“Love Is Spiritual Warfare” - 5pm The River Service

This sermon teaches that the kind of sincere and powerful love described in Romans 12 is not a checklist of behaviors Christians can produce through sheer effort, but the natural result of a heart that has been deeply shaped by the mercy and grace of Jesus. Before believers can truly love others as Christ commands, they must continually recognize how completely they themselves are loved by Him—without condemnation, with patience, devotion, forgiveness, and unwavering grace. The command to bless those who persecute us demonstrates the power of Christian love, because refusing vengeance prevents the evil done to us from reshaping us into the image of the very thing we oppose and instead places justice into God’s hands. Ultimately, the sermon presents Christlike love as an act of spiritual warfare and defiance against a broken world, enabling believers to remain rooted in their identity in Christ and love sincerely even when the difficult waves of life come crashing in.