20 Jan Pursue Love – Rev. Donna Burrows

Pursue Gods Love Overview

Rev. Donna Burrows delivers a powerful message on pursuing God’s love with intentionality and passion. Drawing from Psalm 36, Song of Solomon, and 1 Corinthians 13-14, she explores how believers can deepen their intimate relationship with Christ. The sermon emphasizes that we are ‘one spirit’ with the Lord and must actively pursue knowing His love rather than taking it for granted. Using the allegory of Solomon and the Shulamite woman, Rev. Burrows illustrates how God desires our wholehearted response to His invitation for fellowship, not halfhearted excuses. She warns against the end-times danger of love growing cold due to increasing lawlessness, emphasizing our responsibility to guard our hearts and affections. The message beautifully explores the four dimensions of Christ’s love – width, length, depth, and height – including Christ’s ultimate sacrifice from incarnation to crucifixion. This transformative teaching challenges believers to nurture their relationship with God through quality time in His Word and Spirit, ensuring their spiritual roots grow deep enough to withstand life’s storms while producing lasting fruit.

Pursue Gods Love Outline

• 0:00 – Taking Refuge in God’s Steadfast Love: David’s heart for God and finding refuge under His wings of love
• 3:30 – The Intimate Love Story of Song of Solomon: Christ’s covenant love with His bride, the church, through spiritual intimacy
• 8:15 – Opening the Door of Our Hearts: Jesus knocking at believers’ hearts and our tendency to make excuses
• 12:45 – The Pursuit and Praise Connection: How the Shulamite’s searching and praising brought her beloved’s presence
• 16:20 – God’s Call to Pursue Love: The divine impression to pursue knowing and believing God’s love more deeply
• 22:10 – Four Dimensions of Christ’s Love: Exploring the width, length, depth, and height of God’s sacrificial love
• 28:45 – Guarding Against Cold Love: End-times warning about love growing cold and protecting our hearts
• 33:20 – Nurturing Our Love Relationship: Practical steps for growing deeper in God’s love through Word and Spirit

Scripture References

Psalm 36:7, Revelation 3:20, 1 Corinthians 14:1, 1 Corinthians 13, John 17:3, Ephesians 3:17-19, Matthew 24:12, Proverbs 4:23, 2 Timothy 4:9-10, 1 John 2:15

Key Takeaways

• We are called to actively pursue God’s love rather than passively receive it, developing a deeper revelation of His heart for us.
• True intimacy with Christ requires immediate response to His invitations for fellowship, not excuses or procrastination.
• God inhabits our praises – wholehearted worship and declaration of His goodness draws His manifest presence.
• Our spiritual roots must grow deep in God’s love to withstand end-times storms and increasing lawlessness.
• Christ’s love has four dimensions – width (crucifixion), depth (descent to hell), height (resurrection/ascension), and length (incarnation to eternity).
• We must guard our hearts and affections against the world’s pull, keeping them set on heavenly things.
• Nurturing our love relationship with God requires quality time in His Word and through the Holy Spirit’s revelation.

Pursue Gods Love Notes

Rev. Donna Burrows opens with the profound truth that David was a man after God’s own heart, not because of his perfection, but because of his passionate pursuit of God’s presence. The foundation scripture from Psalm 36:7 reveals God’s desire for His children to find refuge under the shadow of His wings, trusting completely in His steadfast love regardless of life’s circumstances.The sermon’s central metaphor comes from Song of Solomon, which many scholars interpret as representing Christ’s intimate covenant love with His bride, the church. The Holy Spirit serves as the binding power of this love relationship, creating a spiritual oneness that believers often overlook. When the Shulamite woman hears her beloved knocking but makes excuses about being comfortable in bed, having removed her robe and washed her feet, it mirrors our tendency to respond halfheartedly to God’s invitations for fellowship.This connects powerfully to Revelation 3:20, where Jesus stands at the door knocking – not primarily addressing unbelievers, but believers who have grown comfortable and distracted. The tragedy occurs when the beloved withdraws not in abandonment, but to create holy hunger. God never leaves us, but He sometimes withholds the sense of His presence to draw us into passionate pursuit rather than passive assumption.The transformation happens when the Shulamite begins actively seeking and praising her beloved before the daughters of Jerusalem. Her declarations of his beauty and magnificence – “the fairest of ten thousand” – demonstrate a crucial principle: God inhabits our praises. It’s in wholehearted worship and declaration of His goodness that His presence manifests most powerfully.Rev. Burrows shares her personal revelation of the phrase “pursue love” from 1 Corinthians 14:1, recognizing it as God’s call to actively seek deeper revelation of His love rather than simply trying to love others better. This pursuit becomes essential for spiritual maturity, particularly as we approach the end times when many hearts will grow cold due to increasing lawlessness.The four dimensions of Christ’s love from Ephesians 3:17-19 create a stunning picture of divine sacrifice. The width represents Christ’s outstretched arms on the cross, removing our sins as far as east is from west. The depth encompasses His descent into hell, conquering death and seizing the keys from the enemy. The height reflects His resurrection and ascension, where He now intercedes for us from His position of completed redemption. Most remarkably, the length of His love extends from His willing incarnation – becoming a microscopic seed, experiencing human limitations, pain, and mortality – to His eternal intercession.The practical application centers on guarding our hearts with all diligence, as Proverbs 4:23 commands. Like Demas, who forsook Paul having loved this present world, believers can allow worldly affections to displace their first love. The solution lies in nurturing our relationship through quality time in God’s Word and prayer, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring fresh revelation of Christ’s inexhaustible love.

Frequently Asked Questions