The Christian Man's Duty To Love Series

Compiled by: Herman Abrahams (Pastor), Cornerstone Faith Ministries, P.O. Box 740, Westridge 7802, Rep. of South Africa.

E-Mail: Mentorship2003@yahoo.co.uk

Note to the reader:

If you have been blessed with this sermon compilation, I would be honoured to receive an e-mail from you merely telling me where in the world you are based- I do not need any other information. This is merely so that I can have the pleasure of giving thanks to Almighty God that all over the globe the ministry which he has entrusted to me, is blessing the body of Christ and helping to extend the Kingdom of God.

Thank you.

Herman Abrahams,

Cape Town, South Africa.

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THE CHRISTIAN MAN’S DUTY TO LOVE

1. HE MUST LOVE GOD

A) As a father and parent

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DEUT 6:4-9 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (NIV)

This is a command to parents in the house of God. Christian parents must lead their children by example, loving God with their whole being and with all their might.

B) As a leader & mentor

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1 TIM 4:12 … set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love (Greek – AGAPE – “Unconquerable benevolence”), in faith and in purity.

Christian leaders must set an example in showing the love of God to others. If we are to be spiritual dads and mentors in the house of God, we must lead by example in this discipline of love and be able to say with Paul “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Cor 11:1).

2. HE MUST LOVE HIS WIFE

EPHESIANS 5:25-33 25 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing a her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” b 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

A. Vs 25: Christ loved the church to the extent that he made the ultimate sacrifice for the church- death on a cross. So too a husband must be prepared to sacrifice his life for his wife, even being prepared to die for her.

B. Vs 28,33: A man no doubt loves his own body. He will feed his body when he’s hungry. He will bathe his body when necessary. He will nurse his body when it’s hurting. In the same way a husband should love his wife by taking care of her as he takes care of his own body and loves it. For a husband not to love his wife is to hate himself.

3. HE MUST LOVE HIS CHILDREN

A. Fathers/parents must tell their children “I love you”.

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ILLUSTRATION

Just a couple weeks ago, a sweet lady in our church family stood before the congregation to share her story. She had been raised in a sound Christian home and had received proper instruction as well as all the comforts a modest home could provide. Although she acknowledged that she was loved by her parents, she lamented the fact that her father had never actually said to her, "I love you."

Standing before our congregation, however, her tears flowed freely as she related how her father finally had verbally confessed his love for her. When he did, he put in place one of the essential missing pieces to the puzzle of his daughter’s life. (JAMES RAY JOHNSON, TH.M. – GOSPEL HERALD AND SUNDAY SCHOOL TIMES)

ILLUSTRATION

Bill Orr and Erwin Lutzer collaborated on a cute book called If I Could Change My Mom and Dad (Moody). The authors compiled notes written by children who had been asked to complete this sentence: "If I could change my mom and dad, I would …" One sweet twelve-year-old girl wrote: