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Do you have Limitless Love?
God has Limitless Love and the more you walk with Him, the more unlimited your love should become.
There are no limits to God’s love. God is Love (1 John 4:8). His love endure forever (Psalm 136). His loving grace abounds beyond sin (Romans 5:20). The Bible says some amazing things about God’s limitless love.
But us… you and me… we are bad at love. Here are recent lyrics from a billboard top 10 song – “Bad at Love” by Halsey
I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe
That we’re meant to be
But jealousy, jealousy, jealousy, jealousy
Get the best of me
Look, I don’t mean to frustrate, but I
Always make the same mistakes, yeah I
Always make the same mistakes ’cause
I’m bad at love (ooh-ooh)
But you can’t blame me for tryin’
You know I’d be lyin’ sayin’
You were the one (ooh-ooh)
That could finally fix me
Lookin’ at my history
I’m bad at love
We are bad at love. The love we have is very limited. Our love is self serving and destructive.
Our only hope is the Limitless Love of God. God gives us access to His limitless love. He will pour it within your heart so that it can flow from your heart. Are you ready to embrace God’s Limitless Love?
Limitless 2: Limitless Love – Bad at Love
Sermon notes by Pastor Chris Fluitt
Redemption Church Plano Tx
Vid bumper- Limitless
I Hope you are enjoying this limitless new year. Welcome to Redemption Church in Plano Tx. Redemption, how do we describe ourself? We are a MIGHTY CHURCH. God is doing mighty things in this Church and I am excited to be a part of it. God is using this world to change the world.. places like Katmandu Nepal, Maykop Russia, Cifuentes Cuba… God is using you Redemption to bring the Gospel to new places. That is what I call mighty.
Welcome to all our guests today. Welcome to our online viewers. Thanks for tuning in and sharing this message with others. That is a great help to us.
My name is Chris Fluitt and I am super pumped to be the lead pastor here at Redemption Church.
We are in the 2nd week of our sermon series… Limitless
Limitless
Last week we talked about LIMITLESS POWER. If you missed last week I want to encourage you to find it on our website – redemption-church.com.
God has Limitless power and he has placed that power on us. God has given each of us LIMITLESS POSSIBILITY & POTENTIAL. We talked about 3 New Testament words for power, EXOUSIA, DYNAMIS, & KRATAS. Scripture is clear that Jesus has ALL exousia, dynamis, & kratos, and scripture declares that Jesus gives us exousia authority over the enemy, dynamis ability by the Spirit, and kratos strength to stand against the devil’s schemes.
You should have limitless power in 2018. #limitless2018
Today I want to talk to you about Limitless Love.
LIMITLESS LOVE
The world talks about the importance of love. We understand that a life without experiencing love is sad. So we all set out to experience love.
But love seems complicated in our world. We are bad at love.
Bad at Love
Advertising agencies try to convince that you haven’t really been loved or communicated your love until you give a high dollar gift like diamonds or a new car.
Our society parades celebrity marriages in front of us that seem to set a standard for the rest of us. But these celebrity marriages rarely last for very long. A decade long marriage is a success by Hollywood standards.
The world’s picture of love is a beautiful woman and a handsome man staring focused on each other. They are both drop dead good looking and there are zero distractions.
The love we celebrate in TV, movies, music, magazines, books… is very limited. We are bad at love.
Here are recent lyrics from a billboard top 10 song – Bad at love by Halsey
I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe
That we’re meant to be
But jealousy, jealousy, jealousy, jealousy
Get the best of me
Look, I don’t mean to frustrate, but I
Always make the same mistakes, yeah I
Always make the same mistakes ’cause
I’m bad at love (ooh-ooh)
But you can’t blame me for tryin’
You know I’d be lyin’ sayin’
You were the one (ooh-ooh)
That could finally fix me
Lookin’ at my history
I’m bad at love
The world is bad at love… great at divorce, but bad at love.
The world is bad at love… great at child abuse, but bad at love.
The world is bad at love… great at self-centered greed & lust, but bad at love.
The world is bad at love… great at sexual harassment & rape, but bad at love.
The world is bad at love… great at hatred & murder, but bad at love.
The world’s love is limited.
Psychology has said that love is all about MONEY, POWER, & SEX. This is a very limited love.
If your MONEY is lacking…
If your POWER is lacking…
If your SEX APPEAL is lacking… then your love is lacking.
The world is bad at love.
We need to understand this. Here is why it is important.
If you will take a moment to think about all the ways you have been hurt in life, I am certain that limited love was a cause. Someone didn’t love you like they should have.
If you will take a moment to think about all the ways you have hurt others in life, I am certain that limited love was the cause. You didn’t love someone like you should have.
We are bad at love… But God is love. He is great at love.
God has LIMITLESS LOVE
You need to understand that God IS love.
1 John 4:8 (NIV2011) Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
God is LIMITLESS and therefore His love is LIMITLESS.
Love is not something God gives and then doesn’t give based on your money, power, or sex appeal. God is LOVE. If he were to stop loving you, then he would stop being God.
Psalm 136:1 (NIV2011) Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.
His love is limitless. His love endures forever. That phrase “His love endures forever” appears 26 times in that chapter. I think God wants us to understand His limitless Love for us.
Nothing is a match for God’s Limitless Love… not even sin.
Romans 5:20 (KJV) …Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds
Let’s put this scripture into a visual example. I need two people who know how to jump.
{Sin does a standing jump and we measure the distance}
{Grace does a running leap and we measure the distance}
If you feel like your failures effect God’s love, you are wrong. His ability to love is greater than your ability to sin. You will never be able to get God to stop loving you less… or to start loving you more. He love for you is already LIMITLESS.
We don’t even understand love like this. John tries to describe it to us.
1 John 4:10 (KJV) Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The defining picture of love is not that you love God.. but that He loved you and gave His Son. It’s not about what you do, but what He has already done. It’s already done… as in there is nothing you can do to ruin it. YOU ARE LOVED!
1 John 4:19 (KJV) We love him, because he first loved us.
He doesn’t love us because we love him… that would be limited.
He doesn’t love us because we worship…
He doesn’t love us because we pray…
He doesn’t love us because we were baptized…
He doesn’t love us because we go to church…
Before you ever tried to love Him, He loved you.
I remember as an 8 year old kid, misunderstanding the love of Jesus. I remember coming to pray as a way of earning His love. Every time I came to pray as a way of earning His love, it was like a brick wall. I never went anywhere doing that.
BUT I remember then night I went to the altar and something clicked in my mind and my heart like it never did before. They were singing the song “Oh how I love Jesus.”
“Oh how I love Jesus.” I had heard this song all my life.
“Oh how I love Jesus.” I knew the words to this song.
“Oh how I love Jesus.” But on this night the next words changed me…
“Because He first loved me.”
I remember shifting from trying to earn His love, to receiving and thanking Him for His love. I found a limitless love that night. 30 years later, I still have not found a limit to His love.
God has LIMITLESS LOVE
If you have never experienced that love before, I want to pray with you before the day is over.
Not only is His love limitless, but God commands us to love like He loves.
Ephesians 5:1 (NIV2011) Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children
Ephesians 5:2 (NIV2011) and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Jesus says this in John 13:34…
John 13:34 (NIV2011) “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
We are commanded to love like God loves. We need to take the limits off our love.
Limitless Love
Your love can go further in 2018 than it did in 2017, but it requires you removing your limits.
You need to remove the love limits in your marriage. When you hit a love limit in your marriage, it could become a divorce.
You need to remove the love limits in your family, or there will be a separation.
You need to remove the love limits in your friendships. You need to go further, just as Jesus goes further for you.
Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. “I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me.” She had hit her love limit and wanted revenge.
Dr. Crane suggested this. “Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you’ve convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, and then drop the bomb. Tell him that you’re getting a divorce. That will really hurt him.” With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, “Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!” And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting “as if.” For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, and sharing. When she didn’t return, Crane called. “Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?”
“Divorce?” she exclaimed. “Never! I discovered I really do love him.” Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion.
If you are having trouble loving, then maybe you need to change your actions.
You might be thinking… but they doesn’t deserve my love… You are absolutely right. They don’t deserve your love, just light you don’t deserve God’s love. Let your love go beyond the limits of deserving and earning.
There is love that can heal any hurt.
There is a love that can solve any problem.
There is a love that can feed the hungry, clothe naked, and give hope to the hopeless.
We need this kind of love in us today!
This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where things get real! It is so easy to say we love someone when they are meeting our every desire, but limitless love remains even when people fall short of our desire.
Changing your love will change your life.
In this new year, you are looking to change your life. There is no greater way to change yourself than by changing the level of your love.
We are bad at love.
1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV2011) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV2011) It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
1 Corinthians 13:6 (NIV2011) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV2011) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV2011) Love never fails
Bad at Love
We are bad at love. Let’s pray about that today.
We need God’s love. How can we have this limitless love?
Romans 5:5 (NIV2011) …God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit…
We are about to spend some time talking to God. I am going to invite you to leave your seat and forward. As we do this there are 3 things I want you to focus on.
Receive God’s Limitless Love, Give God’s Limitless Love, Give yourself Limitless Love
- You need to receive God’s limitless love today. You have never reached the full depth of His love. Allow yourself to receive a greater revelation of His love for you.
- Give God’s limitless love today. You are called to love limitlessly. Maybe there is someone you need to forgive. Why don’t you pray about serving others in a loving way? Maybe this is a total weakness of yours. Repent and ask God to teach you how to love limitlessly.
- Give yourself limitless love. This one is curious, but it is necessary. There are many Jesus believers who understand that God loves everyone, will forgive everyone, and will restore everyone. And while they will amen that point… they have trouble loving themselves, forgiving themselves, and allowing restoration for their own self.
There is something wrong if you can forgive others but not forgive yourself. I want you to love yourself today.
I don’t which of these hit you in the heart, but I believe God is hitting you in the heart right now. Come talk to him.
If you want someone to pray with you just come into the first 2 feet of the stage and someone on our team will pray with you. If you have never received God’s love before, I want to pray with you. If you need guidance on how to love limitlessly I want to pray with you. If you need a miracle I want to pray with you.
redemption-Church.com
Redemption Church is a nondenominational Church in Plano Texas. Our mission is to declare the good news and see others become followers of Jesus Christ. Our vision is to be a 1st Century Church connecting to a 21st Century world. To bring the community, the power, passion & dedication of that 1st century church to the fast paced, technologically advanced, and complex world of the 21st century.
We currently meet on Sunday afternoons at 3pm at the Corner of Parker Rd & Alma in Plano Tx. We would love to greet you in person.
Our lead pastor is Chris Fluitt.