“Love That Bears All Things” (Galatians 5:22-26; 1 Corinthians 13:7, Psalm 1, John 15)

NOTE: edited to add photos from the actual service!!!  Thankful for my church family!

The first of the Show Love series – “Love in Action” – and we will cover the spectrum of love but wow we could never comprehend or describe the whole gamut of love – AGAPE love – a LOVE so huge without measure – that God gives us…  We (our 4 sharers) will talk about Love in Action over the next few weeks starting today with “Love That Bears All Things” (Galatians 5:22-26; 1 Corinthians 13:7) – then talk about “Loving God” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Matthew 22:34-40) –  “Loving Your Neighbor” (Luke 10:25-37) – “Loving Your Enemy” (Matthew 5:43-48, Romans 12:17-21) – “Radical Hospitality” (Acts 2:42-47, Hebrews 13:2) and “The Love of Jesus” (John 13:1-17, John 15:9-17).

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TODAY IS FATHER’S DAY – HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!!

HOW WONDERFUL TO CELEBRATE OUR EARTHLY FATHERS – and our Heavenly One

AND as scripture reminds us to weep with those who weep, we send condolences to those who have lost their dads, and also those whose relationships are strained – we are in a broken world when we know of so many with strained relationships…  We ask the Lord’s mercy and healing to all these situations – if not now then in heaven…

Today – we also remember our Heavenly Father – God – who IS LOVE – and we celebrate through the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and The Holy Spirit to talk about SHOWING LOVE.

We cannot do these things I listed in the upcoming scripture series about SHOWING LOVE without God HIMSELF  – and how can we show this Love to a higher level unless we start with an understanding of how Love TO US has been shown to us – and what a fitting way to start here on Father’s Day – Our Heavenly Father Who gave us life by giving us His Love – being His Love and spreading that to us…

LOVE bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

HOW MUCH DO OUR FATHERS EMPOWER US – TO LIVE OUR LIVES AS INDEPENDENT GROWING CHILDREN – AND YET TO KEEP TRACK OF US – LIKE AS OUR PARENT I KNOW HE WILL REDUCE HIS WORRY ABOUT US BY PROVIDING FOR US…

I think of my Dad, gone few years ago now – can’t believe it but I know He is in Heaven OK – I believe that He is playing cards with the guys – I am content that he is taken care of…  In the last of my dad’s weeks – his communication was limited but his mind was still there – and his love never wavered – I visited as often as I could since it is 5 plus hours away – and on one of the last times I saw him, he said “how long will it take you?” And he looked distantly at the clock – he knew that clock… He looked at that clock and the worry on his face told me everything. Granted the roads are so much better now than when he drove up and down – but that stretch thru the mountains was what worried him – I can still hear him say “drive it in the daylight” – he cared and cares. He wanted to make sure I would be OK – I was.  

My Grandpa ALSO – as a dad –  always asked how my brakes were on my car. Always checking in.

[Also I was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘GO against the flow” with a little white fish in the background of colorful letters as a gift from my friend moving and me packing her Dad’s items – things I found that reminded us of how much she loved him – because he loved her first – and that is what Jesus tells us – that He loved us before we were even born – love by Jesus is long – longsuffering and patient…. and our path should be AGAINST the flow of the world – don’t go with the world – go with JESUS – He will bring you to places He needs you to be…]

Love bears all things – love bears the worry of a father for his children – how much more our Heavenly Father bears that love – bears concern and yes provides for us in all ways.

I am blessed to talk about the ways that God Shows us Love – so that we may show it to others – You know that saying: “He EQUIPS the called – not He calls the equipped” – meaning we can go to God with nothing and He will provide. He provides our skillsets our personalities our energy our demeaner.

We should remember to rely upon God for the gifts – and the Holy Spirit reminder to use those gifts. Here is that great scripture – but wait – I HAVE PROPS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

——–  Bring out the binder clip Words of the Fruits of the Spirit ————–

Galatians 5:22-26 NKJV      But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (also called patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

—- speak about JOY – Jesus Others Yourself – that is the order of whom we should think about

—- speak about long-suffering – our earthly troubles nothing compared to God’s Longsuffering

—- speak about self-control  – about a tube of toothpaste that is things we can not control always – but should – you can’t get it back in the tube. My friend teaching Sunday school said she would get out $100 cash and tell her Sunday school kids she would give it to them if they could figure out how to get all the toothpaste back into the tube (after squirting out all the toothpaste) that something like saying hurtful things – you can never take those back and can’t get the toothpaste back in the tube…

The next line in the scripture reminds us to “stay in line with God”  – “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” We are to experience Love in getting us through the rough stuff and to get to the forgiveness and to reduce our neediness – and increase our willingness to “let it go” – don’t sweat the small stuff… This is both in us getting what we are blessed with and NOT getting what we really would be destined for if we didn’t have this love of Jesus – this is LOVE giving us Grace and Mercy.

Thank God we have all this – and we have MORE!!!

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Read again ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.1 Corinthians 13:7-13 NKJV

YES – love that can bear these things from us – is the love that we can bear for each other – and I want to do a visual demonstration for our tree of life comes from Jesus’s sacrifice from the beginning – and we are to gain these attributes of love from His love.

We have go to make a tree – grow our tree to bear all these fruits –

How are we going to keep this tree up??? The bible has the advice of course:

Psalm 1 NKJV of David – to talk about devotion to God – it also talks about the ungodly – but I am certain here that we are in church to become more devoted – to question and to at least pause and think of the benefits of sticking close to God – to gain the fruits of the spirit.

The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly

1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; ² But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. ³ HE SHALL BE LIKE A TREE PLANTED BY THE RIVERS OF WATER, THAT BRINGS FORTH ITS FRUIT IN ITS SEASON, WHOSE LEAF ALSO SHALL NOT WITHER; AND WHATEVER HE DOES SHALL PROSPER.

⁴ The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. ⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. ⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

——- VISUAL DEMONSTRATION – with help from the audience – put the words in color bursts onto pieces of the material to symbolize wood  – how are we going to make this stand up – how do we get all these pieces together  –  (someone yells – we need a tree) – and YES – bring in the the cross made from sticks and the trunk the strong cardboard material  – and then have the volunteers help wrap the tree cross with the green vines – representing a LIVING JESUS – and then move the fruit of the spirit words on carabiner clips to the mockup of a tree – that these are fruits to bear… and we can’t do it without Jesus – we need HIM – structurally, living, giving, forgiving, whole…

Conclude with the scripture from John 15 – Jesus will be that support for our bearing of fruits – bearing the good stuff and the bad stuff. Jesus gives us the growth potential – Jesus the True Vine – and Jesus tells us that God will prune away the unproductive ness of us… Jesus tells us about Himself – that we can not do anything without Him.

Our efforts and our fruit are resulting from God pruning our branches for HIS Fruit –

Read John 15 NKJV – The True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

⁹ “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. AMEN – and conclude with prayer…