1 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 If we say we love God yet hate a brother or sister, we are liars. For if we do not love a fellow believer, whom we have seen, we cannot love God, whom we have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love one another.

All We Need Is LoveRicki-Lee CoulterAll we need is love

All we need is loveWanna shout it from the rooftops,All we need is love!

I feel the love under the stars, on the rooftop tonightHere we come together as one, can act by a beating heartAll around the world,I'm coming now to youA revolution of love,Here we go, go, goooo!

All we need is loveAll we need is loveWanna shout it from the rooftops,All we need is love!

Follow the lights all of the way,On the freeway of loveWe got it all if we got each otherAnd everything will be alright!All around the world,I'm coming now to youA revolution of loveHere we go, go, gooo

All we need is loveAll we need is loveWanna shout it from the rooftopsAll we need is love!We're on a one way ticket to paradiseI'll kick…

What is love?

1 a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties 〈

(2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness (3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests

2 : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion 3 b (1) : a beloved person : darling — often used as a term of

endearment4 a : unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as(1) : the fatherly concern of God for humankind(2) : brotherly concern for othersb : a person’s adoration of God5 : God or personification of love6 : an amorous episode : love affair

What is love?

All we need is LOVE

Our love for God is proven by our love for one another

Love is from GodLove proves we know and are born of Him

All Love Originates from God

AgapeBrotherly FriendshipFamiliarFriendshipRomanticSexual

Song of Solomon 2:3–17 (ESV) 3 As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great

delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. 5 Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love. 6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me! 7 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. 8 The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. 10 My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, 11 for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. 12 The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. 14 O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. 15 Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” 16 My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. 17 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains.

Romantic and Sexual?

Song of Solomon 4:1–5:1 (ESV) 1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a

flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. 2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young. 3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. 4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. 5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that graze among the lilies. 6 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. 7 You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. 8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards. 9 You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. 10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! 11 Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. 12 A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed. 13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, 14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all choice spices— 15 a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon. 16 Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits. 1 I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!

AgapeLove is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts…they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things…But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4–13

Love is…By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:9–10

Demonstratable Costly

Didn’t require our initiationCauses change

CANDY

That’s a tall order

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another…if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

1 John 4:11–12b

Want to be able to give love?

We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

1 John 4:14–15

Practice makes perfect

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us…

1 John 4:16–17

Know BelievePerfectAbide

Who Initiates?

We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Become the initiatorSpeak lovePractice loveDo loveExpress Love

Wrote it down

Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.

2 John 5–6a

1 Thessalonians 4:9 (NASB95) 9 Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

WRITE A LOVE LETTER

Wedding March

Who gives this woman to be wed?

Dear family and friends, on behalf of The brides and the grooms I welcome all of you for this marriage celebration. We are here today to encourage, celebrate and support the covenant these two people who beloved to us and to God, now make and to share in the joy that They are feeling as they reaffirm their pledge love and commitment to each other. We rejoice and celebrate in the ways life has led them to each other and got them to the place where they now stand.

(To the groom), the woman who stands by your side is your wife. She will look to you for comfort, for support, for love, for understanding, for encouragement, and for protection. You must never take her for granted, and always stand by her.

Repeat Today in presence of God and family and friends, I reaffirm my vowels to you. My life with yours. Wherever you go, I will go. Whatever you face, I will face. In good times or bad, in sickness or in health, for richer or poorer, I take you as my wife.

(To the bride), the man who stands by your side is your husband. He will look to you for comfort, for support, for love, for understanding, for encouragement, and for protection. You must never take him for granted, and always stand by him.

Bride: : Today in presence of God and family and friends, Today in presence of God and family and friends, I reaffirm my vowels to you. Wherever you go, I will go. Whatever you face, I will face. In good times or bad, in sickness or in health, for richer or poorer, I take you as my husband.

Marriage Vows(To the Groom) Please join your right hands and declare your consent. Do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife to have and to hold from this day forward, so long as you both shall live? I do

Minister: (To the Bride) Do you take (Groom's Name) to be your lawful wedded husband to have and to hold from this day forward, so long as you both shall live? I do

Communion

ClosingYou have given your promises to each other, and have declared your everlasting love by the taking of communion in the presence of God and these witnesses. I do by the power vested in me as a minister of the Gospel and in accordance with the authority given to me by the state Texas, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.