Relationship with God

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John 15:13 NKJV

13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Deuteronomy 6:5–6 NKJV

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

Icebreaker

Valentine’s Day

Is there anyone in the room that LOVES Valentine’s Day?

Is there anyone in the room that HATES Valentine’s Day?

Why do you LOVE or HATE it?

Lesson

I. GOD CREATED RELATIONSHIP AND DESIRES RELATIONSHIP

FUN FACT: You and I are here today because God desires RELATIONSHIP.

God didn’t need us when He created the world, He desired us. God created relationship when he created mankind. God looked at this vast universe and desired you and me, so He created the world for us to live in. Planet EARTH is handmade and specifically designed for our survival. He created a place for us.

“Man could not survive on the moon. Mankind could not live on the sun”

Jesus loves us so much that He made our home beautiful. Our planet is the most unique and beautiful planet there is in our solar system. He created the beautiful place called “EARTH” because he wanted to be a part of our WORLD.

After all this he created ADAM and said, “It is not good that the man be alone”.

Genesis 2:16–18 NKJV

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

NOTICE WITH ME: I need you to catch this. RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD WAS CREATED BEFORE RELATIONSHIP WITH EVE.

The order of creation teaches us that RELATIONSHIP with God is the FIRST and upmost important relationship in our lives.

Throughout this series we are going to talk about Relationship with each other (Like dating for example), but for PART 1 of our series we are talking about relationship with God because HEALTHY relationships with others is determined by a HEALTHY relationship with GOD.

NOTICE WITH ME: There’s another important principle found here in Genesis. Obeying God’s COMMANDMENT was a key ingredient to RELATIONSHIP.

God gave Adam Instruction before He could trust him with to properly love someone else. God gave Adam instruction before He could trust him with Eve. God knew that if Adam couldn’t listen to His instructions, he would never able to listen to and respect the voice of eve.

II. WHAT DOES LOVE LOOK LIKE?

Let me ask you a few questions:

What does love look like?

Is love pretty?

Is love easy?

Is love free?

Does love blue eyes and brown hair?

What is love? (Baby don’t hurt me)

How do I show love?

How do I let God know that I love Him?

Well I’m excited today to let you know that I have actual footage of love. I found a picture of love. What does love look like? Let me show you.

SHOW PICTURE OF A CROSS

Hear this scripture:

John 15:13 NKJV

13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

This is what love looks like.

Love puts others before themselves.

Love gives ALL.

Love sacrifices.

Love spends time with people.

Jesus was the ultimate picture of LOVE. His death on the cross was the ultimate act of LOVE.

III. RELATIONSHIPS ARE LIKE ROSES

We know How He loves us, but how do we love Him?

Well let me give you an example…

Relationships and Roses have a lot in common. They both require attention.

ILLUSTRATION (For this illustration it would be helpful to have flowers for a visual. While you’re teaching care for the flowers. Put them in a vase. Water them. Cut the stems. Keep their eyes busy while you’re talking to drive the point home that Jesus is the Rose of Sharon. Your relationship with Him needs to be watered and nurtured)

Valentine’s Day is coming up!

It is estimated that some 224 million roses are grown and cultivated for Valentine's Day.

Not surprisingly, men are the biggest purchasers of flowers at 73%. But what may be surprising is that 14% of women buy flowers and send them to themselves on Valentine's Day.

Think about buying flowers for a moment.

Flowers fade and wither. They are expensive. They require care. They require nourishment. They require a proper environment.

Flowers require attention. What a great symbol of how RELATIONSHIP works.

THE POINT: When was the last time you treated your relationship with God like a flower?

When was the last time you gave God your attention?

When was the last time you watered your relationship and nourished it?

Are you spending time in the proper environments?

Relationships and roses have a lot in common.

Song of Solomon 2:1 NKJV

1 I am the rose of Sharon, And the lily of the valleys.

Do you treat your relationship with God like the Rose of Sharon?

Do you treat your relationship with God like the Lily of the Valleys?

I hope you do, because this is the most important relationship in your life. All other healthy relationships will flow from this river into the ocean of your life.

IV. HEART + SOUL + STRENGTH

Deuteronomy 6:5 NKJV

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

This is how we are commanded to Love the Lord. Heart, Soul, Strength. How do we love the Lord with all our Heart + Soul + Strength?

HEART

A heart is the symbol of love on Valentine’s Day.

You can see a heart. You can FEEL a heartbeat. It’s something that is on the inside but it’s tangible. You can feel it.

We have to trust God will what we can FEEL. We have to give God our emotion. (BTW, The heart’s main purpose is to pump blood. The Blood of Jesus is always the ultimate act of Love)

SOUL

Our soul is the part of us that lives forever. We have to trust God with our future and with forever.

We can feel a heartbeat but we cannot feel a soul beat. Loving God with your soul is trusting trusting Him with the things you cannot feel and see with your senses.

When you worship at a funeral, and celebrate their entrance into heaven, you are loving God with all your SOUL. You are trusting Jesus with what you cannot see.

When you pray and kill out your flesh, you are loving God with all your soul. You are submitting what you can see and feel on the altar, to step into what you cannot see and feel in the Spirit .

STRENGTH

Heart and Soul refer to INTERNAL love. Strength refers to EXTERNAL love.

My strength is different than your strength, but we all have unique strengths.

This is where we show the love of God by the works of our hands. This is where love takes action and we are the hands and feet of Jesus. This is where we serve others and love our communities.

Love the Lord with “YOUR STRENGTH”. You can’t love the Lord with someone’s else’s strength. You have to give God YOUR talents, YOUR personality, YOUR abilities.

SUMMARY

To love God with all your HEART is to trust Him with what you can see and feel.

To love God with all your SOUL is to trust Him with what you cannot see and feel.

To love Him with all your STRENGTH is to trust Him with what you can with your hands and your God-given abilities.

Love the Lord.

Priorities Jesus.

Nourish that relationship.

You can trust Him with ALL THE FEELS.

Conclusion