John 13:34-35
INTRO: A woman once told of her experience as a Church secretary. When she answered the phone she’d say, “Jesus loves you, Sharon speaking. How may I help you?” But one day she got distracted because she was talking to others in the office. When the phone rang she answered: “Sharon loves you, Jesus speaking. How may I help you?” There was a pause on the line… and then the caller said, “Somehow I thought your voice would sound different.” (Sharon Landers, Reader’s Digest12/98 p.180)
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/fifth-sunday-of-easter-year-c-sharon-loves-you-jesus-speaking-how-may-i-help-you-quot-paul-andrew-sermon-on-love-one-another-265364
WELCOME: To Central Church of Christ, a people who are called out of this world to share God’s love, tell God’s story, and be God’s family. In May we began talking about everything New (2 Cor 5:17) that God is doing in our lives by talking about our NEW NAMES as a NEW CREATION in Christ. NEW SONG that God has put in our hearts, a song of Christ. Today, NEW PROMISES that came with the Son of God! In RESPONSE to Christ’s New Promises, We desperately need to connect with His NEW COMMANDEMENT
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” John 13:34
Romans 12:10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
ILLUS: Dennis Waitley (1996) reported that although there are approximately 450,000 words in the English language, about 80% of our conversations use only about 400 words. The most common words in the English language are: “I,” “Me,” “My,” and “Mine.” (Dennis Waitley, “Empires of the Mind”)
https://dailysermonillustration.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/illustration_id19066/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/354995.Empires_of_the_Mind
Galatians 5:22. It says “But the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, joy, peace…” etc.
LOVE LIFTED ME (Chorus) “Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help, love lifted me. Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help, love lifted me. – A friend of mine named Jeff, a preacher from Indiana wrote this new verse.
(New Verse) A new commandment now I sing, loving as Jesus loves. Loving others is my plea, showing His love above. His great love has lifted me, my love should do the same. Lifting others up to Him, should be my aim.” (Friend – Jeff Strite – Preacher in Indiana at Logansport Church of Christ.
Ephesians 2:1, 3-5 “you were dead in the trespasses and sins… and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved.”
1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” I Corinthians 13:4-8