Love: The Most Excellent Way, Part 4

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Love The Most Excellent Way, Part 4 The
Qualities of Love III
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1. Love does not seek its own, 2. Love is not
provoked, 3. Love does not take into account a
wrong suffered. 1 Corinthians 135
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4. Love does not
rejoice in UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, 5.
but rejoices with the TRUTH.
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4. Love does not
rejoice in UNRIGHTEOUSNESS 1 Corinthians
51-13 (Message) I also received a report of
scandalous sex within your church family, a kind
that wouldn't be tolerated even outside the
church One of your men is sleeping with his
stepmother. And you're so above it all that it
doesn't even faze you! Shouldn't this break your
hearts? Shouldn't it bring you to your knees in
tears? Shouldn't this person and his conduct be
confronted and dealt with? vs. 1,2
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  Your flip and callous arrogance in these
things bothers me. You pass it off as a small
thing, but it's anything but that. Yeast, too, is
a "small thing," but it works its way through a
whole batch of bread dough pretty fast. So get
rid of this "yeast. vs. 6
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I am saying that you shouldn't act
as if everything is just fine when a friend who
claims to be a Christian is promiscuous or
crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends,
gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory. You
can't just go along with this, treating it as
acceptable behavior. I'm not responsible for what
the outsiders do, but don't we have some
responsibility for those within our community of
believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we
need to decide when our brothers and sisters are
out of line and, if necessary, clean house.
vs.11-13
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4. Love does not
rejoice in UNRIGHTEOUSNESS 1 John 215-17 Do
not love the world or anything in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. For everything in the worldthe
cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and
the boasting of what he has and doescomes not
from the Father but from the world. The world and
its desires pass away, but the man who does the
will of God lives forever.
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5. but rejoices with the
TRUTH. 2 Corinthians 78-11 For though I
caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret
it though I did regret it--for I see that that
letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while
-- I now rejoice, not that you were made
sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to
the point of repentance for you were made
sorrowful according to the will of God, so that
you might not suffer loss in anything through
us. 
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5. but rejoices with the
TRUTH.   For the sorrow that is according to
the will of God produces a repentance without
regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of
the world produces death.   For behold what
earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow,
has produced in you what vindication of
yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what
longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In
everything you demonstrated yourselves to be
innocent in the matter. 2 Corinthians
118-11
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6. Love BEARS all things RESTORE
a closed / wounded spirit 1. Set aside your
ego. 2. Try to understand what they went
through. - listen with warmth, empathy and
respect 3. Acknowledge that you offended your
spouse. 4. Ask them to forgive you. 5. Touch
them lovingly. If you are the spouse who
was offended 1. Be quick to receive your
spouse.
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7. Love BELIEVES all things 2
Corinthians 713-16 If I went out on a limb in
telling Titus how great I thought you were, you
didn't cut off that limb. As it turned out, I
hadn't exaggerated one bit. Titus saw for himself
that everything I had said about you was true. He
can't quit talking about it, going over again and
again the story of your prompt obedience, and the
dignity and sensitivity of your hospitality. He
was quite overwhelmed by it all! And I couldn't
be more pleasedI'm so confident and proud of
you.
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8. Love HOPES all things 2 Corinthians 123,
24 Now, are you ready for the real reason I
didn't visit you in Corinth? As God is my
witness, the only reason I didn't come was to
spare you pain. I was being considerate of you,
not indifferent, not manipulative. We're not
in charge of how you live out the faith, looking
over your shoulders, suspiciously critical. We're
partners, working alongside you, joyfully
expectant. I know that you stand by your own
faith, not by ours.
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9. Love ENDURES all things 2 Corinthians 21-4
That was my reason for writing a letter instead
of comingso I wouldn't have to spend a miserable
time disappointing the very friends I had looked
forward to cheering me up. I was convinced at the
time I wrote it that what was best for me was
also best for you. As it turned out, there was
pain enough just in writing that letter, more
tears than ink on the parchment. But I didn't
write it to cause pain I wrote it so you would
know how much I careoh, more than care love
you!
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10. Love never FAILS.