Developing a

Loving Heart

January 30, 2000

Outline for Sunday Message

Derived from a Message written by Pastor J. David Hoke

I. We must know how to Love if we are Christians.

1. It is mandatory, commanded in scripture.

1 John 3:11 through 1 John 3:18 (KJV)
¹¹For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. ¹²Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. ¹³Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

¹⁴We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. ¹⁵Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. ¹⁶Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? ¹⁸My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

II. It must be Love inside the fellowship.

John 13:34 through John 13:35 (KJV)
³⁴A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. ³⁵By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

1. Healthy loving relationships must be built within the church.

a. The world is watching to see how we react to each other.

b. The church is made up of many different people, some will be different from us.

2. We must love our spiritual families much as we love our earthly families.

1 John 3:16 (KJV)
¹⁶Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

John 13:34 (KJV)
³⁴A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

3. We are to love as CHRIST loved us!

Romans 5:8 (KJV)
⁸But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

4. We must love one another in our actions

5. We must love one another in Truth.

II. We Must Love Those Outside The Fellowship

We must Care

We need to be people who are known by our compassion for others.

We must share

Matthew 28:18 through Matthew 28:20 (KJV)
¹⁸And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. ¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

We must show others the WAY
We must present the Gospel
We must give a hand up, not just a hand out.