Sunday Sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew, 19th April 2020

Psalm 91:14-16- “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will [a]set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him. 16 With [b]long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”

• In these days God will preserve us in His love and in our love for Him. The Lord says of those that love Him, “I will lift him up. I will stand with him. I'll honour him and I will satisfy him with long life.
• There are several advantages of loving Christ. We are divinely preserve by His love
• What is God's greatest burden? He loves us beyond what we can imagine, but we do not reciprocate that love back to Him. That is His greatest burden.
• GOD Loves us and gave us His only son.

Romans 8:32- 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

He spared not His only Son. But we don’t even give Him our spare time!!

This sermon will touch upon the following:

1. Understanding God's love
2. Understanding what it means to love God
3. Knowing the benefits of loving God

Why does God loves us?

• God loved us because He shared His nature with us. - In Genesis 1, we see that we are made in the image and likeness of God. - Nobody shares their treasured possessions or secrets with any random person. They only

share it with people who are very close, dear and precious to them. - God shared His nature with you and me. Man got rid of it by sin and the sacrifice of Jesus got

it back for us. We have the same image of Jesus in us.

His son was destroyed for us and that is why He will not allow us to be destroyed.

- God will not withhold the lowest things from us because He gave us the most precious

(Jesus).

• The Love of Jesus is the Highest expression of God's love

John 17:23- 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

- The Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one. Just like that we ought to be one too. - You may be in an isolation ward, but you are still one with Jesus. This is not a theology but a

revelation. - Pastor- I never travel alone. I always travel with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.\ - So, God cannot destroy us because He loves us.

Jeremiah 29:11- 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

- His thoughts are not for our destruction. How can He destroy Himself? You are One with

Him! Virus, witchcraft and black magic can’t destroy you. - His is the Highest Love. We need to love Him back. - Don’t be sad. Even if nobody loves you, God loves u passionately, sincerely, unconditionally

with all His heart , with an everlasting love - Let the Holy Spirit release His love into your heart.

What is the proof that you love God?

There are five proofs that you love God. They are:

1. What do you talk about most of your time?

• If it is sports, then you love sports. For some it is politics.
• What is your vocabulary? What are your conversations about?
• Some people are passionately thinking about and desiring Jesus.

Mathew 12:34- 34 Brood[a] of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

2. What you spend most of your time on?

Ezekiel 16:8- 8 “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread [a]My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord God.

• Time and love is connected in the verse above.
• There are some people who want to just go and sit in a pub and they love spending time there, even if they don’t drink.
• What you love that's where you will spend most time. God has got His eyes on you!

Jeremiah 2:32- Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.

• That won't be our portion!
• Like Mary and Martha let us be willing to spend time with Jesus. I want to spend maximum time with you Lord

3. What consumes the bulk of your resources?

• What you spend on is what you love? Is it clothes, cars? Do you spend on someone you love?
• People spend a major part of their money on what they love.

Mathew 7:21- 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

• When you love God, you will want to spend for the gospel, for the kingdom of God.

4. What occupies your mind or thoughts?

• The book of Proverbs says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he
• Son of songs 8:6- set it as a seal upon my heart.

5. Who are you willing to sacrifice yourself for?

• What inconveniences you the most? What are you willing to inconvenience yourself for?
• I know a pastor living in a small two room house with two children. He would in spite of that invite missionaries home, have prayer meetings, feed them, teach children. He was willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of the gospel.
• This is a sign of your love for the Lord. Some of you will text the whole night forgoing your sleep with someone you love deeply. How much more for the Lord?!

Psalm 119:62- at midnight I will wake up to meditate on God's word.

• Luke- a friend came visiting his friend. There was no food with either. In these dark times (lockdown period), there is no food, no businesses, even those to help are not accessible. In such times, knock upon the door of the Lord.
• What are you willing to sacrifice for the Lord?
• Some of you are worried, where will I get my bread from? You may be a daily wage labourer, or a business person. But by faith dig a pit, and there will be an overflow.

Let the Holy Spirit release an overflow upon your business. Let there be an impartation of the overflow.

What is written in the Word as proof of your love for Jesus?

1) If you love Him, you will obey His Word

John 14:15- “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

John 15:9-10- 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

John 14:23- 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

• If you love somebody you will love to hear their voice. That's why we sing aloud unto the Lord. The Bible is His love letter.
• If I love the Lord, I will obey His Word. I will not argue and rebel against His Word.

2) If you love Him, you will love His Presence

If you love Him, you will want to be with Him and you will love His presence

Genesis 19:27- 27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.

• Abraham went to the same place that he visited everyday to stand in God’s Presence.
• If you love the Lord you will know His secrets. The Lord will share His secrets with the people that love Him.
• Pastor adds- “I know little bit about the Lord. I know a little of His Word. God reveals Himself in phases. You learn about Him in phases. I want to know Him more. That is what makes me hunger for Him.”
• You should never reach a stage where you think you know everything and that you have all the answers. That is a dangerous place to be in.
• There is a place where you know that you cannot face tomorrow without Him speaking to you.

Paul says after 27 years of ministry, I want to Know Him more.

3) If you love the Lord, you will love His House

Psalm 122:1- I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”

• If you say you love the Lord and you don’t love His house, there is something wrong; there is some wickedness in you, something is not OK. There is selfishness and deceitfulness, if you don’t have an attachment with His house.

Psalm 84: 2,3- My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Even the sparrow has found a home, And the swallow a nest for herself, Where she may lay her young— Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God. • When you don’t feel any love for God’s House or are OK to not be in the House of God, it is

a sign of danger that you will be spiritually destroyed.

• Out of church is for your destruction. When you love God, you will love His House. Return to your first love.

4) If you love God you will love His children

1 John 3:16- By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

• That is love –we are willing to lay down our lives for our brethren!
• There are many people who come to church and profess their love for God, but don’t love their husbands, wives, children and neighbours
• The Book of 1 John 4 says that if you can't love people that you can see with your eyes, how you can love an unseen God.
• If you can’’ love the children of God, u can’t serve in church.

5) If you love Jesus, you will love His work.

• You will want to run errands for the Lord.

Deuteronomy 10:12- 12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul

• In the scripture above, the words love and serve go together. Service is a love language.

The Holy Spirit says- people who love the Lord, after this lockdown, you will step into something extraordinary

1 Corinthians 2:9- But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

• God has kept something incredible for you. You will get a glimpse and a feeling of what that is soon.
• Everybody keeps the better wine for the last. The last days has the better wine. The best move of the Holy Spirit is seen in the last days. We will be intoxicated by the wine of the Holy Spirit.

Ecclesiastes 7:8- The end of a thing is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Mathew 27:64- 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come [a]by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”

• In the last days there will be a release of anointing through ordinary people that will destroy the works of the devil.
• The Book of Zechariah says that the latter day glory shall be greater than the former.

Zechariah 10:1- Ask the LORD for rain In the time of the [a]latter rain. The LORD will make [b]flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.

This is the time of the Holy Spirit! There will be demonstrative rains with lightning and thunder. Incredible Move of the Power of God. You won’t be able to sit simply in church. You will serve him.

What are the benefits of loving God?

1. Divine habitation

John 14:23- 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

2. Divine provision

1 Corinthians 2:9- But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

3. Divine preservation

Psalm 91:14- “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will [a]set him on high, because he has known My name.

If you love, you are not killable

Isaiah 43:3-4- For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. 4 Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, And people for your life.

Deuteronomy 33: 3-4- Yes, He loves the people; All His saints are in Your hand; They sit down at Your feet; Everyone receives Your words. 4 Moses [a]commanded a law for us, A heritage of the congregation of Jacob.

What you don't get after all the running around, God will release into your life just as you sit at His feet

Deuteronomy 33:12- Of Benjamin he said: “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him, Who shelters him all the day long; And he shall dwell between His shoulders.”

• The promise upon Benjamin was that God will cause him to dwell between His shoulders. It is saying that the Lord will embrace you and you will dwell between his shoulders
• Let there be no fear. You will be preserved in His love