John 15:12-14 (NLT)
12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
Applications:
As a believer, we have no other option but to love.
Real love causes you to be willing to lay down your life for others.
The effects of love outweigh all opposing forces.
Ephesians 4:11-16 (NLT)
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.
12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Applications:
We have been equipped and gifted to edify the Body of Christ.
We operate in God’s grace to speak the truth in love.
God places us in the Body where we can be the most productive.
Ephesians 4:6-10 (NKJV)
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
Applications:
God has given us Holy Spirit to lead us in victory over evil to edify His Church.
With the power of Love and grace we bring deliverance to the captives.
Together in Christ we move forward.
Ephesians 4: 3-6 (NKJV)
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Applications:
We are set apart by Holy Spirit through a second birth and a new nature.
We have been chosen to represent the Lord in the world.
Ephesians 4:1-6 (NKJV)
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Applications:
We have received a different Spirit through a second birth.
We have been chosen and called to a higher standard of living.
We are forever united by the Lord in soul, body and spirit.
Galatians 5:19-23 (NKJV)
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Applications:
We have been freed from the slavery of sins and bondage to the freedom in Christ Jesus.
Our life in Christ yields the fruit of love within us, as we walk in the spirit.
True love will forever change your heart and lifestyle.
SERMON TEXT
1 Timothy 2:1-7 (NKJV)
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Applications:
We pray in the name of Jesus because He has all power and authority in Heaven and on earth.
God has given us time and opportunity, as we live, to share the message of His truth, love and grace.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NKJV)
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Applications:
Pray with the understanding that God honors the prayers of the righteous.
Pray with the conviction that God promises to grant us what we ask for according to His will.
Thessalonians 5:5-11 (NKJV)
5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
Application: Waiting for His return requires each one of us to use the opportunities that God gives us to speak truth in love to others.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
Application: Waiting for His return requires each one of us not to drift off to sleep and forget who we are in the Word of God.
7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
Application: Waiting for His return requires each one of us to be sober of minded, as we practice His presence in faithful prayer.
8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
Application: Waiting for His return requires us to extend grace and love to others by giving them a reason for hope.
9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Application: Waiting for His return requires us to live with expectancy concerning His promises.
10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
Application: Waiting for His return requires us to believe the infallibility of God’s Word over every situation that comes upon us.
11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
Application: Since we know that the Day of the Lord’s Return is drawing nearer, direct others to the Word of God for answers rather than the opinions of others.
Hebrews 2:1-4 (NKJV)
1. Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
Applications:
Staying focused keeps us from running adrift and losing our way.
Encouragement is essential in the race to the finishing line.
