Love

LOVE: THE DIFFERENCE THAT SETS US APART

MATTHEW 5:43-48 RSV
43   "You have heard that it was said, 'you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
44   But I say to you , Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45   so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil
and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
46   For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do
the same?
47   And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others?
48   Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly
Father is perfect.

ROMANS 12:14-21 RSV
14   Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
15   Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
16   Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be
conceited.
17   Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
18   If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.
19   Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written,
"Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
20   No, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you
will heap burning coals upon his head."
21   Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

MATTHEW 6:9-14 RSV
9    Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10   Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
11   Give us this day our daily bread;
12   And forgive us our trespasses, As we also have forgiven our trespassors
13   And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.
14   For if you forgive men their trespasses, you heavenly father also will forgive you;
15   but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.

1 CORINTHIANS 4:12-13 RSV
12   ...When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
13   when slandered, we try to conciliate; ...

1 CORINTHIANS 12:31, 13:1-13, 14:1 RSV
31   But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
1    If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a
clanging cymbal.
2    And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3    If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain
nothing.
4    Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous of boastful;
5    it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6    it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
7    Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8    Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for
knowledge, it will pass away.
9    For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
10   but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
11   When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I
became a man, I gave up childish ways.
12   For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall
understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
13   So faith, hope, love abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1    Make love your aim,...

COLOSSIANS 3:12-15 RSV
12   Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13   bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against
another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
14   But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
15   And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and
be thankful.

The Basics

The Call

KentWilken@aol.com RachWilken@aol.com

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