Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. 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.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” —1st John 4:7-10
How did this whole “Sharing the Good News of the Kingdom” start? It started with LOVE.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” —1st Corinthians 13:1-3
The first step in sharing the Good News is to LOVE. Love God, and Love others.
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. —Romans 5:8
If we’re to share the Good News either individually or in teams, we need to LEAVE.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” —John 1:14
Jesus says, “For I have come down from heaven no to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent Me.” —John 6:28
As we love and leave, we need to LOWER ourselves.
“…But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
‘No one, sir,’ she said.
‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’” —John 8:6b-11
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone.” —Hebrews 2:9
When we lower ourselves to servanthood, we need to LISTEN. We need to: Listen to the Holy Spirit’s direction and guidance
“Jesus gave them this answer: ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does.’” —John 5:19,20
When we lower ourselves to servanthood, we need to: LOVE.
“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” —John 11:4-5
LEAD:
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” —1st Corinthians 3:6
“So when they met together, they asked Him, ‘Lord, are you at this time are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’” —Acts 1:6
Lastly today, I want to get to the last “L”, and that is LET. Let the chips fall where they may. When we leave, lower, listen, love, and lead, we mustn’t be worried about the results. That’s not our department, that’s God’s.