The Heart of God and His Servant

Jim Leffel

Jeremiah 8:18-9:2

God desires us to cultivate His heart for people and to resist the desire to flee from relationships. He wants us to identify with others and display spiritual sensitivity through faith in prayer and by being energized by hope.

Resolving Conflict

Scott Risley

Romans 13

Part of Biblical love relationships is resolving conflict in an God-honoring way. While we may naturally be tempted to flee conflict, be overly aggressive, or pursue legal action, a Biblical response to conflict is one of humility that doesn't avoid, but rather seeks to restore the relationship in a way that honors God and is loving toward the other person.

Love One Another

Scott Risley

Romans 13:8

Paul exhorts the church to love one another. The Bible's definition of love is a giving of oneself in every area for the good of another; it is forgiving, sacrificial and emotional. There are different levels of relationships--casual, close and intimate--and in each kind we should consider how to initiate Biblical love.

What is Love?

Scott Risley

1 Corinthians 13:1-7

Paul tells the Roman church that the entire law is summed up by the command to love one another. In Roman culture, as in our culture today, there is confusion about what love is. The biblical definition of love is to give of oneself in every area for the good of another, without regard to personal gain. This is the way God loves us and is the way He wishes his people to love one another.\r\n

Understanding Love

Dennis McCallum

John 15:11-13

The way that the world describes love is very different than the description Paul gives for God's love. We can see where the world's love is failing all around us. God's love is sacrificial, righteous, forgiving, and emotional. These are four important dimensions to God's love that we can experience in our own relationships, with His help.

The Law of Love

Dennis McCallum

John 15:9-13

Paul reminds the church in Rome that love fulfills the law. All people were created to experience love relationships with God's love at the center. To start the love relationships we were created for we must understand God and start to experience Him, first. God is love and He is the initiator of all love.

The Law of Love

Scott Risley

Romans 13:7-10

Paul echoes the words of Jesus, that the entire Old Testament is summed up in loving God and loving others, and that love should be the central characteristic of the church. This message is just as important for us today, as we continue to see declining relationships and an epidemic of loneliness; a relationship with Jesus and community within the church offers hope for deep, fulfilling friendship.\r\n

Life in the Body of Christ

Scott Risley

Romans 12:6-13

In contrast to the common clergy-laity model, Paul describes a church that acts more like a body, in which each member has a specific and indispensable role to play. Within the body, God has a ministry for each person, and has given to each one spiritual gifts to build up the body. Relationships within the church should be characterized by sacrificial love for one another.

Lessons From the Past: The Social Gospel

Scott Arnold

James 1:27

In recent history, the evangelical church has done a poor job of being involved in meeting the needs of the poor. This only further adds to the view of evangelicals as hypocritical and judgmental. Caring for the poor is a Biblical command, however, and we must be willing to meet not just the spiritual needs of people but the physical needs as well.