★ MY SERMON NOTES
@ Family Worship Centre (FWC)
Wuye, Abuja
2nd Sunday Service
8th May, 2016

☆ SERMON
* Speaker: Pastor Sarah Omakwu
* Topic: Love indeed is the Greatest
* Theme: Walking in Love
* Text: 1 John 3:10-18
★ 1 John 4:7-19
★ 1 Timothy 1:5

* NOTE: As a child of God, you are here on the earth as God's ambassador of love, peace and grace

★ 2 Timothy 2:2 →"And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."

* God expects that you love others as the has loved you

* People are supposed to encounter God's love when they come to Church (or personally interact with believers)

★ John 13:34 →''A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

☆ Question: Why did Jesus give a new commandment?
→ He needed to raise the standard of demonstrating love

★ Leviticus 19:18 →"You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."
→ NOTE: this was the old standard
→ The old standard required that the benchmark for showing love to others was 'YOURSELF'.

→ Even in the old commandment, a child of God had no right to revenge or to be evil towards another person
☆ Before you take any action, always consider: What will Jesus do to this person in this circumstance as regards to love?

* NOTE: The new standard of love is JESUS' LOVE, not yours anymore!
→ You are now required to look at everyone through the eyes of Jesus, not your own.

★ John 17:11

* You must not relate to any person based on their TRIBE in order to discriminate against them
→ 'Tribe' came about as a result of sin.
→ As a Christian, the 'tribe' ofa person must not be your benchmark for relating with anyone.

* 'Like' has nothing to do with whether you love another person or not
→ Love is greater than like
→ Jesus expects you to love everyone regardless of whether you like them or not!

* Christ did not choose any tribe to die for:
→ He loved us all inspite of ourselves and our tribe

* There must not be any form of disunity or discrimination within the body of Christ as a result of our inherent differences in tribe, gender, etc

* There are 'Christians' who hate and hold grudges against members of their immediate (biological) family - eg: siblings, parents and other close relatives
→ As a child of God, you must make every effort to keep the bond of love with members of your family of origin
→ Your family was (given to you as) God's way of showing you love. Do not despise them!

* It was the failure of the family of origin that caused God to establish the Church (so that believers may take care of one another)

*NOTE: It is not good to keep a grudge against your (biological) brothers and sisters

★ 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

* It is impossible to walk in love, unless you are mature
→ Maturity is to show love (to even those who do not deserve it)

* Love is greater than:
→ Prayer
→ Evangelism
→ Speaking in tongues

★ 1 Corinthians 13:1 →''Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal."

* Without love, your acheivements (no matter how great & spirituality uplifting) are useless!

* You cannot light a lamp and put it under a stand (Luke 11:33)

* NOTE. There is no reward for serving God with a wicked heart

* Love is all that matters

* Love is the greatest:
→ every other thing is secondary

* When your achievements are weighed on the scale of love and you are lacking, you are nothing in the sight of God

* Every Christian's desire must be to pursue love
★ Philippians 3:10 → "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

* You must not engage in a venture that equals to nothing before God

* Only love is on the heart of God and it is the only thing that matters to him when all is said and done

* When Christians (everywhere) demonstrate God's love, there will be an explosion of people in the Kingdom of God (which will generate joy in heaven)

* The world is in dire need of God's love

* You need to remember how God loved you (while you were still in your sins), and demonstrate the same measure of love & grace to those who need it around you

* NOTE: If you do not practice love, you do not qualify to be a Christian

* The two people you must not judge in your life are your parents - regardless of how much you feel they had hurt you

* You must make sacrifices for the brethren
→ You must not spiritualize the needs of others (eg by praying about it) when you can meet that need in a practical way

* The Gospel of Christ has not advanced, because Christians had consistently failed to show love to those in need

* NOTE: You are the answer to someone's prayer, but you must not shut your heart when you are required to reach out in love

* NOTE: The mark of a Christian is love, not our crosses or long prayer

* Whenever you express love to somebody, that is when you resemble God the most

* Make it your goal to be the most generous & loving person alive!

* If parents live up to their responsibility, the rate of truancy, waywardness in young people will be reduced to the barest minimum

* There is no greater glory than to make others what/who you have become

* Let love be your ambition, your vision, your pursuit, your first thought, and your last thought

★ Quotes on Love:
☆ "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
→ Mother Theresa

☆ "The hunger for love is more difficult to remove than the hunger for food."
→ Mother Theresa

☆ "The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved."
→ Mother Theresa

☆ "Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love."
→ Mother Theresa

☆ "Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. what we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."
→ Mother Theresa

☆ "It is not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving."
→ Mother Theresa

☆ "I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die, and it comes time for God to judge us, He will not asK how, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather He will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?"
→ Mother Theresa

☆"What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family."
→ Mother Theresa

★ Prayer:
"Father, help me to be the most loving person on earth."

Thank you for this

This sermon is the core of true christian doctrine, sadly 99% of our churches don't give it the attention it deserves.

Love answers to all things....

1) Without love your prayers cant be answered. Forgiveness is a key element in love. Mark 11: 22-26. Without love you cant forgive.

2) Love and pray for your enemies. Jesus prayed for his enemies even at the cross. Stephen prayed for those stoning him at the point of death which removed his blood from Paul's head.

3) You cant exhibit love and show envy/jealousy. The moment envy/jealous you are working against yourself and God. Because you are meant to glorify God in others testimonies. But envy/jealous indirectly puts you in a position away from glorifying Him. Which is the sole purpose for blessing the other person. That He alone must be glorified.

4) Compassion is an act of love which is very important for those with the gifts of healings, miracles and special faith. Jesus showed compassion in some cases to heal the sick and the lame. In a place He wept! As little as this act of love might seem it works wonder. God's compassion for man not to perish can also be expressed.

5) Giving: You cant give without love. Even to the needy and to your Creator. When there is no love for the poor or needy, nothing called giving would come out of you.

6) Preaching the gospel: The love that wants' others to enjoy they are enjoying is not selfish. The love that wants the LOST to enjoy the benefits of Jesus here on earth through Salvation,healing,prosperity, serving God without fear..... And even in the after-life or rapture as the case maybe. This love is called sharing the good tidings even when you are anointed to preach but Christ gave us as a mandate to share this good tidings.

Finally, I could go on and on about Love and preach a sermon for a whole year on it. You lay up treasures quickly through Love than any other thing.