BROTHERLY LOVE

BROTHERLY LOVE
I will give a quick overview of our worship service, concerning Brotherly Love, and then I will tell you some of the points I shared with the congregation. The service includes the children. You really should have been their, it was AWESOME.

THE MEETING
I shared the meaning of, and the need for BROTHERLY LOVE to the entire congregation, from the youngest (3 years) to the oldest (68 years).
I encourage questions, observations, comments, responses from anyone, including the little children.
They sat in preaching/teaching service for over an hour and a half, focused on and participating in the celebration of the word of God.
They think with their minds and listen with their hearts.
They search their souls and surrender their lives to Christ.
They sit together in heavenly places.
They are not forced, they are involved and responsive and receptive.

THE MESSAGE
BROTHERLY LOVE. I have watched through the years, as brothers and sisters and cousins and other family members grew less affectionate and more abusive and non-communicative with one another. These things ought not to be.

* Brotherly Love is love for family.

* Brotherly Love is more than just desire, and more than love of nature.

* Brotherly Love is an affection for that which is familial, extending to immediate family, racial, cultural and regional relationships and love for leadership (such as a king).

There are various kinds of love, as seen in the Greek language.
"Eros," having to do with natural, sensual love.
"Phileo," having to do with familial affection love, referred to as brotherly love.
"Agape'," having to do with Godlike, self sacrificing, pure love.

Love comes from God.
* God is love.
* For God so loved the world.
* By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, because you have love for one another.
* And the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Who is given to us.
* These three continue, faith, hope and love, but the greatest is love.

Though we usually focus on agape' love, brotherly love is the affection that exists in a family, and is basic to a Christian experience. Consider these passages that address the "brotherly love" subject.

PASSAGE…
Romans 12:10
(10) Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

DLG note…
* Brotherly love is the affectionate, feeling, emotional love that exists among "kin," or "kindred," thus it is kindly.
* Brotherly love puts other people's needs and desires ahead of one's self.
* Brotherly love is considerate of other people's feelings.
*Brotherly love seeks not to antagonize another person, but rather to bless them and lift them.

PASSAGE…
1 Thessalonians 4:9
(9) But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

DLG note…
* Brotherly love is so fundamental, so basic to the Christian experience that Paul did not feel it necessary to instruct believers in the practice of brotherly love.
* Though New Testament believers did not have the physical or spiritual presence of God in their midst, as did Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, they did have a personal and spiritual relationship with God that was intimate and dynamic. * God spoke to believers by way of His Holy Spirit, as He does today. But unlike most "church" people today, the early Church believers communed with God and He spoke to them in their hearts. He does the same today with anyone who will obediently listen. His REVELATION is given by the prophets and apostles in the writings of the Old and New Testament, and nothing can be added to them, but He communes with the trusting and loving heart of believers and ENLIGHTENS us to His will.
* God tells those who listen to Him, to love one another. This love is not in word only, but in deed.
* As a parent teaches the child the basics of life, God teaches His children to love one another.

PASSAGE…
Hebrews 13:1
(1) Let brotherly love continue.

DLG note…
* In every situation, LOVE.
* With every person, LOVE.
* At every cost, LOVE.

* Husbands are to love their wives, as Christ loves the Church.
* Parents are to love their children and children are to love their parents.
* Believers are to love one another.
* Believers are to love their neighbors (saved and unsaved) as we love ourselves.
* We are to love our enemies.

Remember,
This is love…
* God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and
* Likewise, we, as Christians, will lay down our lives for our brethren.

* Love is the motivation in our obedience and service to God, and also the motivation in our relationship with our family, our neighbor and our enemy.
* Love is the proof or our salvation.
* If we do not love our neighbor, whom we have seen, we are lying if we say that we love God, whom we have not seen.

PASSAGE…
2 Peter 1:4-7
(4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
(5) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
(6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
(7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

DLG note…
* Those who are partakers of Divine nature, practice brotherly love.
* Brotherly kinship (love) maintains the unity of the family of God and enlightens the watching world.
* Brotherly love avoids barriers and divisions.
* Brotherly love does not allow personal preferences to interrupt oneness of mind.
* Brotherly love does not allow BALL GAMES or anything to offend another person.

LOVE IS THE MIRACULOUS LIFE OF GOD AT WORK IN US.

(12/13/15 dlg on fb)