Commission of love | Eld Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

The teaching on.

The Book of Matthew, and today I've decided to go

to the verse where we got the whole teaching on discipleship.

And of course, if we talk about discipleship in church,

and we have been talking about discipleship over and over

and over for the past year, it is an important,

important topic.

If you ask.

Anyone you know, where's the scriptures that says that talks

about discipleship. Well, the main one is actually at the

end of the Book of Matthew. Okay, I'm not skipping

everything and then starting something of French. I toys thought,

maybe I'll focus on the Great Commission today and then

try to give you a slightly different perspective on a

great commission. I've simply entitled the message the Commission to Love. Okay,

Commission to Love. If you have your Bibles, it's Matthew

chapter twenty eight. But we are going to be reading

a bunch of scriptures from different parts of the Bible

as well, And so let me read the Great Commission first,

because I think sometimes we may have forgot that we

all know we can somehow recited no go there for

make disciples of every nation, tongue, and tribe. But let's

read a few verses before and then let's read it

all the way to the end, because really this is

the final, really, the final command that Jesus left behind

to his disciples. Everyone still all right doing okay, okay,

don't forget tea for two happens this afternoon, and so

married couples, if you are free today and you just

heard it and.

You thought, hey, why can't I come?

Yeah, even cyber couples, if you want to come and

join us, feel free. Elder Terrans and Elder Mabele have

been going out to the different plans and really having

this sessions with our married couples, just dialogue, chatting and

encouraging one another. So it's really going to be a

good time. If you are free. Merried couples, come join

Elder Terrans and Elder Mabel this afternoon at two o'clock.

Will be doing it here, So have your lunch, then

come on back up for a cheap chat session. It's

going to be good, okay, okay, okay, let me get

to it. Matthew, Chapter twenty eight and I hope everyone's okay, y'all,

okay for some teaching. Okay, if you have your pants,

you might want to take it out today because it might, yeah,

go a little bit deep, but let's do it. It

says this in verse sixteen, and of course it's entitled

the Great Commission. Then the eleven Disciples left for Galilee,

going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.

When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some of

them out the raw.

Okay.

Can you imagine the eleven disciples who followed Jesus for

at least three and a half years of ministry, seeing

all the amazing miracles that he did, hearing him preach,

hearing him do all sort of things, but year some

of them doubtor.

Okay, let's read on.

Jesus came and told his disciples this is in verse eighteen.

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Jesus has to make that claim, no, very very clearly,

in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples

of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach

these new disciples to obey all the commands I have

given you, and be sure of this. I am with

you always, even to the end of the age. Hallelujah

the Lord bless the reading of his word. You know,

Disciple first is the team for this year. And because

it's the team for this year, we have been teaching

a lot on baptism because we realized that many of

our partners who are here may not have gone through

the waters of baptism yet. And I just came from

the Spo retreat to Well a few days ago, and

we just came back, and I can say that the

number of baptisms that we have seen this year has.

Increased compared to the past three years.

Actually, so it's really something that I will continue to

teach our continue to remind all of us how important

this is the first step of faith in our Christian

walk and in our Christian journey. You know, we just

witnessed a group of young people from MANI ex clang

that got water baptized yesterday, and we celebrate. You know,

I look at the picture and I see a see

a Looyious. I thought I saw Alloyious. Some we know Aloysious.

He has got an older brother his name is Anthony.

I remember when I used to go to ex claim

in the earlier years. They're all quite quite not Ianna.

So thank God, I hope they ran down and then

say goodbye to their past life, came back up and become.

Good children for Jesus. Hallelujah.

But baptism, and you'll hear me talking and reminding us

time and time again, because this is the commission that

was given, go make disciples. And then when you make disciples,

you did, what do they need to do? They need

to go through the waters of baptism, and then they

need to be taught the laws.

Amen.

So this was actually a period between Jesus' resurrection and

his ascension. Okay, sothless, we don't use all these terms

because you know, we're not very traditional in a sense

where we celebrate all these different events in church. But

you go to a slightly more traditional church, sometimes you

have ascension day, you have pent. The cause knows how

these things. But let me just remind you all these

things did happen. So this took place between Jesus' resurrection.

That means he was walking around, he was chilling ready,

he was raised from the day and he was with

the people.

I think he was with the people for about.

Maybe correct me if I'm wrong, about fifty days before

he ascended to the heavens. And so in between this

period of time we had the reason Jesus in flesh

showing the disciples his body because he was with them physically,

he taught them the meaning of the scriptures, and he

promised he's backing to those disciples.

That is, that is essentially what Jesus did.

He came back, showed them himself in the physical form,

taught them the scriptures because he was always going back

to the scriptures. Because the disciples even didn't quite understand

when they saw him in flesh, they were like, wow,

what's happening here. Of course he had to bring them

back to the scriptures, and the scriptures already actually foretold everything.

So he's just guiding them again. And then he's saying

that I will bag you all up. And so the

message of Jesus's death and resurrection was to go out

to the whole world. That was what Jesus was trying

to do. The message of his death and resurrection. That's

why the entire Christian faith is built on Jesus crucified

and Jesus resurrected. You take away these two things finish.

There is nothing for us to preach, and there is

nothing for us to teach, and there is nothing for.

Us to believe in.

So this is God's will and intention that every nation

on earth should have Christians in it. Amen, wherever you

are from, whether it's Philippines, Marriges. We have our brother

here from turk Manistan and he is a believer in

turk Many is hallelujah. Every nation on earth should have

Christians in it. That every tribe on earth should hear

the Gospel. You know, you may be from a tribe

that has I don't know. Okay, I don't think any

of us are tribal people. But there are still many

tribes who haven't heard the Gospel. And this is what

we need to do. And then it goes on to

say that every tongue should praise the Lord. This is

God's will and intention. And that's why in verse eighteen

of chapter twenty eight, we are told of the universal

authority of Jesus, because he said, all authority in heaven

and on earth has been given to me. And then

he says, and this is the therefore the great commission.

Go there for you and make disciples of all nations,

baptize them and teach them.

Hallelujah.

There is the instruction to teach what he has commanded.

And then there is that wonderful assurance that Jesus gave

his disciples. Teach them to observe all that I have

commanded you, and lo I am with you always to

the end of the age. That is the most assuring

words you can hear from Jesus. I don't know whether

the disciples caught that, but I believe they did, because

if they did not catch that, they would not have

ran the race that all those eleven disciples continue running thereafter,

because they ran all the way to their deaths, actually

most of them. So it can seem quite frightening, no frightening,

to go out as a witness to make disciples. But

that is our purpose, to be a witness. That's why

when we say go and share Jesus, you are essentially witnessing.

You are telling other people how good God has been

in our lives. And a witness must not you must

not embellish. You know what embellishes, embellisious. You make something

what it's not. You make it look so that it's

not it. Our role and responsibility as Christians is not

to go and paying such a beautiful picture and you

don't pay the truth. That means you embellish. You make

it look so pretty, but it's not the truth. We

are not supposed to do that. We must always witness

what is true. We must always stick to the facts.

We must tell what we have seen and what we

have heard and what we have experienced, and then we

must pass on what we know to be facts.

And so don't go around telling people you become a Christian.

Your life is you know, you're going to have a

lot of money in your pocket, you know everything is

going to be That's not true. I don't know whenever.

He may be true for some of us. But the

reality is all of us who believe in Jesus, we

know the challenges that we have to go through. Witness

the truth, but more importantly, witness the fact that Jesus.

Is still with us. He's still with us. That is

so key. So who has believed the report?

Who will listen to us, to us when we share,

who is convinced unless God is with us? Is going

to be such a difficult, difficult thing to do, and

so his assurance that's why witnessing is hard. When we

tell and when we share about you know, we have

the five ws here and ex church. The fifth W

we always say is the hardest because it's the reminder

that part of our DNA as Christians and as believers,

we are to share Jesus in our lives. But a

lot of times we find it so hard to share.

I don't know whether we find it hard to share

because we just don't have the right words for it,

or is it because we have not really experienced Jesus

to share him with others. If that's the case, then

I pray that we all continue to walk closer to

Jesus because then He will help us witness all the

good things that we have experienced in our lives to others.

But the Lord, really his promise is that he will

be with us, and so we cannot share our life

in Christ unless God is with us. In order to

spray Christianity, you really have to clothe yourself with Jesus.

The power from on high is something that is so

so important, and so I want to break it down

today and help us see some of these things. You see,

Christianity as a religion must combine two very important things. Okay,

Christianity as a religion. And if you're thinking, how do

I share know? How does this work? Two things in

Christianity as a religion is truth and love?

Okay, truth and love.

Because I think you may or may not accept this statement,

but you think about it.

Thing with me.

A religion with too much love and too little truth

becomes very soft.

If we go around just telling everyone.

Oh, Jesus your lord, Jesus love you, Jesus love you,

Jesus love you, but you don't tell the truth.

Jesus died on the cross for you, for your sins. Uh.

You know he loves you, definitely not he wouldn't have

done all those things. But he wants to change and

transform you. He wants to call he wants you to

call him lord. You know, sometimes we stop, we just

go on the love, but and we don't continue on.

With the truth.

Too much love becomes mix the religion too soft. But

a religion that has too little love and you just

go on truth, Like how I just mentioned it just now,

it becomes very hard.

Right.

It's like repent even though you were dying and burning

hell that everyone's is that the truth? Well, there is truth,

but if he's say it like that, say with so

much gusto and anger and without love, it becomes very hard.

And so real religion is a combination of truth and love.

Truth and love.

And this is made possible because the spirit of God

is the spirit of truth and the spirit of love.

And so you cannot really love someone until you know

the truth about them. Now, try marrying someone you don't know,

and he's going to lead to a bit of problems.

You need to know the person. That's why we always

tell couples, or before you become couples, get to know

each other first, get to know each other a little

bit better. I just as sound the things that you'll

talk even in T. Four two, even though it's how

you're black by being married fifty years, ready, it's okay

when you're merry, fifty years can still come because we

can still talk. But if you are going to have

real love, it must be based on truth. Because you

can't love God until you know the truth about him.

Isn't that true? All of us wants to know the

truth about God. If not, how is loving God even

possible in our lives. And so you know, on the

night that Jesus was betrayed, he had a meal with

his disciples, which we all just participated together in holy communion.

But if you think about it, the knight that he

had a meal with his disciples was also the night

in which he washed their feet, and then he left

them a very important commandment. And that commandment you can

see in John chapter thirteen, verse thirty four. It says

love one another, love one another. So love is actually

a big part of our Christian life and this will

be the only proof to the world that you are

believers of Jesus. That means, to prove that you belong

to Jesus, you have to love each other. Wow, I

think that's quite a high calling because in a way,

it's as though God's love is our identity, and our

love for one another hence becomes his identity, and we

identify with one another. But isn't it one of the

biggest things, one of the most challenging things, is to

love one another. So Jesus made it clear that night

that you cannot possibly.

Love God if you do not love his people.

No, we come to church, don't step on each other's feet,

even if you do, don't hate each other, because the

scripture reminds us that you cannot possibly know what the Father's.

Love is if you do not love your brothers.

So let me lead you to the only passage in

the Bible that says and makes this very bold statement,

and this statement is God is Love?

Ever heard of that statement? God is Love?

Do you know that no other religion has this claim

on God? And to me, it is probably one of

the most profound statements that talks about who our God is. Okay,

if you have your Bibles, it's One John chapter four.

If I'm not mistaken, okay, One John Chapter four. Everyone

still with me? Stay with me because I'm just scratching

the surface a little bit. Okay, are you don't? Are

you okay? Verse seven of chapter chapter four of One John. Okay,

of course we know the apostle John is the same

apostle who wrote the Gospel of John. Is the same

one who wrote all the letters of One John two

John Tree. John is the same bloke who wrote Revelations, Okay,

And he is the same one who sort of understands

love the most because he always declares himself as the

disciple that Jesus loves most self declaration. But since it's

in the scriptures, we take it as truth.

Amen.

And he says, these, dear friends, let us continue to

love one another. Oh okay, that reminder comes again. So difficult,

but he's saying it. He said it in the gospel

in John. Now he's saying it in his letter. Let

us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.

Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.

But anyone who does not love does not know God.

For God is love is deep. Okay, but I want

you to keep reading it, keep reading it and try

to understand it. And then verse nine goes on to

say God showed how much he loved us by sending

his one end only signed into the world so that

we might have eternal life through him.

This is real love. Not that we love God, but

that he loved.

Us and send his son as a sacrifice to take

away our sins. Okay, I'll pause that, I'll read more later.

But let's dissect this bunch of verses because here is

John actually stating where love begins with and do you

think love begins with me?

And you.

Does it begin with me and you. No, it actually

begins with God. Because it is stated love comes from God.

That means it begins with God loving us. Hallelujah, Praise God.

To say that God is love is to say who

he is, what he is, is talking about his very nature.

And that's why I say, no other religion in this

world makes such a claim.

But what does a claim like that mean? God is love?

It doesn't make sense, you know sometimes because you go

around telling youple God is love and they're like, huh,

so what what does that mean?

What is the connotation to it? So, first of all,

it tells us that love really does exist. If you

believe that God what exists.

You believe that love exists because you find people crying

out for love. We write songs about love, we sing

about it. We are looking for it constantly. We're always

looking for some brand of love in our lives, whether

you like it or not.

This is how we are wired.

And you think about it, all of us are looking

for love, and so deep down inside everybody needs to

be loved. However, if we only look at it from

a human level, human relationships is it is impossible to

find what perfect love is impossible You can ask elder

terans and people who'll be running tea for two merit

for for years, not yet thirty seven getting there? Are

you so angry? More years forty years today? And you

ask them, no, we share the most perfect love. They're

probably like, uh, not as perfect as the one we

have regardles right. The truth is you can be married

for many, many years and you think that you can

find love from humans.

That's not the perfect love.

The only way you can really experience real love is

when you look to God. Because when you look to God,

you will know what real love is and you will

know that real love exists. Okay, if I just say this,

if I just make this statement, God loves the world,

it doesn't tell me anything except that there was a

world to love. Okay, God love the world doesn't tell

me anything more than there is a world to love. However,

if I say God is love, it brings it to

a slightly different realm. When you make a statement like

God is love, you have to explain it. You say

God loves the world, all we can gather from it

is there is a world to love. But if you

say God is love, it means that before there was

a world before there was anybody to love.

God was love.

That means love existed before any of us existed.

Does that make sense?

And so love was always there and this also means

that love will exist even after everything is gone.

Love is there.

It is the most real thing in the universe because

it was always there. It is always there, and it

will always be there. And this is what a statement

of fact like God is love means. That is why

we are all wired in that way. If people say

I don't believe that there is such a thing as love,

then they are essentially saying that I don't believe in

God because God is love. And if I don't believe

in love, I don't believe in God. But if you

believe in love, you will believe in God. And that

God is love. Then comes a very very important thing

that we need to realize from that statement. If you

see God is love, then God must be more than

one person. Okay, think about it. Think about it. You

cannot say that God is love if God was only

one person by himself, because one person existing on his

own will never be able to understand, comprehend, or even

fathom what love is. I put you in isolation, in

an island, in a deserted island by yourself, you will

never be able to understand what love is, even if

there's a I don't know, a volleyball there by the

name of Wilson. Okay, sorry, sorry, you're too too young

to know. But if you ever have the chance to

watch a show by Tom Hanks, it's Goed cast Away.

He got cast away to an island and there was

nothing there but the volleyball, and the volleyball became his

best friend. But the truth is we will not understand

love alone, and so you cannot say that God is

love if God was only one person by himself, because

love cannot exist with one person only Amen, then how

could God be loved before there was any world and

before there was any people to love? And the answer

actually is in God's very nature. This is the trinity.

And sometimes we always think, I don't know how to

explain the trinity.

The trinity doesn't make sense.

All my friends like to laugh at the Christian God

because he's one God with three hates. The Christian God

is a God who is love, and that's why in

Genesis chapter one, verse one, it says in the beginning

God created the heaven and the earth. But the word

God good is actually in plural, is the term elo hymn,

which means it's more than two. That is the meaning

of it from the scriptures, right from the very beginning,

it was a ready like that. If you're reading in

the English, you don't see it, but if you're reading

in the Hebrew you will understand. Why is a statement

like that made because it doesn't make proper English sense.

But in the beginning it's actually God's created the heaven

and the earth because God exists in three persons, Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit. That's why when you reach verse twenty

six of Genesis it says this, let us make man

in our own image. You realize that they weren't. Is

it not one person, let me make men in my

own image. It's let us make man in our own image.

This is why Christians.

Believe in the trinity, because they believe God is love.

If you believe God is one person, then you cannot

say that God is love because who was he loving

before there was anyone to love?

Think about it.

And the answer is from all eternity, Father love the son,

the son loved the Father, and the father and son

love the Spirit and the Spirit love the father and son.

God is love. The Trinity is not something that should

baffle us. Is something that tells us who our God is.

He is love, and this is why God loves us

so much. He loves us because He is love and

that is the only reason. And God is love because

he is trying you. He doesn't love us because we

are very lovable people. Honestly, sometimes we think are so nice.

I am so cute. No God shall love me one.

He doesn't love me because I am nice. He doesn't

love us because we are lovely. He loves us because

he is love.

It's his nature.

So the Trinity may not always be understood true knowledge,

but it can be seen true practice. Okay, why do

I say this. Let's go back to Genesis. I want

us to see catch this and don't ever be a

shame of the trinity. Don't ever be afraid to explain

the trinity because you don't even need to explain it

in words. You can actually press it in your gratitude

to who God is, the God who is love.

Okay.

In Genesis again, remember some of those scriptures. Verse twenty

six is where you actually see the term let us

make man in our own image, and for the first

time in the history of creation, the god hate. It

almost seemed like the god hat had a conference. All

three of them came and then they had a conference

right before the creation of men. Because before that it

was always if you read a versus two onwards. No,

whenever he made something, let that be light. Let there

be space between the waters. Let the waters beneath the

sky flow together into one place. Let lights appear in

the sky to separate the day from the night. Let

the waters swam with fish and other lives. Let the

earth produce every sort of animal. Let led. But as

soon as it was time to create man, it became

let us. Therefore, if you think about it, humans are

the only creation that bears the image of God, which

no other part of creation has. This also means that

we can have a relationship with him. That is why

sometimes I have to remind people that while we love animals,

but they and they are God's creatures, but they don't

function like humans. If you treat an animal like a human,

I think we have got it a little bit wrong.

I'm not saying go and kick your dog around. Now,

don't do that, because I have a dog as well. Okay,

so in creating humans, God is not just saying let

us make each individual in our own image. He was

also saying, let us make them deep dependent on each other.

You think about it, the image of the God hate

is an image of interdependence because Father and Son and

Holy Spirit have a relationship with each other. And so

God is also saying, let us make people interdependent, male

and female. God created them, and he created them both

of equal value, equal worth. If any one of you

come and tell me that, oh a man, I'm more superior,

I can tell my wife what to do.

I'll tell you that.

No, you are made equal, but with different functions and

different responsibilities.

Just like the God hate.

Because you think about it, there is Father, there is son,

there is Holy Spirit. Does it seem like there is

one that calls the show a little bit more?

Yes, that's the Father.

The son says, I am submitted to the Father. Did

Jesus go, hey, Father God? Or you asked me to

come down and then go through all this torture for

this bunch of ungrateful people?

Know why might so you come now? I stay on

the throne? Better? Do you hear Jesus saying that he doesn't.

Because Jesus knew his role and he understood his responsibility,

and so he carried it out. That's what he says.

My will is to do the will of the Father.

Then when it's time for the Holy Spirit to come

here and stay on earth. Because Jesus told everyone, hey, guys,

my job is done. Okay, the t three years adios.

Okay. He didn't say it like that, Okay.

He assured them my telling them that the Spirit will

come after I go. The spirit could have been like, hey, YouTube,

learns now in heaven by each other side, one on

the or the right of each other, at the right

side of each other, and then you leave me here

forever with these people. Ah like like as though the

Holy Spirit got the shutters and of the stick. But

you think about it, you don't see the Trinity bickering.

In scriptures. Yes, from time to time there was a question,

no further, let this cup go past me, but ultimately,

let your will be done. I mean sometimes, yes, Jesus

was in flesh and he lamented, he went through grief,

but that didn't mean that he was against the Father's will.

We are all made in whose image in God's image.

That is why I always remind us that what we

have is not differences in our gender or one is stronger. No,

we are all made equal. Every gender has got their

role and their responsibility, and this is reflected in all

our human relationships. Think about it, husband and wife. There

is a role that the husband plays. There is a

role that the wife plays. Responsibilities. You take away or

you forget to fulfill your responsibilities, that's when the relationship

starts to have problems. Parents and children is the same thing.

There is a role and there is a responsibility. Parents

are too love their children. Children are to honor their parents.

Husbands are to love their wives are to submit to

the husband's Employers employees go back to efficiens. You'll see

all this in an employer employee relationship. There is a

role and there is a responsibility. Employers fulfill their responsibility.

Employees who feel their responsibility. Everything goes well in the

nation with people. Look at Romans thirteen, will Romans twelve.

You will see there is a relationship between governing authorities

and those who are governed. Our entire person and hence

our society is actually made in the image of God.

That's why we relate to one another. From scripture, we

can see that the love of God was always in existence.

It was in existence when He created us, and hence

we are created in His image.

Amen, this is who we are.

And then the scripture says this, No, the love of

God started off as a heavenly thing. The question that

we all ask is how did this heavenly love get

to us. Well, heavenly love came into time and space

when Jesus Christ invaded our lives, and he was manifested

amongst us. When the son of Man decide to make

his home among us, that is what is man. When

it says Jesus tavern nackle upon us. If you go

back to John chapter one, you would see that in

the beginning was the word the word okay.

Is long okay. He writes it like a poem.

And then there is a part that says that Jesus inhabits,

Jesus table nackle upon his people. That means he made

himself and arth a home. And so God showed how

much he loved us by sending his one and only

son into the world so that we might have eternal

life through him. And this is the difference between Christianity

and every other religion, because Christianity starts with God's love

for us, not with our love for God. If sometimes

you think that, oh I love God more than you

love him, I will do anything. Stanity starts with God's

love for us. Christianity doesn't say this is the way

to find God. Christianity says God has come looking for you.

Christianity doesn't start with man's initiative, but it starts with

God's initiative. And every other religion will tell you this

are the steps you need to do. You need to

climb up to God. You need to fast, you need

to pray, you need to make pilgrimages. Whatever it is,

Christianity is God climbing down to you. Christianity says that

God climbed down to where you are and He will

meet you there. So this is love, not that we

love God. It is not what you do for God

that makes you a Christian. It is what God did

for you. We must understand that because if we miss that,

and we don't understand what God for us, then we

will never be able to respond in a way that

He wants us to respond. That's why a command like

go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them

in the name of the Father, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit, which is the Trinity. We are all given

that command. But carrying out that command is either going

to be the most difficult thing in your life to do,

or you realize that this is a wonderful privilege to

respond to a loving God, the God who first loved me,

the God who is love.

Amen, does it make sense?

I pray that you will continue to experience a God

who is love in your life because of what He

has done. And don't ever be a shame of God.

Don't ever think that I don't know how to explain God.

God is so complicated by God has made all of

you wonderfully in his very own image. And his image

is not just an image of three persons in one.

Is an image of love, because it's an image of

core interdependence. It's an image of loving one another.

Amen.

Let's read on, and I'm gonna and in not too long. Okay,

I know, I know it's a lot for you to

take in, but we will read on one John, because

I just want to finish off the final ten verses.

So John said, all those bunch of things.

God is love.

Now, he says this, dear friends, since God loved us

that much, we surely ought to love each other. Da

da You see, that's why I say. You don't love

each other because you are a lovely person. You love

each other because God first show you love. Okay, I'm

gonna read on. No one has ever seen God. But

if we love each other, God lives in us, and

his love is brought to full expression in us.

Hallelujah. That's why.

Honestly, Christians who love each other you can be the

greatest testimony to those who don't know God. But the

problem is we like to fight with each other. Also,

that's the reality. It's not easy. It happens. It happens

to the best of us. It happens in our families.

Even blood. Sometimes you think our blood runs thicker than

anything else. In other words, sometimes your siblings.

You're like man. Right, But let's read on.

And God has given us his spirit, has proof that

we live in Him and He in us. Furthermore, we

have seen with our own eyes and now testify that

the Father sent his son to be the savior of

the world. All who declare that Jesus is the son

of God, have God living in in them, and they

live in God. We know how much God loves us,

and we have put our trust in his love. God

is love, and all who live in love live in God,

and God lives in them. And as we live in God,

our love grows more perfect. So we will not be

afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face

him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in

this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love

expels all fear. Amen, we love this verse ever, wonder

way it came from, Well, it came from one John,

and he goes on to say, if we are afraid,

it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that

we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love

each other because He loved us first. If someone says

I love God but hates a fellow believer, that person

is a liar. For if we don't love people we

can see, how can we love God whom we cannot see.

And He has given us this command.

Those who love God must also love their fellow believer us.

I am not making this up.

Basically, John is saying, if you want to know where

to find God to be real, go to a fellowship

where Christian loves each other really, and you will know

that God is real. This is my prayer for all

of us, because no man has ever seen God at

any time.

But if we remain in God, if we love.

One another, then we know that God is real because

He remains among us. Think about it. Sometimes you look

at the life of those who are faithful to God.

Doesn't that inspire you to also want to keep the faith?

You know, I always take my heads off to those

who are well a little bit more advanced in your age,

because for some of your in your age, I do

my own thing, and in my days are numbered, I

just want to party and I want to live for myself.

But no, you're still here and you're still going on.

You're still living God, and you're still loving people. Because

if I'm disappointed with people, you have more years being

disappointed with people. Yet you are still here, you are

still coming to church, you are still faithful in your walk.

That tells me that God exists really, because no human

in his or heard normal capacity is able to persevere

in that manner unless God's love is in us. And

that's why there is nothing that convinces people of the

reality of God like Earth is getting amongst a group

of Christians. That's why the church is so important, the

fellowship of the believers, because here is God telling us,

believe us, how we should behave and how we are

to live our lives. So the question is how can

we be sure that God remains in us and we

in him. Well, the answer is that He has given

us the Spirit, the spirit that flows in us. This

means that we do not need to imitate God's love.

We just need to let God flow through us. Because really,

if you want to imitate God's love, it's not going

to be easy. If you want to follow exactly what

He did. He went to the cross, he laid down

his life. I know some of us may be able

to lay down our lives for the people.

That we really really really really like, But.

To lay down your life or someone that you don't like,

that is essentially imitating what Jesus did. I know that's

almost impossible. So you need to allow God's love to

flow through you. Because God's love is placed upon our

hearts only when the Holy Spirit is given to us.

And we do not need to try and love like God.

All we need to do is allow the Holy Spirit

to invade our lives to feel us. That's why I

keep teaching on being filled with the Holy Spirit, because

true the feeling of the Holy Spirit. Not only are

you gifted with gifts to it to be equipped to

be effective, but you are also growing and nurturing the

fruit of the Spirit. And one of the and the

first identity of the fruit of the Spirit that is

mentioned is love, love, joy, peace.

All this helps us to be reconciled with God. Amen.

Sometimes there is a blockage, then God's love can't flow

to us. And so if we are loving our brothers

and sisters, then we know that God's love is flowing

through us. That is why I keep teaching and preaching

forgiveness and why is it so important to live a

life that is right before God, a righteous life. You know,

we sing songs like Holy, Holy, Holy. It's not an

easy song to sing because really, I know as quantious

repeating it, repeating, repeating, It's.

How you'll probably get annoyed.

Like her, the more you say holy, the further I

feel from God because I am far from holy.

But he is a holy God.

That means there is not one blemish on him, which

means that he wants us to live a holy and

righteous life. It's not always the easiest thing, but we

need to allow forgiveness to flow. We need to allow

holiness to take over. We need our actions to be right.

Then you will unblock any blockage in your life. How

exactly would you know that it is God's love flowing

through you? How is it that we will know that

we love our brothers and sisters? And this is where

the scripture actually gives us some of the outcomes. The

first thing is this. You see, loving is related to believing.

It is full of faith, and therefore you will know

when you start to testify God's love, it becomes a

testifying love. If you really have the love of God

in you, then you will want to talk about God.

If you really have God who is loved in you,

then you want to talk about him. You want to

tell people about him. It becomes a testifying love. And

this is the first test of God's love flowing through us.

That's why I want us to be encouraged. Don't be

afraid to talk about God. Secondly, you will have fearless love.

The fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom

and wisdom will tell you to love God more because ultimately,

perfect love.

Is what removes all fear.

If you really experience God's perfect love in your life,

you will not have the fear that continues to impede you,

blocks you from moving forward.

And I'm almost done.

I'm going to invite a banner and in a short

hours time, we're going to sing and we're going to respond.

I think we're going to do the communion him. Let's

do the communion him, because really, what Jesus did for

us is amazing. And the third, the third thing that

we can see is this, we love him because he

first loves us. What is the proof of that is

if you have got something, you will want to share it.

You see, if you receive all the love in the world,

but you keep the love to yourself, then it counts

for nothing. Again, love can only be experienced when there

are people to love. A lot of times you're like, oh,

thank you, thank you Jesus for loving me. And then know,

if you have all the love in you, you would

want to give love away and you can only give

love to other people. I know sometimes you're like, I

want to give love to myself. Canona love yourself. I'm

not asking you to hate yourself. But love is only

fully evident when it is in action. That means I

can tell my spouse that I love her a million

times and she is like, he does nothing about it.

That it's not love right.

Love is active, and if you have it, you have

to give it away. That is how you'll know that

you truly have received God's love. That is why you

have I don't know. Sometimes I look at teachers and

I agree, you are the most patient people that I

can find in this world. Amazing you can keep teaching

even though in all science I don't understand. Uh, and

then you're acting up science. I look at nurses, doctors,

people who serve other people. You can't do something like

that if you haven't fully experienced God's love in your life.

But when you fully experience God's love, you will want

to give. That means you won't just keep it to yourself.

It is.

If it's not go out, that means it never really

came in the first place. If you don't love others,

you haven't realized that God first loved you. If God's

love is in me, then as soon as I meet

another person, as soon as I meet another believer, I

see God's image in there as well. I see Alicia

as someone who is fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image.

I see it as one of my family. I see

each and every one of you as one of my family.

And together we would want to not just love each

other support one another, but we will want to fulfill

the great commission thereafter to make more disciples for Jesus. Again,

if we don't even know how to love each other,

you think loving someone outside is easier, You've got it wrong.

If you don't even know the love each other ones

in whom you can see, you think loving God is easier.

Some people tell me loving God is easier, But the

scripture says, how can you love someone that you can see?

Or how can you not love someone that you can see?

And then you think you can love someone that you

cannot see, It's not possible. Let's remember this. God is

love and Christianity is the religion of truth and love.

And I pray today that not only the truth sets

us free, but love will set us off to love

more liberally, to give more liberally, to be as generous

as we can with one another.

Amen.

Let's stand and let's respond, because it is really the

blurd of Jesus that has washed us clean, and really

it is the power of God that flows through our

life for us to experience God's love in us.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as church org. We

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this week is going to be a good week ahead

for you. God bless