps:
- Who in your life do you need to change your attitude towards?
- Who in your life do you need to intentionally show love?
- Take a moment each day this week to entrust yoruself to Jesus so you can love others better.
The reality of life is there is no life apart from relationships. Your relationships might be with stuff, not people, but your life is relating itself to STUFF. So our heart and our goal in this series is to just be at a place where we ask the hard questions, we get into the space of trying to understand what is love really like. Now when you get into scripture, scripture has a lot of stuff to say about love. So we are are looking at some few amazing things that God has said in his word in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 of what love is.
Catch up on earlier Relationship Goals sermons: Week 1 , Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 7, Week 8
by admin | Mar 3, 2020 | Relationship Goals, Sermon Audio and Notes
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
1 Corinthians 13:4-6
This week in Relationship Goals, we hear from Zack Brady, who along with being one of our Core Team leaders at Flood Blantyre is on the Young Life staff team in Blantyre ministering specifically to our international high schools.
In this sermon, Zack takes us through 1 Corinthians 13:6, “[Love] does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth,” and calls us to recognize that this one is not quite as easy as it sounds at first listen. To plumb the depths of what it means to not rejoice in “iniquity,” we go back to the Gospel of Matthew and are reminded that Jesus raised the bar on what sin can be–its not just acting on your lust and committing adultery that is the sin, its the actual looking at someone with lust; its not just acting on your anger and murdering your neighor that is the sin, but the being angry itself. Its not just the actions that we take that are iniquity–it is what is going on inside our heads and hearts as well. This sin, the iniquity inside us, is easily hidden and we love to keep it secret.
But that secret keeping, Zack explains, leads to loneliness and shame, shame that is reflective of the shame felt by Adam and Eve in the garden. Listen in as we unpack Genesis 3 in the context of 1 Corinthians 13:6 and learn how to rejoice in the truth of what God says to us rather than sitting in the lies that have been offered to us by our enemy, who, after all, is only out to steal, kill, and destroy anyone who is called a child of God.
Our next steps for this week
Next Steps:
- Where are you?
- Who will you invite into your secrets? (Who are you going to invite in to help you dismantle the power that your secret sins have over your life?)
- What are you going to put down?
- What are you going to pick up? (And if you don’t know the answer to this one right away, that’s okay! Ask the Lord as you come to him with empty hands after having laid down what you needed to from question 3.)
- Attend Ash Wednesday Service (6-7pm @ Flood Blantyre on Wednesday, 26 February)
- Join in on our 40 Day Lent devotional
The reality of life is there is no life apart from relationships. Your relationships might be with stuff, not people, but your life is relating itself to STUFF. So our heart and our goal in this series is to just be at a place where we ask the hard questions, we get into the space of trying to understand what is love really like. Now when you get into scripture, scripture has a lot of stuff to say about love. So we are are looking at some few amazing things that God has said in his word in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 of what love is.
Catch up on earlier Relationship Goals sermons: Week 1 , Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 7
by admin | Feb 19, 2020 | Relationship Goals, Sermon Audio and Notes
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
In this the 7th installment of our Relationship Goals series, Pastor Yami tackles the final statement of vs. 5: “[Love] is not irritable or resentful.” Our human reality is that irritation and resentment are constant parts of our lives; the question we need to ask is not “Are you resentful about anything?” but “What are you resentful about right now?”
Now, we don’t get resentful for no reason. Injustice–whether on a large societal scale, a personal unfairness scale, or a divine “God how could you?” scale–is the most common cause of our undealt with resentments. And we SHOULD be angry about injustice; in fact, Pastor Yami reminds us, our anger about injustice can be the motivating force for righting injustice and creating change. However, when we exagerrate the injustice that makes us angry, add wildly to the pain, and stew on the injuries or simply shove them down so that they fester inside of us, instead of being a powerful force for good, our anger becomes resentment and quickly turns to poinson within us. Resentment unacknowledged, especially when it is resentment with God, can turn us into reckless, people-pleasing, destructive bullies. In this sermon, Pastor Yami challenges us to recognize and name our bitter spots and resentful feelings as the necessary first step to being able to grow through them and love well even when we are confronted with injustice, betrayal, or pain.
Our next steps for this week
Next Steps:
- What hurt is defining you?
- What struggle have you made your identity?
- Where do you need to see God’s kindness towards you?
The reality of life is there is no life apart from relationships. Your relationships might be with stuff, not people, but your life is relating itself to STUFF. So our heart and our goal in this series is to just be at a place where we ask the hard questions, we get into the space of trying to understand what is love really like. Now when you get into scripture, scripture has a lot of stuff to say about love. So we are are looking at some few amazing things that God has said in his word in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 of what love is.
Catch up on earlier Relationship Goals sermons: Week 1 , Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5
by admin | Feb 4, 2020 | Relationship Goals, Sermon Audio and Notes
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
This week, our 1 Corinthians 13 conversation continues with the second part of “Love does not insist on its own way.” Last week, Pastor Yami drew our attention to the way that we often approach love in a self-seeking manner, actually using love as an excuse to get our own way. This week, he challenged us on this further, even confessing how much we in the church have used this concept that God loves us unconditionally as a weapon against another, twisting the meaning of unconditional love to ask others never to want us to change or grow. Fortunately, we didn’t stay in the land of hard challenges this week though. In our desire to learn to love in God’s way, rather than our own way, we look at the relationship between the Father and the Son which is the ultimate expression of love in human history. This exchange reveals a love that is affectionate, gives itself away, exalts the other, and, to our surprise, obedient. How Jesus loved the Father, lived out that love, and talks about the way the Father loves him, are beautiful guides to us as we continue to learn to love like them.
Our next steps for this week:
- How are you loving others?
- Where do you need to commit as a sign of your love?
- Commit to a relationships this week in line with what God is inviting you to.
The reality of life is there is no life apart from relationships. Your relationships might be with stuff, not people, but your life is relating itself to STUFF. So our heart and our goal in this series is to just be at a place where we ask the hard questions, we get into the space of trying to understand what is love really like. Now when you get into scripture, scripture has a lot of stuff to say about love. So we are are looking at some few amazing things that God has said in his word in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 of what love is.
Catch up on earlier Relationship Goals sermons: Week 1 , Week 2, Week 3, Week 4
by admin | Jan 29, 2020 | Relationship Goals, Sermon Audio and Notes
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Love is not self-seeking, does not insist on its own way, the Apostle Paul tells us. But we, Pastor Yami pronounces in this sermon, more often use love as an excuse to get exactly that: our own way. We tend to be approach love individualistically and consume love and its benefits rather than practicing it. Being consumers, we treat the people we “love” as commodities, keeping them in our lives if the relationship meets our own needs and throwing them away when it becomes hard or uncomfortable. Further, many of us believe in the Mythology of Soulmates, which causes us to believe that there is no need for us to grow or change to become better for our relationships because once we meet that right person, they will fulfill all our needs and perfectly match all our weaknesses. “When it comes to the Bible, God doesn’t speak much about finding you your perfect person,” Pastor Yami said, “instead, the scripture does speak VERY much about you becoming the person you should be.” To truly love, we must surrender our perception of relationships as commodities that serve us and give ourselves over to being transformed in order to serve.
Our next steps for this week:
- How are you treating your relationships?
- How are you performing in your relationships?
- Share in communion, reflecting on the truth that a God that chose you before you offered any performance still chooses you despite your performance.
The reality of life is there is no life apart from relationships. Your relationships might be with stuff, not people, but your life is relating itself to STUFF. So our heart and our goal in this series is to just be at a place where we ask the hard questions, we get into the space of trying to understand what is love really like. Now when you get into scripture, scripture has a lot of stuff to say about love. So we are are looking at some few amazing things that God has said in his word in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 of what love is.
Catch up on earlier Relationship Goals sermons: Week 1 , Week 2, Week 3
by admin | Jan 21, 2020 | Relationship Goals, Sermon Audio and Notes
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 or rude.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
“When people feel dismissed,” Pastor Yami says, half way through the sermon, “they disconnect.” What destroys love more than disconnection? There is a lot at stake then, we learn, when we are rude to someone. When we are rude, we are actually judging someone, telling them that they are below us, unworthy of our time, attention, or care. Our rudeness communicates the opposite of love and often we may not even know we are doing it.
Our next steps for this week:
- How do you value people?
- What one thing do you need to start doing to honor people this week?
Listen, ask for more time, be quiet?
The reality of life is there is no life apart from relationships. Your relationships might be with stuff, not people, but your life is relating itself to STUFF. So our heart and our goal in this series is to just be at a place where we ask the hard questions, we get into the space of trying to understand what is love really like. Now when you get into scripture, scripture has a lot of stuff to say about love. So we are are looking at some few amazing things that God has said in his word in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 of what love is.
Catch up on earlier Relationship Goals sermons: Week 1 , Week 2
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