The Focus of Love

January 22, 2023

FOCUS Part 4: The Focus of Love

(Proverbs 29:18 MSG) If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.

(Matthew 6:33 NIV) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I’m looking for to be realized in this situation.

The King’s Domain

(Matthew 12:28 NIV) But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

• When we operate out of the , we are out of the kingdom. 

(Matthew 6:10 NIV) This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’”

• The foundational value of the Kingdom of God is .

(Luke 10:27 NIV) ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

The Focus of Love 

(1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV) In this life we have three lasting qualities — faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.

(1 Corinthians 14:1 LB) Make love your greatest aim…

When you don’t know what to do, do  of you.

1. Without love, all that I  is ineffective. 

(1 Corinthians 13:1 NIV) If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

(Ephesians 4:15 NIV) Speak the truth in love…

2. Without love, all that I is incomplete. 

(1 Corinthians 13:2 NIV) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge…but do not have love, I am nothing…

(1 Corinthians 8:1 NIV) …Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

3. Without love, all that I is insufficient. 

(1 Corinthians 13:2 NIV) …and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

(Galatians 5:6 NIV) …The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

4. Without love, all that I is insignificant. 

(1 Corinthians 13:3 NIV) If I give all I possess to the poor…but have not love, I gain nothing.

5. Without love, all that I is inadequate. 

(1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV) …if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The Two Sides of Love

(1 John 4:7-8 NIV) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

• the love of God.

(Ephesians 3:19 NLT) May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

• the love of God.

(1 John 4:19 NIV) We love because he first loved us.