“Rooted and grounded in love”

1. Paul's assurance of God's love. (Romans 8:35-39)

a. He had experienced God's love in every circumstance: 8:35 "tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril"
b. God's love had sustained him so that "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us".
c. Contrast:
---Moses, "please kill me here and now" (Numbers 11:11-15).
---Elijah, "prayed that he might die" (I Kings 19:1-4).
---Job, "Why have You brought me out of the womb").

2. His desire that Christians be "rooted and grounded in love...to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge" (Ephesians 3:17-19).

a. Love's width.
God's love is wide enough to cover every place and every circumstance we will ever be in. No place is "God forsaken" if a child of God is there.
b. Love's length.
God's love endures through all ages and through all stages of life. "Things present nor things to come" (Romans 8:38).
c. Love's depth.
God's love is deep enough for our greatest time of despair. We were burdened beyond measure...so that we even despaired of life" (1 Corinthians 1:8).
d. Love's height.
We will never fly high enough to be out of reach of God's love.

"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us".