Calvary Assembly of God
National Day of Prayer
  • There Is Nothing Our God Can't Do
  • Battle Belongs
  • How Great Is Our God
  • How Great Thou Art
  • Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

  • Love

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    Summary: A look at Love as the primary manifestation of the fruit of the spirit, it’s character in 1Cor 13 contasted with the gifts of the Spirit in 1Cor 12
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    The Fruit of The Spirit - Love
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    Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV
    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
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    1 Corinthians 13 NKJV
    Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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    Introduction
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    Last week we examined this passage discovering that the abundant life that God intends us as believers to experience is through our yielding to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. That in so doing it is not merely a strong act of our human will, but a surrendering of it to the will of the Holy Spirit. In so doing the Holy Spirit is then able to produce in us the life of the Spirit that manifest it’s self as fruit, principally qualities of character found in Christ sometimes referred to as graces of the Spirit. God wills that our life be so submitted to the influence of the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit that our lives would like a beautiful diamond manifest and radiate with the splendor and glory of Christ.
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    Today as we continue in the examination of this passage I want us to examine the first manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit described for us as “LOVE!” “The Fruit of the Spirit is love….”
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    1. Love Is the Sum of God

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    1 John 4:8 NKJV
    He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
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    1 John 4:16 NKJV
    And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
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    These verses show to us that God does not just love us, but rather that God IS LOVE! That the entire being of God is manifested in this – He Is Love!
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    “Never was a more important declaration made than this; never was more meaning crowded into a few words than in this short sentence—God is love.” (Barnes N.T. Notes)
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    God is not merely a loving God – HE IS LOVE! Agape!
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    The Greek word agape is the characteristic term of Christianity.
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    Unlike the English language which only has one word for love the Greek language has three words.
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    Eros was the word used in Greek literature to express sensual physical love and is never found used in the scriptures.
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    Phileo was the word used to express “tender affection” or brotherly love.
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    The third word while used in Greek literature at the time was not as common. It is the Word Agape. It was this third word that the Apostle Paul and other N.T. writers ceased upon to describe the Love Of God.
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    It signifies properly a love which chooses its object and implies implicit obedience. It is used in the N.T. exclusively to express that spiritual bond of love between God and man and between man and man, in Christ which is characteristic of Christianity.
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    Agape love indicates the nature of the love of God toward His beloved Son
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    John 17:26 NKJV
    And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
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    - Toward the human race generally
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    John 3:16 NKJV
    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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    Romans 5:8 NKJV
    But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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    - toward those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ().
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    John 14:21 NKJV
    He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
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    Agape love expresses the essential nature of God
    1 John 4:8 NKJV
    He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
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    Love can be known only from the actions it prompts, as seen in God’s love in the gift of His Son
    1 John 4:9–10 NKJV
    In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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    Love found its perfect expression in the Lord Jesus, Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
    Titus 2:14 NKJV
    who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
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    Is it any wonder then that the Apostle Paul trying to write and instruct us in walking in the Spirit, that the first manifestation of the Spirit’s indwelling presence and effect in our life should be to manifest it’s self in LOVE!
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    2. Love Is the More Excellent Way

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    The Apostle Paul when writing to the Corinthian Church in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 describes the multiplicity of the gifts of the Spirit and how they are divided amongst the members of the body severally and separately by the will of the Holy Spirit and that every member receives by the Spirit individual gifting. That one gift is greater or lesser in importance and that one should in no way envy another’s gift or boast of his own.
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    As he completes this section on the gifts by telling them,
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    1 Corinthians 12:31 NKJV
    But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
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    The More Excellent way is Love and again the word used is the word Agape.
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    Listen to the description of this love and see if there are any similarities to what Paul says in Galatians about the Fruit of the Spirit.
    1 Corinthians 13:4–8 NKJV
    Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
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    Does any of that sound familiar? Does it sound anything like “joy peace longsuffering gentleness goodness, faithfulness, meekness or self-control.”
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    Love is the Principal manifestation of the “Fruit of the Spirit” It is also the principal motivation.
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    As opposed to the flesh that would act out of self desire, self motivation, self preservation, self gratification, agape love acts out of self denial. It chooses instead the preservation and edification of the object of it’s love. This is how God loves and if we submit our lives to the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit he will reproduce in us this same Love.
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    (Illustration – Love That Overcomes)
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    After the U.S.S. Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans, the eighty-two surviving crew members were thrown into a brutal captivity. In one particular instance thirteen of the men were required to sit in a rigid manner around a table for hours. After several hours the door was violently flung open and a North Korean guard brutally beat the man in the first chair with the butt of his rifle. The next day, as each man sat at his assigned place, again the door was thrown open and the man in the first chair was brutally beaten. On the third day the same happened again to the same man. Knowing the man could not survive another beating a young sailor took his place. When the door was flung open the guard automatically beat the new man senseless. For weeks, each day a new man stepped forward to sit in that horrible chair, knowing full well what would happen. At last the guards gave up in exasperation. They were unable to beat that kind for sacrificial love.
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    3. Love Is the Manifest Proof of True Discipleship

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    John 13:34–35 NKJV
    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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    “ Agape love conveys God’s will to His children about their attitude toward one another. Love for one another was a proof to the world of true discipleship.”
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    “Love is like oil to the wheels of obedience. It enables us to run the way of God’s commandments.
    Psalm 119:32 NKJV
    I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.
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    Without God’s AGAPE love moving in us and through us towards others, we are as nothing (1 Cor. 13:3).
    1 Corinthians 13:1–3 NKJV
    Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
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    Such Spirit-inspired love never fails but always flourishes.”
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    1 Corinthians 13:8 NKJV
    Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
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    Conclusion
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    If we were to try and measure how much you love Christ, what measurement would you use?
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    Would you use the same measurements that most of the world utilizes? Not understanding that God’s measurement of love is the only true standard of love?
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    How would you like to get to the end of your life, stand before God and realize that you used the wrong measuring tool to measure your love for Him?

  • Introduction

    James 5:16 NKJV
    Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
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    TALKING POINTS
    The National Day of Prayer observance was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress and signed into law by President Truman. Each year since then our president has called upon the citizens of our nation to pray, and in 1988 President Reagan established this day of prayer to be the First Thursday of May. The significance for us as a nation is that it enables us to recall and to teach the way in which our founders sought the wisdom of God when faced with critical challenges and decisions. It stands as a call for us to humbly come before God, seeking His guidance for our leaders and His grace upon us as a people.
    THEME AND VERSE
    The 2023 Theme stands as a call to fall to our knees in intercession: “Pray Fervently In Righteousness And Avail Much” inspired from scripture in James 5:16b “The effective, fervently prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
    2023 NATIONAL BROADCAST
    Our country will once again gather at 8 p.m. ET on the National Day of Prayer to watch, listen or stream
    the 2023 National Broadcast, available through a variety of Christian media outlets and sites. This year, Rev. Sammy Rodriguez will be co-hosting the Broadcast alongside NDP Task Force President Kathy Branzell. They will be joined in prayer by Dr. Tony Evans, Robert Morris, Lecrae, Nick Hall and other Christian leaders who will guide our nation in this time of fervent prayer.
    2022 IMPACT
    In 2022 we poured out praises to God as we Exalted the Lord Who Has Established Us. We led the nation in a heart of humble worship, teaching America how to enter the courts of heaven with praises for our Heavenly Father, the Good Shepherd, the Lion of Judah, the Author of our Days who established our assignment and steps here on Earth.
    On the evening of the 2022 National Day of Prayer, our National Observance Broadcast, produced in partner- ship with Pray.com and aired from the Museum of the Bible, reached just over 100 million households globally for the third year in a row. From living rooms to auditoriums, from the East Coast to the Pacific Islands, millions were brought together to pray in unity, praising God and crying out to Him in one voice.
    EVENTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
    The Lord poured out immense creativity on the tens of thousands of volunteers who planed over 60,000 events in all 50 states in 2022. This year we will see thousands of Americans faithfully join local prayer rallies— all crying out praises and prayers. At every National Day of Prayer Task Force event, leaders prayed in the name of Jesus and asked the Lord to bless those who lead and those in need across our nation.
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    Presidential Proclamation

    In periods of peace and prosperity and in times of struggle and strife, countless Americans turn to prayer to seek guidance, bolster our faith, and brace our spirits when we need it most. Prayer is both a personal and communal act — composed of our most intimate thoughts and a practice observed by multitudes across our diverse Nation in every language, culture, religion, and belief system. On this National Day of Prayer, we recognize the profound power of prayer, grounded in deep humility and hope.
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    The right to pray is enshrined in our Constitution and stamped firmly in the American tradition. The belief that prayer can move mountains is, at its core, a belief in making the impossible possible. There is nothing more American than believing in the endless possibilities of what we can do when we do it together.
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    Throughout our history, prayer has empowered moral movements and fueled efforts to strengthen our democracy. It was deeply rooted in the fight to abolish slavery and the expansion of voting rights and voter access. And it continues to compel us to uphold our founding creed that all of us are created equal, are made in the image of God, and deserve to be treated with dignity and equality throughout our lives.
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    We will never fully know how prayer has quietly influenced every aspect of American life — bringing comfort to service members on the battlefield, grounding the spirits of astronauts in space, guiding the healing hands of medical professionals tending to our loved ones, and fortifying the faiths of millions of worshippers in every corner of our Nation. There is hardly an aspect of American life that is not touched by the silent supplications of prayer to fulfill our hopes and our aspirations.
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    Earlier this year, I was honored to speak at a Sunday service at the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, now pastored by Senator Raphael Warnock. In that sacred place, praying and contemplating Dr. King’s moral vision of a “Beloved Community,” we were reminded that so much more unites us than divides us. We are all bound together by our love of country and our belief in democracy. Today, I pray that we can see each other as we should: not as enemies but as neighbors, and not as adversaries but as fellow Americans and human beings. Only when we see ourselves in each other will justice, as scripture tells us, “roll down like waters,” righteousness become “a mighty stream,” and America fulfill its true promise as a land of liberty and justice for all.
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    The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, as amended, has called on the President to issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a “National Day of Prayer.”
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    NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 4, 2023, as a National Day of Prayer. I call upon the citizens of our Nation to give thanks, in accordance with their own faith and conscience, for our many freedoms and blessings, and I invite all people of faith to join me in asking for God’s continued guidance, mercy, and protection.
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    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-seventh.
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    JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
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    Prayer for the Church

    Pastor Ken Bilyeu

    Prayer for Education

    Pastor Raul Hurtado

    Prayer for Media

    Pastor Chris Weber

    Prayer for Government

    Pastor Meri Guiendon

    Prayer for Business

    Brother Joseph Hudak

    Prayer for Military/Law Enforcement

    Pastor Mo Guiendon

    Prayer for Family

    Pastor Ray Bergerson
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    Numbers 10:9 NKJV
    “When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.
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    Deuteronomy 31:6 NKJV
    Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
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    2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV
    if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
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      • James 5:16NKJV

      • Numbers 10:9NKJV

      • Deuteronomy 31:6NKJV

      • 2 Chronicles 7:14NKJV

Calvary Assembly of God
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