WEBVTT 00:04.148 --> 00:14.782 [SPEAKER_00]: In today's verse 16, we're going to look at what it means to live for love, to build our lives on the foundation of giving and receiving love. 00:15.923 --> 00:21.050 [SPEAKER_00]: You and I were made in God's image, and His very nature is love. 00:22.092 --> 00:33.126 [SPEAKER_00]: So may He guide us into a deep discovery of who we are in Him, and how we can live our lives 00:33.106 --> 00:35.843 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the first 15 podcast. 00:59.077 --> 01:17.462 [SPEAKER_00]: Our verse for today comes from Mark chapter 12, verses 30 and 31, Scripture says, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 01:18.383 --> 01:23.410 [SPEAKER_00]: The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 01:24.391 --> 01:27.936 [SPEAKER_00]: There is no other commandment greater than these. 01:31.223 --> 01:37.357 [SPEAKER_00]: If there is one major theme in the narrative of Scripture, it's the power of God's love. 01:38.920 --> 01:41.847 [SPEAKER_00]: It was His love that caused our creation. 01:43.069 --> 01:50.025 [SPEAKER_00]: It was in love that He offered mankind grace, even in our continual rebellion. 01:51.187 --> 02:05.095 [SPEAKER_00]: It was his love that sent Jesus to rescue us, and it is love that will win at our final redemption, the gathering of all God's people for the great wedding feast. 02:06.847 --> 02:08.450 [SPEAKER_00]: God is love. 02:09.432 --> 02:11.796 [SPEAKER_00]: He can do nothing apart from love. 02:13.158 --> 02:21.793 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says in Mark 12 verses 30 to 31 that all of the commandments are summed up for us in one word, love. 02:23.216 --> 02:30.829 [SPEAKER_00]: You were created to be loved by God and to love Him and others in return. 02:30.809 --> 02:38.612 [SPEAKER_00]: And you will never find satisfaction until you rest in the unconditional love of your heavenly Father. 02:39.816 --> 02:45.713 [SPEAKER_00]: You will never find true purpose until you live to love God and others. 02:47.279 --> 02:55.266 [SPEAKER_00]: to live for love is to step outside of the ways and cares of this world, and live for the kingdom of God. 02:56.587 --> 03:07.297 [SPEAKER_00]: It's to choose to root yourself in the unconditional affection of your heavenly father, rather than seeking fulfillment from the fickle love of mankind. 03:08.658 --> 03:17.286 [SPEAKER_00]: It's to choose to serve and give, rather than looking to receive, from a world that has so 03:17.266 --> 03:27.799 [SPEAKER_00]: To live for love is to seek first God and His ways and thereby receive the fullness of life only he can give. 03:29.581 --> 03:37.992 [SPEAKER_00]: When you begin your days in the presence of God, you lay for yourself a foundation of God's unconditional love. 03:38.512 --> 03:49.607 [SPEAKER_00]: to allow God to invade the first moments of your day with the truth of his love for you will strengthen you to stop looking for fulfillment in the things of the world. 03:51.349 --> 04:03.085 [SPEAKER_00]: It is impossible to live for love as Jesus commands, unless we first receive daily the perfect powerful love of our Heavenly Father. 04:03.065 --> 04:09.094 [SPEAKER_00]: As first John 419 says, we love because he first loved us. 04:11.057 --> 04:18.948 [SPEAKER_00]: My hope and prayer is that first 15 could be a beneficial resource for you to encounter the love of God. 04:20.250 --> 04:30.625 [SPEAKER_00]: I pray this love fills your heart to overflowing and then in response to the love of God, you advance his kingdom of love on earth. 04:31.634 --> 04:47.239 [SPEAKER_00]: God's love for you is so intense, so powerful, and so abundant that just a taste of it has the power to shift your life from one lived selfishly to one live sacrificially. 04:48.721 --> 04:53.288 [SPEAKER_00]: May His love stir your affections for Him and others. 04:54.382 --> 04:59.269 [SPEAKER_00]: May you live a life transformed by the love of your Heavenly Father today. 04:59.329 --> 05:17.875 [SPEAKER_00]: May you live for love. 05:35.506 --> 05:36.388 [SPEAKER_00]: as we begin. 05:37.811 --> 05:39.354 [SPEAKER_00]: Receive God's presence. 05:40.817 --> 05:47.510 [SPEAKER_00]: Take time to focus on His nearness and how it changes your outlook and emotions. 05:49.073 --> 05:56.248 [SPEAKER_00]: Spend the majority of your prayer time today on this point, just being overwhelmed by the depth of God's love. 05:57.697 --> 06:05.667 [SPEAKER_00]: 1 John 416 says, so we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. 06:06.829 --> 06:26.995 [SPEAKER_00]: God is love and whoever abides in love, abides in God and God abides in Him. 06:56.337 --> 07:02.914 [SPEAKER_00]: And next, give God your affections as a response to His loving nearness. 07:04.237 --> 07:05.280 [SPEAKER_00]: Tell him you love him. 07:06.663 --> 07:08.668 [SPEAKER_00]: Tell him you love how he makes you feel. 07:08.708 --> 07:12.979 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank him for the work he is doing in your life. 07:29.075 --> 07:57.124 [SPEAKER_00]: And last, ask God to help you live for others. 07:58.032 --> 08:02.436 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask him to show you where he is working in the lives of those around you. 08:04.138 --> 08:09.843 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask him to reveal how he would have you partner with him today in advancing his kingdom. 08:11.264 --> 08:24.597 [SPEAKER_00]: Ephesians 2 verse 10 says, For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 08:31.985 --> 08:50.314 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. 08:57.736 --> 09:02.380 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much. 09:05.903 --> 09:15.734 [SPEAKER_00]: Take a moment to listen to Ephesians chapter 3 verses 16 through 19, which so perfectly sums up the power and reality of love. 09:16.816 --> 09:31.573 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture says, that according to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 09:31.553 --> 09:39.223 [SPEAKER_00]: that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints. 09:39.884 --> 09:44.229 [SPEAKER_00]: What is the breadth and length and height and depth? 09:45.111 --> 09:53.882 [SPEAKER_00]: And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 10:04.477 --> 10:08.648 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to today's podcast called Live For Love. 10:09.329 --> 10:11.174 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Josh Miller with First 15. 10:12.096 --> 10:19.515 [SPEAKER_00]: As you go about your day today, notice whether you feel you have the capacity to love others or not. 10:19.495 --> 10:32.513 [SPEAKER_00]: take time to reflect on what drains that capacity or fills it and try and position yourself throughout your day to be a person continually filled with love so you can share that love. 10:33.334 --> 10:37.860 [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing could be more important than the way we receive and give love. 10:38.962 --> 10:43.528 [SPEAKER_00]: Have a wonderful rest of your day and may God bless you as you see Kim.