MOUNTAIN OF FIRE AND MIRACLES MINISTRIES
International Headquarters, Lagos, Nigeria.
Sunday Worship Service
August 20th, 2023.
Topic: WHEN YOU ARE NOTHING (3)
Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1–8, 13, John 15:13, 1 John 4:18, Romans 13:8, Galatians 5:13, 1 John 4:7
Ministering: Dr. Daniel Olukoya (G.O. MFM Worldwide)
We have been looking at this topic for three weeks now, and then last week, we began to look at the characteristics of love:
– Patience.
– Kindness.
– Not envying anyone.
– Humility.
– Good manners
– Unselfishness
– Self control.
– Thinking no evil against anyone.
– Beareth all things.
– Believeth all things.
– Hopeth all things.
– Endureth all things.
– Charity never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV): “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
But apart from this scripture, there are other scriptures that emphasise the power of love.
John 15:13 (KJV): “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Meaning that love is sacrificial. You sacrifice your convenience, sleep, or food.
1 John 4:18 (KJV): “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
It is important to note that love is a running stream throughout the Scriptures. This is a situation we should bear in mind; perfect love casts out fear.
The Bible is not through yet. In Romans 13:8, we see something: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.”
The opposite is also true. He who does not love one another fulfils not the law and is on an express way to hellfire. Romans 13:8 is saying that you should not hold unto unforgiveness in your heart.
Galatians 5:13 (KJV) says: “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”
Love serves.
Galatians 5:14 (KJV): “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Meaning that all the ten commandments are put together in one sentence – love.
It is the conclusion of the law.
Love your neighbour, and you will not steal, gossip, rumour, or keep malice with that neighbour. We should understand this as believers in a fasting programme and as believers seeing the last days approaching and seeing the signs surrounding us all.
1 John 4:7 (KJV): “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. This is the conclusion of the whole law.”
1 John 4:8 (KJV): “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
It did not say that God is hope. It did not say God is faith. God is love. Now for all these virtues and characteristics of love, the king and queen of all these virtues is one character the Bible calls patience. The original meaning is to hold off one’s anger.
When someone irritates you, and there are so many people who irritate all over the place, love makes you hold off your anger and seek a peaceful resolution without bitterness.
In moments of animosity and anger, true love shows kindness. So the one who truly loves a person will patiently wait for improvement in others. Everyone is different. What I can do, you cannot do. What you can do, I cannot do. We are different because of our environment and genetics. We do not have the same intelligence, grace, or knowledge. What you think is obvious may not be completely obvious to the other party.
There are plenty of foolish young people. There are lots of foolish old men and women too. So the one who loves will patiently wait for improvement in others.
What am I saying in particular to the husbands and wives here? Love copes with suffering. Love endures pain, sorrow, and anger. It endures selfish, critical, and immature speaking against them. You must have perfect love.
Here in this ministry, one of the GO’s regulations for pastors is that they should not be going to women’s homes to do vigils. If you do, we will discipline you. One pastor began to visit a lady, saying they were doing a vigil. After some time, the vigil became another vigil, the lady got pregnant, and the pastor was reported. So the day we summoned the pastor, the lady came with him. Meanwhile, the pastor had been suspended.
The lady looked at me and said, “What right do you have to suspend my husband?” I said, “When did you marry?” She said, “I am pregnant, and so I am married. You have no right. And I am going to report you to a human rights organisation that you are tormenting people here. I am pregnant, period!” I was just looking at her. Anyone who does not wish to be insulted should not become a pastor. Pastors are always insulted by people.
So I kept looking at them. But I noticed that the pastors around me were getting angry. “Why are you talking to our GO like that?” So I turned to them and said, “But she is not talking to you now. It is me and her alone.” So she talked and talked, and I did not answer. So the same person who talked and talked and saw I was not responding now started crying. I was still staring at her. The anger did not upset me, just as the crying did not upset me.
So people will insult you, and whatever they have done to you, they have done worse to Jesus. They called Jesus a madman. They said, “Why are you listening to him? He is a mad man”. A person who has the power to say “All of you saying I am mad, be roasted”. But he was just looking at them. At a stage, they said Jesus was demon-possessed. But Jesus had patience.
Love is not judgmental in rushing to judge someone based on assumptions, expectations, or rumours. As a believer, do not join anyone in rushing to judgement against anybody when you do not even have the truth. Perfect love does not hastily retaliate. Perfect love does not say, “You do not know me. I am a green snake in the green grass. When I strike, you will see”.
That is not love; that is hatred. Perfect love does not promptly punish because, under the virtue of character, which is patience, love exhibits self-restraint in the face of provocation. And when patience is there, it does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial.
So to be patient is to be long-tempered.
===> Can you close your eyes where you are and tell the Lord that that perfect love of Christ should manifest itself in your heart.
All the “I am sorry, I will not put up with that” is not love; putting up with bad treatment is love. Calmly handling or receiving injuries from others is love. Not getting angry, vengeful, or spiteful when offended is love. Somebody is taking advantage of you, and the fact that you are not getting angry is an exhibition of love. When you are made to wait for someone who moves at a slower pace, you wait. Patience waits.
Patience does not strike back after being insulted. You see, with this virtue of patience alone, a lot of marital problems are over. Patience is refusing to pay back evil for evil. You do not give your wife the silent treatment. It is amazing that people are living in the same house after one month of not talking. The wife serves the man food, and the man will put a note on the food: “Sorry, I am not eating today”. No talk.
And this is a serious matter. Do not give your spouse the silent treatment. So true love is patient, long suffering, and not retaliating. I read a story years ago. There used to be an American president called Abraham Lincoln. There used to be another man called Edwin Startin. Edwin Startin was always mocking Abraham Lincoln. He would write articles and call him a clown. In fact, he called him the original gorilla.
He said that it is ridiculous to be looking for gorillas in Africa when we can find Abraham Lincoln in America. He poured insults at Lincoln. But there was a time when Lincoln needed a secretary. Lincoln appointed this man, who was calling him a gorilla, as secretary. By the time Lincoln died, this man wrote a tribute to the person he was calling a gorilla. He wrote “There lies the greatest ruler of men”.
I worked in a place some years ago, and I worked under a boss who did not like me at all. And he did not hide it, always harassing me at work. But the Bible teaches us not to be fighting and talking back at people.
Then something happened. I was to go to France for a scientific meeting. He, too, was to go to France for a scientific meeting. Because he did not like me, he did not tell me he was going. But I knew he was going. So I got to France before him.
A day after I got there, there was a riot. There were strikes. Trains were not moving, and the whole place was down. So those who travelled there that day were in trouble. There was nothing to pick them up from the airport; buses were not moving, and I knew that this my boss was coming. He, too, was visiting France for the first time. I knew that if he came in from Nigeria like that, he would suffer. So I went to the airport, hired a car with my scanty money, and waited for the Nigerian flight to arrive.
Then they started alighting. Looking at him from the front, I could see the worry on his face, though he had not seen me yet. He had been told at the airport that there was no bus, taxi, or train. So he came and saw me and said, “Dr. Olukoya, what are you doing here?” I said, “I came here to receive you because I know you will suffer. No bus, no taxi, no train.” He was speechless. I said “Follow me, sir”. So I took his luggage, and he followed me. Then we entered, and I took him to where he should go.
As the taxi was going through the town of Paris, he could see that the town was in a mess. I took him to his hotel. When he got down, he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “I am sorry, I never liked you. But this thing you have done today, you have won me over.” And from that day on, in our place of work, if I am not there and somebody is talking against me, he will fight them behind my back.
That is because I exhibited the Biblical character called ‘love’. It is easy for me to say “This man has been harassing me, let him suffer”. But that will not be biblical. So when you have the love of Christ in you, you have to be good and pleasant to others. We should be complementary, not harsh or critical. We should offer encouragement when needed. We should lend a helping hand even when it is not asked for.
You should be nice to people, no matter how you are treated. If you only do good in response to good, then you are just polite. But if you do good in response to evil, then you are kind. We are made for love, and by love, on this earth, we were made to love each other because, at death, all of us will take our examination on love.
If we have trained ourselves well and followed the injunction of Christ that says “love thy neighbour as thyself”, then we shall go and live eternally in love. But every time we love ourselves and we hate other people, then we are digging our graves and hiding the spade with which we are digging it.
The Bible says that only the brother or sister who loves his brother dwells in light, but he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and he does not know where he is going because he is blind. Each time you divert love to yourself alone, you do not want to love others; it is like you are poisoning yourself.
Let us go back to 1 Corinthians 13 again.
1 Corinthians 13:9–13 (KJV): “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
True love is willing to help people, even if it hurts them. The question this morning is this: do we have this love of Christ in our hearts? Are we the kind of people God wants us to be as far as love is concerned? Are we like that?
===> May the Lord help us in Jesus name.
Many years ago, as we were about to finish junior high school in those days, they brought a retired headmaster to talk to us as we were passing out. He said, “Students, I am going to tell you the 10 commandments of human relations,” and he began to tell us. I am going to tell you what he said now. That time, I did not know much about the Bible, but looking back now, I see that everything he was saying was from scripture. He said:
1. “Speak to people. There is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting. Good morning, good afternoon, with a smile on your face.” Some do not speak to people. They say, “I am on my own. I do not want to greet anybody”.
2. Smile at people. It takes 72 muscles to frown on your face, whereas it takes only 14 muscles to smile.
3. Address people respectfully.
4. Be friendly and helpful. If you have friends, then you yourself must be friendly.
5. Be cordial. Speak and act as if everything you are doing is for genuine pleasure.
6. Be genuinely interested in people. If you try, you can like almost everybody.
7. Be generous with praise and courteous with criticism.
8. Be considerate of the feelings of others. ‘Students, there are usually three sides to a controversy: your own side, the other person’s side, and the right side.’
9. Be alert to give service. What counts most in life is what we do for others.
10. Be patient and humble, and you will be rewarded manyfold.
If you look at these 10 commandments, they are all scriptural matters, hinging on one bit the Bible calls love.
PRAYER POINTS.
1. Dark powers, assigned to waste my life, die! in the name of Jesus.
2. Powers poisoning me in the dream, you are liars, die! in the name of Jesus.
3. Wicked elders, assigned against my progress, your time is up, die! in the name of Jesus.
4. Powers that hate my laughter, die! in the name of Jesus.
5. Powers saying that I shall not go far, you are liars, die! in the name of Jesus.
6. Powers, taking my name to the covens, your time is up, die! in the name of Jesus.
7. Any sacrifice offered to destroy me, backfire! in the name of Jesus.
8. Arrows of sickness fired against me, go back to your senders! in the name of Jesus.
9. (Make this pronouncement seven hot times.) My enemies shall die in my place, by the power in the blood of Jesus!
10. Embargo powers, I am not your candidate, die! in the name of Jesus.
11. I bind and cast out, every spirit of blockage, in the name of Jesus.
12. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Arise, give me a mega miracle! in the name of Jesus.
(Shout seven Jericho destroying Hallelujahs.)
13. As I shout the blood of Jesus seven times, every pollution in my body must go! in the name of Jesus.
14. Powers assigned to suppress my destiny, die! in the name of Jesus.
15. Every chain binding my progress, break! in the name of Jesus.
16. My prosperity, what are you doing in the valley of witchcraft? Come out by fire! in the name of Jesus.
17. (shout your name), hear the Word of the Lord, become a mysterious wonder! in the name of Jesus.
18. Uncommon miracles, undeserved miracles, locate me by fire! in the name of Jesus.
God bless you 🙏