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 How should we love the Lord

The gospel of John is the 4^th book. John has 21 chapters and 879 verses. Chapter 14:21-23. Let’s read from the lips of Jesus. You may be seated in the presence of God

Am I a lover of God- Not am I a Christian or a believer. This is common. What God is seeking and searching. What God the Father and The Son is  asking are you a true lover of  Jesus Christ. Why are you not a lover of God ? Life will only be fulfilling when you discover God. Life becomes meaningful and purposeful. How should I love him

 There 3 main reasons- Why every Christian have to be a true lover of God

1^st reason- Psalms 116  

Bisect the bible into half-  after 3 attempts you will locate the book of  psalms exactly in the middle. Some one once said Psalms 116 – I love the Lord because He has heard my cry and mercy. We love the lord because when we encounter difficulties and someone introduce Jesus and when you call upon the name of Jesus- He extend down his hand of mercy and as a result your problem is solved. The God who set you free must be true and living God. You call upon God and God does not help you and deliver you. In the beginning, it is Ok. For those who have been with the Lord for a long time- it is not proper to rely on Jesus. Will you still love him 

2^nd reason-1 John 4:19

 We love Him because he first love us. Why did you come to the house of God, Sunday after Sunday. Whether he bless you, answer your prayers is immaterial

 3^rd reason -Matt 22:37

 Jesus said Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul. This is the first and great commandment- It is a commandment issue by Jesus Christ.

 Once you gather the 3 reasons:

 I started to fall in love with the Man of Galilee- as I fellowship and pray to Him. He manifest himself to me in a real way. As I start my Christian walk, as I fellowship and pray to him, he manifest himself to me in a real way. And the 2 nd reason, because he first love me, he love me first so I have to love him back. The 3^rd reason, as we progress in our Christian walk with the Lord, we discover that Jesus said, those who have my commandments and keepeth them shall love me, and he who loved me shall be loved by my father and Jesus said I shall make myself real to him. But how should I love the Lord- That is my next question.

 1. How should I loved  the Lord ?

 We know we should  loved the Lord but how should we loved him. We have been saved quicken, washed by the blood, born again by the spirit of God, how should I loved Jesus, My lord and my saviour.

 Matt 22:37

 We should love Him sincerely.  We should love Him sincerely.

 How should I love the Lord. How sincere is our love the one who died for us and pour our sin at the cross. Do you love Jesus sincerely. How to love Jesus sincerely. Jesus tell us we are to love God with all our heart. If God has your heart – he has everything. But does God possess your heart. Does God control the center of your affection. God wants you and I to surrender our hearts to Him  and overrules our hearts with Agape love and we can love him sincerely with all our heart. If you have a heart for God, I do not care how far you live from the church. You will still come to church-maybe take 2 buses, change taxis to bring you to the house of God- if you love God with all your heart, distance is no longer a problem Once your heart is saturated with love- God is so near, and distance is no longer a problem. If you do not love God with all your heart, even your house is next to the church you still will not come to church.  That is why Jesus said Love him with all your heart.

There is a story of a young man falling in love with a young beautiful lady.  And  he decided to write a letter to express his feelings and his love, he penned his love and in the course of his letter writing.

If you stay in the highest mountain- I will climb up and pay you a visit

If you stay in an island infested by sharks, I will risk my life and swim across the ocean to pay you a visit.

If you stayed in the deepest jungle, surrounded by wild beasts, cannibals and animals – you will find me visiting you

 Ps. Sweetheart - If today rains-very sorry-  I cannot come.

We laugh because we find it humorous. In other words, the young man do not possess love for his girlfriend. Highest mountain you will climb. Deepest sea you will swim. Inside the deep jungle, you too will pay her a visit. We laugh and smile, very humorous. Are we not as guilty as this young man. We tell the God I love you, I love you, I love you. If it rains how many of you will still come to church. God says you sound very nice. If it rains how many will come. If it floods and rainy season is around the corner, if there is flood, you too will come ?  We are to love God with all our mind.  God is interested in what you are thinking, in what you are meditating on right now.

Especially on Sunday, the traffic in the house is very heavy and suddenly everybody wants to go to the washroom. There is a traffic jam. What takes you so long- are you laying eggs- unpleasant feelings occur in the house. In the church, your mind start to ponder over the unpleasant events. Peak hours on Sunday morning before you come to church, Satan will use unpleasant events. My mother, my husband, my friends say they will come, but they never come. I invite my friends to come but they never come. In the course of your duty, job during the week- and as a result you are troubled and it reigns in your mind- the unpleasant thing erupts. While you are in church- Satan will continue to attack you. Your mind is disturbed and troubled. Exercise your authority in the name of Jesus. Pull down every strongholds, Demolish all imaginations and thoughts that contradicts the word of God. Free your mind, free them from fears and free them from worries which try to disrupt your attention towards your lover Jesus Christ. So if you do that- it is a test that you love Jesus sincerely with your heart, with your mind and with your soul.

We are to love God with our soul, our emotions. When you were in love, you careless what people think about you as husband and wife, you kiss and hug each other in public,

And we are to love God with our soul. Do not care what people think and say. When you are in love- you care less what other people think. We are to love God with our soul. We are so subjected, suppressed, oppressed and controlled. Also your soul, emotions. We press one button- worship, press another button – hallelujah, press another button-  lift up your hands, press another button-clap your hands, press another button – dance. We are to love God with our soul. Express how you feel in your heart to the Lord. If you feel like shouting- shout. You go to the football field – you shouted goal. You watch the World Cup fooball game 3 Sundays ago, you shouted. You are in the presence of God – sh sh sh

Cannot shout but you can sleep. If you are in my shoes – you too will also sleep I travelled Monday  to Friday, up and down, peak hours. I dozed off for 5 mins, God understands, too cold, too boring. When you want to sleep, you give a lot of excuses. You give a lot of excuses if you want to sleep. We have been suppressed and controlled too much Oh when you are in the presence of God, with your feelings and emotions, rendered the very best to Jesus, the lover of our soul. We should love him sincerely.

2. How should we love the Lord ?

How should we love him. Besides loving him sincerely, we should love Him supremely.  First sincerely, secondly supremely

Matt 10:36

And the man’s enemy shall be there of members of his family

Matt 10:37

He that loveth father and mother more  than me is not worthy of me

He that loveth  his son and daughter more  than me is not worthy of me

We should love Him more than our father and mother. Do not love them more than you love Jesus. They gave birth to us and supply our needs. Honour,  respect and love your parents. But you are to love God more than them.  Even my parents said I cannot come to church, you are to say no way. Jesus said we must come to the house of the Lord. Even when parents get upset- never mind- Jesus will be pleased.

Story of William Ho

There is true incident in Singapore 20 over years ago. He was in the secondary school and a christian and parents were not Christians. Mum says if he continues to go to church he has to pack his bag.  He prayed to the Lord. I love you  and I also love my parents. But I want to honour you more than I love my parents. He approached his parents and  said that they ask him to give up his faith for both of  them. Mummy and daddy, “ I  will have to disappoint both of you. Jesus is so real to me – I have tasted his love and satisfaction. very sorry mummy, daddy I have to disappoint you both”. He said goodbye to  both fo them with tears in his eyes. He went to the church. One school teacher was very loving and understanding. She said I will support your schooling.  One day, there was a heated argument  between the father and mother. His father took an object to hit his mother  on the head and caused bleeding in the head. His mother put a hand on the head and said a prayer to call upon the God of  His Son– Jesus to stop the bleeding and pray in Jesus’s name to stop the flow of blood. The mother experience Jesus’s miraculous healing. The mother came to know the Lord and as a result thank God both parents were saved and came to know about salvation of Jesus. Through the stand of this son, because William Ho honour Jesus more than his parents. Brothers and sisters- honour your parents. You are to make a stand for Jesus Christ. If you honour God  Jesus one day he too will honour you. We are to love Jesus more than we loved our sons  and daughters. Thank God for offsprings -children – It is a reward from God But do not pamper, pamper and pamper and showered your affection on them so much that your affection for God will be affected. Some parents will pleased their children all the way  on Saturday and come Sunday they become very exhausted – and they are tempted to stay at home- not going to church. The Lord do not understand. You have to set your priority right before the Lord. You have to shower your love and affection on Saturday –then come to Sunday you must make sure you are in  tip top condition to give to the Lord your very best. Tempted to stayed at home –you are too tired to go to church  you honour and love you children more than you love God. Sometimes children says Sunday we go outing. As a parents- you have to say we love Jesus first and we go to house of God first. After loving Jesus first – then children come second. We should love Jesus supremely. More than any individual.

You will see the 3 results., when you love Him sincerely and supremely. You as an individual will  discover and experience and see the 3 results and benefits in  your personal life.

The first results is in John 14:21-23

Those who love me  shall be loved  by my Father

Those who love me I will love him

Those who love me I will make myself real to him

How to discover Jesus to be real and personal. Fall in love with Jesus- and Jesus will make Himself personal and real. You as an individual will experience and discover Jesus to be personal and real. Fall in love with Jesus and Jesus will continue to manifest and make Himself real to you. You will receive first hand revelation, and experience  enlightenment. Because Jesus is not a liar. Jesus says those who love me I will manifest myself to him.

John 14: 23

Those who love me The Father will also love him

And we together, the Father and the Son  both of them will become so real.

 You will discover  Father and Jesus will be real. When the Father and Son is real everything surrounds you becomes unreal. We are living in the real world – problems are there. Crisis, disappointment, hardships are there, sadness too. But within you, inside your inner man, you discover the invisible God to be real. Everything becomes real. Within you – your inner man- He too becomes real inside you and inner chamber. When both become real- Heaven is on earth- you can go through all hardships, problems and any difficulties, you can smile.

 “with Christ in the vessel you can smile at the storm – smile, smile, smile at the storm as we go sailing , sailing, sailing home”.

 Smiling at the storm – are we crazy ? We should be praying. Many Christian are not smiling- seriousness, sadness, sorrow, problems written on their faces. We do not know all their problems. There will be problems but when you love Jesus sincerely, supremely , you will experience:

 The second result in Romans 8:28

 All things worketh together  for the good of those who love Him

If you love the Lord – it is  ALL things. If you don’t love God, I think God I disagree with you  maybe  on some things. Once you fall in love with God you will discover ALL things. And we know. It is not a guessology,  guessing, hope so, I think so, may be.  I know, we know. There is an inner understanding and we know all things worketh together  for the good of those who love Him. Inside you, you know, all things worketh for good for your benefit to  strengthen you  and your inner man in your walk with Jesus Christ. You listen to godly man and ungodly man, they tell you to  be logical,  to analyse,  to use your mind  and said you must be a nut, crazy, mad..etc. . The devil and ungodly man will give answer like this- some things are good and some are bad- let’s be logical. We are crazy and nut. But rest assured- God is working for our own good for your benefit according to His divine plan and purpose

Then the last results is in Psalm 91:14

The Lord says “Because he set his love upon me. I will rescue him. He acknowledges my name and I will protect him. I will be with him in trouble. He will call upon me . I will answer him I will deliver him. I will honour him. Praise God. And He will bless us with long life. And He will also give us his salvation. All these blessings belong to those who set his love upon Jesus. I will be with you to honour you, protect you..etc

Thank God for every problem, every hardship and difficulties, for His goodness, and His deliverances so that your faith becomes sound. God will reveal his protection. When you are hit with crisis, problems, hardships. God is for real – to court you to lift you up In the course of your hardships, crisis, problems. He is beside you to court you, comfort you, encourage you,

 Are you a lover of God. I will love you sincerely and supremely.

Let us prepare ourselves – emotionally, spiritually, mentally.

 We bless you. Sing it - Render your best . Jesus we enthroned you.