1. 1 JOHN 4:7-21

2. 1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

3. 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

4. 1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

5. 1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

6. 1 John 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

7. 1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

8. 1 John 4:13-14 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us, because He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

9. 1 John 4:15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.

10. 1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

11. 1 John 4:17 In this way love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Jesus.

12. 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

13. 1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

14. 1 John 4:20 If anyone says “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

15. 1 John 4:21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

17. v. 7 “let us love one another” v. 11 “we also ought to love one another” v. 21 “Whoever loves God must also love his brother”

18. Three Questions 1.Who Are We to Love? 2.What Does it Mean to Love? 3.Why Should We Love?

19. v. 7 “let us love one another” v. 11 “we also ought to love one another” v. 21 “Whoever loves God must also love his brother”

20. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ Matthew 5:43

21. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5:44-45

22. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Matthew 5:46-47

23. Luke 10:29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

24. Vincent van Gogh The Good Samaritan

28. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Matthew 5:46-47

29. “In our research, the perception that Christians are ‘against’ gays and lesbians – not only objecting to their lifestyles but also harboring irrational fear and unmerited scorn for them – has reached critical mass.” - Barna Research Group

30. “Outsiders say our hostility toward gays – not just opposition to homosexual politics and behaviors but disdain for gay individuals – has become virtually synonymous with the Christian faith.” - Barna Research Group

31. “[Asked] to describe whether they perceive Christian churches to be loving environments, places where people are unconditionally loved and accepted regardless of how they look or what they do.”

32. “Only one out of five outsiders said they perceived churches this way.” - Barna Research Group

33. “The church is an organization of people who get together for the purpose of hating everyone who is different than they are.”

34. Let’s prove that their perception of us is wrong. Let’s prove that we love them.

35. Three Questions 1.Who Are We to Love? 2.What Does it Mean to Love? 3.Why Should We Love?

36. 1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

37. 1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

38. Romans 5:8 God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

39. v. 9 That we might live through him v. 10 As an atoning sacrifice for our sins v. 14 To be the savior of the world Purposes of God sending Jesus:

40. This is love: God came to earth as a man to be our savior by sacrificing himself on the cross for our sins so that through that sacrifice we can live.

41. Love takes action.

42. Love seeks the good of the other person.

43. Philippians 2:6 [Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

44. Philippians 2:7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

45. Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

46. 1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

47. 1 John 3:17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?

48. 1 John 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

49. 1 John 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

50. 1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

51. 1 John 4:7-8 Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

52. 1 John 4:20 If anyone says “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

53. 1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

54. 1 John 4:21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.