Bible Text: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 | Pastor: Pastor Steve | Series: Engage: Do All In The Name Of The Lord Jesus

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
Love Always Protects
Stego means to protect or to cover or hide by covering

The Kinsmen Redeemer

Ruth 3:9 Who are you? he asked. I am your servant Ruth, she said. Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer (NIV).
Love Always Trusts
This means both that love never loses faith and that it is willing to think the best of others. Love is willing to think the best as opposed to the worst.

Love Gives The Benefit Of The Doubt
Rosh Hashana
The Jewish New Year
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths

Our God Is Our Faithful Loving God! We can trust Him at all times, even in the tough times!
LOVE Will Provide
Genesis 22:10-17 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, Abraham! Abraham! Here I am, he replied. Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son…. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide…Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me (trusted me).
Love Always Hopes
Acts 16:9-10 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, come over to Macedonia and help us…

The Greeks were without God and they were without hope!

Ephesians 2:12 …remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Love Always Perseveres
Believers who love are active and steadfast in their faith. They hold on, no matter what difficulties they face. Hardship and pain do not stop love. When believers persevere, they face suffering within the body. They face persecution. They hang on when the going gets tough. Believers strive to save their marriages, children, businesses despite disappointment. They continue to trust God despite setbacks. They continue to serve God despite fear or sorrow. When believers truly persevere, nothing can stop them!
The Love Of God Challenges Us!
Romans 8:28 All things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose

2 Corinthians 11:24-27 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Love Never Fails
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away

Love never fails, why?

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 Christ’s love constrains us. Because we’re convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
The LOVE Test
_____ is patient and _____ is kind.  _____ doesn’t envy, doesn’t boast. _____ not proud.  ____ isn’t rude. ______ not self-seeking. ____not easily angered, and ____ keeps no record of the wrongs done against him. _____ doesn’t delight in evil, but ______ rejoices wherever truth is found. _____ always tries to protect, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Are We Willing To Trust And Love God?
Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, Father? Yes, my son? Abraham replied. The fire and wood are here, Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham answered; God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

By God’s Spirit And Love We Are Clean
1 Corinthians 6:9-11…do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The Love of God always hopes because it’s based in the person of Jesus Christ.