Love in Heaven

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
February 23, 2025

1 Corinthians 13:8-13: Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I reasoned like a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child. When I became a man, I put childish things behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Sermon Outline

1. Wrong idea of spirituality

• Tongues

• Same wrong idea with prophesy

• What the chapter has said

2. Summary of this passage

3. Three temporary gifts of ministry

• Prophecy

• Tongues

• Knowledge

4. Two figures of speech and a clear statement

• Contrast between childhood and adulthood

• Contrast between reflection and face-to-face

• The clear statement

5. On verse 13

• “These three remain”

• “But the greatest of these is love”

6. Jonathan Edwards on love

• The cause and fountain of love

• The objects of love

• The beings who will love

• Some aspects of love

What Love Looks Like

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
February 9, 2025

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, ESV: Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Sermon Outline

1. Fifteen verbs

2. First: Two positives about love

• “Love is patient”

• “Love is kind”

• Combination reflects God

3. Seven negatives about love

• “Does not envy”

• “Does not boast”

• “Is not proud”

• “Is not rude”

• ”Is not self-seeking”

• “Is not easily angered”

• “Keeps no record of wrongs”

• “Does not delight in evil”

4. Four zippy little phrases about love

• NIV translation

• ESV translation

• Answering objections

• Steve’s Uncle Tom

Love: Graces Better Than Gifts

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
February 2, 2025

1 Corinthians 13:1-3: 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.

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

• Challenges facing the earliest Christians

• How God equipped them

2. Love is more important than gifted speaking and teaching

• The gift of tongues

• The problem

• The application

3. Love is much more important than mere religious activity

• “If I have the gift of prophecy...”

• “If I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge...”

• “If I have a faith that can move mountains...”

4. Love is more important than even acts of personal sacrifice

• “If I give all I possess to the poor...”

• “...and surrender my body to the flames...”

5. The result of no love

• “I gain nothing”

• “I am nothing”

6. Three closing thoughts

Benediction

Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard our cry for mercy. Our hearts trust in him, and we are helped. Save your people and bless your inheritance, be our shepherd and carry us forever. Amen — paraphrased from Psalm 28: 6-9