Thankful for Salvation and Heaven (Pastor Sarah Omakwu) 27-11-2016

★ MY SERMON NOTES

@ Family Worship Centre (FWC)

Wuye, Abuja 

2nd Sunday Service  

27th November, 2016 

Pastor Sarah Omakwu
Picture Credit: FWC Media

☆ SERMON: 

* Speaker: Pastor Sarah Omakwu 

* Topic: Thankful for Salvation and Heaven 

* Text: Psalm 103:1-22 

* Thanksgiving is an act of rendering appreciation or gratitude for God's goodness 

* Thanksgiving can be done as an individual or as a family 

* Thanksgiving should not be a casual thing

→ It must be done deliberately  

* You should not allow yourself to be cajoled or manipulated before you give thanks to God for His blessings and goodness to you 

* Genuine thanksgiving involves emotions (singing, dancing, jumping, crying, shouting, etc) 

* Thanksgiving has a voice! 

→ If you are really thankful about something, you will express it 

→ NOTE: Your silence may be mistaken for ingratitude 

★ Psalm 116:12 → "What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?" (NIV)

* Thanksgiving must be internal 

→ It must proceed from within your heart 

* When you look back at what you use to be and what you are now, you cannot remain silent 

* When you are grateful, you spare nothing to show appreciation 

* Thanksgiving is a command from God

★ Psalm 100:4 → "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." 

★ Psalm 107:8 → "Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind." (NIV)
★ Psalm 107:15
★ Psalm 107:21 

* When you do not testify of God's goodness, you are in disobedience

* You owe it to God and to God's people to testify 

* Thanksgiving is not a function of what God has done, it is a function of what you remember and the value you choose to place on it 

*NOTE: People respond to issues and experiences in life differently 

* In thanksgiving, you do not give according to what you have, 

→ You give according to the value you place on what God has done for you 

* Thanksgiving is a private thing (it is between you and God) 

* You should thank God for and rejoice because of your salvation 

★ Luke 10:20 → "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

★ Luke 17:11-19 (The Story of the 10 lepers) 

* Nothing on earth is more important than your name being written in Heaven 

→ Heaven is an eternal inheritance 

* What should give you the highest joy is that as a child of God, you are entitled to eternal inheritance in Heaven 

* "Rejoice because your name is written in Heaven." 

⇒ Earthly accolades, acquisitions or achievements cannot be compared with Heaven!  

* No matter the breakthroughs or the disappointments you have experienced in life, thank God! 

☆ Why should you give thanks to God? 

1. Because the Lord has justified you! 

2. Because God does not input sin unto you 

3. Because you have passed from death to life 

4. Because we have access into God's presence 

5. Because you have been delivered from the power of darkness 

→ Satan's plan was to kill you, steal from you, and destroy you totally. But God delivered you.  

6. Because you are not dead today!

→ You deserved to die because of the sinful lifestyle you had lived, but mercy Said "No"

☆ Questions to Consider: 

→ Will you return like that one healed leper and give thanks to God?

→ Will you be like David who gave God His best dance of Praise?

→ Will you be like Hannah who gave her only son to God's service as a sign of her appreciation? 

→ Will you be like Solomon who gave sacrifices of praise till it became grotesque?  

* NOTE: You are expected to give thanks for all that God has done for you

☆ The Demons who Undermine Thanksgiving:

→ Ungratefulness 

→ Lies 

→ Sadness

→ Pain 

→ Depression 

→ Pride and arrogance 

→ Discouragement 

→ Ingratitude 

→ Taking God for granted 

→ Deception 

→ Lack, need and poverty 

→ Recession 

Who is God Expecting Thanksgiving From? (Pastor Wilson Akubo) 20-11-2016

★ MY SERMON NOTES

@ Family Worship Centre (FWC)

Wuye, Abuja

2nd Sunday Service

20th November, 2016

Pastor Wilson Akubo
Picture Credit: FWC Media

☆ SERMON:

* Speaker: Pastor Wilson Akubo

* Topic: Who is God Expecting Thanksgiving From?

* Text: Luke 17:11-19

★ Ephesians 5:20 →"giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (NKJV)

★ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 → "in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

* The Greek word Eucharisteo for "Give thanks" in the above Scriptures means to be energetically, aggressively, vigorously and enthusiastically grateful

* God deserves worthy praise from all creation

★ Numbers 14:11-12 → "The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? “I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

→ God is displeased when we are ungrateful

★ Psalm 50:23 → "Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation."

* God's glory is dear to his heart

★ Romans 1:21 →"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."

★ Hebrews 1:1 →''In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways"

→ If you want to hear God speak, look at Jesus

→ Jesus' life is full of thanksgiving

★ John 11:41 → "So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me." 

* The power of thanksgiving can bring back anything that is dead in your life

★John 6:11 → "Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish." 

★ Luke 17:17 → "Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 

→ Even though the lepers were 'afar off', Jesus knew they were ten. He counted them!

→ God is mindful of the blessings that He sends your way

* God spoke to us through Jesus that He expects thanksgiving from us. 

* Give Him thanks in everything because:

→ Only Him can ensure that you come out tops from your challenges

☆ Who is God Expecting Thanksgiving From?

1. Anybody who is saved and washed in the blood of the Lamb

★ Romans 8:32 → "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

→ If He has given you Jesus, He has given you everything!

→ Salvation is the ultimate

→ The blood of Jesus is precious and it transcends time

2. Anybody, anyone, that He has done something for

→ Has God done ANYTHING for you?

★ Psalm 103:2 →"Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits."

* Everything you have achieved in life is by God's grace and mercy

3. Him that God has given divine health or has healed

→ God is our ultimate healer and He preserves us in good health 

★ Ecclesiastes 2:24 →"A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God."

4. Those He has bestowed Grace and favour:

→ has God given you something that you did not merit?

→ has God favoured you?

→ has God exceeded your expectation?

★ Ephesians 3:20 →"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us."

* God's mercy is Him shielding us from what we deserve (the punishment, the deprivation, the death)

5. Those who are 'work in progress'

→ These are those whom God has begun something but the end is still being awaited

★ Philippians 1:6 → "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

→ God is Alpha and Omega. If he is the beginning, the end is also under His control

→ God has no abandoned projects. He always finishes what he started

→ The only one that can abort what God has begun is YOU (through faithlessness or disobedience)

→ If you cooperate with God, He will finish what he started in your life 

6. Those who think that nothing good has happened to them

→ Is it possible that you might have forgotten or that you are not observant?

* If you are careful to observe around you, everything can be tied back to God!

7. From those who are going through unpleasant and tough circumstances

★ Psalm 91:15 →''He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him." 

* God is expecting you to give Him praise

★ Psalm 23:4 →"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

★ Hebrews 13:6 →"So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?"

★ Isaiah 43:2 →"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze."  

★ Habakkuk 3:17-19 →"Though the fig tree should not blossom 

          And there be no fruit on the vines,

         Though the yield of the olive should fail

         And the fields produce no food,

         Though the flock should be cut off from the fold

         And there be no cattle in the stalls,

18Yet I will exult in the LORD,

         I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

19The Lord GOD is my strength,

         And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,

         And makes me walk on my high places.

         For the choir director, on my stringed instruments. 

* If you give Him thanks in your difficult circumstance, God will give you victory

* Going through stuff is not a time to cry. It is a time to praise and thank God

* If the devil cannot steal your joy, he cannot keep your goods

* If you are going through stuff, you need the joy of the Lord

8. All those who just came out of something bad and it seems life is meaningless

★ Job 1:22 → "Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God."

☆ Who should You be like?

→ Be like David

★ 2 Samuel 12:16-23 

→ There is nothing that Satan takes from you that God cannot restore

9. Those who are expectant!

★ Proverbs 23:18 → ''There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off."

* keep your expectation on

10. Everything that has breath

★ Psalm 150:6 →"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!"

→ As long as you are alive, God expects praise from you

★ Ecclesiastes 9:4 → "Anyone who is among the living has hope^b —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!" 

* NOTE: An average adult takes 23,000 breaths a day. The respiratory system must be properly coordinated in order to avoid fatality

→ This is the work of God!

* God is expecting thanksgiving. Do not disappoint Him

11. Those that He will deliver (from sin)

→ The greatest ingratitude is to reject the free gift of God's salvation

→ You can't give God quality praise if you are not in right standing with Him

→ Jesus loves you and He paid the ultimate sacrifice to redeem you from Satan's bondage and to give you eternal life

* There are things that only God can do

→ He wants to touch you in a way no man can do

* The greatest gift is Salvation

→ It opens the door to other doors

Thanksgiving without Offense (Pastor Sarah Omakwu) 13-11-2016

★ MY SERMON NOTES

@ Family Worship Centre (FWC)

Wuye, Abuja

2nd Sunday Service

13th November, 2016

Picture Credit: FWC Media

☆ SERMON:

* Speaker: Pastor Sarah Omakwu

* Topic: Thanksgiving without Offence

* Text: Matthew 5:23-24 → "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." 

★ Matthew 18:15 → "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother."

★ 1 Samuel 15:20-23

* As Thanksgiving Service approaches, will your gifts and sacrifices be acceptable to God?

⇒ Or will it be an exercise in futility?

* You must realise that your thanksgiving matters to God

* Satan intends to have a field day at God's expense

→ this happens when we harbour resentment, bitterness, sin, unforgiveness etc. 

* NOTE: God will not be present at a thanksgiving that there is offence

→ He brings these things to our notice so that amends can be made

★ Psalm 133:1-3

* We must get rid of offence else, God will not be involved in our thanksgiving

* God knows that we love Him and He will enable us to walk uprightly

★Matthew 5:23-24 → "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

* In God's arithmetic, reconciliation is uppermost

→ God will not accept an offering that proceeds from a heart of offence (given or taken)

⇒ God wants you to make peace with every person around you

☆ Some Types of Offences that exist among Christians:

→ Singing with an offence in their heart

→ People refusing to forgive immediately

→ Family members not talking to each other

* Before you render your offerings, ensure that you are free of bitterness, malice, etc.

* Human beings are more important to God than the offerings of money or precious things

* If God keeps forgiving us, then we must make allowances for each other

★ Matthew 18:15 → "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother."

* As long as we are human, we are bound to offend each other (sometimes on purpose, sometimes unintentionally)

→ But we must always forgive each other and make allowance for each other

→ It takes humility to seek reconciliation

* Always approach and confront those who offend you

→ give people an opportunity to explain themselves

→ do not allow the 'technicalities of settlement' get in the way of reconciliation

→ You must realise that a person may offend you many times

* There is no defence against "I am sorry"

* When you confront any person who offends you, it is not to shame or disgrace that person, but it must be to gain that person back

* There is nothing that two human beings cannot resolve if there is humility

* NOTE: Offence is subjective

→ Do not trivialise an offence when someone confronts you with it

* Anytime you go to settle a quarrel, and the settlement was not successful, know that you are operating outside the will of God

* Do not wait for the offender to come to you

→ They might never come!

→ You must humble yourself and seek peace

* NOTE: Your greatest asset is not money or the things you acquire, but the people in your life. 

→ Any time a person leaves your life, you loose!

* For how long will you continue to be hurt?

→ let it go!

* As a believer, do not drag a fellow believer to the Law Enforcement Agencies. 

→ Allow the Church to resolve the matter (1 Corinthians 6:1-8)

⇒ There is no case that the Church of Jesus cannot resolve! 

* Get rid of any offence before thanksgiving

* It amounts to rebellion when you know what to do (forgive someone) and you refuse to do so in obedience to God's Word 
(See: James 4:17)

* When you refuse to forgive, you are living in rebellion and the Bible says that it is tantamount to witchcraft!

* A Christian must keep short accounts:

→ Release anyone who offends you as soon as practicable 

☆ What is an Offence?

→ Any act that brings annoyance, resentment, displeasure and anger

→ Anything that a person does that generates anger and resentment in you

→ Resentment is a strong bitterness that you feel when someone hurts you

→ Lack of politeness

→ Wounding the feelings of others

☆ How Do Offences Come?:

* Offences come by

1. Words;

2. Thoughts (there are people who think themselves into a rage!); or

3. Actions.

* NOTE: Majority of the time, the person you judged and holding an offence against are not even aware of what they did

* What you say or do matters a lot

★ James 4:1 → "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?"

* Don't go around offending people

⇒ And don't make it your business to 'collect' offences

* When someone hurts you, do not brush over it.

→ Talk over it together so that it doesn't repeat itself again

★ Proverbs 19:11 → "A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense."

* You should believe the best about people

★ 1 Corinthians 3:7 → "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

☆ Why do offences Come?

→ Because we are different!

→ Because we are imperfect

→ Because we are human

→ We have different upbringings, cultures, perspectives, etc

* If you can offend yourself, why expect less from others who are different from you?

* You should not keep throwing people off because they hurt you

⇒ People have shortcomings but they are not bad

☆ How do you know You are offended?

→ When you feel resentment

→ When you feel uncomfortable around the person

→ When you nurse a thought of hurting the person

→ When you avoid the person or withdraw from the person

→ When you think of the person but you feel irritated or bitterness

→ When the person's progress does not excite you

→ When you avoid, withdraw or avoid the person

☆ What Should You do?

→ Do not deny how you are feeling or shove it under 'the carpet'

→ Confront the issue in love and humbly with a view to make amends

* It is possible to dress up nice and yet still look or feel ugly

→ Beautiful people are people with a clean spirit

* Unless you can talk to the person who offended you peaceably, you still hold offence

* You must have a mindset of reconciliation

* You must be easily entreated

→ Don't make it difficult for people to be reconciled with you

* You must realise that the offender is not your enemy.

→ The devil is your real enemy

* God forgives and love, so must you!

* Offerings brought to God with a pure heart of love are pleasing to Him

* Unless you experience the forgiveness of God, you cannot forgive others

* Unforgiveness undermines your potentials in God

* Offences hinder God's blessings

☆ PRAYER

Father, grant me the grace

to obey your words.

Release me from every iota of resentment;

May offences never keep me in bondage;

Help me to walk in forgiveness; and

Help me to believe the best

about every one.

Missions (Rev. Reuben E. Ezemadu) 30-10-2016

★ MY SERMON NOTES

@ Family Worship Centre (FWC)

Wuye, Abuja  

30th October, 2016 

Picture Credit: FWC Media 

☆ SERMON: 

* Speaker: Rev. Reuben E. Ezemadu  (Founder, Christian Missionary Foundation Inc.) 

* Topic: Missions 

* Text: Matthew 24:1-14 

* We are living in a special time in God's agenda and program. 

→ It is the End Time! 

→ Many prophets of old, talked about it; Jesus amplified it (Matthew 24; Luke 21) 

* Satan is doing all he can to distract us from fulfilling God's agenda, hoping he will delay it 

* There had been political regimes that resisted the spread of the Gospel: 

→ One of the recent ones was Communism (the Iron Curtain)

→ Presently, Russia has banned all forms of missionary work and evangelism 

→ Christians are being persecuted all over the world 

* These are events that point to the fact that the end is near 

★ Matthew 24:37-39 

★ Luke 12:54-56 

* The challenge before us is that many people (including Christians) cannot discern the times  

* Many people will become lovers of self → [survival mode] 

★ 2 Timothy 3:1-5  

★ Matthew 9:35-38

* NOTE: The events that are happening in the world today (violence, oppression, terrorism, wars, economic recession, political turmoil, migration etc) are creating opportunities for ministry

→ Jesus describes this as 'big & ripe harvest'  (see: Matthew 9.37) 

* God is using persecutions, and diverse events to bring the harvest closest to us 

* The reason that Jesus has not come is because we have not finished the work [of evangelizing the lost] 

* The Lord is not leaving the Church just to worship Him. There will be plenty worship in Heaven  

→ God expects us to do what cannot be done in heaven; that is outreach (reaching the unsaved) 

★ Revelation 7:9 →"After these things, I looked, and there was a crowd so large that no one was able to count it! They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb and were wearing white robes, with palm branches in their hands." 

* God is raising people of all races and tribes to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth 

* God ordains and orchestrates unlikely situations and circumstances to advance His Kingdom 

★ Acts 1:8 →"But you’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

→ we all have a part to play 

→ the reward you will receive in heaven will be determined by how well you play your part 

* You cannot remain idle and expect a rich reward in Heaven 

* You must convert your earthy resources (money, time and talents) into eternal treasures 

* You must identify your portion and occupy it 

☆ How You can Fulfill your Part:

→ God has an assignment for everyone in the work of missions 

* Some suggestions:

1. You can go (into the field and evangelize) 

2. You can support the work of missions (financially & materially) 

3. You can pray for the success of missions and missionaries 

★ Matthew 25:34-36 

★ Matthew 5:13-15 

* God expects you to use your skills and profession to preach the Gospel of Christ 

* Every Christian is supposed to be a witness of Christ everywhere 

→ Slave girl in Na'aman's  house (2 Kings 5:1-4) 

→ Jael the housewife aided Israel's victory (Judges 4:17-24) 

→ Mordecai the gate man (Esther 4) 

* You should use the resources you have to advance God's kingdom 

★ Exodus 35:21-22 →" and every person whose heart moved him and all whose spirits prompted them, brought an offering to the LORD for constructing the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. Both the men and women came—all whose hearts prompted them—and brought brooches, earrings, rings, pendants, and all kinds of gold jewelry. Every person presented a wave offering of gold to the LORD." 

→ Everyone should take up his/her responsibilities 

→ It has to be with the realization of urgency. Opportunities do not last for ever (see: John 9:4) 

* NOTE: There is no corporate reward in heaven! 

⇒ Every one will be personally accountable to God 

* Your work cannot earn you Salvation 

→ You must believe personally

→ After you believe, you must do the work 

→ It is the work you do that determines your reward 

* A spectator has no reward! 

→ Only active players are recognized and paid 

★ Matthew 25:23 →"His master told him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy servant! Since you’ve been trustworthy with a small amount, I’ll put you in charge of a large amount. Come and share your master’s joy!" (ISV) 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ 

☆ Pastor Sarah Omakwu 

→ You must constantly have a Kingdom mentality 

→ Do not be concerned about gathering material riches on earth 

→ What is on God's mind is not your next breakthrough! 

→ God is more concerned that the lost are saved 

→ How many people are you saving? 

→ There is no horror compared to loosing heaven 

→ Today is the perfect time to write your name in the books of Heaven 

→ The most important thing you can do on this earth is to get people saved and reconciled to Jesus  

★ John 10:16 → "I have other sheep that don’t belong to this fold. I must lead these also, and they’ll listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd." 

* How many people have you led to Jesus Christ? 

→ If you have not done so, you are failing 

* There are endless opportunities to bring people to Christ everyday 

* Do the things that please God. That is the souls of men 

* Your testimony is a powerful tool of evangelism 

→ You can share your story with others 

* To those going all over looking for love and acceptance in the wrong places:

→ God has the key to everything that you need in life 

→ God wants to give you rest and peace of mind 

☆ QUOTE

"A great church is not known for its seating capacity, 
but by its sending capacity." 

→ Oswald J. Smith 

Are you Communicating with your Spouse? (Rev. Ejibe Eme) 29-10-2016

★ MY SERMON NOTES

@ Family Worship Centre (FWC)

Wuye, Abuja

29th October, 2016

COUPLE'S RETREAT (2nd Session)

Rev. Eme Ejibe
Picture credit: FWC Media

☆ SERMON:

* Speaker: Rev. Eme Ejibe

* Topic: Are you Communicating with your Spouse?

* Text: Genesis 2:25 →"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

* Free flow of communication is the lubricant that makes the engine of marriage to function effectively

* Marriage is a lifelong project 

→ It was not designed to be discarded when it is inconvenient

* Communication is the act or process of using words, signs etc to exchange ideas, thoughts and feelings

☆ Biblical Blessings of Good Communication in Marriage:

→ These are principles that stand the test of time

★ 1 Corinthians 14:2-11

1. Edification (v.5)

→ Good communication builds up the marriage

→ A communication that does not build you up is not good for you

★ Colossians 4:6 →"Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." (KJV)

2. It produces mutual profitability (v.6)

→ After good communication, value & gain must be added to the listener

3. It provokes right actions and response (v.8)

→ Bad communication confuses those who listen

4. It precludes wastage of resources (v. 9)

→ lack of good communication gives room for unplanned expenses, lack of rest, bad health, etc. 

5. It breaks walls of separation and by it, broken walls are built (v. 11)

→ When you do not communicate well, you become strangers with your spouse

→ Bad communication encourages the building of walls

☆ Sex as a Tool of Communication

* NOTE: Where there is bad communication, it gives Satan opportunity to wreck serious havoc

⇒ Sexual intimacy is a good form of communication

★ 1 Corinthians 7:4-5

★ 1 Corinthians 6:16 → "You know that the person who unites himself with a prostitute becomes one body with her, don’t you? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” (ISV)

→ Satan understands this powerful tool and he uses it against many people

→ Anyone you have sex with has a strong grip over your life because a bond has been established

* Once you start engaging sexual relations with someone 'outside' marriage, it distorts your entire system

⇒ Sexual sin distorts your behavioural pattern

* NOTE: Where there is good communication, there is nothing that cannot be sorted out

* Wrong perception undermines good communication

☆ Factors that affect good Communication

1. Characteristic nature & identity of the thing

★ 1 Corinthians 14:10 → "Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning." (NIV)

→ You should not allow the natural factor of your identity to determine your manner of communication

→ NOTE: Your identity as a child of God is not subject to the limitation of the flesh, of blood (genetic) or of culture

★ 2 Corinthians 5:17 → "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

★ John 1:2 → "He was with God in the beginning." 

★ John 1:13 → "children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."

* The nature of God that you carry should affect your communication

→ When you are born of the Spirit, You are operating on a different (higher) realm

★ John 3:8 → "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 

* The nature of a thing affects its behaviour

* Question: Does your manner of communication reflect the fact that you have the nature of Christ?

★ 1 John 5:4 → "for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." 

★ John 3:10 → "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things?"  

→ In Christ, we have a life that is abundant in quality

2. The Pattern of Operation

→ Different sounds come from a musical instrument depending on how it is played

→ How do you determine your style of play?

→ You must derive your style of play (communication) from God's Word

★ Psalm 19:7-11

* When you operate on the principles of the Word of God, success is guaranteed

☆ Sexual communication

→ When you operate on the principles of the Word of God, your sexual relationship is rendered as an act of benevolence towards your spouse

★ 1 Corinthians 7:1-5

* God is the initiator of sex and His Word must guide us in this matter

* You must not place impediments on the path of your spouse when it comes to sex

→ Marital sex is a duty

→ You must not defraud your spouse of his/her entitlement

* When your pattern of play is in accordance with God's word, it removes tension

* NOTE:

→ Marital sex is a duty

→ The fact that sex is not convenient does not exclude the fact that it is a duty (your spouse's entitlement)

* Your (negative) attitude in your sex life can even block answers to your prayer

* The principle of mutual ownership:

→ You own your spouse' body and vice versa

* You have a responsibility to take care of your spouse

★1 Timothy 5:8 → "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." (KJV)

* When you deny sexual relations to your spouse, it is fraud! (v. 5)

3. When you play according to the word of God, it is sweet

★ Song of Songs 4:11 → "Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon."

☆ Things to note about Honey:

→ Honey does not flow like water

→ Tapping it requires intelligent approach

→ You do not embarrass the bee while fetching honey. You go gently!

4. The positional relationship with each other

→ Musical notes operate on a different wave length

→ The positional features of a guitar determines the sounds that are produced when played

* The position that couples occupy determines how they should relate to each other

* Unfortunately, the world tries to scuttle God's original plan with strange philosophies

★ Ephesians 5:22 → "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord."

→ The head is not on top of a body as a weight

→ When the head becomes a weight, it simply means that the body is weak

→ The head is on top for the sake of positional and directional advantage

→ It is strange for the body to always agitate to become the head

* A head is only appreciated when it is properly aligned on the body

* A head severed from its body, no matter how beautiful it is becomes a monster

* The head is supposed to lead, coordinate and direct

* The head is responsible for anything that goes wrong in the body

* The body carries the head and aids its movement (support)

* Sickness is a sign that there is a failure of communication with a part of the body

* The head is the saviour of the body

* NOTE: When you understand positioning, it aids your communication

★ 1 Corinthians 14:20 →"Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men."

→ A child can be moved by anything

→ An adult is solid and mature and not easily influenced by anything

* NOTE: Effective communication in marriage requires a sense of maturity and understanding