How and Why We Pour Love Into One Anoter
You Are Holding
Someone's Lifeline
The Biblical Call to Make the Love Deposit
So now I am giving you a new commandment: love each other, just as I have loved you. You should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
Disciples are known by their lived love — not their label. Loving one another is required, not optional for God's children.
John 13:35Agape love originates in heaven, not in human emotion. We don't invent love — we redistribute what God gave us.
1 John 4:9Church is not attendance — it is family. As one body in Christ, we are called to walk beside each other in pain.
Romans 12:5of all love
demonstrated
divine capital"
circulated
recognized
The reason I can give you love I don't even know I have sometimes is because God has placed it in me. He has placed His divine power in me.
Barry's Bureau | Inspired by Dr. Richard Price's sermon at Schrader Lane Church of Christ
You Are Holding Someone's Lifeline: The Biblical Call to Make the Love Deposit
In this week's Priceless Lesson, Dr. Richard Price takes us from the theology of God's agape love to the practical obligation every believer carries: to intentionally deposit that love into the lives of others. Discover why loving one another is not optional — and what it looks like to act on it today.
Have you ever received a text message at exactly the right moment — the kind that arrived when you were standing at the edge of a cliff spiritually, and you didn't even know how close you were? Someone reached out, probably without knowing the weight of what they were carrying. And their words held you. That's not coincidence. That's the love deposit at work.
What if the person someone else needs to hold them together today — is you?
The Command You Cannot Negotiate
In one of the most powerful messages I've had the privilege of hearing, Dr. Richard Price opened with a word that stops every excuse in its tracks. He read from John 13:34–35: "So now I am giving you a new commandment: love each other, just as I have loved you. You should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."
Did you catch that word? Commandment. Not a suggestion. Not a guideline for the particularly spiritual. As Dr. Price reminded us, "Commandment means you don't have a choice if you are God's child." Loving one another is not the optional elective in your walk with Christ — it is the core curriculum. The world won't know we belong to Jesus by our church attendance records or our doctrinal knowledge alone. The distinguishing mark of a true disciple is lived love. Not theoretical love. Not social media love. Love that shows up.
And yet — how often do we reduce love to a feeling? How often do we wait until we feel like loving someone before we act? Dr. Price cut right through that cultural misconception: love is not rooted in your emotions, your upbringing, or your best intentions. So where does it come from?
God Loved You First — Now Circulate It
Here is the theological anchor of this entire message, drawn from 1 John 4:9: "We love each other because He first loved us" (NLT). God's agape love — self-giving, covenantal, seeking the highest good of the other regardless of cost — did not originate with us. It originated in heaven. Before you understood what love was, God was already demonstrating it by sending His Son to die for humanity at its worst.
Dr. Price offered a phrase that I want you to carry with you this week: we are "receipts of divine capital," and we are called to circulate what we have received. Think about that. Every time God forgave you, that was a deposit. Every time He sustained you in your weakness, that was a deposit. Every season He stayed faithful while you drifted — deposit. Deposit. Deposit. The account is full. Now it's time to make withdrawals — not for yourself, but to pour into others.
We don't have to invent a new love language. We don't have to manufacture something we don't possess. We simply redistribute what God has already placed in us. And according to Romans 12:5, we have every reason to do so: "Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other." Not just members who share a building. Family. Real family. The kind that steps into your waiting room when you're miles apart — and prays.
What a Love Deposit Actually Looks Like
Dr. Price shared a moment that illustrates this beautifully. A brother named Troy mentioned that his mother wasn't feeling well. Dr. Price didn't brush past it. He said: "I put myself in his shoes — it's a very special spiritual operation." From a distance, he prayed. He stepped into that waiting room in the Spirit and interceded. When Troy texted back that things were improving, Dr. Price went back to his knees. That is not a program. That is not a ministry event. That is one child of God loving another the way Christ loved them.
This is the power available to every believer. The world offers programs. The Church offers presence. We have the ability, as Dr. Price put it, "to walk beside each other in pain and in misery — to encourage and edify one another — and to say, even in the worst situation, 'I already see your situation turning around.'"
He also delivered a necessary word to our young people — one the whole church needs to hear. Love is not an emotion, and it won't always feel good. Sometimes love corrects. Sometimes love says the uncomfortable thing. Sometimes love looks like a parent redirecting a child from a path that leads to destruction. That's not cruelty; that's the love of God in action. Look past the language. Look at the intent.
"The reason I can give you love that I don't even know I have sometimes is because God has placed it in me. He has placed His divine power in me."
— Dr. Richard Price
Love That Outlasts Programs and Cliques
Dr. Price spoke a sobering truth about the current season at Schrader Lane: the old days aren't coming back, and that's okay. Programs were never the glue. Love was. There was a time when church members truly felt like family — brothers and sisters in the deepest sense — not because of what was scheduled, but because of how people treated one another.
That culture is not impossible to rebuild. But it requires each of us to check ourselves. Are we loving only our circle? Our clique? Those who treat us well? Dr. Price was direct: "I do not love you because you are in my favorite group. I love you because you are a child of God, and I want the same respect from you." That is the standard. Love that transcends preference. Love that pursues, even when overlooked.
5 Ways to Make Your Love Deposit This Week
- Spend 20 intentional minutes this week telling someone — in person, by phone, or by text — what they mean to you and how they've blessed your life. Don't assume they know.
- Practice empathetic intercession. When a brother or sister shares a burden, stop and pray — right then, and again in private. Put yourself in their shoes and bring them before God.
- Affirm someone who is often overlooked: a single parent, a senior saint, a quiet servant in the church. Their faithfulness deserves to be spoken over them while they can still hear it.
- Choose to love past the language. If someone's expression of care feels rough or even offensive, ask yourself: what is the intent? Receive correction as love when it's offered in love.
- Connect with your elders or spiritual leaders — not just when things fall apart, but proactively. Lay your burdens there. That's what they're there for, and the prayer of the righteous avails much (James 5:16).
This message was delivered live at Schrader Lane Church of Christ in Nashville, TN on February 22, 2026. Dive deeper with our interactive quiz and study game based on this lesson — available now at BarrysBureau.org. These tools are designed to help you move from hearing the Word to living it.
Living This Out
Here is the honest question Dr. Price left ringing in the room — and I want to leave it ringing for you: Is there anybody in your congregation, your family, or your circle whose life you are holding without even knowing it? Somebody whose spiritual cliff you are standing between — and all it would take is a text, a phone call, or twenty minutes of your time?
Don't wait for the funeral. Don't wait until they're gone to say what they've meant to you. Love is a commandment, not a compliment. Make the deposit. Today.
Where is God calling you to be a "love deposit" this week? Share in the comments below, or pass this post to someone who needs the encouragement.
Join us for worship at Schrader Lane Church of Christ or visit BarrysBureau.org for more resources.
👑 Priceless Lessons Quiz
How and Why We Pour Love Into One Another
Dr. Richard Price • Schrader Lane Church of Christ • February 22, 2026
Test your understanding of this powerful message on agape love, the love deposit, and what it truly means to love one another as Christ loved us. Seven questions await you — are you ready?
🌎 Priceless Lessons Study Game
How and Why We Pour Love Into One Another
Dr. Richard Price • Schrader Lane Church of Christ • Fill in the Blank
Eight key truths from this lesson on making the love deposit are waiting for you. Let's see how deeply the Word has taken root!