Study – How To Love Like God Loves

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Short Summary
The study explores the concept of agape love, emphasizing its selfless, sacrificial nature as demonstrated by Jesus Christ through his teachings, miracles, compassion, and ultimate sacrifice. Participants discuss how agape differs from other types of love by being a deliberate choice that extends to all people, including enemies, and is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Practical applications include loving one another through acts of service, encouragement, forgiveness, and unity within the Christian community as a witness to the world.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Study on Agape Love and Loving as Jesus Loved

Theme and Purpose:
The study focuses on selfless love (agape) toward others, modeled after Jesus Christ’s example. It emphasizes loving neighbors as oneself—the Golden Rule—and explores how believers can embody this love in their lives.

Key Scriptures Cited:
– John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NKJV): Describes characteristics of love—patient, kind, not envious or boastful, not proud or self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, rejoices with the truth, always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.
– Mark 12:31 / Matthew 22:35-40 (NIV): Jesus declares the greatest commandments: love God fully and love your neighbor as yourself.
– Romans 5:8 (NIV): “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
– John 15:13 (NIV): “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
– Matthew 5:44: Jesus commands to love enemies and pray for persecutors.
– John 3:16: God’s agape love for the world, giving His only Son.

Understanding Agape Love:
Definition: Agape is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love that prioritizes the well-being of others irrespective of their worthiness or relationship. It is a deliberate choice grounded in principle, not emotion.
Distinction from Other Loves: Compared to romantic love, familial love (philia), or friendship love, agape love is not transactional or based on mutual affection. It extends to all people, including enemies and strangers, without expectation of return.
Biblical Lexicon Notes: The Greek word “agape” evolved from Old Testament usage where it sometimes meant love towards God or a contrast to hate; in the New Testament it took on the fuller meaning of divine, self-giving love.
“Disinterested” or “Dutiful” Love: Some participants preferred describing agape as “disinterested” (meaning without self-interest) or “duty love,” emphasizing principle over emotion.
Love for Potential: Agape love sees the potential in others, loving not just who they are now but what they may become (e.g., loving enemies for their future transformation).
Love as an Eternal Attribute: Agape love is eternal, reflecting God’s nature and existing from everlasting to everlasting. It is the fundamental force behind creation and redemption.

The Example of Jesus’ Love:
– Jesus embodied agape love through:
Sacrifice: His death on the cross for humanity’s redemption (Romans 5:8; John 15:13).
Healing Miracles: Compassionately healing the sick, blind, lame, lepers, and those marginalized (Matthew 14:14; Mark 1:40-42; Matthew 21:14).
Compassion for Outcasts and Sinners: Associating with and uplifting social outcasts (e.g., the woman at the well, the sinful woman in Luke 7, the Canaanite woman – Matthew 15:22-28).
Forgiveness and Intercession: Praying for enemies and forgiving sins (Isaiah 53:12).
Personal Attention: Spending time in individual conversations (Nicodemus, John 3; woman at the well, John 4) and lifting people up in faith and understanding.
Teaching and Correction: Instructing in love and obedience, e.g., the dialogue with Peter in John 21 where Jesus asks thrice “Do you love me?” alternating between agape and philia love, calling Peter to “feed my lambs/sheep” as a demonstration of love in action.
Caring for His Family: Even while on the cross, Jesus ensured care for His mother (John 19).
Cleansing the Temple: Demonstrating love for God’s house by driving out the money changers (Luke 19:45-46) showing zeal for righteousness.
Showing Love Despite Betrayal: Loving Judas Iscariot even though he would betray Jesus (John 13:21-27; John 18).

Loving One Another as a Mark of True Discipleship:
– Jesus commands believers to love one another as He loved them (John 13:34-35).
– Love is the defining characteristic by which the world recognizes true followers of Christ.
– 1 John 4:7-8 emphasizes that love originates from God, and knowing God is demonstrated by loving others.
– Practical expressions of love include acts of service, encouragement, hospitality, helping those in need, bearing one another’s burdens, and being present for others.

Discussion Points and Practical Applications:
– Agape love requires conscious, deliberate action, sometimes counter to feelings or convenience.
– Love can be shown in small, everyday acts: smiling at strangers, stopping to help someone in distress, engaging in conversations, praying for others, sending encouraging messages, and caring for family and brethren in need.
– Love includes loving enemies and those who persecute or harm us, reflecting Jesus’ teachings (Matthew 5:44).
– Participants reflected on the challenges of living agape love consistently and acknowledged areas where they fall short, aspiring to grow in this love by imitating God and Jesus.
– Brother Brendan highlighted the importance of unity and genuine love among believers, warning against divisions and encouraging course corrections toward loving faithfulness.
– The study also recognized the empowering role of the Holy Spirit in enabling believers to love agape-style, beyond natural abilities.

Additional Biblical References:
– 2 Peter 1:7 on brotherly kindness vs. agape love.
– Matthew 19:21-30 (rich young ruler and teachings on humility and love).
– John 14:8 (Jesus revealing the Father’s love).
– Hebrews 10:24 (encouraging love and good works by studying one another).
– Jeremiah 18:1-6 (potter’s house analogy illustrating God’s shaping love).
– 1 Corinthians 14:1 (pursuing love and spiritual gifts).

Summary Insight:
Agape love is the highest, divinely modeled form of love that transcends emotions and circumstances. It is sacrificial, unconditional, and inclusive—even extending to enemies and betrayers. Jesus exemplified this love perfectly through His life, teachings, miracles, intercession, and ultimate sacrifice. Believers are called not only to understand this love but to actively demonstrate it in daily life as a testimony to the world and a reflection of God’s nature. This love is empowered by the Holy Spirit and requires continual growth and application.

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Selected Bible Verses Highlighted in the Study:

– John 13:34-35
– 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13
– Matthew 22:35-40
– Romans 5:8
– John 15:13
– Matthew 5:44
– John 3:16
– Isaiah 53:12
– Luke 7:36-50
– Matthew 15:22-28
– John 21:15-19
– Hebrews 10:24
– Jeremiah 18:1-6
– 2 Peter 1:7
– Matthew 19:21-30
– John 14:8

This comprehensive study encourages believers to cultivate agape love, reflecting God’s perfect love through practical, selfless action toward all humanity.

Transcript

And selflessness towards others. This mirrors the way Jesus loved humanity and is beautifully summarized in A Golden Rule Loving your neighbor as yourself. This study will explore the depths of this love and how we can embody it in our lives. Key scriptures guiding us include John 13:34,35, 1st Corinthians 13 and Mark 12:31 Key points to consider Understanding Agape Love and the Great Commandment the example of Jesus as the demonstration of God’s love, loving one another and forgiveness and the empowering love work of the Holy Spirit. Understanding Agape Love the Great Commandment the Bible often describes God’s love as agape, a selfless sacrificial love that transcends personal feelings.

It prioritizes the well being of others, even those who are underserving this. Love isn’t based on emotion but on a deliberate choice to act for the high good of another. This is powerfully connected to the greatest commandment given by Jesus. Scripture 1st Corinthians 13:4 7 Love is patient. Love is kind and it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not pride, it does not dishonor others, 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 trust, always, always hopes, always perseveres. Matthew 22:35 40 NIV One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with a question. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment? Jesus replied, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. We will start with discussion Question one. We’ll start right here.

Brother Britt, read the question and read the bullet point and give your thoughts and comments and we’ll go around the room the table like brother Homer done.

How does the concept of agape love differ from other types of love? Examples Romantic love, Family love, friendship Consider how agape is a choice, not a feeling, and how it extends to all people regardless of their relationship to you. I guess I think it’s divine love, self sacrificing, unconditional love. It’s for the highest good of others regardless of their actions, and then I also think of John 3:16.

That’s it over. Thank you Brother Brittany Brother Ken well, agape love is sacrificial love and one of the other loves is filial love, which is Brotherly love and familial love or friendship, and there’s also romantic love. Thank you, Brother King.

My comment on agape love is. It’s a love that I was just reading recently how our Heavenly Father law gives all wants to do is bless others. He’s not thinking about himself at all, and when I read that, I thought, oh, my gosh, to be able to do that consistently is a wonderful example that we have to look at. Our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus did that when he gave his his life and when he was on earth for three and a half years.

Thank you, Sister. Listen, unconditional agape love is the highest form love that God gives, and it’s the highest love form that we should have for one another. I think the. It’s part of the question, how does it extend to all people? Since you asked that.

Or it’s just. Just agape love. Yes. Okay. So.

Well, it. It will extend to all people if we Christians and we want to, and we extend it out to all people. Thank you for those comments, Sister Renee. Brother Jeff, just to be different, I’m going to talk about what’s in the lexicon and how it’s used in the Old Testament in this, in the Septuagint text. The meaning in the Old Testament is quite different than the way that the word evolved over time and was used in the New Testament.

So in the Old Testament is quite different. It was used as love towards God, which is what we would expect, but as the antithesis of hate, you know, the exact opposite. It was used 14 times as sexual love, and so in the New Testament, when you get to the New Testament, you look at those Greek words, there’s this distinction, and they’re used quite differently. So that’s what I’m sure the rest of the comments will state.

Thank you, Brother Jill.

Okay, should I turn it off? Okay. Okay. Just pass it on around. Yes, Brother Stanley.

I like a different definition of the word agape than what we usually use. I think it’s disinterested love or duty. Love is what we see Brother Russell used. But I like the definition of love based upon principle. In other words, emotion is not a dynamic component of agape love.

Not that agape love can’t be emotional. It certainly can be, but emotion doesn’t drive it. Emotion isn’t the foundation of it. Principle is. It is used in the scripture that we used in our Last study, John 3:16, for God so loved the world that that was an agape love.

Now, why did Jehovah, God love The world, especially when it was written, the world is sinning. It was in opposition to him. What was it about the world that he loved? Well, number one, he was the source of creation, so it was part of his creative works. But I think God’s love in this case saw the potential of the human race.

He saw what they could be after their experience with sin and death and their redemption by the blood of his son. That’s the principle behind it, and so the same way with us, we love certain individuals based upon principle, like love our enemies. Well, what’s lovable about our enemies? Not too much, especially if they’re trying to kill us.

But we love them because we know what they will be 500 years in the future. We know that they are very likely, very high probability of them getting rid of those sinful tendencies and prejudices, and they will love us in 500 years. So we love them for the potential that they have. That’s the principle behind it.

Over. Thank you Brother Dave for those comments.

I’m looking at a second Peter 1:7 where it talks about brotherly kindness and then love. Brotherly kindness is a relationship with people we’re familiar with. There’s a connection that we have, and the Greek means duty, love, a love which has a cause or demand upon it, whereas agape love is the way God loves and sent his Son to die for all mankind. I’m looking also at Matthew 5:48.

It says, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in which is in heaven is perfect. If we go further back a few verses, it says verse 44 says, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you. That’s the kind of love God has and that’s what we are to develop. Thank you for those comments, Brother Randy. Sister Julianne, A lot of things have been already touched on, but when we think of, you know, loving our enemies, praying for those who despitefully use you and persecute you, Matthew 5:44 and the characteristic of love in First Corinthians:13, you know, love is patient, love is kind, you know, all those characteristics, it requires pause, it’s not reacting, but it’s consciously choosing to do what’s right and what is good.

Not looking for his own interest, but for the greater interest. So it’s self sacrificial and it’s God seeking. Thank you. Thank you for those comments, Sister Julianne.

Yeah, I really appreciated that one. I’ve heard agape love be described as disinterested love, which I’ve always struggled with that word being used, because the word disinterested feels not loving at all. But I don’t know, sort of recently, ish, I heard a description that I won’t be able to repeat, but it sat well with me, and, like, for a while, I was like, wouldn’t filial love be better? Like, wouldn’t you want someone to like you because they like you instead of just because they have to?

But I think when we are giving love to others, like when you’re friends with the person, you’re getting something out of it because you enjoy being with that person. So that’s different. If you don’t and you still love them, then that’s why it’s a higher firm. It’s disinterested in the sense that there’s nothing in it for you.

And with friends there is. Even though you don’t think of it that way, you are getting something out of it. So agape love, apparently, somehow it’s possible to truly, truly love a person, even if you don’t have that filial bit attached. I guess, like, you can, theoretically, I guess that’s the goal, right? So that’s the difference that I see.

And I do understand now how that is a higher form of love. Thank you for those comments, Sister.

Go ahead, Brother Brenda.

So I came in shortly after you began the study. So I don’t know if you have discussed this or not. You can cut me off if you have. But anyone who’s read the book, what’s the Voice of Heart?

Tortured for Christ with Richard Wurmbrand, he was stuck in a Romanian communist prison for, like, I don’t know, 16 years or something like that, and they beat him pretty much every day, and anytime they’d catch him praying, they’d beat him, and they would not just beat him. I mean, they tortured this man.

And so one day, the prison guard who really seemed to enjoy tormenting Christians, he saw this brother on his knees praying and barged in, you know, opened the door to his cell and barged in and screamed at him, you know, you’re at my mercy. You’re in this prison. You’re, you know, all these horrible things. Then he says, what do you have to pray about? Or he says, what?

He asked him, what are you praying about? And then he looked up at him and he said, I’m praying for you, and that, to me, that’s like an illustration of agape. When Jesus says agape your enemies and pray for those that despitefully use you and persecute you, et cetera, for my sake, that. That ultimately.

And this is almost impossible. It is impossible for us in the flesh, but to have a viewpoint of eternity, that even though this person is horrible right now and they’re doing horrible things, that you still want this person to ultimately get eternal life in the kingdom or through whatever mechanism, no matter how horrible this person might be in this life, we shouldn’t want any to perish. Just like God, that He gave his only begotten Son and it’s not his will that any should perish, and that’s the same thing with us, I think. Anyway, this is just my takeaway from it, that when we have these experiences or someone that just is.

I remember Brother Ken, we were just talking about him. Israel Ken Rossson. Sorry.

He had talked about a worker that he. A co worker. He had. Was. He just.

He said flat out, he’s like, this was an amoral man, but still having that desire that even. No matter how far or how reprobate they might appear in the here and now, and the things that we have to endure, perhaps that ultimately we want to see them get eternal life. Because if anyone who gets eternal life is no longer your enemy or an enemy of God, they’ve accepted the terms, they’ve accepted Jesus, they’ve accepted everything, and they have repented and they are made, you know, they’re made whole again and they’re restored with God. So that should be no matter. In that context, I think, looking at it from the point of eternity, that, okay, this person in the here and now isn’t exactly the most pleasant individual, and I’d rather not deal with them.

But ultimately we should hope for their eternal welfare that they, you know, they do, and I think that’s a little bit of an exercise of agape, which I think many of us, and myself chiefly amongst us, falls woefully short on over. Thank you for those comments, Brother Brendan. I guess we’ll start. Well, Brother Paul, we’ll start with you and go around and y’ all gonna start in the back.

Well, when I think of disinterested, I don’t know why. It reminds me of tough love is, I think, agape love. I don’t know. I think it’s the love that really has the individuals, as Brother Brandon said, eternal welfare in mind. So I’ll hand it over to my wife.

Is that what you’re doing going around the room now? Okay. Yes.

Thank you, Brother Paul.

Yes, Brother Stanley? I don’t. My thoughts really resonated a lot with what Sister Gabriella said, and I’m way older than her, and I’ve had this question about disinterestment and God for a very long time. It is much better, I think, to say that we don’t give anything to God. We don’t add anything to God’s value, and yet God loves us.

He loves the whole world so much that he gave his only Son for what? To make the whole world happy. What he gets out of that is for us to acknowledge that he’s the creator of the universe and that his being is love. God is love, and I always like to say love is the most powerful force in the universe and love wins.

That would be my comment. Absolutely. Sisters. Thank you for those comments, Brother Homer.

So we had a scripture, I think it was cited before about love your enemies, do good to those who persecute you, and of course, you know, that is agape love. It didn’t say, like your enemies. I mean, you cannot like somebody, by the way, if they’re hitting you over the head with a hammer, you cannot mic them. So there’s a difference between, I think, agape love and filial love.

And in another scripture, actually, you know, when it comes to his son Jesus, God did have both types of love. He. He loved his son because of who he was. There’s no question about that. So that was sort of like a filial love.

And then I’ll give you one other comment, and it goes in the 21st chapter of John, I believe, and in John 21, you know, there’s those three instances where the resurrected Jesus appeared to Peter, and if we think about the context, it has been suggested that, you know, Peter might have been reminded of the fact that he previously said, oh, I’ll never deny you, and yet before the cock crowed, and whether it’s three times or twice is another question. But he denied it.

In fact, he denied it with cursing. Think about that. I never knew the man and cursed. So I would say that there were three times he asked Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And, you know, he says, yea, love, thou knowest I love thee, you know.

And he says, feed my lambs, and he repeats it a second time, and as I understand, it was agape in those first two cases. But the last time he asked Simon, son, Joseph, lovest thou me? That was not agape.

That was Philio, and Peter was sort of grieved, you know, that. That, you know, did he even have filial love for me. So I guess that what I’m saying is that maybe something that sort of touched and pricked Peter at the heart, you know. But again, our Heavenly Father.

Well, our Lord also was able to restore him, and I’m sure that he never forgot that, and when he was, quote, converted, so to speak, he would remember that all the days of his life. Just like Paul, I’m sure, would remember the time when he stood by at the stoning of Stephen over. Thank you for those comments, Brother Home Sister Kathy.

Okay, I too was going to mention John 21. I do believe that God love means the highest form of love. But I do appreciate, appreciate how brother David mentioned it could be a duty love, and the point where I’m the reason why I’m saying that is because the first two times our Lord asked Peter if he loved him, he was referring to agape love, and Peter was like, yeah, of course I agape love you.

That was the first two times. However, the third time when he asked him, our Lord said, do you love me? And he was referring to the filial love, which was the friendship love, and that’s when the apostle Peter was really shook up. Shaken up because he did not expect the Lord to ask him whether or not he filial loved him.

Because it was assumed probably on his part, that the Lord knows that I agape love him, and in his responses and in his actions previously with regard to denying our Lord, he may have thought that the Lord did not think that he demonstrated the agape love that he should have. Thank you. Thank you for those comments of the cath, Brother Michael.

Well, brother Randy brought our attention to Matthew 5:44, where we started the conversation about how we are to love our enemies. But the preceding verse, Jesus said, you’ve heard it, that it’s been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemies, and that comes from Leviticus 19:18, which says, Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. No mention of loving your enemies.

So Jesus was bringing a new, higher form of love to bear on the on his disciples to love their enemies, and that was quite, quite different from what the law of covenant required of them. Over.

Thank you, Brother Michael.

Gotta jump up here to brother Keith. Go ahead.

One thing I’ve noticed about romantic love, familial love, friendship or love for God, it’s transactional love. But agape we are to do it without expecting any kind of transaction back, and that’s the difference, and to do something without expecting or thinking you’re going to get a transaction back, they may not love you back, they may not even like you back, but you still do it. I think that’s the point.

We’re loving them no matter what. Right? Thank you, Brother Keith. Go ahead, Sister Sonia. Not Brother Paul after that.

Brother Paul, I just wanted to bring this back to First Corinthians 13. You know, it ends by saying, we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, we will be face to face with God. I’m not quoting that very well. But then it goes on. Now abideth faith, hope, and love.

The greatest is love. But I want you to consider brethren, the next verse in connection with the verses that have been talked about with Peter being asked three times, you do you love me? Because the next verse, First Corinthians 14, says, Pursue love, but a special and don’t neglect the spiritual gifts, but rather especially that you would have the ability to teach, have the ability to speak in my name, and that whole long, very long 14th chapter of Corinth is all about prophesying, speaking one word with our understanding to help others, rather than 10,000 words in French that we would have that ability, and that’s exactly, I think, what is spoken of in John.

If you love me, you will feed, you will look for opportunities to help your brethren, and that’s how you show your love. Absolutely. Thank you, Brother Paul. Hi, brother, and Bruce.

Shirt.

Often whenever I think of love, I actually turn to First John4.8, which is where you first see in the Bible, where it actually directly says God is love.

And then of course, it gives a good little bit of description surrounding verses on how to love. But when we think about God being love, we also think about the four attributes of God which we know are love, justice, wisdom, and power.

Did you know that all four attributes are not just separate attributes, they’re all the same? So love is justice. If you love somebody, you’re going to do. If you love people in general, you’re going to do justly by them. If you love something, you want to know about it.

You want to know more about it. So love is wisdom. You gain knowledge through love.

And also through love, you have power. You have the power of action, willpower in general, if you love something, you will fight for as much power as you have, and if you love strongly enough, that power will never fade. So it will give you enough, willpower to power through anything.

And so when you think about agape love, you have to realize it’s not just a single sided attribute. It’s a attribute with many facets, and when you go forward thinking about it, think about those things as well. Thank you, brother. Brother Jeff, we’ll come back to you.

Sister Satan, we come back first. Okay, no sign. Go first. We’ll come back up.

All right, so Jeremiah 8, chapter 18. I’m gonna read, I think three verses, maybe, maybe four. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels, and the vessel that he made was of clay, was marred in the hand of the potter.

So he made it again, another vessel as seen good to the potter to make it, and when I think about that, I think about the Lord and his love for his creation. So much so that he gave his Son, that he did another work because it seemed good to him, because he loved that thing which he made, and so the Holy Spirit is what gives us this actual communion with the Lord. We can’t do it on our own because we fall away so often.

But the Holy Spirit has all of these things encompassed in it. So without it, how can we love, even in the agape manners, because it teaches us how to agape. We can have all those other things. The familial, we can have the romantic, we can have the friendship. Those things fall away so quickly as well.

But when you have the Holy Spirit, agape seems to engross you because you want to be pleasing to your Father in heaven, and so therefore you strive to be the more like him over. Thank you for those comments, Sister Sonia. Sister Karen, you have in the comments.

It’s all right. Go ahead, Brother Brenner. Brother, I think brother Jeff had his hand up before everyone. Yeah, Brother Jeff, then you, brother. Brother.

Cuz he had it. Go ahead, brother. I was looking through different lexicons and commentaries and found a really great description of this Greek word, agape, that I really like. Hodges Commentary says that this Greek word means the feeling which arises from the perception of the wants and sufferings of others and the consequent desire to relieve them.

And it’s even more comprehensive than this because it has God as the object, but when exercised toward men, it includes delight as well as benevolence. It seeks happiness in others, and it lives and acts for others, and that’s really, the whole point of Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 24 is to study one another. If we don’t study one another, how can we know how to encourage each other and to love and good works? We have to know our brethren, get to know them in order to know how to encourage each other.

Thank you. Thank you for those comments, Brother Jeff. You’re absolutely correct, Brother Brennan.

Isn’t it interesting when you look out in the world, worldly people, atheists, different religions, agnostic, whatever, how many people are actually out there? Remember when that little baby fell down into the well, and, like, the whole nation was fixated? Get little baby. What? What was that?

Baby Jessica. Baby Jessica. Get little baby Jessica out of that well, and thousands of people from around the world were showing up to help and everything. They didn’t know these people.

They didn’t know anything, but they designed, you know, they had what I would call agape love. You know, they weren’t part of the family. They weren’t friends. They never met. It’s the same thing with people who donate their time and their talents and their energy and their money.

You know, you see a Christian Children’s Fund commercial, you know, you want that suffering of those individuals to stop, and you have the ability to do at least something, and so you feel compelled to do something like what? Brother Jeff was just reading. To relieve the suffering of others whom you’ve never met and probably never will meet, but yet you still go out of your way and it costs you something. You actually sacrifice for these people.

So I think it’s baked into us, and when you consider it, if you back up all the way to the beginning and you think about why would God even make love such a big thing? He could have just done it another way. But no, it looks like from all appearances, that when the pastor used to have this expression, I don’t know if it was original to him or from somebody else, but love is the principal thing, and it seems like love is everywhere, even inanimate objects, even in, like, subtle things.

Why would God make flowers that attract bees, you know, that smell good when you smell it? You walk down on a spring day and the honeysuckle’s out or the privet’s out or whatever, and you walk down the street and you just get this amazing aroma, and it just stimulates something in you, you know? And then you just have to think, God made it this way. Why? You know, why would a flower care whether or not we like its smell, that it’s appealing to us?

It doesn’t. Why Would we care? Why would a flower care whether we think it’s beautiful or not? It doesn’t. But God factored all these things into his creation eons ago.

And I love the. There’s a reprint article that I think everybody should. Is probably familiar with, but I would read it. When God was alone. When God was alone and it was brought out here in a previous study.

There was a time when Jesus didn’t exist, but the one thing that has always existed because he says if God was love and God had no beginning, or God is love and God has no beginning, then love had no beginning. It’s literally the one thing, and that love would be agape. Agape is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting. It never had a beginning and it’ll never have an ending, just like God.

So there’s something in agape that is literally the heart of God and all of these things. We’re trying to maybe grasp things like that. I think most brethren are in the same boat. We’ve never liked that term of disinterested, and one of the.

A slightly modified version of that. Is disself interested that your self is not, you know, is not part of that. So all of these things, it just harkens back to eternity that God felt that love was the focal point and basically the meridian or the hub or whatever you want to call it of his plan. It’s all about love, and that’s something, a lesson that we should ultimately all learn.

It’s not all the other stuff. That’s just the, you know, distractions and trappings and whatnot. But agape is the reason this universe and all of his creation exists, and if that motivated God to do all the great things he’s done, then it must be a powerful force that we can’t even comprehend. Over.

Thank you, Brenda, for those comments.

Go right here, sis. Second Peter 3, 10. It talks about God wanting all to attain repentance, and to me, that speaks to the agape love, that it’s like a higher form of love. So to me, like, trying to have agape love myself, it’s.

To me, it’s thinking about trying to imitate God and his son and how they see things because they know what’s in people’s hearts and the bad things that people have done, and they still want everybody to have that, and so to me, like, showing agape love is trying to come from a place where you can try to have empathy and know that you don’t know and just still try to have love, and See people in that way. Thank you for those comments, Sister.

Brother Michael, then Brother Brendan.

As Brendan was talking about God being he is love and love has always existed. The apostle tells us in First Corinthians 13:13 says, now abideth faith, hope and love. These three, but the greatest of these is love. Thank you, Brother Michael, for those comments. Brother Brendan.

Okay, anybody else, we gotta move on here. All right, we move on to the next key points.

The example of Jesus as a demonstration of God’s love. Jesus is the perfect embodiment of God’s love. His life, ministry and ultimate sacrifice on the cross demonstrate the depth and breadth of agape love. He forgave sins, served the martyr lives and willingly endured suffering to reconcile humanity to God.

His death paid the price for the sin of Adam and Eve, offering redemption to all who believe Scripture. Romans 5, 8. NIV. But God demonstrates his own love for us and this while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. John 15:13.

NIV. Greater love has no one than this to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Discussion Question number two. Brother Ken, can you read that question and a bulletin point and give a comment if you have one?

Question number two. Other than the ultimate sacrifice, what specific things did Jesus do to demonstrate God’s love? Give specific examples from scripture. Consider his healing miracles, his compassion for the outcast, his teaching and his willingness to associate with sinners. Okay.

I would say that one of the ways that he demonstrated his love was that Jesus wept, and that’s from John 11:35, and this is where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and he had such compassion. Even though he knew he was going to raise him from the dead, he wept.

And the Jews said, look how he philo’d him. Now I don’t know if they know difference between philio and agape, but there’s that warm love that Jesus had for Lazarus. But Jesus was committed to what he was going to do and he knew that Lazarus would be raised in the kingdom. But there was a different kind of love that Jesus needed to exhibit and that was that agape love. You know, it’s been brought out in the Simon Scripture with Jesus and Peter that, you know, when Jesus asked Simon Peter, he asked him, agape thou me.

And Peter’s reply was, you know, I filio be.

Peter was to the point he couldn’t say that he had agape love, but he was to the point he had that compassionate love for Jesus, and Jesus said to him, feed my lambs, and then he asked him a Second time if he agaped him, and Peter replied again, you know, I feel o you, I feelio love you, and he said, feed my sheep.

So in both instances, the things that could be done with filial love was to feed the lambs, the little one in Christ feed the sheep. But then he asked him the third time, he says, do you filial me? Can you even say that you filial me, Peter, from what you did with your denial? And it broke his heart. He said, you know that I filial you, Jesus.

And then he said, feed my sheep, and he said, then he saith unto him, no, and after that he says, verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest go. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not go. There’s the example of agape love.

And he was telling him what he was going to do at the end of his and we know that Peter was sacrificed, and he says, this is how you’re going to demonstrate that love, and he says in John 21:19, this fakey signifies by what death he would glorify God, and when he had spoken this, he said unto him, follow me. Jesus showed him by his sacrifice what agape love was.

Jesus said, a new commandment I give unto you is you love as I have loved you. He taught the apostles that’s that sacrificial love that Jesus taught, and we know that Jehovah, through his great agropi love, we know that he filio Jesus also. So that warmth, love God encompasses all aspects of love. Thank you brother Ken, for those comments.

Brother Keith.

My name is Keith now.

I guess I was just thinking of the people he healed the sick and disabled, like Matthew 14:14. He was moved with compassion for them and healed the sick. He touched the leapers, and that’s mark 1 40, 242, and then I remember in the, in the movie the Chosen or the show the Chosen.

I don’t know what scripture that is, but the. But the. But the bleeding lady that had so much faith that she was healed just but just by touching Jesus. But I think Jesus just showed so much compassion with her too, and then I don’t know the scripture of this either, but the Roman soldier’s ear that was cut off by Peter and then Jesus touched him and healed his ear, even though he was the enemy.

And then they were about to take Jesus to be crucified. So, yeah, I think that showed a lot of love, too. Anyway, that’s it over. Thank you, Brother Rick, for those comments. Sister Kara, Sister Sonia, she just got my back.

So I want to read this scripture. I read it yesterday in our study on prayer and intercession. Isaiah 53:12. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he has poured out his life unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors.

Yet he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors. To make intercession for people who are killing you and for the world of mankind. That’s agape love. I’ll just stop there. Thank you, Sister Karen, for those comments.

Brother Via yeah, I think a lot was touched on the first question about the agape love. But this is not. This is something I had read a while back that I really like, and I’ll preface it with, you know, everyone gave a good definition, but I think there’s a good example of what Jesus did, and then you can assign your own definition of, you know, how you would define agape love.

Imagine you had a group of friends, and through some, you know, revelation or crystal ball or whatever, you find out in the future that one of your friends in that friend group is going to betray you, you know, financially. Could be, you know, temporally. It could be even to the point of death that they kill you. How would you act around them? Would you show some sort of physical body language differently next time you see them?

Would you maybe act a little bit stiff, standoffish? Would you talk to them a little bit more straight and act, you know, be short with them? One of the biggest examples of agape love, I think, is Jesus with Judas. The fact that by the end at the Last Supper, the disciples had no clue who was going to betray him shows that Jesus loved Judas so much that there was no doubt or skepticism coming from any of them. It’s like, you know, sometimes you could tell in a group of friends, like, I think it’s pretty obvious, you know, which one Jesus hates, you know, or I could tell this person really doesn’t like person B.

But Jesus loved Judah so much, nobody had any idea, and what did Jesus get out of it? It was his eventual betrayal and death, and that’s like the purest form of agape love. We talked about disinterested love.

Brother Keith talked about a transaction. I mean, what’s that transaction in Return is your own death, your own demise, and for Jesus, for every step, and he knew for the longest time, more than any other disciple, to sit there and show him the same amount of love that he did with anyone else, I think that speaks volumes. Thank you, Brother Bill, for those comments.

Sister Rodman, you had comments? Okay. All right. Go ahead, Brother Keith. I guess we’ll start back right here and keep going, getting off track, but we’ll keep it going.

Go ahead. Right. Brother Keith. I was just thinking about the time when, you know, Jesus is talking to the person and they say, well, I got to go back and bury my family member, and he said, let the dead bury the dead.

And, you know, we might think, well, that’s a cold thing. Really think about it. He’s saying, you know, let the dead bury their dead, like he’s indifferent to them, but really he is showing love for the person that had the interests, because he could have just said, well, okay, go do your thing. But he was trying to let them know, hey, you have this opportunity. I was just thinking, it reminded me, I don’t know.

Back in the day, there was a film called Poseidon Adventure, and there’s two groups that come together, and one’s heading one direction and the other one’s basically heading a different direction, and they said, well, you got to come this way. We’re going to be saved, and, and, you know, the other person said, well, no, I think we need to go here.

And this is why, and so they went on, and you would think, well, that’s kind of indifferent. But, you know, they made the effort to show the love and the concern and say, hey, we think this. If they choose something else, you can’t help that, and I think that’s what Jesus was showing us is we do what we can, and sometimes we’re not going to get fruit from it.

Maybe somebody else will get the fruit. You planted a seed, but you’re still showing love by making the effort, and that’s what Jesus did. He walked around making the effort all the time, and so much so that sometimes he was so tired he had to go off to the boat on his own and think or go rest, you know. Thank you for those comments, Brother Keith.

Sister Renee.

So Jesus spoke kindness and hope in Matthew, chapter five, the beitudes, and especially his sermon on the mound when he spoke about the mercies and those of us who. Those of them that will be blessed, even though they were mourning and, you know, felt hopelessness. Thanks. Thank you for those comments, Sister Renee.

Go ahead, Sister.

One Thing about Jesus is, is it not on? Oh, I got to speak into it. Okay. One thing that, that I appreciated was about Jesus that someone had said is he took time in individual conversations and particularly we see that in the book of John where he literally takes conversations, and the other thing and when we were studying in one of the zoom meetings that I appreciated was that I saw how Jesus would always lift the person up.

I’m going to give the example of Nicodemus. When he met with him, he lifted him up to try to him to understand the spiritual, and the thing the woman at the well in John 4 again, he lifted up. She first of all saw him as a prophet, sir, and then the prophet and then to the point where he, he said to her, I’m the Messiah to nobody else ever recording. You know, I’m, I mean the, he actually revealed to a Samaritan.

And the other thing is even the Pharisee, when the Pharisees came and scribes, he, he tried to lift them up. He was always trying to lift them up. You know, some of them health wise, but in healing, but also in their minds, he tried to lift them up. That’s what strikes me about Jesus. Example.

Thanks for those comments, sister. Brother Jeff.

I thought of the rich young ruler who went to Jesus and asked, what should I do to get eternal life? And Jesus In Mark 10:21 it says Jesus loved him and said to him after they had this discussion, one thing you lack, go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me, and he goes away, sorrowful, of course. But Peter and Matthew 19 goes up to Jesus right after that and says, you know, we’ve done all of this from the very beginning. We kept all the law and the commandments.

What’s in it for us? Which is a really odd question from an apostle, right? And Jesus answers and says, the first shall be last and proceeds to give this parable about the vineyard and the last workers get paid first. In other words, it was the attitude, and so he loved this rich young ruler.

He loved his apostles and disciples, but he wanted to give them this lesson of love, meaning putting others first, serving others. Absolutely. Thank you for those comments, Brother Jeff.

Jesus loved by seeing the unseen and by hearing the unheard. He heard the cry of the heart, and I also was going to bring the example of the woman of the well. She was not seen. She didn’t expect to be seen by her own people.

But Jesus saw her and knew the pain of her heart, and he addressed that. Thanks for those comments, Sister.

With the first comment up here about the the woman who took a hold of Jesus’s robe and also about the Samaritan that he took the time to talk with. I have the Canaanite woman that I thought about, and even though Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he still took time for everyone else, and the scriptures I want to read is Matthew 15:22. 15, 15:28.

And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. But he did not answer her a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, send her away, for she is crying out after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him, saying, lord, help me.

And he answered, it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. She said, yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table. Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire.

And her daughter was healed instantly.

Thank you for those comments, sister.

Sister Julianne, I’ve been thinking of what was said previously about, you know, how three times Jesus asked Peter, do you love me? And at the third time it’s not agape, but philio, and looking into strong, there’s a word that is very close to filio, it’s philema and it means a kiss, and for me it feels like he was asking Peter, are you going to betray me with a kiss like Judas did? Because what I require of you is a love that is committed, that is obedient, and that is faithful.

And this is how Jesus manifested, you know, himself in all he did on what he was trading here on earth. He was committed, obedient and faithful, and this is the type of love he wants, you know, because this is, you know, what we to God. To love God is to obey his commandment, is to be fully engaged and no turning back. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Sister Julianne. Brother Randy?

Yeah. I’ve got a couple scriptures based on our Lord’s healings. I got Matthew 12:22. It says, Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

And then there’s Matthew 21:14 says, and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. These are the healings that will take place in the kingdom in a greater manner than these temporary healings that were taking place. Isaiah 35, 4. No, it’s 5 says the blind. The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf be unstopped over.

Thank you for those scriptures, Brother Randy.

Go ahead, Brother David. Have a couple of examples. I think of Jesus agape love in extreme circumstances. Brother Vivian mentioned just a little bit ago about Judas. If you look at the John account in John chapter 18, compare it with the other accounts, you find that John gives us a little bit more detail that the other gospels don’t include.

When the band came to arrest Jesus, Jesus stood up as recorded in John 18. He said, who are you looking for? They said, jesus of Nazareth. He says, I am he, and it says that they were bowled over by that, by that.

I think that Jesus was giving Judas an opportunity not to betray him. Remember, Judas says, according to the other gospel accounts, you’ll know who he is because I’m going to give him a kiss. That was the signal. But Jesus, in identifying himself, removed the reason for that kiss. But Judas kissed him anyway.

I think he did have a love for Judas and really wanted to see him have a way of escape. But Judas didn’t take it. In the next chapter of John, John chapter 19, Jesus is on the cross. He’s gone through that, the torture of having his back whipped. He’d been on the cross who knows how many hours and he looked down and he saw his mother and her sister and Mary Magdalene and the disciple that Jesus loved, John.

So here this man is suffering on the cross and he’s worried about what’s going to happen to his mother. Remember what he says, Mother, John your son, John your mother. He’s making arrangements for his mother while he’s dying and suffering on the cross. How much love that that took. He wasn’t thinking of himself, he’s thinking of his family.

Now somebody might say, well, brother David, isn’t that an instance of filial love? Well, yeah, you could put it underneath that. But remember that agape love is the highest form of love, and I think given Jesus circumstances, we can certainly attach the agape label to this as well. Over.

Thank you for those comments, Brother David.

The example. I appreciated the examples so much that have been given and I just have one little one which might not seem like it’s much, but to me it is a big example of Jesus demonstration of love, and that’s when he had the Little children come to him, and you know that little children don’t just go up to strangers on their own. There was something that attracted them to him and the disciples wanted to push them away because they were about the very important matter of studying the Word and following their rabbi around.

And Jesus said, no. He said, bring them here, let me sit with them. Because this is how the kingdom of heaven is made up, and that’s found in Matthew 19:13. Then some children were brought to him so that they might lay.

So that he might lay hands on them and pray, and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, let the children alone and do not hinder them from coming to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Thank you for those comments, Brother Paul. Sorry about the hold up. Specific example is feeding the hungry and especially the hungry that you don’t. No. Although I want to thank these brethren here for feeding us this weekend royally.

You have fed the hungry, you have shown the love of Jesus to us, and on behalf of everyone, I want to thank you. Now the last thing I wanted to say was if you haven’t listened to this talk, please go to Christian Resources. It’s my brother in law, Tom Gilbert. Very short talk, only half an hour.

One of those mini talks. It’s called the Necessity of Generosity. The necessity of generosity and it will prick your conscience. It will get you to the point where you really understand what Jesus said when he says, sell everything and give it to the poor.

We really, really need that in our lives. Over. Thank you for those comments, Brother Paul. Brother Benjamin, I think that the ability to show this agape love from God, I think this is a very unique way of being able to show love. The other versions of the other forms of love all have a requirement.

You have to have a person, you have to have another interaction with another human being. Agape love has no requirements. You do not have to know God for God to love you. In fact, you don’t even need to exist yet for God to love you.

And so for Jesus, besides his ultimate sacrifice, everywhere he went he loved them all, and so even in the lessons that he did, he doesn’t know exactly who’s seeing it. But this continued on and he knows that it’s being recorded and he knows that all of that stuff that gets recorded comes down through history. We read it, it was for us, we didn’t exist yet. This is a demonstration of agape love.

That is something that God can do so easily and yet it’s so difficult for us to Even grasp that concept. That’s it. Thank you for those comments. I really appreciate those comments. Brother Benjamin.

Go ahead, Brother Hum.

So let me begin by picking up where I think Brother Vividin left off some time ago. If I’m not mistaken, he was talking about Judas. So I’ll just make one additional comment. But by the time Judas came into the garden of Gethsemane and he finally gave him the Judas kiss, if that were you, what would you have said?

He said, friend, betrayed thy master with a kiss. Friend. Is that what you have said? Then I will give a scripture in a different situation and I won’t take the time to read it. But I’ll give you the narrative because it’s found in Luke, chapter seven, verses 36 to 40 to 50.

And it’s a story about this woman who was a sinner, and of course, you know, when he went out for dinner, he was invited to one of the Pharisees, and when they saw that he spoke with this woman who was a sinner, you know, and what happened, she anointed him his feet and she kissed his feet and she wiped his feet with the hairs of her head and said, when he saw this, he said, you know, this man, if he was a prophet, he would have known what kind of woman this is. That’s what he said, and so Jesus said, I have something to say to you.

And he gave him a message about somebody who had two debtors and one owed him more and one he asked the question, who would love him less or who would love him more? And he gave the right answer, and the point he was making is that, look, I came as a guest in your house and you did nothing. You didn’t buy any water for me at all, and he said, in essence that this woman, you know, showed how much love she had for him.

And so he’s able to mingle with the downcast in society, and without going into further, I would ask the question again because I like to ask questions.

So would you have done that with somebody? Would you have done that with all of your brethren? Are there any brethren that you would not entertain, that you would not meet with, that you say, I can’t meet with them open.

Thanks for those comments, Brother Homer. Yeah, okay. I do appreciate all the comments.

And your question was we should identify what specific things did Jesus do to demonstrate God’s love, and the examples that you would like for us to cite would be whether he healed miracles, his compassion for the outcast, the teaching, and his willingness to associate with sinners and the brethren gave some good examples of all those. But you know what? I’m going to give another example, and I’m going to give an example that is not listed here as one of the choices, and that’s when Jesus went into the temple and he cast out the money changers.

And he did that in Luke chapter 19, verses 45 and 46, and one of the things that he said which impressed me me was it is written my house is a house of prayer and not a den of thieves, and I think that was something that the Heavenly Father was pleased with, and it wasn’t one of your choices, which I do appreciate. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for that, Sister Kathy. I have it in now. Now I’ll make sure I remember and I have it charted down. Thank you. That’s wonderful.

Thank you. Brother Michael. Yes. When you first asked this question, I wrote down the whole list of his healings, and I was wondering how many would get checked off by the time it got back to me. But, you know, he healed Jairus daughter.

He healed a Roman centurion’s son who was dying. He healed a woman with an issue of blood for 12 years. The Samaritan woman at the well is probably one of the most profound revelations of his ministry to a Samaritan, a Gentile.

And of course, when in John 14:8, where he’s asked, show us the Father, and he clarifies just exactly that relationship is just some examples to me of his agape love.

Thank you for that, Brother Michael.

No comment here. Go on to the next.

Go ahead, Sister Sonia, then Brother Brenda.

Okay, so I was thinking about Matthew 8. 23, where the leper came to him and he asked Jesus, he says, if thou wilt, will you heal me? And Jesus says, I’m willing, and he healed him, and so that’s.

That’s a great example of agape love, and I also remember that there were 10 that he healed that were lepers as well. Only one turned back to say thank you, but he didn’t rebuke the others. Thank you for those comments, Sister Sam. Really appreciate it.

Brother Brendan. I know we only have about 10 or 12 minutes left, unfortunately, but. So I’ll be brief and I’ll take them all.

Sorry, sorry. To the online brethren.

So one thing I think is interesting is that here we are, we have a tremendous amount of information. We carry this tiny little thing in our pocket, and on it we pretty much have the entire compendium of human knowledge, access to it, any version of the Bible, any commentary, any reprint Any volume. I mean, just everything is on here in every language. I like the expression that, you know, before these things and before really the 1800s, there were no Bible commentaries or anything like that. So there was no Strong’s Concordance.

None of that stuff existed. So what did they do? They went out and they made them, and what do we do? You know, we have so much and we do so little with it.

They had so little and they did so much with it. But the only reason I bring it up is because here we are with this embarrassment of riches. We are rich and have need of nothing, but yet we still look for reasons amongst ourselves to not meet or fellowship. You know, maybe we have differences of opinion, differences of belief, differences of. Of thought on certain.

I’m not talking about fundamentals here. I’m talking about, you know, more esoteric things. Maybe they’re time features, maybe they’re prophetic features, maybe they’re other, you know, features. But, and we use those as weapons to divide.

We won’t go to conventions, we won’t listen to discourses. We won’t shake hands with a certain brother or sister or whatever is of a certain persuasion. So I just find it odd that even amongst all of this that we have in this great groundswell of agape and filio and all these other things that we can still, and I’ve been an offender of this in the past, I’m hoping I’ve learned lessons and said I’m forgiven for these sins, but that we, for some reason we gravitate or we, you know, we look for all too often reasons that divide us rather than unite us, and we’re already pretty much the smallest group of Christians on the face of the planet.

So for us to go looking for more reasons to dice ourselves into even tinier groups is just the. I’m looking at it now, and I’m sure some of the older brethren I know, many of them have probably been through the same thing and come out the other end and they’re like, boy, that was really silly. Why did we ever do that? So just from a practical. We can study all these scriptures and know all these things and we all have the same answers and be on the same page.

But yet when we leave this room, are we going to go back to our old party tricks or is something going to change even slightly? A tiny little course correction in the way we see things? So we’re having all these wonderful studies, great information. But what’s going to happen when we get up from these chairs and we go our Separate ways. When this is all over and done with, is it going to change anything?

Is it going to make us more, I don’t know, faithful, more loving, more kind, more understanding, whatever? Or are we just going to continue in our old foolish ways? Over. Thank you for those comments, brother Brendan. Really appreciate it.

Go right ahead.

Specific things Jesus did to demonstrate God’s love. One of the ones that touched me is him healing the incidents that talks about him healing the man with leprosy. We know in current times from scientific study studies and stuff how important touch is, and if you can imagine being one of these people with leprosy and not being able to be touched by other human beings and having to shout unclean to me, Jesus could have healed this leper from far away without anything but like, it actually speaks out, and it says that when he caught, okay, he.

And so he stretched out his hand and he touched him, and so not even just healing him from leprosy, but like having that touch, to me, it just. I don’t know, I think that’s one of ways showing God’s love. Thank you for those comments, sister.

Seven minutes.

Anyone have any comments? Any more thoughts?

We have seven minutes left. I guess I’ll keep going. Loving one another. Jesus commanded us to love one another as he has loved us. This isn’t merely a suggestion, but a defining characteristic of a true follower of Christ.

Our love for one another is a powerful witness to the world. John 13, 34 and 35, a new command, I give you, love one another as I loved. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another first. John 4, 4, 7 and 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.

Discussion Question. I don’t know if we’re gonna have time, but Brother Keith, want to read that discussion question number three and the bulletin point?

What are specific practical ways you can demonstrate God’s love to others in your daily life? Consider acts of service, words of encouragement, offering help, showing hospitality and simply being present. Thank you, Brother Keith. By show of hands, who has any comments on that question? Brother Brett Yeah, I kind of said this in our class, but I was kind of thinking of.

It’s almost like we don’t have to shine a big light. It’s like I was thinking that if you’re in a dark room and you just Light a match, you can see enough to do a lot. I mean you can walk around that room with just a match so you don’t really have to shine a big light, and it’s just little things like I used to go that I used to go through the self checkout at the grocery store, but now I’m starting to go to the regular checkout. So then I could talk to the people at the, you know, checking out my groceries and then I could try to make conversations with them.

So little things like that and then if I see like a car pulled over, you know, I might stop and ask if they need help.

I like to go on walks. So sometimes I go down downtown Huntsville and walk around there. But you know, I’ll like walk around and actually smile at people instead of just putting my head down. So just like little things like that. Anyway, that’s it, over.

Thank you for those comments, bro. Thank you for those coming. Brother Britt, any more comments or thoughts on that question?

Brother Ken and Brother Brendan?

Well, I don’t want to talk about myself. I know Brother Tim Thomason when we say, you know, the least we can do for someone is pray for them, and he would say the most we can do for someone is to pray for them, for them, and I want to, you know, I want to talk about a brother in Christ that I know that is such an example and I’m not going to say who it is, I don’t want to embarrass him, but he has taken in both his father and his mother and he’s taken in his mother in law in their time of need and watched over them in his household until they completed their course, and he has also gone to and visited, you know, we have many sisters and people that are isolated.

He has been such an example of going to school some of these places and being there all the time, and I think that that’s one of the greatest services that you can do also. He has been an example by, he goes to many classes and you know, there’s a lot of brethren in here that meet with, we can meet all over the world, and that’s such an example to me of the brethren that are now meeting here, here, here, here and giving, giving, giving all the time. Also sending out, you know, a little scripture to somebody or, you know, we have those that do these things and that’s so inspiring to me.

So we have those examples everywhere of the little things that we can do. You know, we’re to bear one another’s burdens and that’s any burden that one has, you know, and with everything that we have to give, we’re to give our all in this. Thank you, brother. Thank you, Brother Ken. I really appreciate those comments.

Brother Brendan we have that hymn, they Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love, and that’s based on the scripture. I think you quoted it or paraphrased it at the beginning there. I can’t see it on the screen. But that I think Jesus says something that they will know. They will see that you love one another and they’ll, like, take notice and in one place says they’ll glorify God.

But the whole point is that it should be notable, our love for one another in the brotherhood. To all those on the outside world that see it now, you know, we’re not flaunting it and we’re not drawing attention to it, but if someone were to peek under our hood, if they were to come here, let’s say someone like a. Well, we’ve got someone here who’s just never really met with us. If someone comes in here and sees that there’s like division and strife and busybodying, and by the way, I’m not saying there is.

I don’t think there is. But if they were to notice these traits, they wouldn’t think that we were very good Christians, I’ll say. Whereas the one thing I will say universally, and I think the religion itself is a little bit wacky. But Mormons, I’ve never run into an impolite, angry, bitter, upset Mormon. I don’t.

I, you know, so whatever they’re doing along those lines, they’re doing a pretty good job. You know, the rest of the ship is on fire. But, you know, their attitude and whatnot is what attracts a lot of people because they have a sense of community, a sense of family, a sense of belonging, a sense of, you know, being together, and we should have that in abundance on top of all the other blessings that we have. So when someone comes here, they should leave uplifted and in our midst.

They should feel like it was a blessing to be there and that the Spirit was here and that Jesus was here, and these are the things that at the end of the day, we should all participate. We should all be real brothers and sisters, not just in word, but in, you know, actuality and, and truly have that union with one another. Over. Thank you, Brother Ben, for those comments.

Sister Renee, then Sister Julianne.

So Ephesians 4:29. Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will, will be an encouragement to those who hear them. So recently, you know, I’ve had, you know, I’ve had some, some health issues and I received so many cards and texts and phone calls, and it was very encouraging and, you know, it gave me a lot of hope and showed me that I, I am love. So loving words can promote healing and strength.

Thank you. Thank you, Sister Renee. Sister Julianne, when we think about love, love is a verb. So it’s action oriented, and we see that, you know, God is good.

He makes the rain pour on the, on the righteous and on the wicked. So his grace, his kindness, they are manifested every day, and I’m thinking of James 4:17. To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So if you know somebody is in need, if you know a brother needs comfort and you have the ability to make a phone call, send a card, say a prayer, but you decide not to, well, it’s a sin.

So how do I not withhold my love, but use it at the service of our Heavenly Father so that they may glorify God for his goodness, his grace, his mercies. Thank you. Thank you for those comments, Sister Julianne. I want to thank you, brother, for all your comments and your thoughts. I really appreciate it.

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