What God’s Love is #5: Love is NOT Boastful or Vainglorious
(1Co 13:4 AMP) Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
*** There is no greater expectation of us from God than that of walking in His love. As we are learning these characteristics of love, we are actually learning how God expects us to live.
We have covered 4 of the 20, here is #5: Love is not Boastful or Vainglorious
Boastful: to speak of one’s self with excessive pride; having an excessively high opinion of oneself.
Vainglory: unwarranted pride in one’s accomplishments or qualities. In today’s vernacular, this is basically being “full of yourself.”
* There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance and even the best of us cross that line from time to time. That’s why we must
Pride is the silent killer in the church.
- You can sing a great song, and people get touched by God, but if you sang it in pride, you’ll miss out on your blessing.
- You can preach a great sermon and people, and people get touched by God, but if you did it in pride, you’ll miss out on your blessing.
- You can fool others, but you can’t fool God. He sees your heart and He knows your pride!
Pride is a characteristic of satan. It’s one of his BIG 3 (1 Jn 2:16):
1) the lust of the flesh
2) the lust of the eyes
3) the pride of life
- Solomon said, “Pride goes before destruction… ” (Proverbs 16:18).
- This is what happened to satan. Pride got him kicked out of heaven.
- Satan said, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13,14).
So remember:
1. While it’s not God’s will for you to have a low self-esteem, arrogance is not His will either.
2. You are not a self-made man/woman. You are who you are by the grace of God.
3. When the glory comes, deflect it back to God. You get the benefits, He gets the glory!
What God’s Love is #4: Love is Never Envious
When you operate in the Love of God you:
1. Are thankful (for your gifts and for the gifts of others)
2. Are able to celebrate the diversities of gifts without jealousy
3. Have a healthy Self-Image (not too high or too low)
What God’s Love Is #3: Love is Kind
Major points of emphasis this week:
1. Kindness is always disposed to do good to others.
2. Kindness is always looking for a way TO BE a blessing.
3. Kindness gets excited when presented with an opportunity to bless someone.
4. Love focuses on others – the opposite of love is selfishness (not hate).
Enjoy:
What God’s Love Is #2: Love is Patient (ONE-SIDED)
Major points I want to make this week:
- God’s love remains the same (always).
- God’s love is ONE-SIDED!
What God’s Love Is #2: Love is Patient (ONE-SIDED) from Rick Pina on Vimeo.
(1 Cor 13:4 AMP) Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
Last week I told you that verses 4 through 8 of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 contain 20 characteristics of love; and we took a look at the first one: love endures long. We learned how the love of God lasts through the ups and downs of life. This week we look at the cousin of enduring long, in the characteristic of patience.
- A while back I taught on “Faith and Patience – the Power Twins!”
- Patience is the ability to remain the same or “the force of consistency.”
- While God’s love is enduring long, it’s must also remain the same while it’s enduring.
- If you complain every step of the way, that’s not the love of God!
God’s love (patient love) is ONE-SIDED!
- Paul said of God and His love, “We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him” (Rom 5:7,8 MSG).
- Even while we ignored, disrespected, and dishonored God; He loved us enough to send His son to die for our sins.
- His love endured long and His love was patient. His love remained the same.
- His love was one-sided.
After coming to God, did God get rid of us when we missed the mark? Did God stop loving us when we failed to love Him? Did He retract His love? Did He change the way He dealt with us? Did He start treating us with a ‘ten foot pole?’ No! God’s love never changes, because His love is one-sided.
So remember:
- God’s love does not require a tit for a tat.
- God’s love empowers you to love others, even when you do not like what they are doing.
- God’s love enables you to look beyond flaws and still love the flawed.
- God’s love equips you with His consistency, even while the object of your love is inconsistent.
- God’s love is one-sided! When you operate in one-sided love, you are able to consistently love others, even while they are living inconsistent lives!
What God’s Love Is #1: Love Endures Long
Major points I want to make this week:
- Pursuing God’s love is greater than pursuing spiritual gifts.
- When you truly love someone you are able to look beyond faults, flaws, and failures and love still them.
What God’s Love Is: #1) Love Endures Long from Rick Pina on Vimeo.
(1 Cor 13:4-8 Amplified Bible) “Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].”
- There are 20 characteristics of God’s love in these 5 verses and we will look at each one.
Characteristic #1: Love endures long
- Simply put, love does not give up easily.
- When you truly love someone you are able to look beyond faults, flaws, and failures and love still them.
- The story of the prodigal son is a good example (see Luke 15:11-31).
- This kid disrespected his father by asking for his inheritance early.
- He then set off for a distant country and wasted the money on fast living.
- After the kid was broke (financially) and broken (in spirit), he decided to come back home and ask his father for a job.
- He knew he had messed up and no longer considered himself a son.
- He was willing to take the position of a hired servant.
- His father, on the other hand, was operating in love. He woke up every day expecting that his son would come home. One day, while the kid was still a good ways off, the father saw him coming and was filled with compassion for him.
- The father was not filled with rage, resentment, or bitterness. This father was filled with a love for his son that “endured long.”
- He did not wait for his son to make it to him, he ran out to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.
- The son tried to explain that he was willing to be a hired servant, but the father ignored the foolish comments.
- Instead of saying, “I told you so,” the father told his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.”
****God enables you to endure disappointments from and mistakes by the ones that you love.
- When you operate in the love of God you are not quick to hold grudges, nor focus on the bad. You are quick to forgive and to move forward and you don’t live in the past.
- Are you operating in the love of God?
- Does your love endure long, or is it a love that only loves when others do what you like?
Developing in the Love of God
Major points I want to make this week:
1. Love is the Rod that holds everything else in place.
2. Jesus simplified the message of the Bible down to this: Love God and Love others.
3. The Love of God is the foundation for Christian living.
Developing in the Love of God from Rick Pina on Vimeo.
True Love
God loves you so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die in your place…. that’s love!
Worship Element: True Love from Adam Kring on Vimeo.
Resurrection Sunday 2012
Major points I want to make this week:
1. Jesus is ALIVE!
2. If the Resurrection is not true, we don’t have Christianity.
3. We can GO because He CAME!
4. We can OVERCOME because He OVERCAME!
Resurrection Sunday 2012 from Rick Pina on Vimeo.
1. Jesus is ALIVE!
(Mark 16:1-6 NIV) When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Solome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young many dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
a. This is the truth that changes everything.
b. Jesus is the only historical religious figure who is still alive!
c. You can be a Muslim without ever meeting Muhammad, you can be a Buddhist without ever meeting Buddha, but if you are going to be a Christ, you have to meet Jesus the Christ for yourself!
2. If the Resurrection is not true, we don’t have Christianity
(1 Cor 15:12-14,20) But tell me this-since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless… But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
a. This is the most important event in History.
b. Jesus conquered death so that we could do the same.
c. We shall LIVE FOREVER!
3. We can GO because He CAME! (The Great Commission)
(Mat 28:18-20) And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
a. Jesus gained ALL POWER and based upon that, He told us to GO!
b. We don’t have to be afraid, but we MUST share the Gospel with the LOST!
4. We can OVERCOME because He OVERCAME!
a. Jesus overcame satan.
b. Jesus took the sting out of death.
c. Jesus now offers us everlasting and abundant life!
Winning the War Within (Part 9) – SuperNatural Power to Change
Points I want to highlight this week – PASSION WEEK:
1. Jesus endured the pain of the cross by faith.
2. Faith works by love (Gal 5:6).
3. If we live by faith and remain in love, then the same Power that Jesus operated in – and the same Power that raised Him from the dead – are available to us… and with that Power WE CAN CHANGE!
Winning the War Within – Part 8 (Change from the Inside-Out)
Two major points I want to make this week:
1. You can be IN CHRIST and still full of ‘dark stuff.’
2. If you give the WORD priority, it can wash you and change you from the inside out.