LOVE: THE LABOR OF CHRISTIAN HEDONISM

2 CORINTHIANS 4:8-12
8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So death works in us, but life in you.

1 JOHN 4:7-8
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:7
7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

HEBREWS 10:32-35
32 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,
33 partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.
34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.
35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

HEBREWS 2:10
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

WORSHIP: THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN HEDONISM

JOHN 4:3-20
3 He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.
4 And He had to pass through Samaria.
5 So He ‍*‍came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph;
6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 There ‍*‍came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus ‍*‍said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Therefore the Samaritan woman ‍*‍said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 She ‍*‍said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?
12 “You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
15 The woman ‍*‍said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”
16 He ‍*‍said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus ‍*‍said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’;
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”
19 The woman ‍*‍said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
20 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

JOHN 4:28-30
28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and ‍*‍said to the men,
29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”
30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.

JOHN 4:39-42
39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

PSALM 63:1-5
1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.
3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.
4 So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

CONVERSION: THE CREATION OF A CHRISTIAN HEDONIST

MATTHEW 25:2
2“Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.

MATTHEW 25:32
32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

1 CORINTHIANS 1:18
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

2 SAMUEL 7:18
18 Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?

EZEKIEL 11:19
19 “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

ROMANS 8:7-8
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:4
4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

EPHESIANS 2:1
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

MATTHEW 13:44
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

PSALM 1:2
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

PSALM 16:3
3 As for the saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.

PSALM 35:9
9 And my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; It shall exult in His salvation.

PSALM 43:4
4 Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.

PSALM 111:2
2 Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them.

2 CORINTHIANS 12:10
10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

PSALM 90:14
14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

THE HAPPINESS OF GOD: FOUNDATION FOR CHRISTIAN HEDONISM

*NEW SERIES BY JOHN PIPER*

PSALM 115:1-3
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.
2 Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?”
3 But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.

ROMANS 8:28
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

DANIEL 2:28
28 “However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed.

DANIEL 2:21-22
21 “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.
22 “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him.

ISAIAH 48:11
11 “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.

ISAIAH 47:8
8 “Now, then, hear this, you sensual one, Who dwells securely, Who says in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, Nor know loss of children.’

ISAIAH 45:6
6That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other,