Go After a Life of Love

Reading through 1 Corinthians 13, I thought, “Wow! Dr. Larry Hutton preached on this!”

God spoke to my heart, “I’m glad you understand these verses better, but I have something just for you. Dig deeper.”

God doesn’t want us to just pass along what we heard in a sermon. He wants us to share what we learned personally. That being said, here is what I learned on Sunday:

1 Corinthians 13:1-3, “If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. (2) If I speak God’s word with power, revealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, ‘Jump,’ and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. (3) If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.” The Message

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You could give everything away and not walk in love.

You could speak in many languages, earthly and heavenly, and not walk in love.

You could have faith to move mountains and not walk in love.

God gave me the faith and it works because He loves me.

Dr. Larry Hutton, Faith Conference 2018, June 10

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1 Corinthians 13:13, “But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation. Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.” The Message

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“Faith is working, love is laboring, hope is patient, 1 Thessalonians 1:3. …Hope is the engine, faith is the gas, love is the frame of the car. The car needs all three to move. Faith doesn’t work by walking in love. We were not walking in love when we used faith to believe in salvation.”

Dr. Larry Hutton, Faith Conference 2018, June 10

Here’s what I found when I kept digging:

1 Corinthians 14:1, “Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it – because it does. Give yourself to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim His truth.” The Message

Am I using all the gifts God has given me? Am I proclaiming the truth? How do I know I am living a life of love?

1 Corinthians 14:40, “Be courteous and considerate in everything.” The Message

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“With the time we have left, let’s be all in. Let’s be wild; let’s be radical! …Pray more than we’ve ever prayed. …Walk with God. …What’s your heart saying to you about the will of God for your life? What’s the Lord spoken to you about what you are to do before He comes back? …He wants you to help your neighbors. He wants you to be unselfish. …It’s called thoughtfulness.”

Rev. Joseph Morris, Faith Conference 2018, June 11

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