Good day Brothers and Sisters,

I attache the Bible Study Outline for Sunday 27 October 2024 on the topic “Demonstrating Sacrificial Love”.  This is the next in our current Quarter Series on Living a Life of Sacrifice and Service.  The main texts are John 3:16, 15:9-17, and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.  The key learning points are as follows:

1.    God who is divine demonstrated His love by sending His Son Jesus Christ. We too must make the love of God in our hearts visible by practical acts of love for others.
2.    God who is the source of love, loved us and gave his son to us. So, if we want to demonstrate sacrificial love the way God did, we must abide in Him which means walking in obedience.
3.    Sacrificial love is a fruit produced by the Holy Spirit when we yield to God in a desire to love like Christ loved.

Yours in his service

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Brethren,

How are you doing today? I trust this meets you well.

Last Sunday we looked at our responsibility to civil authorities. This Sunday, we continue in Romans chapter 13. And this time, we would be focusing on our responsibility to each other, not just as believers, but as human beings. We will be looking at this under the topic: Love, The Fulfillment of the Law.

Key Learning points include:

1. To “owe nothing to anyone except for your debt to Love one another” makes loving others (believers and non-believers) as the only debt (obligation) which God places on the believer, and which no believer can ever, and is ever expected to get out of.
2. Love fulfills all requirements of the Law. We all love ourselves so much that none of us would like his life, property, spouse, to be taken by another. In similar manner, if we show the same love for others, we would have ended up fulfilling God’s commands in relation to Himself and to others. In this way, love ties all the law under one heading Romans 13:10a.
3. There is an urgency to this call to love others: The night is almost gone, the day of salvation is here… therefore, we must turn away from a sinful life and start to execute the life of love today. 

See the attached outline for your further reference.

See you on Sunday.

Brethren,

Hope this email finds you well.

In 1 John 3:10 & 14, God uses some strong unmistakable words to describe the believer who does not love. It calls for serious reflection as we continue this quarter series on the believers’ manifestation. This time, we shall be looking at ‘Exhibiting Love’

The key lessons are:
1. God loved us first. So, if we want to manifest love, we must be ready to take the initiative the way God did.
2. God who is invisible made His love visible by sending His Son Jesus Christ. We too must make the invisible love of God in our hearts visible by practical acts of love for others.
3. God is the Source of love. To love the way God does is humanly impossible, and achievable only by God’s presence in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

See outline attached for your further reference.

Compliments of the season.

All this quarter, we have been exploring Love- A more excellent way. THis week, we turn our focus to a real and direct command – Love one another. See attached outline for your reference.

Key learning points include:

1.     Love one another is a command not a suggestion. A distinguishing mark of being a follower of Christ is a deep, sincere love for brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.     In this command to love one another, Jesus Christ did not leave each believer to define what and how to love a fellow believer. He Himself is our template of that love. Believers are commanded to love as Jesus loves – unconditionally, sacrificially, with forgiveness, etc.

3.     Believers can only love as Jesus loves through the instrumentality of God dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit living within us. By obeying the Spirit, through the Word of God, the believer can love like Christ does. 

May the blessings of Christmas be yours in abundance.

I trust this finds you well and rejoicing in Jesus.

We continue with our quarter series on Love- A more excellent way. The topic we are considering this time is ‘Love finds joy in doing good’ See attached outline for your reference.

Key Learning points include:

1.     Love that finds joy in doing good is decided, intentional and premeditated

2.     Since love comes from God, the ability to find joy in doing good has to come from God.

3.     There are obstacles to our efforts to grow a heart that delights in doing good. And we must be aware of those obstacles and strive to overcome them. 

Luke 12:32

Our series on Love-A More Excellent Way is getting more tangible as we look at God’s love in action.

Key learnings

1.     God’s Love is Revealed in Christ – Christians must look to God and to Jesus Christ for a picture of what love in action is (relentless, enabling, other seeking, self-initiating & sacrificial) and apply them to our lives.

2.     God’s Love is Revealed through His Children – Christians must realize loving others, believers, and unbelievers alike, is how we show the world that we know God and belong to God. That love must be sacrificing, daring, and motivated by knowing that God loves one.

3.     It is only by receiving God’s nature that we can love actively as He does. 

See attached outline for your reference.

1 John 3: 18

Our series on ‘Love –  a more excellent way’ has us looking at another thing love is and is not – ‘Love thinks no evil but rejoices with the truth.’ See attached outline for your reference.

KEY LEARNING POINTS

1.     ‘Thinking evil’ means keeping a record of wrongs done to us. This is taking the command to forgive to a higher level of not even keeping record of the wrong done to us or taking them into consideration.

2.     Love and joy cannot exist where truth – sincerity and morality – is absent. The pursuit of personal ambition and vainglory are typical enemies of truth.

3.     Truth is an attribute of God. And as His children, we must imbibe and express that attribute in our daily life irrespective of what is happening around us. God is counting on His children to promote truth in all we do.

May love cover all manner of wrongs as we relate with others.

Our quarter series on Love- A more excellent way is getting more exciting. This Sunday, we shall be looking at Love as the greatest gift. See outline attached for your reference.

Key Learning Points:

1.     God’s gift of Himself to us through Christ’s redemption and the gift of the Holy Spirit as God abiding in and with us forever is the greatest gift God could ever give us.

2.     God left us in no doubt as to how to respond to His love for us. Loving the LORD our God with all our heart, soul and mind is the greatest gift we can give to God, and this is demonstrated through obedience to Him and total surrender and abandonment of ourselves for His pleasure.

3.      Loving one another as Christ loves us is the greatest gift we can give one another. This is demonstrated by the virtues of patience, kindness, looking out for one another amongst others; and laying down our lives for the brethren. 

1 John 3:1

We series on Love- A More Excellent Way continues this week. This time, we shall be looking at Love and Submission. See outline attached for your reference.

Key Learning points:

1.     Jesus calls us to a life of humility and submissions, where we must be willing to do lowly and sometimes even repulsive acts of service.

2.     Loving others and submitting ourselves one to another will always be a distinguishing mark of the followers of Christ and is a precursor to the spread of the gospel. (John 13:34-35)

3.     Jesus submitted to the cross out of love for God and for us. When we submit to one another in love we show that we are following His example of surrender and obedience, and we are in effect using our power for the benefit of others.

May the love of God spur us on to a life of submission to Him and to one another.

We continue our study of Love- The Most Excellent Way. This time, we take a look at another thing Love is not and does not – does not dishonour others and not easily provoked. See attached outline for your reference.

Key Learning Points:

1.      Since love is seeking the good of the other person, rudeness, at its core, emanates from a lack of love for other people. And reveals an attitude which says ‘I couldn’t care less about you’

2.       Dishonouring another produces other emotions which do not promote love. Emotions like anger, resentment and keeping record of wrongs. And these hinder the purposes of God in our lives and in the world.

3.      Jesus Christ is our perfect example. His meekness and humility helped Him respond respectfully even to the greatest disrespect from persons He could easily have annihilated with His breath. 

May we grow in love.