Intro:

The church at Corinth

• Many speakers
• Amazing services
• Many giftings

They were missing the main point

• That’s why Paul gave this passage
• When Paul uses Love, he uses Agape
  • Eros
  • Philia
  • Storge
  • Agape - Agape love is selfless, unconditional compassion and care, directed towards all, irrespective of merit or circumstance.
• We can miss the main point as well
  • End Times
  • Prophetic dreams
  • Politics
  • But do you have LOVE
• Love is the conductor to the symphony

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 (NLT) — 1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. 11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

1. The PREEMINENCE of Love
   1. For the Corinthians
      1. They were obsessed with gifts, but didn’t love
   2. Like Mount Everest 
      1. Tallest mountain
      2. First Summit and Rarity: 1953
      3. Death Rate as Sacrifice: 10% die
      4. Cost as Investment: 45000
      5. Climbing Time as Commitment: 
      6. Oxygen Levels and Difficulty:
      7. Temperature as Adversity: 
   3. Like my forgotten card
      1. I went to the grocery store or I went with Evie
   4.  Why is love preeminent? 
      1. It is who God is - 1 John 4:16 (NLT) — 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 
      2. It fulfills the law - Romans 13:10 (NLT) — 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.
      3. It binds us together - Colossians 3:14 (NLT) — 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
   5. Love is both the “motive” and the “measure” of our faith
2. The PERSONALITY of Love
   1. The List:
      1. Two is - patient, kind
      2. Six isn’t - jealous, boastful, proud, or rude, demanding its own way,irritable, keeping records.  not rejoicing about injustice
      3. It does - Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 
   2. It’s a personality
      1. Like Akiane
   3. It’s a filter
      1. LIke a coffee filter
   4. It’s a garment
      1. We must put it on every day
3. The PERMANENCE of Love
   1. Other things will fade away
   2. Faith, Hope, and Love will never fade
      1. We will always believe in the character of God
      2. We will always have hope in our future with God
      3. We will always be conscience of God’s Love towards us

Quote: "Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest." St. Augustine