INTRODUCTION
SLIDE #1
• I hope that all who were able to come to Revival services came here this morning with a new or renewed passion for Jesus!
• Today we are going to build on what we learned during Revival as we continue in our series in 1 John.
• What is it that can change people? What can change a person who is selfish and self-centered into a person who loves others and puts other people first?
• What is it that can change who we are and what we are?
• What can change the person who is leading a destructive life into a person who has a heart and a passion for Jesus?
• There are a lot of lonely, hurting people in the world who need something that God wants to offer to them.
• People need to know they are loved by God. We need to be the harbinger or the ones who carry that message to the world.
• Love can change people; God’s love can totally change us and everything about us.
• I know the love we can receive from another person can make a big difference in our lives.
• Take a child and put them in a home where they are not loved and see what happens to the child when they grow up.
• I know the love my wife has for me has changed me in many ways.
• The ultimate changes that come happen when we experience God’s love in our lives. When we realize how much He really loves us and when we allow ourselves to accept the love He has for us, our lives will never be the same!
• When I met my wife, I was in need of a lot of changes in my life, Robyn did not make me change, my love for her caused me to want to change.
• When I gave my life to Jesus, He loved me, but He loved me too much to let me stay the way I was in the condition I was in.
• God’s love transforms us. Today we are going to look at “The Love That Changes” as we look at three ways in which God’s love changes us. The changes we receive as a result are a true blessing to us!
• God’s love will transform us as we do our part and God will most certainly do His part to make us a new creation in Christ.
• Let us look at 1 John 3:1-3 together this morning. SLIDE #2 then with passage 3
SERMON
God’s Love Changes: SLIDE #4
I. WHO WE ARE
SLIDE #5
1. God’s love is beyond wonderful!
• John begins this section by trying to get our attention. John is saying, “Quick, look” when he says “see how great a love…”
• One of the things we need to get a grasp on is how great the love God gives to us really is.
• The word “great” signifies amazement, a sense of awe and wonder.
• If we are going to let God’s love have an affect on us, we must first realize how awesome His love is! The love we experience comes from the Father!
• Think about the love the world offers. More times than not it is conditional. When we think of the Extreme Makeover theme, why do these people want to be made-over? It is because they do not feel loved and wanted because they are not thin enough, good looking enough, athletic enough to be totally accepted by the world.
• Studies have been done to show that tall good-looking people will get jobs over people who are not so tall and good looking.
• God loved even when you were not walking with Him. SLIDE #6
• Romans 5:8 NIV
• God has loved you from the beginning, when you were not so lovable. God will not desert you when you mess up, He will love you for eternity.
• The first part of the passage tells us that God “bestowed” or gave us something. That something is His unconditional love!
• If you have ever felt the unconditional love of another, you can get a small taste of how wonderful God’s love is for you.
• God loves us so much that He wants to see us be all we can be. He wants us to have the best relationship with Him possible. God wants what is best for us.
• How many of us want our children not be a failure? None of us. We all want our children to fulfill their potential and destiny.
• IF we want that for them, we will do all we can to help them grow in life. God is the same way. His love is so deep that He does not want us to waste our great potential in Him.
• IF we trust God enough to let Him love us, His love will change us! SLIDE #7
2. God’s love causes us to become one of His children! We are a part of His family!
• DO you know why we can be a part of God’s family? It is because of His great love. It is not because we have done anything to deserve to be in His family. It is not like we won a reality TV. Show like, “I Want To Be A Hilton.” It is because God loves us!
• The love of the Father brings about a change of who we are, we are now a child of God. Winning “I Want To Be A Hilton” will afford the person who wins some things in life they would otherwise not experienced, but being a part of God’s family will bring about some things you will get to experience in this life and the life to come that otherwise you would not have been able to experience!
• As I have watched a little bit of that show and other like that Princes show, the people of the show try to change you into a Hilton or a Princes.
• God’s love changes who you are from the inside out, it is not just some name change. You become a new creation in Christ! SLIDE #8
• 2 Cor 5:17
• Because of God’s love, we have a new relationship with the Father. We have a natural kinship with God, we have the right as heirs to receive our inheritance from Him! SLIDE #9
• Col 3:24
• John finishes this part of verse one with the assurance of the truth he stated concerning becoming a child of God!
• Since God’s love has changed who we are something else has happened. SLIDE #10
3. The world will not recognize us.
• John warns us that the world will not recognize us since they did not recognize the Son when He was here.
• If the world did not know the Son, why would they know His children?
• The world has no comprehension of what makes the Christian tick until they become a part of God’s family also.
• It should not surprise us that the world does not agree or sometimes even like Christians. Many times things like that happen out of ignorance. If it like not like a certain race of people because you do not know them.
• By the way, this is another reason Christians should not be tied together with those who are not, whether it be by marriage or business association. The value systems will collide and will make a mess of things. SLIDE #11
God’s Love Changes:
II. WHAT WE WILL BECOME
God’s love will not only change who we are but also what we will become! SLIDE #12
1. Our relationship with the Father will change what we are in the present.
• We have already spoken of the fact that in the present we have been adopted into God’s family. This changes everything for us. In verse two, John uses the word “now” to signify the present relationship of life with God.
• Do you realize how wonderful it is to be a part of God’s family? People will do family trees, and when they find that someone who is famous is a part of their family tree, they tell others with pride about this.
• We should not have to search for significance in life if we are a child of God, which in itself is very significant!
• I spoke with a young High School girl the other day that made me so proud to be a part of the family of God, she is so focused on what she is called to do and she is doing all she can to make sure her life reflects that! CLICK #12
2. Our relationship with the Father will change what we will become in the future!
• Verse two tells us that it has not appeared as yet what we will be…
• What this means is that God has yet to display publicly the full glory that belongs to His children.
• Something inconceivably wonderful is waiting for God’s children, even more glorious than what they now possess. Christians have been born into God’s family, and they presently enjoy God’s kindness and blessings through Christ. But in the future they will also fully share in his glory. Believers have a vision of it now, but it will be reality when their bodies are resurrected. (Life Application Bible)
• One of the things we do know is that when Jesus appears, we will be like Him! This implies that we must work on being like Jesus. SLIDE #13
• Romans 12:2
• Slide #14
• 2 Corinthians 3:18
• During this life we are being transformed into what we already are in God’s eyes through Jesus, we are being transformed into the image of Jesus!
• We are called to look like our Lord! SLIDE #15
• Rom 8:29
• Notice we are told we will be LIKE Him; this is not the same as saying we will BE Him. We will never be the same as Him, we will be LIKE Him.
• Since God’s love will change who we are and what we will be, SLIDE #16
God’s Love Changes:
III. WHAT WE NEED TO DO
SLIDE # 17
1. Our hope needs to be fixed on Him!
• Who is your hero? Brad asked that question during Revival. Who do you look up to, who do you want to be like? Who are you putting your hope in?
• Verse three tells us we are to have our hope FIXED on Him.
• Hope is the confident expectation of something in the future. Fixed means to anchor to something.
• I have said this before, but you take children in the inner city and give them no hope of success, you will raise future gang members. You give them hope they can succeed in life, the sky is the limit. This is what I appreciated about the movie Coach Carter. Coach gave these young people something more to hope in than just basketball, and for many of them it changed their lives.
• When times are good or bad, you need to fix your hope on Jesus! CLICK #17
2. We need to purify ourselves!
• A few minutes ago I touched on this a bit. If our hope is in Jesus, then the natural thing for us to do is to purify ourselves!
• Notice it tells us we are to purify ourselves?
• God see us a pure and holy through the blood of Jesus, our life is about trying to obtain that position. Then when our life is over and we have not reached it, which we will not, God’s grace makes up the difference for us!
• Pure means something close to holy, the verb tense denotes a continuous action on our part.
• God will not clean us up without our help, He will not make you be holy and pure, you must decide to do that and the Holy Spirit within you will help you get there.
• Each day we are faced with the choice of being pure or being not pure. God will not make you be what you do not want to be. It is a lifelong pursuit for those who love God!
• This is one thing that impressed me so much in my conversation with the young lady I spoke of earlier. She realizes her need to be pure and is doing all she can to make sure people do not take her off that path. SLIDE #18
• Heb 12:14
CONCLUSION
• Love changes things, God love will make the ultimate change in us if we will allow God to love us like He wants to.
• God loves you so much He does not want to leave you as you are; He wants you to have the best relationship possible with Him.
• God wants you to make the most of with what you have. Too many of us think we have nothing to offer to God.
• There is a story in 2 kings 4 of a woman whose husband had died. She cried out to Elisha for help. He asked her what she had in her house, she was about to loose her sons to slavery to the creditors.
• All she had was a jar of oil. Elisha told her to borrow empty vessels from her neighbors. When she did, she poured that one jar of oil into enough containers that she was able to sell the oil to get out of debt and for them to live on! SLIDE #19
• 2 Kings 4:7.
• You may be just a small jar of oil, but in the hands of the Lord, you can do wonders!
• God love will change things, let it happen!
