Have A Person To Love It’s Good To Be Alive sermon video audio notes. Love is an unavoidable fact of life. It affects every person. One day your child and grandchild will have someone just as you have or had to love. If you are not in love today, you will be soon. You cannot go through life and not love because God has wired you to love. Love is necessary to experience the abundant life God has for you. You will never go as high as God has planned for you without the correct love. God intends you to experience love because love is designed to make life good.
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
By Pastor Delbert Young
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Have A Person To Love It’s Good To Be Alive sermon video audio notes
Scriptures: Matthew 22:37, Matthew 22:38, Song of Solomon 8:6, Song of Solomon 8:6, Song of Solomon 8:7, Judges 16:4, Judges 16:17, Judges 16:20, Judges 16:21, Genesis 21:1, Genesis 21:2, Genesis 21:3, Genesis 21:4, Genesis 21:5, Genesis 21:6. Genesis 21:7, Genesis 21:8, 1 Corinthians 13:13
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We are in our series called IT’S GOOD TO BE ALIVE. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. In our planning session for this lesson, we decided to talk about IT’S GOOD TO BE ALIVE… AND HAVE LOVE. So, if you were asked the question, “What is love?” what would you answer? I will give you an answer to the question and hopefully, it will be an answer you will never forget. But, first let’s get a show of hands on another question: How many of us are at this very moment “IN LOVE” with someone? Raise your hands, please.
Love is an unavoidable fact of life. Love affects every person. One day your child and grandchild will love someone just as you love and have loved. If you are not in love today, you will be soon. You cannot go through life and not love because God has wired you to love. Love is necessary to experience the abundant life God has for you. You will never go as high as God has planned for you without the correct love. God intends you to experience love because love is designed to make life good.
Love is a huge doctrine in the Bible with many different Hebrew and Greek words translated as love.
In the King James’ Old Testament (Hebrew) there are eight words translated as love (‘ahab, ahabah, ra’yah, dowd, chashaq, ‘egeb, agabah, racham). In the New Testament, there are actually eleven words translated as love, but all eleven Greek words come from three base/root words (agape, phileo, and thelo). The way I like to explain why there are so many words translated as love is to saylove changes.
(Sticky notepad illustration – peal layers).
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
When we love someone, we, as it were, take our own hearts, and layer by layer we hand our hearts over to the person we desire to love us. Hopefully, the person is doing the same. Many times one keeps giving layers and one stops giving. At any rate, we give out our heart meaning our emotions, will (what you do), and vision for life. The more you give the person, the more of your life the person controls. This person now can make you laugh or make you cry. This person now can make you do anything and this person now will determine if your vision for life will happen or not happen. Love is the strongest force in your life. This is why Jesus answered the way he answered when asked what was the greatest commandment.
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God WITH ALL THY HEART, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Matthew 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
God will never steer you wrong. God won’t break your heart and God won’t make you do things you should not. However, God wants to help you fulfill your vision. Love is powerful and giving it to someone else will control what enters and exits your heart.
Song of Solomon 8:6 PLACE ME LIKE A SEAL OVER YOUR HEART, or like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, and its jealousy is as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like FIRE, the brightest kind of FLAME.
Song of Solomon 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love; neither can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with everything he owned, his offer would be utterly despised.”
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
What is love?
Love is an amazing power you willingly give the person you want to love you and with this power, the person can take you up to the abundant life, or can take you down to destruction. How did the song go by Huey Lewis and the News about The Power of Love? (Song piece /video clip ‘The Power of Love’).
Love is a power someone holds over you (or you hold over someone) that actually controls your destiny. LOVE IS POWERFUL!
Song of Solomon 8:6 Place me like a seal over your heart, or like a seal on your arm. FOR LOVE IS AS STRONG AS DEATH,
How did the song by George Jones go? – He Stopped Loving Her today? (Song piece/video clip ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’) The Bible says love is a power as strong as death meaning once love gets you, it grips you and won’t let you go. It will grip you with joy and laughter, or it will grip you with jealousy and sadness. In the wrong hands, love can make you miserable and kill you. In the right hands, it will make you great and take you to unbelievable heights. THIS IS THE POWER LOVE HOLDS.
Song of Solomon 8:6 …For love is as strong as death, and ITS JEALOUSY IS AS ENDURING AS THE GRAVE.
Love brings with it jealousy and jealousy is as enduring as the grave. Jealousy can be a slow death gnawing and eating at a person’s heart (emotions, will, vision) and mind (thought process). It will make you cry and hurt and it will make you do things you should not. Moreover, it will take your vision for life and destroy it. THIS IS THE POWER LOVE HOLDS.
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
Song of Solomon 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love; neither can rivers drown it. IF A MAN TRIED TO BUY LOVE WITH EVERYTHING HE OWNED, HIS OFFER WOULD BE UTTERLY DESPISED.“
What was the song the Beatles sang – Can’t Buy Me Love? (Song piece/video clip ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’) Love fulfills life. Love is a mighty power, but not a power that can be bought. It is a power placed within each of us by God we alone willingly give another to release upon our own selves. This kind of power cannot be bought because only you can make the choice. A person can seemingly have everything such as a Donald Trump, but if that special person is not there to share it with you, life is not fulfilled. We are wired to love.
Loving the correct person and allowing the correct person to love you will raise your life and make every area good. However, giving the power of love to the wrong person and allowing the wrong person to love you will bring your life down and you will experience devastation in every area of life.
SAMSON:
The Bible tells us the story of Samson. The Lord God had big plans for Samson, but Samson had this knack for giving the amazing power of love to the wrong women.
Did you know everything written in the Bible about Samson’s life was somehow motivated by and related to his search for love and satisfaction (slaying the lion, the riddle about honey, the foxes tied together burning the wheat fields, killing one thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, carrying off the city gates, his head shaved, gouging out his eyes, and his death)? Samson’s life was directed by love. Our lives are far more directed by love than we want to admit. Our epitaphs will be what they will be because of to whom we handed over the amazing power of love.
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
Loving the wrong person(s) was the demise and destruction of the life of Samson. As a young man, he loved a Philistine woman of whom his parents did not approve. Sure enough, she betrayed him. She gave secret information which Samson had trustingly given her. Because of this, Samson became a murderer and robbed to pay off the debt created by her betrayal.
How many people today have become something they never thought they would become because they trustingly handed over the amazing power of love to the wrong person? How many people today are paying off debts of all kinds – financial, mental, and emotional debts – because someone used the amazing power of love against them? Samson never learned the power love had over him. Will we?
Judges 16:4 Some time later, HE FELL IN LOVE with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.
What was the song by the Pointer Sisters called ‘Fire’? (Song piece/video clip “Fire”)
Talking about a fatal attraction, this was one. Sometimes love is fatal. It has power. Delilah was bribed by Samson’s enemies to find from where Samson received his strength. Though Samson was a man of God and mighty in physical strength and ability, he was no match for the amazing power of love. Neither are you. Don’t play with fire! What was it Johnny Cash said about falling into a Burning Ring of Fire? (Song piece / Burning Ring Fire)
Delilah asked Samson what made him strong. Samson, being initially cautious, made up a lie. “If I am tied with seven new bowstrings… I will be as weak as any other man.” So, while Samson slept, Delilah tied him with seven new bowstrings and called the Philistines. Of course, Samson broke loose and escaped. But did he learn? No. The same scenario happened four times. Layer after layer of Sampson’s heart was given to Delilah. Samson would get with Delilah and go brain-dead. Four times Delilah asked him what made him strong. He told her something and she would do what it was that was supposed to take his strength.
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
How dumb can a person be? Do you realize many of the dumb things we do are love-related? Some do the same dumb thing over and over. THIS IS THE POWER LOVE HOLDS.
Judges 16:17 Finally, Samson told her his secret. “My hair has never been cut,” he confessed, “for I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.”
Delilah shaved his head. Handing over the amazing power of love to the wrong person will eventually cause you to not be able to shake yourself and resist.
Judges 16:20 Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free…”
But this time Samson could not shake himself free. Too many layers of power had been given to Delilah. Samson was captured by the amazing power of love.
Judges 16:21 So the Philistines CAPTURED HIM and GOUGED OUT HIS EYES. They took him to Gaza, where he was BOUND WITH BRONZE CHAINS and made to grind grain in the prison.
Our handing over our love to the wrong person is a sure way to be captured and chained by the enemy. These were not regular chains. These were special chains or special bondages. Love is a special bondage in the hands of the wrong person. We can lose our vision for life as our eyes are gouged out. We will end up grinding grain for the enemy and not for God’s kingdom to feed and deliver God’s people.
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
It was because of Samson’s love for Delilah that Samson died a horrible death. He never got his vision back. He did sense God’s presence once again as his hair grew which was the way Samson related to God. His final act was to cause a building to collapse on the Philistines as Samson died in suicide. We do realize most suicides are “love” related. FOR LOVE IS AS STRONG AS DEATH!
Love, if not understood and its power is given to the wrong person, can ravage every area of life just as it did with Samson. However, love given to the correct person will take a life to its full potential of fulfilled dreams and an abundant full life.
PERFECT LOVE:
We discussed love in our planning session. It was easy to find examples where the amazing power of love was given to someone and the power was misused (Adam and Eve, Isaac and Rachel, David and Michal, David and Bathsheba, etc.), but to find one example where love was perfect with no problems or glitches, escaped me. I know God’s love is perfect for us, but I wanted a Valentine’s love example between a man and a woman. I asked the question in our meeting, “Are there any “perfect loves” between a man and a woman in the Bible.” Do you know we could not come up with one “perfect love” story where something strange didn’t happen?
When given enough information, something strange – glitches – always happened with people in love in the Bible. Even with Mary and Joseph, the hand-picked by God earthly parents of Jesus, glitches were present in their love. Joseph was going to put Mary away privately (Mat 1:19). My point is that “a perfect love” where no glitches and nothing strange ever happens is not reality. In fact, real love, true love, includes working through glitches and strange things happening.
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
ABRAHAM AND SARAH:
If we understand the amazing power of love and do love God’s way, it will take us to an abundant life. The Bible tells us about Abraham and Sarah. It’s a beautiful account about two people who handed over their love to the correct person as they went through life together, but not without several glitches. Twice Abraham became fearful for his life and convinced Sarah to allow Pharaoh and King Abimelech to put her into their harems. God stepped in and always protected Sarah. When we do love God’s way we can count on him stepping in. Sarah and Abraham worked through those times. Once Sarah, because she could not conceive and wanted a child, convinced Abraham to have a child with a servant girl named Hagar.
The entire situation escalated into a huge family problem lasting years. But again, God stepped in and they worked through it. Their love may not have been perfect, but it was endless. What was the song about “Endless Love” by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross? (Song/video piece – Endless Love)
The point is they had handed the amazing power of love to the correct person and the power of love eventually brought them both to finding their dream. Abraham’s dream was a son by Sarah who would be his heir. Sarah’s dream was a child of her own whom she birthed, nursed, and raised for Abraham. Their love took them to the impossible place of a hundred-year-old man and a 90-year-old woman having a child.
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
(NLT) Genesis 21:1 Then the LORD did exactly what he had promised.
Genesis 21:2-8
2 Sarah became pregnant, and she gave a son to Abraham in his old age. It all happened at the time God had said it would.
3 And Abraham named his son Isaac.
4 Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded.
5 Abraham was one hundred years old at the time.
6 And Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter! All who hear about this will laugh with me.
7 For WHO WOULD HAVE DREAMED that I would ever have a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!”
8 As time went by and Isaac grew and was weaned, Abraham gave a big party to celebrate the happy occasion.
It’s Good To Be Alive and Have A Person to Love
Dreams come true and life is good when we give the power of love to the correct person. Love is a power designed by God to take us up and to make dreams come true.
LIFE IS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT LOVE.
I will close with this thought. Life is meaningless without love. Paul goes through the entire thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians saying things like “If I HAVE NOT LOVE, I AM NOTHING.” Love makes life worth living. Love is the greatest.
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.
Love is the greatest, brightest, hottest flame – the most powerful of all emotions. Love has the power to take a person to the highest summit of joy, happiness, and success. Remember this one thing from this lesson: To whom you give your love, you give them power over your life.
How many want to HAVE LOVE and GIVE LOVE? IT’S GOOD TO BE ALIVE… AND HAVE LOVE!
Give the Lord a shout and handclap.
Have A Person To Love It’s Good To Be Alive sermon video audio notes
Have A Person To Love It’s Good To Be Alive sermon video audio notes
Other Related Sermons:
Adventure In Goodness and Kindness: How to Reflect God
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2 – How to Discern True Love
Love Kingdom Love—How to Love Like God
Wicked Woman Delilah part 1 sermon video audio notes
Amazing Power of Love – sermon video audio notes
Wicked Women of the Bible Sermon Series video audio notes
And Have Family It is Good To Be Alive
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