Light in the Darkness, Pt. 2: Marked by Love
Victory Life Church, Durant (Central) — Sunday, October 29, 2023
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Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV) “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
John 8:12 (ESV) Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The light we are called to shine is our character transformed by the character of Christ.
Life marked by Love // Life pursuing Holiness // Life shaped by Wisdom // Life filled with Power
John 13:34-35 (ESV) “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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 John 3:18 (ESV) Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
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- We must know by revelation God’s love for us.
- We love God through relationship with Jesus.
- Jesus transforms us to love one another.
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- We must know by revelation God’s love for us.
1 John 4:19 (NLT) We love each other because because he loved us first.
1 John 4:7-10 (NLT) Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
“The brain functions that determine our character are most profoundly shaped by who we love.” ~ Jim Wilder
“Our brains draw life from our strongest relational attachments to grow our character and develop our identity. Who we love shapes who we are.” ~ Michel Hendricks
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- We love God through relationship with Jesus.
John 15:4-5 (ESV) “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV) “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
“Mutual mind” — two minds tuning their thoughts together
“Mutual mind states work by using mirror neurons. These neurons are activated when they ‘see’ something that resembles their activity in another mind…Mutual mind states are generally developed face-to-face from gestures, facial expressions, voice tones, synchronized energy levels, and mirrored feelings…mutual mind states run faster than conscious thought. Without mutual mind states people do not share the same reactions, motivation, and direction.” ~ Marcus Warner and Jim Wilder
John 15:5 (ESV) “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
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- Jesus transforms us to love one another.
1 John 4:10-12 (NLT) This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
1 John 4:20-21 (NLT) If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
Revelation 2:2-5 (ESV) “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (ESV) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 (ESV) 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.
John 13:34-35 (ESV) “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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”