1. CRAVINGS
REAL LOVE!

3. TALKING ABOUT LOVE:
• 16 networks, 11 reality TV shows.
• McManus, Soul Cravings, entry 4: “We are created to know
God and to know love…Follow love and it will guide you to
God.”

4. WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT “LOVE”
• 13 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 up my body to be burned,[a]
but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and
kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or
rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful;[b) irritable and does not count up wrongdoing ]
6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the
truth. 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.

5. 1. LOVE IS MORE THAN A “FEELING”
• Harlequin Publishing House: 180 Million books per
year, they sell 5 ½ books per second!
• Love does affect our feelings deeply and powerfully:
• In the comic strip Peanuts, Linus says to Charlie
Brown, “She is so cute. I used to see her in Sunday School
every week. I used to just sit there and stare at her, and
sometimes she’d smile at me. Now I hear she has switched
to another church.” Charlie Brown responded. “That’ll
change your theology in a hurry!”
• Righteous Brothers “ You’ve lost that loving feeling”

6. LOVE IS A CHOICE:
• Col 3:12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and
beloved, compassionate
hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint
against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has
forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all
these put on love, which binds everything together in
perfect harmony.

7. LOVE IS HOW WE WHO BELONG TO CHRIST
LIVE:
• As Covenant and Kingdom People we believe and become more like
Jesus:
• Matt 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you,
• Romans 12: 9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what
is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one
another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in
spirit,[g] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be
constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to
show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse them.
• McManus: Soul Cravings, entry 3: “When loves does not come to
you, it breaks your heart, but when you do not give love away, it
hardens your heart”

8. HYPOCRISY?
• I can’t love if I don’t feel it so it is hypocrisy! But hypocrisy
is not acting contrary to what you feel rather it is acting
contrary to what you believe…
• 1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life
for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his
brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does
God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in
word or talk but in deed and in truth.

9. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY REAL LOVE
LOOKS LIKE:
• 1) Love has time: 1 Cor 13:4 “Love is patient”
Patience makes allowances for the faults of others
and waits for someone to change…

10. 2. Love cares. “Love is Kind (13:4)” “it is not irritable[easily angered] or
resentful;[b) irritable and does not count up wrongdoing] (13:5)” This means we
are willing to adapt to meet the practical needs of another person.
A line in Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address reminds us how caring and
compassionate he was. Speaking of the coming end to the Civil War he said:
“with malice toward none; with charity for all.”
When the war ended the crowds gathered at the White House while Lincoln
talked about the horrors of war now over, families getting back together and
finally, peace. He said: “In a few moments I want the band to play.” The band got
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” ready. It was the victorious North theme
song. Lincoln said, “The band will now play the theme song of the people we
have called our enemy. They are not our enemies any more! We are one people
again. I want the band to play: “Dixie.” Lincoln knew the South was hurting from
the horrors of war and the shame of defeat. He was sending a clear signal to the
South consistent with what he believed and said in the Inaugural Address, that
the South would be treated with love and compassion!
“When we love we are moved toward forgiveness” (McManus, Cravings, entry 6)

11. 3. LOVE IS SECURE
• 1 Cor. 3:4 “love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant”
• Insecurity is so destructive! Insecurity in a relationship
makes it so unhealthy!
• Security makes relationships secure..
• Not relying on the other person for your worth and relying
on God in humility.

12. 4. LOVE GIVES
• 1 Cor. 3:5 “Love is not rude. It does not insist on its own
way;”
• Quote: “some marriage relationships are like a tick on a
dog. The tick is there for one purpose, to take. The tragedy
is after 20 years of marriage you end of with two ticks and
no dog!”
• We know the damage of having our “own way” causes in
our relationship to God and to others…

13. 5. LOVE IS CONSISTENT
• 1 Corinthians 13:6b…but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.
• If we spent our time doing these things because of who we
are would we leave time to act unloving?

14. SO WHAT? 1 JOHN 4:9-11
9 IN THIS THE LOVE OF GOD WAS MADE MANIFEST AMONG
US, THAT GOD SENT HIS ONLY SON INTO THE WORLD, SO
THAT WE MIGHT LIVE THROUGH HIM. 10 IN THIS IS
LOVE, NOT THAT WE HAVE LOVED GOD BUT THAT HE LOVED
US AND SENT HIS SON TO BE THE PROPITIATION FOR OUR
SINS. 11 BELOVED, IF GOD SO LOVED US, WE ALSO OUGHT
TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
• You are the object of God’s LOVE. (McManus, Cravings
entry 10)
• Loving others begins with experiencing the love of God in
Christ Jesus…
• Hugh Martin in his book The Parables of the Gospels tells
of a rough cultured man who became fascinated with a
beautiful, expensive vase in a shop window……
• When we put the LOVE of Christ in the Center of our lives
HE transforms us!