God With Us Brings Love

Hallmark Christmas Movie plot generator.

A _______ female ______ is unhappy because ____________ . Everything changes when she meets a(n) ____________ male _______________ while they’re ___________. Through crazy circumstances and with a little help from ___________, she soon discovers _________________.

We’re having a little fun with the Hallmark Channel but they’re pretty smart. They know a thing or two about human nature.

Just like the stars of their movies, we all need significant, intimate relationships to sustain us. We are designed that way.

Also Iike the movies, we discover at some point that all of the activities and goals that we substitute for love come up short. They‘re not bad, just not complete.

Having a good job, engaging hobbies, a community of friends, etc. are all good things.

When we lack that foundation of love, we’re never satisfied.

All the stories/movies/tv shows build their plot on the expectation that love is the answer.

Our time this morning is designed to encourage us to build all of life on the strongest foundation of love.

Advent, this season leading up to Christmas, helps us to anticipate Christ coming to our world as Immanuel and to expect His return.

The theme of love this week reminds us that God With Us has shown us the truest expression of love that is the foundation for the way we love God and love others.

It begins with reaffirming that:

God Is Love

1 John 4:16 NLT

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

This is love in its purest form.

In fact, the test of any love story is this: Is love alone enough. It is strong enough, deep enough, true enough to handle all the circumstances of life. From the trivial to the catastrophic?

God’s love is enough. We know because He sent Jesus when we were completely and utterly unloveable.

Romans 5:10–11 NLT

10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Advent reminds us that we can confidently expect and anticipate God’s love because Jesus - God With Us came into the world.

God Shows His Love To Us

John 3:16 NLT

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave* his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

The bible consistently and repeatedly affirms that God’s nature is to love.

Jesus is the perfect example of God’s love. in Advent, we long for and expect that God’s love would be shown to us in a real, tangible way.

He is the love we know intuitively that we need. A love that fully satisfies and never ends.

Romans 8:38–39 NLT

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God Shows His Love Through Us

This love isn’t only for each of us individually.

We are meant to share it. In fact, sharing love is one of the primary ways we show that we belong to Jesus.

John 13:34–35 NLT

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

God’s love is designed to grow and extend out from us. Because His love is eternally with us, love is always powerfully available to share.

Ephesians 3:17–19 NLT

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 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.