★ MY SERMON NOTES
@ Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN)
Area 1, Garki - Abuja, Nigeria
23rd August, 2015
 |
| Elder Yunana Malo |
SERMON
* Speaker: Elder Yunana Malo
* Topic: Love for God
* Theme: Growing up in Christ
* Sub-Theme: Growing in Love
* Service Leader: Mr. Paul Domsing
★ Text: Deuteronomy 6:1-5
* The only debt you have, is to love
* If you know love, you know God, because love is the heart of God
* Love is powerful!
* Love has the ability to keep you alive
* What is love?
→ Love is a very strong liking or passionate affection for another person or thing;
→ Love entails: adoration, attachment, friendship, relish, tenderness and even worship
* The opposite of love include: hate, dislike, ill-feeling, etc.
☆ Questions to consider:
(a) Can you love your enemies passionately?
(b) Is it possible for a mortal man to love God?
* If you have to love God (whom you do not see), then you have to do it in the Spirit
* Abraham loved God and obeyed him even when he could not see Him physically. Many people thought he was crazy (to love and obey one he could not see)
* Naturally, man is incapable of showing genuine love towards God or anyone.
→ The default tendency of men is selfishness and wickedness
☆ Jeremiah 17:9 →"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" [KJV]
* Every heart that does not have the love of God is wicked and is incapable of loving
* A wicked heart cannot experience God's love and enjoy His mercies
* It takes a person who has a new heart to genuinely love God & others
☆ Ezekiel 36:26 →"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." [KJV]
* Your heart has a door through which the 'seed' (God's Word) comes in to do the operation
→ (see: Revelation 3:20)
* You must allow God's Word to transform your mind and heart
→ Hearing the Word has to do with the issue of life itself
* NOTE: The 'seed' is very critical
→ 2 Peter 1:4 →" According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." [KJV]
* If you open your heart to God's word, (the seed) it will transform you
* NOTE: Love is God's DNA
→ That nature is given to you when the 'seed' enters your heart at conversion from darkness to light
* Every seed has the nature of the main tree from which it proceeded
☆ Question: what is the nature of Jesus?
* Galatians 5:22-23 →" But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things."
* If you have the seed of God, then you can love just as Jesus does!
* The moment your heart does not have the Spirit of God, there is no difference between you and a wild animal
* It is the Spirit of God that constrains you from manifesting animalistic tendencies
* If the 'seed' has not entered you, you cannot love anyone!
* Romans 1:18 → "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness."
* There are people who cannot do anything for God because they do not love Him
→ A man in love can do anything for the one he loves!
* A person who is in love is passionate about is loved one
* One of the features of love is fellowship
→ A person in love always wants to be in the presence of the one he loves; it is not a disturbance; and it is never a burden
☆ 1st John 1:7 → ''But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
* Some people treat the things of God casually
→ This is a sign of a lack of love for Him
☆ Matthew 6:21 →"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
☆ Questions to consider:
(a) What occupies your attention?
(b) what captures your Imagination?
* When you do not genuinely love God, it is easy for you to fall prey of lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life
☆ 1 John 2:16 →"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
→ what you 'see' dominates & controls your life
* Flee all appearances evil because it destroys every trace of the love of God in your life
* Romans 14:17 →"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
→ If you are in the kingdom what is required of you is righteousness, peace and joy
→ Whenever you yield to sin, your peace & joy is diminished
★ The Benefits of Loving God:
1. If you have the love of God, then the fruit of the Spirit will manifest in your life (See: Galatians 5:22-23)
2. You will be willing and obedient
→ You will hear definite instructions from God
3. If you have the love of God, you will see many opportunities to make an impact (as they present themselves in the Church, the society etc)
4. If you love God, you will not hesitate in investing in advancing God's kingdom
→ Giving for the work of God will not be a burden
5. It will be easy for you to have compassion on others
→ Do you empathize when others are in trouble?
6. It will be very easy for you to fellowship with God through his Word.
☆ Questions to Consider:
* what is your treasure in life?
* what takes the most of your time?
* what is your heart like towards God?
* The love of God is the highest and The greatest love.
→ Don't miss it, don't play with it
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★ MISSION CHARGE
"Your life is your message to the world. Make it inspiring . . . I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him."
→ Pythagoras
★ QUOTE
"The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter. A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child."
→ Mark Twain
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