Do You Love Me?

Do you love me?

Dave Riddle - 5/7/2023

Key Passage: John 21:15-23

Do you love me?

• John 21:15-17

• “You know I love you!”

• Three questions, matching Peter’s three denials.

Peter was grieved

• John 21:17

• Mark 10:22

• Matthew 17:22-23

Different kinds of love

• Jesus’ 1st and second questions: love=agapaō: divine, unconditional, perfect love

• Peter’s Response and Jesus’ 3rd Question: love=phileō: brotherly love.

• Possibly Jesus lowering the base for Peter?

• Possibly Peter using a more warm and tender version of the word?

• Possibly they author is trying to help us understand the full breadth of love?

Do you love me more than these?

• Possibly, do you love me more than you love these other disciples?

• Possibly, do you love me more than these other disciples love me?

• Possibly, do you love me more than you love fishing?

• Possibly, a combination of all of these.

You know all things.

• John 21:17

Feed my sheep (lambs)

• John 21:15-17

• Responsibility for the shepherding of the flock.

• Feed (provide) shepherd (oversee/supervise).

Do you love me?

Take care of my flock.

Keep On Following Me

• John 21:19

• What about him?

• John 21:21-22

• Don’t worry about him. Follow me!

Missions Emphasis Week - A Love for Jesus

Missions Emphasis Week - A Love for Jesus

10/9/2022 - Micah Williams

Key Passage: John 14:23-24

A love for Jesus looks like a love for the marginalized

• Matthew 25:31-40

  • Hungry, thirsty, naked, imprisoned, strangers

  • Do we see those who are on the margins?

  • What if it was Jesus in need?

A love for Jesus looks like a love for the lost

• Matthew 28:19-20

• Mark 16:15-16

  • The gospel is good news.

    • Not everybody knows the good news.

    • The vast majority of people we brush shoulders with do not know Jesus.

A love for Jesus looks like a commitment to living missionally  

• Romans 10:13-17

  • We have to tell others.

  • They won’t hear unless somebody says something.

  • How do you spend your time and your money?

Set your sights on eternity 

• Revelation 19:6-7

What Does Jesus Say About Hate?

Hate The World?

Dave Riddle • 05/22/2022

Key Passage: John 15:18-16:4

The “World” Hates Jesus

• John 7:7 (CSB): The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me because I testify about it—that its works are evil.

  • Compare to John 15:18-19

A message for those of us who don’t want to be hated.

• James 4:4 - Friend of the world = enemy of God

A message for those of us who enjoy looking for a fight

• Romans 12:18 - as much as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

We need to live in the tension between these two passages.

Expect Persecution

• John 15:20

• Matthew 5:10

  • Persecution is a blessing!

• Matthew 5:11-12

  • Rejoice!

  • A blessed inheritance

Hating Jesus = Hating God

• John 15:21-24

  • Jesus makes a claim of divinity.

    • John 10:22-38

• Why did they hate Jesus? For no reason.

  • John 15:25

Jesus sends help!

• John 15:26-27

• The Holy Spirit

  • More on this next week.

“Fall away”

• John 16:1-2

  • Fall away, stumble, be trapped

  • skandalizō - to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall. to offend

Outcasts

• John 16:1-2

  • Outcasts: put out of your religious community, academic community, social community.

    • Did it happen? Yes.

      • Acts 26:9-11 - Paul’s testimony.

Why do they do this?

• Because they don’t know Jesus or the Father

  • John 16:3-4

    • Jesus doesn’t want his followers to be caught off guard.

What Does Jesus Command?

What Does Jesus Command?

Dave Riddle • 05/15/2022

Key Passage: John 15:12-17

John 15:12 (CSB): This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.

• Love = agapaō - agape, immeasurable and unconditional love.

John 15:13 (CSB): No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

• He calls us friends when, in reality, we were His enemies.

  • Romans 5:8

John 15:14 (CSB): You are my friends if you do what I command you.

• Abraham: James 2:23

• Us! John 15:15 - no longer blindly obedient servants, but friends.

John 15:16 (CSB): You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. 

• Referring back to John 15:1-8

• He chose us!

“These things” I command you, that you love one another. John 15:17

• Possibly: All of His commands boil down to “love one another”.

• Or: the result of all of His commands is that we will love one another.

John 15:17 (CSB): “This is what I command you: Love one another.”

• Not optional.

  • Command, enjoin, an imperative

  • entolē = an order, command, charge, precept, injunction

Everything we do should be deepening our love for one another.

United So The World Will Know Jesus

Message starts around the 30:00 mark

United So The World Will Know Jesus

01/30/2021 - Dave Riddle 

Key Passage: John 17:21 - 23

Mission:  That The World May Know

• John 17:21 - 22

• Our works are NOT the gospel, but they can hinder or facilitate the gospel.

  • Our unity accelerates the impact of the gospel.

  • Our disunity is a hindrance to the gospel.

    • It tarnishes God’s reputation.

Message: The love of God

• A message that needs to be spoken.

• A message that manifests in our relationships with one another.

  • John 17:23

  • John 3:17

  • Where have you been sent? What is your context?

  • John 13:34-35 - love one another… by this all people will know you are my disciples.

    • 1 John 3:11 - We MUST love each other.

Unchanging Love

Unchanging Love

Dave Riddle 9/05/2021

Key passage: 1 Corinthians 13

The Highest Way of All - Love

• 1 Corinthians. 12:31 - Love!

… is Lonnnnnnnng-tempered 

• Patient - 1 Corinthians 12:4

…is Kind

• 1 Corinthians 12:4

• 1 John 3

…Does Not Boil Over with Jealousy 

• 1 Corinthians 12:4

…is not Boastful

• 1 Corinthians 12:4

• This word is only used one time

…is not self-inflated

• psysioo- literally, to inflate, blow up, to cause to swell up.

• 1 Corinthians 12:4

…is not crude or inappropriate 

• 1 Corinthians 12:5

• Lacking in care for others around them

…isn’t self-centered

• 1 Corinthians 12:5

• “Cure selfishness and you have just replanted the Garden of Eden” - RCH Lenski

…Isn’t moved to anger

• 1 Corinthians 12:5

• Of our interactions are defined by rage, we aren’t living in love.

  • Irascible - not just angry but anger that leads to wrong action.

…doesn’t keep score

• loguzomai- to take inventory, an ancient bookkeeping term that means to calculate or reckon. To make it keep a permanent record.

• 1 Corinthians 12:5

…Responds Correctly to  Truth and Iniquity

• 1 Corinthians 12:6

• Love doesn’t find joy in unrighteousness or the failures of others.

…Persists

• 1 Corinthians 7-8a

• “Bears all things” - covers, supports, protects.

Trust Our Unchanging God

Trust Our Unchanging God

Dave Riddle - 8/8/2021

Key Verse: Ephesians 3:14-19

We can trust in the Love of God

• The core of our relationship with God is love

• Ephesians 3:17

  • Rooted and established in love

    • agapē - unconditional love

We can trust in the Power of the Holy Spirit

• Paul prays for the Ephesians to be empowered by the Holy Spirit

  • Ephesians 3:14

  • Ephesians 3:17

    • That Christ may dwell in your heart…

      • to house permanently

To Comprehend

• Ephesians 3:18-19

  • eagerly pursue Christ’s love

To Experience 

• Ephesians 3:19

  • Know the love of Christ

  • Know = to know something from personal experience. An intimate knowledge, not just from an observation or empirical data.

To Be Filled Up Completely

• Ephesians 3:19

  • Filled to the measure of the fullness of God.

    • Refers to a fishing term. Trying to cram a net full of fish.

Love - God in Our Midst

Lean In

Lean In

Dave Riddle - 7/19/20

koinōnia (Greek: κοινωνία) - fellowship, association, community, intimacy, joint participation (the share which one has in anything), communion. 

Living in koinōnia = Love 

An Order or Command to Love Others

• Mark 12:31 - love others as much as you love yourself.

• John 13:34 - love others the way Jesus loves us.

• 1 John 3:23 - love others as He commanded us.

Response 

• 1 John 4:11, 19 - our love is a response to the love Jesus has shown to us.

Integral

• Necessary for yielding completeness

• 1 John 4:12 - our faith becomes more complete as we walk in love.

Maturity and Progression

• 1 Peter 1:22-23

  • A sincere love. Not merely pretending to love others.

  • Earnestly, fervently, constantly loving one another.

• 1 Corinthians 13 - love is foundational. Without it, our actions are meaningless.

Confirmation

• John 13:35 - This is how all people will know that we are truly followers of Christ.

Intimacy 

• A relationship that goes deeper than “we go to the same church”.

• Requires vulnerability.

  • Might require taking some risks.

Investment

• Helping people follow Jesus together.

Connected and Contributing to One Another

• Not living in an individual reality, but a “One Another” reality.

  • Love one another

  • Live in harmony with one another

  • Forgive one another 

  • Honor one another

  • ...And many many more 

    • Over 100 occurrences in scripture.

    • Only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit

How is God calling you to take the next step towards koinōnia?

• 1 Peter 1:22-23

Romans - The Weak and The Strong

The Weak and The Strong

Dave Riddle - 1/26/20

Key Passage: Romans 14:1-15:13

In this context, “the weak” are most likely Jewish Christians who are hung up on strict dietary and ceremonial laws.

Full and Total Acceptance

• Romans 14:1

  • Welcome them and don’t quarrel over opinions!

  • “Welcome” - proslambanō (προσλαμβάνω) take hold of; bring along; lead aside; welcome; gather together; take as ones helper; partner. 

  • Love them.

• Romans 14:2

  • Freedom vs. strict adherence 

No Contempt or Condemnation

• Romans 14:3-13a

  • We can’t allow minor disagreements to cause division among us.

  • We welcome them:

    • Because God does.

    • Because of Christ’s work

    • Because they’re our brothers and sisters.

    • Because we will ALL stand before God’s judgement some day.

Seek Peace and Health, not Stress and Destruction

• Romans 14:13b-23

  • 14:13 - don’t cause stress and strife

  • 14:19 - pursue peace and build others up.

Choose to Support Others More than Satisfying Self

• Romans 15:1-13 

  • 15:1 - the strong have an obligation to bear the weakness of the weak.

  • 15:2 - how do my choices impact others and help them grow in their faith?

Practical exhortations built on theological foundations.

Therefore...

• Romans 15:7

  • Accept (proslambanō) one another, just as Christ also accepted (proslambanō) you!

Romans - It Really is This Simple...

It Really is This Simple…
Dave Riddle - 1/12/20

Key Passage: Romans 13:8-10

Love

• It’s the one thing we owe each other

  • Romans 13:8

• It summarizes and completes the law

  • Romans 13:8-9

• It seeks the best for others

  • Romans 13:9-10

• It’s personified in Jesus

The Words That Change Everything

The Words That Change Everything

York Moore - 11/3/19

Key Passages: Isaiah 54:10

God’s Word allows us to live into his love even when everything around is coming unglued

God Speaks Your Love Language

• Isaiah 54:10

• Words of affirmation

• Physical touch

• Receiving gifts

• Quality time

• Acts of service

God’s word is based on a promise of peace that can never be shaken

• shalom (Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם) - safety, wellbeing, happiness, welfare, health, prosperity, rest, and peace

• Chacad (Hebrew: חָסַד) - understanding love, tender love, and kindness expressed through mercy and grace.

• John 7:37-38

Our identity needs to be grounded in the reality of God’s love, rooted in his promise.

God’s Word puts the things of this world in perspective.

• Isaiah 54:10

• Acknowledge Jesus as Lord

  • The central focus of your life

In Christ our deep despairs disappear and our great hope is satisfied, no matter who we are or what we need

Isaiah 24:1, Isaiah 66:15-16, Isaiah 40:6-8

A Loving Koinōnia

Romans 12 - A Loving Koinōnia
Dave Riddle - 10/6/19

Key Passage: Romans 12:9-16

koinōnia (Greek: κοινωνία) - fellowship, association, community, intimacy, joint participation (the share which one has in anything), communion. 

Sincerity

• Romans 12:9

  • Let love be without hypocrisy

  • anypokritos (Greek: ἀνυπόκριτος) - originally used to refer to actors or one playing a part: unfeigned, undisguised, sincere.

Spiritual Sensitivity 

• Romans 12:9

  • Detest evil

  • Cling to what is good

Affection

• Romans 12:10

  • Love one another deeply.

  • Be devoted to one another

  • As brothers and sisters

Esteem

• Romans 12:10

  • Outdo one another in showing honor.

  • Honor one another above yourselves.

Passion

• Romans 12:11

  • Don’t be lazy, don’t lack zeal.

  • Be fervent - zeō (Greek: ζέω) - to be hot (boil, of liquids; or glow, of solids), i.e. (figuratively) be fervid (earnest):—be fervent.

Resolute

• Romans 12:12

  • The picture of someone who is determined.

  • Hopefulness rather than hopelessness

Big Hearts

• Romans 12:13

  • Share with the saints in their needs

  • Emotionally, spiritually, and practically!

Open Arms

• Romans 12:13

  • Pursue hospitality

  • philoxenia (Greek: φιλοξενία) - love to strangers, hospitality

  • Not just waiting but actively looking for opportunities to show hospitality to strangers.

Unnatural and Unexpected 

• Romans 12:14

  • Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse

Empathy

• Romans 12:15

  • Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

  • Not just sympathetic but empathic.

One Accord

• Romans 12:16

  • Live in harmony with one another.

  • Of one mind.

Down to Earth

• Romans 12:16

  • Associate with the humble.

Which one or two of these areas is the Holy Spirit highlighting in your own life?

Generosity Pt. 2

Vitals - Generosity Pt. 2
Dave Riddle - 08/25/19
Key Passage: Mark 12:41-44

Generous: the readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or expected.

Scripture: at the core it’s about God giving to us.

Embracing a lifestyle of generosity...

• A Reflection of God

  • John 13:34 - Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

    • Jesus is the perfect picture of generosity for us to emulate.

• A Display of Gratitude

  • Mark 12:44

    • Even though she had very little, she realized that she was blessed.

  • Hebrews 12:28

    • We’ve received a kingdom that can’t be shaken. Our response should be an outpouring of gratitude.

• An Assertion of Trust

  • Mark 12:44

    • She gave everything and, trusted that God would provide for her.

      • Not a suggestion that we are all prescribed to do the same.

      • But a challenge for us to examine the way we give.

    • Do we give out of our surplus, or do we give sacrificially?

• An Attack on the “King”

  • We are our own biggest enemies: our selfishness, our self-centeredness, our greed. We are the kings of our own lives.

  • Matthew 6:24 - ...you cant worship God and money both.

Generosity Pt. 1

Vitals - Generosity Part 1
Dave Riddle - 08/11/19
Key Passage: Romans 8:32

Definition: Showing a readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or expected.

Scripture: At the core, it’s all about God

Jesus: Perfect example of generosity

• He gave willingly

  • John 10:18

• He gave joyfully

  • John 15:13

• He gave purposefully

  • 1 Peter 3:18

• He gave sacrificially

  • Ephesians 5:25

  • Philippians 2:5-8

Out (Our World)

A Family on Mission - Out (Our World)

Dave Riddle - 06/30/19

Key Passage: Matthew 9:35-38

A Quick Review

1. One Calling

   • Help people follow Jesus together

2. Two Commandments

   • Love God, Love Others

     • Mark 12:28-31

3. Three Dimensions

   • Up, In, Out

Living on Mission like Jesus

He went.

• Matthew 9:35 - “Jesus continued going...”

  • Teaching

    • didaskō (Greek: διδάσκω) - teaching with the purpose of transformation.

  • Gospelling

    • kēryssō euaggelion basileia (Greek: κηρύσσω ευαγγελιον βασιλεα) - preaching the good news of the Kingdom.

  • Healing

    • Jesus understood that people needed healing and he provided it.

He Noticed.

• Matthew 9:36 - “when he saw the crowds...”

  • He didn’t overlook them or look past them. He saw them.

He felt.

• Compassion

  • Matthew 9:36

  • splagchnizomai (Greek: σπλαγχνίζομαι) - to be moved as to one's bowels, hence to be moved with compassion, have compassion (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity)

He Explained

• Matthew 9:37

  • The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few

Our Response

We Embody Jesus

• Luke 6:40

• We want to be like Him.

We Proclaim

• Acts 1:8

• Witnesses for Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit

Two Outcomes

1. Redemption

   • Ephesians 1:7

2. Restoration

   • We can make a difference in a world of chaos.

The most important thing to remember is how desperately God loves you.

• The world is full of individuals that God loves individually.

• Do we see the world through God’s eyes or do we see faceless/nameless masses?

Up (Our Father)

A Family on Mission - Up (Our Father)

Dave Riddle - 06/16/19

Key Passage: Acts 13:22

The most important thing

• Mark 12:28-30

Captured by the concept of worship

• Romans 12:1

A rhythmic response to God’s self-revelation

• 1 John 4:19 - “we love because He first loved us...”

A matter of our hearts

• Mark 7:6

—-—-—-

David

• 1 Samuel 16:7

  • “...the Lord looks at the heart”

• Acts 12:22

  • “...a man after my own heart”

  • We are called to align our hearts with God’s heart.

Allow God to be first

• Philippians 3:7-14

• Make God the object and pursuit of your life.

Rely on God’s power

• 1 Samuel 17

• Romans 8:11 - the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in you!

Rest in His authority

Live in full transparency

• Psalm 139 - you have searched me and know me.

Two Outcomes

1. We are loved

   • The creator of the universe loves you!

   • 1 John 3:1 - his love is so great that we are called His children!

2. Called to live in obedience!

   • John 14:15 - if we love God we will desire to keep His commands.

A Word of Woe to His Critics

He Set His Face - A Word of Woe to His Critics

Dave Riddle - 03/31/19

Key Passage: Luke 11:37-52

Luke 9:51 - When the days were coming to a close for Him to be taken up, He set His face resolutely towards Jerusalem. 

• Resolute: purposefully unwavering or determined.

Torah - The law of God as revealed to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures (the Pentateuch).

Talmud - The body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law and legend. Not from scripture, but rabbinic tradition. 

Exposing the Hypocrites:

1. You’re the ones who are unclean

   • Luke 11:39-41

2. You’ve lost sight of the Law’s design

   • Luke 11:42

   • Love and justice take a back seat to tradition and legalism.

3. You’re preoccupied with status

   • Luke 11:43

   • Only concerned with what others think.

4. You’re actually a source of defilement

   • Luke 11:44

   • They thought they were a source of purity, but the opposite was the truth.

Challenging the Experts: 

1. Your teaching puts a burden on the people that is not from God.

   • Luke 11:46

   • “Woe” is not a term of vindictiveness, but of regret.

2. Like your ancestors you are in opposition to God’s message and messengers.

   • Luke 11:47

3. You are Kingdom-Inhibitors

   • Luke 11:52

   • You’re not just missing the point, you’re causing others to miss the point.

A Strong Word to Would-Be Followers

He Set His Face - A Strong Word to Would-Be Followers

Dave Riddle - 03/24/19

Key Passage: Luke 14:25-34

Luke 9:51 - When the days were coming to a close for Him to be taken up, He set His face resolutely towards Jerusalem. 

• Resolute: purposefully unwavering or determined.

5 Examples to Illustrate 5 Marks of a Follower

1. Family: Love Jesus Supremely

   • Luke 14:26

   • Jesus uses hyperbole to show that nothing should rival the love we have for God.

   • If Jesus is the absolute priority of your life everything else will fall into place.

2. A Cross: Live to Die

   • Luke 14:27

   • Galatians 2:20

   • I no longer live but Christ lives in me

   • Our old self has to die.

3. A Building: All in, to the very end

   • Luke 14:28-30

   • From your entire life, for your entire life.

   • In every facet of life.

4. A War: Surrender to the more powerful king

   • Luke 14:31-33

   • It’s not about winning, it’s about surrendering.

   • How much confidence do you have in your own resources?

   • John 14:27 - Peace eirēnē (Greek: εἰρήνη) - a state of rest, denoting the absence or end of strife. It refers to a state of untroubled, I disturbed well-being. Peace; a state of natural tranquility. 

5. Salt: Reality matches identity

   • Luke 14:34-35

   • Are we marked by our decision to follow Jesus?