As we continued the February teaching series at Calvary today entitled “The Love Driven Life,” we unpacked the heart of the great love chapter

of God’s Word – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a. There were 16 points to the message “Follow the Way of Love.” Yes, sixteen! So some of you may have not been able to fill in all of the blanks. Here is the completed outline in PDF Form: Click Here.

Also, I talked about how Garry Chapman has written several books about “The Five Love Languages.” Here is a link to the website for the love languages: Click Here. The webpage is full of resources to help you think about how others feel, sense, and know love. It will help you to think about others and the way they are honored by love. It will help you seek the very best for others.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Novelist, essayist, and farmer Wendell Berry has a unique image for the perils of individualism. As he was walking with his friend Wes Jackson, they observed a plot of Maximilian Sunflowers, a nearly ten-foot tall plant native to the Midwest. Wes Jackson pointed to one particular plant that was growing alone, disconnected from the “community” of other sunflowers.

Wendell Berry observed that although this solo, individualistic plant had grown very tall, it was clearly not healthy. The blossoms were thick and heavy, so heavy that the branches were starting to strain and break under the weight. Berry noted that in one sense the plant had “succeeded” as a solo plant. After all, it was growing and it was unusually tall. But, unfortunately, it had completely failed its intended purpose as a Maximilian Sunflower: these plants only thrive and give life as they grow in community, not in isolation.

Berry concluded,

“We could say that [achieving success solely] as an individual was the [plant's] failure. It had failed because it had lived outside an important part of its definition, which consists of individuality and its community. A part of its [healthy] potential lay in its community, not [just] itself.”

For Wendell Berry, people today are often lonely and isolated because we’ve lost a simple, biblical truth: true health—spiritually, emotionally, and physically—is found in community, and we’ve forgotten that “to speak of the health of an isolated individual is a contradiction in terms.”

from Matt Woodley, managing editor, PreachingToday.com; source: Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace (Counterpoint, 2002), pp. 139-143

Carter writes:

After a personal witnessing experience with Eloy Cruz, an admirable Cuban pastor who had surprising rapport with very poor immigrants from Puerto Rico, I asked him for the secret of his success. He was modest and embarrassed, but he finally said, “Senor Jimmy, we only need to have two loves in our lives. For God, and for the person who happens to be in front of us at any time.” That simple yet profound theology has been a great help to me in understanding the Scriptures. In essence, the whole Bible is an explanation of those two loves.

Rick Warren’s Quiet Time Tips – Warren gives practical, biblical advice for spending time each day in the presence of the Lord.

Our Daily Bread Online – A simple, biblical daily devotional. It’s also available as a free iphone/ipad app.

Today in the Word – Much like Our Daily Bread, this is a simple, biblical daily devotional. You can subscribe for a daily email too.

Follow A.W. Tozer on Twitter – While Tozer is with the Lord, some of his greatest quotes about our relationship with God are regularly tweeted out.

To pray for, to support financially, and to volunteer to help our local Crisis Pregnancy Center, go to: http://wrcoptions.org/

“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.” – Psalm 139:13-14

Does prayer really make any difference – teaching outline

Years ago the Christian group NewSong recorded the song “Trust His Heart.” The main line of the song says, “When you can’t see his hand, trust his heart.” Below is a video clip of the song with lyrics. Also, below the clip you will find the text of the lyrics. As you pray, let God tune your heart to His!

Click here to view the embedded video.

TRUST HIS HEART

All things work for our good
Though sometimes we don’t see how they could
Struggles that break our hearts in two
Sometimes blind us to the truth
Our Father knows what best for us
His ways are not our own
So when your pathway grows dim
And you just don’t see Him
Remember you’re never alone

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don’t understand
When you don’t see His plan
When you can’t trace His hand
Trust His heart
Trust His heart

He sees the master plan
And He holds our future in His hand
So don’t live as those who have no hope
All our hope is found in Him
We see the present clearly
But He sees the first and the last
And like a tapestry
He’s weaving you and me
To someday be just like Him

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don’t understand
When you don’t see His plan
When you can’t trace His hand
Trust His heart
Trust His heart
He alone is faithful and true
He alone knows what is best for you

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don’t understand
When you don’t see His plan
When you can’t trace His hand
Trust His heart
Trust His heart

When you don’t understand
When you don’t see His plan
When you can’t trace His hand
Trust His heart
Trust His heart