Preached by Elena McKean, 5/15/2010

Women’s Day 2010: One God - Outline

Born in Havana, Cuba, Elena’s father had the “privilege” of knowing Fidel Castro. They attended a boys high school together, but didn’t see eye to eye, especially about God. Castro was an atheist and when he got into power Elena’s father knew that they must leave the country. The whole family came to the US. Today Elena is grateful for these events because she has come to know the one true God.

Mark 12:28-31 – The theme scripture for our event is this command to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself. But how do we do it?

1. Gotta Clean it out to be Devout
Mark 7:20-21 – All these sins are in our hearts
- They keep us from being able to love God with our whole heart
- We need to get them out of our heart in order to love God
- How do we get them out? First we need to realize how they hurt ourselves, the people closest to us, and God himself

2. Need to Believe (and forgive) to Receive
Mark 11:20-25 – prayer is one of the greatest gifts we have as Christians
- Prayer is powerful
- God knows best, but his answer isn’t always yes
- We need to forgive ANYTHING whether big or little because bitterness will make us (and those around us) miss the grace of God (Hebrews 12:15)

3. Loving your Neighbor brings God’s Favor
Mark 12:31 – Love your neighbor as yourself
- One problem is that many women don’t love themselves. We are so critical of ourselves, and we end up being critical of others
- We can love ourselves because God loves us… not because we are so great and deserve it

John 13:34-35 – Love as Jesus loved
- Need to honestly evaluate our love for one another, does it look like Jesus’ love?
- This is hard to do, even in the church. Make the decision to do it
- Jesus loved Judas. He called him friend while he was being betrayed
- Examples are powerful: Jesus was an example of God’s love, we need to be an example for one another
- Love is powerful, when we understand and practice it God’s way

Categories: Women's Ministry
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