Episode 21 – Love That Looks Like Jesus: Receiving and Reflecting God’s Heart

Brian, Derrick, and Jenn open a new series on the Fruits of the Spirit by exploring love — not as sentiment, but as the fierce, sacrificial, truth-telling way of Jesus. Together they question a church culture that settles for surface-level niceness, and consider what it means to receive God's love so fully that it can't help but overflow in everyday acts of care — even in traffic, grocery lines, and tense meetings. As the first and foundational fruit, love isn't just one item on a list; it's the context that makes room for the other fruits to be borne in our lives. Show Notes 0:31 — Launching the Fruits of the Spirit series 1:44 — Fierce, scandalous love: defining love that looks like Jesus 4:39 — What churches get wrong: love is not conflict-avoidant 12:34 — Putting love in shoe leather: everyday practices 23:09 — Love as the root that animates every other fruit 25:34 — A love-forward witness in a polarized world For more information on the year-long Awaken to Grace series, visit awakentograce.org. Produced by Wesley's Revival, a ministry of Studio Wesley. Original music by the Institute for Modern Worship.