Extraordinary Love

85% of YOUNG ADULTS have no affiliation with Christianity or the Church

• The UNITED STATES now has more secular, unchurched people than most of the nations of the WORLD!

• The 3rd largest mission field is now the ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD.

• Currently only 6% of adults over the age of 18 find faith in Christ.

• Practically every Christian denomination is losing attendance at a record pace.  Approximately 200 churches close their doors every week in America.

• The fastest growing religion in America is SOCIAL JUSTICE.

3 MAIN BARRIERS BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD 

1. TRUST ISSUES:  Over the years as society has moved away from God, people don’t trust anything that looks like it’s trying to exert authority in their lives. BROKEN FAMILIES, ABUSE, FALLEN LEADERS, DYSFUNCTIONAL CHURCHES have set the pattern for a post-modern generation that no longer views the church as a place to TRUST.

2. TOLERANCE ISSUES: Most of the unchurched world has a      picture of the Church as a place of intolerance and judgment toward those who live outside the church world. 

3. TRUTH ISSUES: Recent studies from the BARNA INSTITUTE show that only 1/3 of Americans believe in ABSOLUTE TRUTH. Truth is RELATIVE to most in America.

MATTHEW 5:43-48 NKJV
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HATE YOU, AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO SPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

4. PRINCIPLES OF EXTRAORDINARY LOVE:

       1.  GOD LOVES THE WHOLE WORLD

EPHESIANS 2:14-18 NIV
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the DIVIDING WALL of HOSTILITY, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one NEW HUMANITY OUT OF THE TWO, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

If you want to look like Jesus and operate in extraordinary love you’re going to have to shift from living with a mentality of “US AGAINST THEM” to “LOVING PEOPLE YOU PERCEIVE AS YOUR ENEMIES.”

MATTHEW 5:43-48 NKJV
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HATE YOU, AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO SPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

1. PRINCIPLES OF EXTRAORDINARY LOVE:
2. GOD LOVES THE WHOLE WORLD
3. GOD’S LOVE OPERATES ON A HIGHER ORDER THAN THE WORLD’S LOVE

“The first thing of necessity, is that our treatment of others must never depend upon what they are, or upon what they do to us. It must be entirely controlled and governed by our view of them and of their condition. 

The whole secret of living this kind of life is that man should be utterly detached. He must be detached from others in the sense that HIS BEHAVIOR IS NOT GOVERNED BY WHAT THEY DO. But still more important, he should detach from himself, for until a man is detached from himself, he will never be detached from what others do to that self. As long as a man is living for himself, he is sensitive, watchful, and jealous, he is envious and is therefore always reacting immediately to what others do. 

The Christian is a person who is taken out of this present evil world. He is placed in a position apart and lives on a higher level. He belongs to a different kingdom. He is a new man, a new creature, a new creation. Because of this he sees everything differently, and therefore reacts in a different manner. There, says Christ, you can become like God in this respect, that you will no longer be governed exclusively by what other people do to you, you will have something within you that will determine your conduct and behavior.”

- Dr. Martin Loyd Jones

SELF LOVE: I LOVE YOU BASED ON WHAT YOU DO FOR ME

SELFLESS LOVE: I LOVE YOU REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU DO TO ME

2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-20 NLT
“Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for us all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. SO WE HAVE STOPPED EVALUATING OTHERS FROM A HUMAN POINT OF VIEW. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone, a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’”

1. PRINCIPLES OF EXTRAORDINARY LOVE:
2. GOD LOVES THE WHOLE WORLD
3. GOD’S LOVE OPERATES ON A HIGHER ORDER THAN THE WORLD’S LOVE
4. OUR LOVE FOR GOD CAN BE MEASURED BY THE PERSON WE LOVE THE LEAST

1 JOHN 4:16-17 and 19-21 NIV
“God is LOVE. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement: In this world WE ARE LIKE JESUS.” 

We love because He first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates his brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love his brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: ANYONE WHO LOVES GOD MUST ALSO LOVE THEIR BROTHER AND SISTER.”

LUKE 23:34 NIV
“Jesus said, ‘FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.’”

JOHN 13:34-35 NL
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: LOVE EACH OTHER. JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, YOU SHOULD LOVE EACH OTHER. Your love for one another WILL PROVE TO THE WORLD THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES.”

Maybe you made a decision to follow Jesus today, or maybe you’re curious what life with Him is all about. Wherever you are on your journey, we invite you to share with us so we can help you discover your next step.