Day 2739– A Confident Life – The Supremacy of Love – 1 John 4:7-21

Welcome to Day 2739 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2739– A Confident Life – The Supremacy of Love – 1 John 4:7-21 Putnam Church Message – 10/19/2025 Sermon Series: 1, 2, & 3 John “The Supremacy of Love " Last week, we continued through the letter of 1 John and explored how to have “A Discerning Life: Distinguishing Truth from Error.” This week, we continue through the letter of 1 John, and we will explore how to have “A Confident Life: The Supremacy of Love” from 1 John 4:7-21 from the NIV, which is found on page 1902 of your Pew Bibles. Love One Another 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. Opening Prayer If I were to say, “Turn to the ‘love chapter’ in the New Testament,” most people would probably flip straight to 1 Corinthians 13. That “ode to love” has earned the honorific title “Love Chapter” for a reason. Its thirteen verses mention agapē eight times. And its poetic description of selfless love is fit for framing: 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.