Pastor Gail – Welcome
1. Good morning. We can tell we’re entering summer. And I always every year I say the same thing. I’m always excited to see who I’m going to see in church. Because we never know. But I’m always so thankful when we are able to gather together to just worship the Lord together. And he’s excited, I believe. He loves to hear our praises.
2. I believe that God wants to love us. He wants us to know that love. So, we have a wonderful privilege of praising him and to give worship. Would you stand? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
3. Lord Heavenly Father, we are here today. We’re here to worship you. Oh, Lord. Lord, we do we have to open our hearts. So, we do, Lord, right now. We say be welcome in our hearts today, Lord, be welcomed in our lives, each one of us. We need you. We want you to sit on the throne of our hearts today, Lord. Be on the throne of our Lord. I mean, we need the Lord, don’t we? Amen. Amen.
4. And one of the ways we let him know we need him. Is to say, oh, Lord, you’re welcome in my life today. You’re welcome.

Pastor Gail – Reading the Word
5. Oh, Lord, I need you. Lord, I need you. Would you turn with me in your word? We’re going to go to Romans 3. And feel free. We can all read this together. Romans 3:10, “There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away. All alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. Romans 3:22, “However, the righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
6. We need of God. Only he is good. But the Lord is looking for people who will seek to love him today and to worship him. Amen. We’re here today to tell him we love him and we need him. His goodness, his goodness, his love. Your love, Lord. Your love, Lord.

Pastor Gail – Announcements
7. Can you just greet someone today near you with the love of the Lord? And we hope you will not run off because we don’t have normal coffee time today. No coffee time today. As soon as service is over, unless you grab something quick.
8. But we’re going to ask and invite all of us. And if you need a ride, Stavros, or Stavros, or Stavros, you can tell Leto or Pastor Brian or myself and we will help you to get we’re going down to Glyfada Beach. And why are we going? Say why? Baptism. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
9. And is that because Jesus is your Savior? We’re so glad. I was so blessed. Because I didn’t ask her, I didn’t know to her. Her family came to me. Said, Anastasia wants to be baptized. Look at the smile on that face. We love you. So, we won’t take a long time at the beach. We will worship the Lord for a little bit.
10. Then Pastor Brian and I will take Anastasia into the water. I’d like to invite all of you also. After the baptism, why don’t you invite somebody to go for coffee? Yeah, it’s an opportunity for you to have a little time with your family.
11. So, I’m going to ask you all to stretch out your hands. And we’re going to welcome our Brazilian Greek family back from Brazil. But if you’ll stretch your hands out towards Anastasia. And Stavros, I’m going to ask you to pray a blessing on Anastasia.
12. Be sure to give her a big hug and kiss. Baptism is so, so important. Felicia, you’re going to go into the water with her, right? Yeah, that’s lovely. Felicia, asked if she could go in and stand beside us. That’s beautiful.
13. But the Scriptures are very clear. When we ask Jesus to come into our life, we don’t wait until we’ve studied all the theology of baptism. We don’t wait so our whole family can be baptized with us. But the Bible is very clear. It says, repent. Ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins, and be baptized.
14. And there’s something very powerful when we go down into the water. It represents dying with Jesus Christ. It’s saying, my old life is gone. And coming up out of the water, it represents I’m a new creation in Jesus Christ. Amen.
15. So, I hope you feel the same way I do. Thrilled to see our young people. Thrilled to see our youth, making a public statement, I’m following Jesus. Isn’t that wonderful? Praise God. Amen. Yeah, let’s clap for that. That’s good. Praise God. Praise the Lord. We’re so thankful for that.
16. We’re glad you’re here today. Want to make a few announcements. And one of them, and you’ll see it on the bulletin board over there in Greek, and I’m going to give you, this will also be in English.
17. On the 6th of June, it is March for Jesus Day. And so, if you would like, it’s wonderful. In the past, we’ve had some of the people from the local church go. We don’t always go. I know our schedules get busy. But it would be wonderful if you go down. They’re going to have a concert. Different people will be singing. I think it’s going to be lots of fun. And we get to lift our voices with other believers in the city that are declaring, we want Jesus to reign over Athens, the greater Athens area. Amen. We believe that.
18. All this week, from tomorrow, actually, and they will be with us next Sunday, we have a team from Oral Roberts University. They will be here all week. These are all students between 18 and 20. They’re here on a mission.
19. They want to begin the next season of their life, having followed Jesus in mission degrees. And so, if you’ll be in prayer with us this week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning, the church as usual will be open at 10 AM for prayer. And we’re going to be really praying., the team will be praying with us for a great awakening in this land.
20. And I want to thank those of you that are going to be helping with meals, et cetera, while they’re here. It’s a huge blessing to the local church. And possibly one of them may be sharing the Word next Sunday. That will be fun. So, we’re so thankful we get to all these wonderful things ahead on our calendar. Amen.
21. We’re getting ready to receive our offering for the Lord. And I’m going to ask if Leto will come and pray for our offering this morning. Also in the offering disks, the offering plates. If you have a prayer request you would like us to remember, please feel free to take one and fill it out so we can be praying for you this week.
22. And I do have one more question. Wait just a minute, Leto. Kitty Everett. Will she and her husband, many of you may know that, are going to be here for a couple weeks. I believe they’re supposed to be here today. And Kitty would like to host a ladies’ day. And if you would speak with Leto after service, or if you would respond on the WhatsApp group, I will be asking what day and time is good for all of you.
23. And that little purple bag, that Benjamin is holding. I’ll be reminding for a while what this is. We really want to take a church trip together. It’ll be fun. Amen. Yes. Yes. We used to do it. It’s time to do it again. We’re collecting all your extra change. Just drop it in there. We’re believing for lots of money.
24. And before we take the offering, you may have noticed our tents are gone. Well, you know, when we had that bad storm, the wind just finally tore them off. We’ve had them a long time. We don’t know if the insurance is going to be able to help us. But even if they do, it’s not going to be the whole amount. We know that. So, if you would like to help with putting new tents up on the church, we will gladly let you help.
25. So, Leto, I’m going to ask you to pray for the offering this morning. Amen. And we also want to dismiss our children for children’s church today. We’re thankful for our children to be with us.
26. And please, I just want to really invite you one more time. Let’s all go to the baptism together today. It’s a celebration. Amen. Praise God. Turn to someone and say, I’m so glad I get to see you today. Praise God. I’m glad I get to see you today. Amen. Praise God.
27. I believe that love changes everything. And today, on Mother’s Day, I think it’s really good to be reminded. And I believe this, that the fundamental purpose God created us was to love us. God wants to love us. He wants us to know that love.
28. And because He created us, He wanted us to know that love. His love is stronger than anything else. Would you stand one more time?

Pastor Gail – Prayer for Healing
29. We want to pray for anything that just seems like you’re not getting victory over. The Lord is stronger. He is Lord of all. Amen. And He always answers just at the right time. He has paid for every victory we need.
30. If you would like prayer for your body, will you just raise your hand where you’re at right now? Amen. We have several in the room. The Lord is our healer. Whatever other need, maybe you have need for economical needs or maybe you’re burdened about your family. Maybe you have friends that need-to-know Jesus. I’m going to just ask you; will you take someone’s hand there as you go now? Let’s pray a prayer of agreement for healing today, for God’s answer today, for us to wait today and trust Him and to say to Him, Jesus, we know you will answer right on time.
31. Let’s pray. Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, right now we thank You first of all. You paid it all. Lord, You paid for healing. You paid for deliverance. Lord, we pray for those that raise their hands that need physical healing today. Lord, we pray for lungs. We pray for, Lord, back problems, and bone difficulties, Lord. We pray that cancer goes. We pray for arthritis to go. Lord, we pray, O God, for eyes to be healed, Lord. We pray for our Arman to get up and walk out of that wheelchair. Lord, You are the healer. Lord, You are great and mighty. Lord, we pray for our children to know You, Lord. We pray for our families to know You, God. Lord, we pray for, O God, for emotional difficulties, God. Deliver us from them today, God, that we will praise You, God, for joy in the Lord. We pray for joy in Jesus. We pray for joy, God, to just flow and run like a river, God. Let it flow among us, God. We love You, Lord. We thank You, God. We give every financial need to You today, God. Lord, we know, God. Lord, You know how to meet the need, God. You are the Lord, God, of more than enough. And we thank You, God, today. More than enough. Lord, we believe, God, not to give us that we would use it selfishly. But God, that our needs would be met, and we would bless others. In the name of Jesus, amen, and amen, and amen, amen.
32. I like it when you clap hands. That’s good. Praise God. Amen.

Pastor Gail – Main Message
33. Amen. You may be seated. Today is Mother’s Day. And we’re going to, the theme today is about love. I’m going to talk just a little bit and we’re going to have a few Scriptures. We read a little bit ago, Romans 3. We’ve all sinned. We all fall short of the glory of God. And the Lord is looking for people that will give their lives to him to love him with all that we are.
34. And of course, we can’t see God. So, when we ask him to come in our life, it is by faith. And when our faith turns to trust, and we say to him, I know you can forgive me of my sins. When we pray that in faith, then love comes in and grows and grows and grows. And we sense and know. We’ve been invited into this beautiful fellowship of his abiding presence always. He says, if you come and remain with me, he says, I’ll always forgive you.
35. People are looking for love all over the world. And I believe you see it like I do. People are searching everywhere. This last week I was actually in Thailand all week. I will be honest, it was a very, very difficult trip for me. It was a lot of tension. And I told Brian when I came back, I felt like the Lord talked to me very much about love. That here in the family of God, we must be first to show and have love one for another that looks different from the world.
36. Honestly, I believe if we can’t love one another, it’s going to be difficult to show love to those that don’t know Jesus. If we don’t, show love for one another, the Lord talked to me a lot about this, this week, and of course, it doesn’t mean I’m always going to like everything about you.
37. Brian has a very famous statement he makes. He’s preached it here. My mother told me one day, he says, I love you, but I don’t like you. And sometimes we don’t like one another. It’s because we’re not God. We don’t always understand one another, why we do the things we do or why we decided things.
38. But the Lord is wanting us. And I believe it can start here among us. To learn what real love is. Angelique has a baby back there. Angelique, has your baby ever thrown up on you? Did you still love that baby? Well, sometimes we throw up on each other, but we’ve got to learn to love one another.
39. None of us are inferior to another. And I do believe we need to begin to be very careful with our words. Don’t say I’m nothing. Don’t say I’m worthless. We need to be humble before the Lord. But we need to also know that God counts you as something very special.
40. I don’t remember. I gave someone Matthew 22. Did I give it to you, Stavros? Yes. Matthew 22:37-39. You don’t have to take him out. He told the crowds today.
41. Matthew 22:37-39. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.”
42. I think we can read this passage and all of us would agree that love is at the very center. It’s God’s design. It’s His design. For all human relationships. He says, these are two of my greatest commandments. So again, if we don’t love one another, how could we really love those outsides of the church? So, I want you to turn to someone and I want you to tell them you love them. I love you.
43. Anastasia is announcing to the world today. I am a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come. I believe Anastasia now needs to see herself and all of us that have accepted Jesus. We need to see ourselves wearing the robe of love. Amen.
44. We’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb. He says to us, I have loved you. I came that you would know the love of God. Any of you today in the room that are struggling with your self-identity, the Lord wants you to know how He loves you. Amen. Amen. So, you need to turn to somebody else and say, He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He loves you.
45. So, when we think about love, I think one of the things we need to know and understand is even when other people don’t approve you or accept you. Even when we fail. Even when we might sin at times. Jesus would say, come to me. I love you. I love you. Amen. We need to know the agape love of God. God is agape. He is love. Amen. He is love. Hallelujah. So, when we come to Him, we are sheltered. We are surrounded on top, underneath, before, behind, a love that never, ever, ever ends. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
46. Amen. It never, never, never, never ends. Oh, how He loves you and me. We are incapable of loving like that. Wow. I wish I could love like that. But what I can do in my limitations is to tell Him whatever anybody else thinks of me. I fix my eyes on you. I strive to be like you. And know that even my weakness in failing, you accept me, and you love me.
47. There’s a song I learned when I was a little kid. I think some of you might. I know Brian knows it. God still working on me. To make me what I ought to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars. The sun and earth and Jupiter and Mars. But He’s still working on me. And you know why? Because His love is an everlasting love. It never, ever fails. It never fails.
48. Billy, if you will read verse 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” No one understands love better than God. Love defines the very nature of God. Have you ever thought that not only is God love, but He created it in a way for us to understand it? Any definition the world would try to give of love is never going to be reliable.
49. Eva-Lena “Whoever does not love, does not know God. Because God is love.” 1 John 4:8. I love this verse so much. Because it lets us know love is not just an emotion. Often, we present the love of God as just an emotion. But it is an attitude of our heart. Whether I feel it or not, in my heart, I know God, so I know love. I know it. I may not always feel it, but I know the God who is love, who created love, who gives love. I know I am loved.
50. And I think today, that’s one of the reasons many relationships fail. Because they think it’s just an emotion. And so, when there’s trouble in a relationship, and they can’t feel love, they think, ‘I’m not loved anymore.’
51. But I love the Greek language for the word love. We have Philaeo love, Philia. We have Storgi, the love of a family, did you know that? We have Eros. Everybody knows what that is, don’t they? And Agape. And the thing that’s most beautiful about Agape, and different from Eros, Eros love is very selfish.
52. And you can study that, it’s named after the God, Eros, and you can look at that and study it yourself. Eros, and that’s what we see in the world a lot, is I want to feel it, so I will take of it. But today, again, we’re talking about Agape. Unconditional love. Unconditional. It’s not emotional. It’s not philosophical. It’s oneness. It is.
53. When you know Agape love, you’re one with God. How powerful is that? How powerful is that? For God so loved the world, that he came, that he could be one with me and you. God is one with us. And that’s why we need to work to share that love with each other. And we’ve already read the Scripture, “Let us love one another.”
54. Agape is not self-conscious, but it’s others conscious. The love of God is not complete until it’s given away. Do you understand that? I love me myself because he loves me. But I love you too. And I sent you a little burden today. So, I’m going to take a moment out of my time, I’m so busy, to tell you, I love you and I have time, to hear what you need. And pray with you to see how God will help.
55. Agape love gives of itself. And Agape love, it’s self-initiated, it means it takes responsibility. It doesn’t wait for other people to act first. Now this is a biggie. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, “While we were still sinners, God acted first. He died for us.” Man, this is a message for people to grow up. I mean, it’s a call to become mature in the Lord. God loves without discrimination, none of us is better than the other.
56. His Agape never changes. Our love can go up and down, depending how we feel, but the love of God never changes. Can I be bold enough to say, that Agape is the only true love in the world? It’s the foundation for everything else we call love.
57. Cecilia? Jeremiah 31:3, “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” That’s one of those Scriptures, every new Bible I get, I automatically mark it almost immediately. God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. And with my loving kindness, I draw you.” While we were still sinners, He died for us.
58. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world. He gave us one and only Son, so we wouldn’t perish but have eternal life.” And then I love Ephesians 2:3-4, but it says, “Because of God’s great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, He made us alive in Jesus Christ when we were dead in our sins.”
59. Would you turn with me if you have your Bible to 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.” Whatever language, whatever translation you have, I’d like us to read this together now. Greek, English, whatever you have. Let’s read this all together right now. 1, 2, 3, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God.”
60. 1 John 4:10, “This is love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” This is love. The Bible doesn’t really give us a clear why except, He wants us to love Him. But when we ask why you did this to people, it’s because there’s conditions. But I want to remind us again this morning God’s love is unconditional. It is His nature to love us. How beautiful is that? It is the nature of God to love us. To love us, to love us.
61. Now turn to 1 John 4:7-10. Did I have somebody else read the scripture? I think that’s everybody. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us. He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
62. Jesus gave Himself out of His great love. Love must always give itself away to be fulfilled. So, love needs a receiver. And for love to be complete, the receiver must return it to the giver. That’s the relationship God has designed for each of us.
63. This is His invitation to us. We were created to receive God’s love and give it back to Him. God calls us, as we read earlier, to love Him with all our heart, our mind, our soul, our strength. This is the kind of love that will enable us to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. He wants us to live in that love forever.
64. As I was thinking about the sermon today, there are a few people in the room that know that, I walked away from my meeting with a deep wound. And I could choose to judge that person, to cut them off, or I can choose to carry the sorrow and pray for the person, and to keep loving them.
65. And the Lord actually spoke to me, we’ve got to learn to live there, this side of heaven, we’re all going to know the same thing that Jesus felt, when they spit on Him, when they cursed Him, in my case it wasn’t like that. When they rejected Him, but yet He went to the cross, because His love is so great, so big, so amazing, so beautiful.
66. He wants us to learn to love like He did. Let us love one another, for love comes from God. That’s what 1 John says, and everyone who loves, has been born of God. Beloved let’s love one another.
67. It’s Mother’s Day today, and in this local church, we celebrate every woman, no matter how young you are or how old you are, because there’s something about being a woman, that we like to mother, like little girls, they like to hold their dolls and love them. We want to give love.
68. But I asked Leto to get enough flowers that everyone in the church today, could have a flower. Because, I was thinking about the Father heart of God today too. Everyone, take a flower please. The Father heart of God is, Oh, it’s for me? The Father heart of God is, I want to love you, I want to provide for you, I want to protect you. We need the love of a mother and a father, don’t we? And many in the world don’t have that.
69. But today, I’m going to challenge us together, to give our love away, by an action. I want you to give your flower to someone else, and the other person to receive it that you give your flower to someone else, and they receive it. Let’s act out loving. Let’s act it out today, men and women, let’s give it away and then you receive it, and then you go and give it to somebody else.
70. Everybody should leave today, wait one second, with a flower. Everybody should leave, with a flower today. Because the purpose is, to learn to love like Jesus, to give love, but then receive it. And give love receive it, give love receive it.
71. Now Father, in the name of Jesus, thank You for Your love, that is stronger than any love the world has. We love You.