Love God
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Love God
Love God
Joke:
A man was on a flight one day and found He had been seated next to a beautiful young woman.
As He sat down next to her He said, "Does the airline charge you extra for sitting next to good-looking men?"
She said, "Yes, but I wasn't prepared to pay."
Joke:
You heard about the guy who said: “My new girlfriend works at the zoo.
I think she's a keeper.’
Joke:
I texted my wife today saying "I love u".
She replied, with an emoji blowing a kiss
I replied, "Yes, it's my favourite vowel."
Joke:
You’ve heard about the guy who on the day He got married told his wife of his undying love. After 50 years of marriage she had only one complaint.
“He never tells me He loves me”
He replied “ I told you once, and If anything changes I’ll let you know “!
Its test time....Let’s see who was paying attention Last week!
The Kingdom Way is to Love God, Love People, make Disciples
Over the year I have preached many messages that focus on God Loving us
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
And Yes God does Love us
We love, because He first loved us.
It would be very hard to argue, that God does Not Love us.
There may be times or seasons when we close ourselves off, and do not feel the Love of God
But that does not mean He stops Loving us.
It’s actually impossible for Him to do, because it is His very Nature
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God cannot stop being what He is. He is Love, so He can never stop loving
His love of You is not based on your behavior or your successes,
but rather He loves you because He is Love.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But that’s not what I want to focus on today.
rather I want us to consider:
How Do we Love God?
Our Vision:
Love God, Love People, make Disciples
I think its important for us to think about How do we Love God?
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39quedoCzEg
Love = Obedience
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Love is demonstrated through obedience
What are we to Obey?
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 abode with him.
If we say we Love God, our deepest desire would be to obey what He tells us to do.
10 Commandments.
First 4 have to door with our relationship with God
Last 6 have to do with our relationship with each other
Obey what?
Matthew 22:34-
But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
“This is the great and foremost commandment.
“The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
“On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
When Jesus answered the question of the pharisees
They though they could catch Him in a debate they had been having for years
They had argued perpetually about the answer to the question:
What is the greatest commandment?
Jesus profoundly answered them in 1 powerful sentence
Matthew 22:37
And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
“This is the great and foremost commandment.
“The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
He was basically saying, they are all important. Stop trying to weasel you way out of obedience, by just following the ones you want to follow.
If we Love God with our Heart soul and mind:
I won’t put other gods before HIM
I won’t bow before idols
I won’t take His name in vain
I won’t become so busy I miss out on what he has for me
If I love my neighbour as myself:
If I love my neighbour as myself:
5. Kids will honor their parents
6. I won’t murder my neighbour
I won’t lie, murder, or steal, want his stuff or sleep with his wife
7. I won’t sleep with his wife
8. I won’t steal his stuff
9. I won’t lie about him
10. I won’t want his stuff for my own
Loving God means obeying God
Now we must use caution here.
It is very easy to slip into a religious mindset
We can erroneously attribute our obedience to God’s love for us.
If we Obey, He will Love us! Wrong!!!!
We don’t obey so He will Love us, We obey because we Love him!
The actions may be the same, but the motivation is very different
When we obey to gain His Love that is done out of a religious mindset
When we obey because we want to show him our Love, that’s Relationship
Let me show you how this plays out.
let’s use money as an example.
If you choose to give to God some amount of money, but you have the motivation:
“I have to give this, God commanded me to tithe, If I don’t give it, my car will break, my utility bill will go up! I will loose His blessing on my life, I won’t prosper succeed. after all
“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
“You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!
,
“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
I don’t want to rob God, I don’t want my finances to be cursed, I want to be blessed, and prosper so I better give it!
says
,
I don’t want to rob God, so I better give it.
Guess what?
Guess what?
If you’re giving out of fear, You’re doing it wrong
That’s not giving out of Love and obedience
That’s giving out of fear, trying to appease your angry and vendictive God, so you will get what you want
That’s how God ran things in the age of the law, before Christ came and paid the full price for our mistakes
God wanted us humans to realize our best efforts or nothing more than filthy rags
For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
But He had such a greater plan.
Yes he wants us to be obedient, and he raised the bar
OT.
Do not commit adultery…literally don’t have sex with someone who you are not married to
NT.
but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
A shift took place after Jesus came on the seen.
No longer was it just actions that were important. Do not commit Adultery
But now the motivation behind the action. Do think about committing Adultery
So not only do we need to be obedient in action, but also in our motivation that causes the action
So when we give, which is being obedient, It simply not good enough to just throw it in the plate without giving it any thought.
I have been contacted by many financial plans that suggest our church could increase giving by offering automatic withdrawal.
I always tell them, giving is not just about bringing money into the storehouse.
More importantly its about an act of worship.
It not just about being obedient in paying your tithes, It’s about worshipping God, by giving back a portion of what he has blessed us with.
The prosperity Gospel has made this difficult for churches. Many people today simply believe all the churches want is their money.
Some things to consider:
If you are giving to get, you’re doing it wrong
Your motivation is off
Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthia
When you give, make sure your motivation is right
“Purposed in your heart”
Pray about it, ask God How much he wants you to give.
Then give it cheerfully
Be obedient, with true motivation.
So How do we Love God?
By obeying Him with right motivation