4th Sunday of Advent: LOVE | Pastor Boniface Mgonja

4th Sunday of Advent: LOVE

-Pastor Boniface Mgonja

"For God so Loved the World that He sent His one and only Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life." -John 3:16

1st John 4:7-21

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. 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. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 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.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 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 them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 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.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."

Love is God and God is Love!

We must LOVE ONE ANOTHER - This is a Commandment!

No matter how hard or how difficult some personalities are...

"In the end, the goal for the Christian life is LOVE. The measure of our maturity is our love for God and our love for others.  If we fail in our love, we have missed what it means to be a Christian." -Rick Ezell

"Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples..."

Reflect on the life of Jesus:

• full of Love
• full of Compassion
• "For God so Loved the world..."

Love One Another 

• By this the world will know that you are my true disciples

Love doesn't backbite or gossip...

Love is patient, kind and forgiving...

Reach out and say "Merry Christmas" to someone who hasn't heard from you in awhile...

Do a "random act of kindness" and love this season...

*Next, click here to watch the full replay of this sermon: "4th Sunday of Advent: LOVE"