Loving Others by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

What Jesus died for

There is a clear understanding from scriptures of what Jesus died for

Matthew 1:21

Jesus is like Joshua or Yeshua, it means savior

There are many reasons why Jesus died, but there are 3 primary reasons

1. He died for the forgiveness of sins

2. He died to show us how we ought to be

   His life is a prototype and by that Jesus implicates us

   God put the Holy Spirit in Jesus to test run how the new creation, the OS, will be. Jesus with the Holy Spirit lived a blameless life, tempted in all ways yet without sin, and lived out the perfect will of God

   He worked miracles, signs and wonders as earthly tokens for spiritual realities. Then God said, successful project, and put that same Holy Spirit in us

   If God plants orange and you come with mango, you missed the point. With the Holy Spirit in you, your outcome ought to be Jesus

3. He came to reveal the Father to us

Law and grace

In the law you had the barest minimum. In grace you are invited to live the God life. In the law, if they are not talking to you, you don't talk back. In grace, because God doesn't keep malice, malice is now a sin

In the law, right and wrong pertain to code of conduct. In grace, right and wrong pertain to conscience. You can do something right and feel wrong, and because you feel wrong, it is wrong

If everybody is sitting, the Lord tells you to stand, and you are ashamed and sit, that is sin in grace. It is called quenching the Spirit. That is the God life Israel did not want. They said this regulation within us is too much, just give us a law, the barest minimum to appease him so he can leave us

These 3 realities produce 2 results

1. We are brought back into God's family

   John 14:2

   My father's house is the Greek oikia, household. Mansions is the Greek monai, dwelling places. It is old English, it means my Father's family has many dwelling places. Where does God dwell? In his children

   The place Jesus went to prepare was his death, burial and resurrection. With the outpouring of the Spirit he made us dwelling places for the Father. God won't stay in strangers. He can be around them but he only stays with family

2. We have a change of hearts

   Jeremiah 31:33-34

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   The law is now written in our hearts and minds, more like conscience. This shows what comes with receiving forgiveness of sins

   God becomes your God, just like he became Abraham's God. God does not improve our hearts, he changes our hearts. He takes away the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh

The wicked heart

In 1961 Adolf Eichmann, SS lieutenant colonel and mastermind of the Holocaust and the death camps, was put on trial, televised. Yehiel Dinur, a death camp survivor, was brought to testify. When he saw him in the box he collapsed, sobbing, and fainted.

In 1983 Mike Wallace asked him on 60 Minutes if it was hate or fear. Dinur said, not hate or fear. This is not a demon or a superman, this is an ordinary man like me. If he is capable of this, I am capable of it. Eichmann is in all of us. I collapsed because I was facing myself.

Jeremiah 17:9

That is an uncircumcised heart, not the heart of a believer

Two hearts in that story: the heart of a wicked man and the heart of an introspective man. One has a heart of stone doing evil, the other a heart of flesh. A Nazi soldier said it was only in prison he realized killing was bad. It was just a job to him.

Ezekiel 36:26

A wicked, hardened heart is not your heart if you are born again

Why a new spirit?

Ephesians 2:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:7

There is a programming within your members and a devilish spirit that makes people love sin. There is a spirit that works disobedience in the sons of disobedience

Just as good works are powered by the Holy Ghost, dead works and evil works are powered by the devil. If you don't understand, you will keep submitting to demonic influence and saying that's how I am. That is not how you are. It says you once walked

The Christian heart

In 1944 Corrie ten Boom and her family were arrested in Haarlem, Holland, for hiding Jews. Her father died within days. She and her sister Betsie were sent to a concentration camp, stripped, starved, humiliated, made to walk naked. Her sister died in December 1944. Corrie was released through a clerical error.

After the war she preached one message: God forgives and buries our sins in the deepest sea. In 1947 in Munich, a bald man in a gray overcoat came forward after the service. She recognized him instantly, one of the guards who stood over the women walking naked past him. He said he had become a Christian and knew God had forgiven him. He held out his hand and asked, will you forgive me?

She froze, cold anger, pictures of her dying sister and father. She prayed silently, Jesus, I cannot forgive him, give me your forgiveness. As an act of will she raised her hand. Warmth rushed from her shoulder down her arms into their joined hands and her heart flooded with love for this wicked stranger. She said, I forgive you, my brother, with all my heart. The forgiveness she was commanded to give was not hers, it was Christ flowing through her. That is the heart of a believer.

A philosopher said without the teachings of Jesus human beings would be wild animals. Remove the 10 commandments from society and see what you have.

No religion is persecuted like Christianity. The God of the Bible is almost too merciful to a fault. You insult him and he puts his Spirit in you, fills you with utterance and tells you to preach for him.

If you don't know your heart you will behave like what you are not. The Christian heart is

• A tender heart
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Pastor Dolapo Lawal
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• A soft heart
• A kind heart
• A tolerant heart
• A faithful heart

These are not done mechanically, they are fruits the Holy Spirit works within us

The Christian is the only one who prays, gets no answer, and prays again. He believes for a miracle, it does not happen, and the next minute he is asking for another. Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit. Jeremiah said he did not want to prophesy but there was fire shut up in his bones, God was the one bringing it out Jeremiah 20:9

A wicked Christian does more work being wicked. Doing good comes by default. When you do evil your conscience starts to speak. If you silence it, you feel a leanness within your heart

I wronged a fellow player on the football field and the Holy Spirit convicted me. I went looking for him for four days. I told him sorry through his friend. My conscience could not live with it. That is the Christian heart.

Do not avenge yourself

Romans 12:19-20

The person being addressed is the offended, not the enemy. Beloved, do not avenge yourself. Repay means God repays the actor in the text. God repays vengeance by making sure you have food to give them when they are hungry. He promotes you

From the moment you want to revenge, your satisfaction is the vengeance. No promotion for you. Joseph did not need to execute Potiphar's wife, God made him a father to Pharaoh. David did not need to do anything to Saul, God gave his throne to him

If you were treated badly in a relationship and you respond in love, you can't marry wrong. If you open a blog and abuse them in the comment section, that is your payment. Do you want blood or promotion? You pick

The Christian heart is the Jesus heart. Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Stephen carried that same heart. It is easier said than done but that is our programming.

Love poured out

Romans 5:5

Shed abroad is the same word as poured out. It means overflowing, lavish, the same word that describes the outpouring of the Spirit. If you can heal, you can forgive. If you can speak in tongues, you can love and let go

The Bible does not say forgive and forget. When God says I will remember your sins no more, it does not mean amnesia. In the Hebrew it means I will not treat you based on what I know about your past. Paul chose not to reckon himself with his past. Chief of sinners, yet he said we have wronged no man

We can love to a fault where people call us foolish

There is nothing cute about Jesus saying forgive them. The disciples were disappointed. John 10 says he escaped from among them. Peter cut off the ear, Jesus restored it. Peter's mind was we can't lose because we have power. Jesus' mind was this is how we win, surrender.

The Christian cares about everybody's eternal destination. It is a burden that I won't go alone. That is who you are, you don't have to try to be.

His love shows in 2 ways

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Fervent In Spirit

by Apostle Emmanuel Iren

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1. Love for God's people

   1 John 3:14, 1 John 3:15, Ephesians 1:15

   This love flows from God to you, not from you. If you get this your marriage will work. Once you have faith in Jesus the next thing is love for all the saints

   We have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. Our faith in Jesus is demonstrated in our love for the brethren. Abides in death is a cute way to say he is not saved. Loving people is evidence of the Spirit of God in us, just like tongues is evidence of the Holy Spirit

   Bitterness is conforming to the world. People join church and say they will never be known there because something happened in their former church. If the devil wants to get you he will hurt you in church, because that is the hospital

   1 John 3:16

   In John 3:16 you are told he died for you. In 1 John 3:16 you die for others

   Greedy people want more, they don't give. You are greedy when you cannot release, or when you release because of what you will get. Selfish people give when giving gives them attention. If you are rich and shut up your heart from a brother in need, are you sure the love of God abides in you? 1 John 3:17

   This is the balance. Love is shown in deed and truth, not in talk 1 John 3:18. If you see your brother in need he should not have to ask. You see someone's leg coming out of their shoe, don't come to church next week without a pair of shoes for them

   We know when they cheat us and we look away, that is what Christians do. Some pick church by class. Many pastors don't like their members. Never start by valuing people for money. Dr. David told an elder it is only students in his ministry. The elder told him students are the future, my congregation is dying, yours is blooming

   Nobody here is small. This is Zion, the church of the firstborn Hebrews 12:22-23. Everyone has something money cannot buy, the Holy Ghost. That is wealth. God will raise you as governor and you will be an usher. You are Joseph to your brothers

2. Love for God's work

   2 Corinthians 5:17, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

   God's work is giving men life and making men fishers of men. New creation has a functionality. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Through you God is making peace with men

   Jesus did it but if you don't tell it, it will look as though he didn't. You are a co-laborer with God, you have the privilege of partnering to meet God's need. If you are bringing souls into the kingdom and will receive a reward, I don't think you are carrying a crown to hell. Holiness is giving yourself holy to God

   You can be in modern church 10 years and never heal, never walk in a miracle. That is abnormal. Everything is about you, you leave pumped with no conviction. We have too many fake conversions. A real Christian has a radical change, a hunger burning for the word and for souls

   Tim Keller said there are two kinds of Christians. Those who feel God owes them and those who feel they owe God. The latter is better. There is no way you can be right with God by actions and merit. You are supposed to ask, how high? Think about what he delivered you from

Protect the bond of peace

Don't cheat the brethren. Someone gives you out of sacrifice and you use it for lifestyle. That is what killed Ananias and Sapphira. Things will die in your life and you will stay in perpetual begging. You are the giver in the story, not the collector. Givers will always give, collectors will always collect. He that stole let him steal no more that he may give

Don't cause division. Four or five friends gravitating together is not a clique. It becomes a clique when there is classism in the mindset

2 Corinthians 2:10

The forgiving here is of the person offended. In church you will be offended, but keep the bond of peace

One major tool of the devil in scattering a church is offense and unforgiveness. They will offend you, it is normal. An oppressor is a victim, he is only doing what he has seen

Bill Johnson was at a conference in Europe. A woman came forward singing off key and he held on for the entire 40 minutes saying to himself, Bill, be patient. Afterwards he was told she had been a sex worker for 38 years and it was her first time in church. He said, you don't know why people walk the way they walk until you wash their feet.

Sometimes you need a backstory to know why people behave the way they do. A believer 2 or 3 years in Christ is a child learning to walk and talk. It is called tolerance. If you get rid of bad people in your space you can't grow. You need Judas for your cross because Peter won't do it

I wanted to remove a tough girl from a group I led. God said keep her. Once you remove her everyone is a yes person and your height is not the aggregate of all the minds, it is just your own. Judas has his part in your story. Prison was preservation for Joseph. You meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Let God write your story, it will be sweet

The shepherd, the sheep, the hireling and the wolf

John 10:11-13

• The shepherd is the good shepherd. Branch pastors are shepherds
• The sheep are the members
• The hireling has nothing to gain and nothing to lose, it is just business, like the one who plays keyboard for a gig. No interest or stake at all
• The wolf is within the sheep, in sheep clothing

The sheep face forward and cannot see left and right. Only a mature person who can turn and look sees the wolf, which is the shepherd. A healthy church has to be a church of pastors, everybody mature enough.

When the shepherd brings out the wolf and flogs it, the wolf in sheep clothing says leave this sheep. Other sheep think that is how he would treat us. The wolf leaves, the sheep follow, and the flock is scattered.

Wolf character

Gossip is wolf character. You must see it as an insult that someone gossips with you. Lucifer did it. He told a third of the angels, God has another plan, he wants to make man, let's start our own kingdom

Gossip is 3 in 1. It destroys who you gossip about, it destroys the gossiper, and it destroys the listener. It bewitches you. What they said casts a spell and distorts how you now perceive the person

Gossip is a spirit. Like weed, within 3 days of arriving somewhere you know the dealer. You never gossip about people you like. The reason you gossip is deep down you hate them or you are offended, and you are in denial

2 Timothy 2:2

Closing charge: what you have heard, commit it to faithful men who will teach others also