God will Enable You To Love Him And To Love Others

Dear brothers and sisters, it is such a joy for us to see you all and to be there in spirit. Looking back over the years, Bangalore Conference was the highlight of our lives, of our church lives, even for my children. Every year we used to look forward to the Bangalore Conference and every moment was precious.

For me, I felt like it's a special time to spend with the Lord and stop all my busy activity and housework and everything and sit at the Lord's feet and listen to His word and sing His praises and meditate on Him. And every session was such a blessing to me. And it was a sad day when the conference was over and we would look forward to the next conference.

But we were so challenged those days to follow the Lord and be true and faithful to Him. And I'm happy that my children also grew up with that atmosphere in their hearts. And now I can see how they're bringing up their children to look forward to conferences and to listen to God's word.

Even today, right now we are staying in Santosh's house. All of the children were talking about their visit to India and almost as if their relatives are in India and cousins are there. And they want to wait to come back and visit everyone.

So I praise and thank God for this lovely time. I only wish that I was sitting on one of those chairs there. But this is second best.

I praise and thank God for that. Our theme is enduring in love till the end. And many times that word has often challenged me because I think of how a mother endures in love.

When even those of us who are not married, we think of our mothers. Those of us who are married and have children, we think of how we love our children. When they are small and we carry them, the weight of the child becomes more and more as the child grows.

But in our hearts, their weight is not a burden at all. They never become a burden to us. We carry them and we do their work.

We never get tired of carrying them and that's not a burden. And even as they grow older and they become adults, when they face trials or sickness, we endure in love. We can never forget that love which as a mother we had for them from their childhood.

And when they do things, when things go wrong in their lives or their back sliding or going away from the Lord, even then it's not a burden for us because we uphold them in prayer and lift them up to the Lord and we have faith for them that everything will go well for them in their spiritual life. We never give up that love. We never give up that faith and trust in God that God will see them through.

And when I think of enduring love, I think of the second best we have on earth is a mother's love. We endure till the end. And in 1 Corinthians 13, we read some wonderful verses about love.

One of the verses I think of is when we have true godly love in our heart, we don't rejoice at any bad thing which happens to them. It says love doesn't rejoice in evil. So when anything bad happens to our loved one, we don't rejoice but we grieve and we share that burden.

And the same way in the church, if anything sad or unhappy happens to any brother or sister, when there is true godly love in our heart, we don't rejoice but we feel with them, we share their sorrows, we rejoice in the truth, we rejoice in being faithful and loving, upholding them in prayer. And that's what we, I want to do to not only in my family but all the brothers and sisters whom God brings across my path to endure in love, to share their burden, not to rejoice in any calamity which they face but to uphold them in prayer and rejoice when good things happen to them. I praise and thank God for the church where we can hear such wonderful things and be reminded.

Otherwise, if we didn't hear these words, we were backslidden and allowed the devil to sow seeds of hatred and doubt and loving thoughts in our heart. But we constantly hear God's word in the church and we are challenged to love our brothers and sisters, to love our families, to love our husbands, to love our children and whatever may happen, endure and love till the end. So, I praise and thank God, dear brothers and sisters for the church.

Thank God for the elders He has given us. Thank God for all the provision He has given us. May we endure till the end.

Amen. Amen. So, I would like to continue from that.

You know, our love for the Lord, one aspect of it is how much we love one another and we can sometimes evaluate our love for Jesus by how much we love difficult brothers and sisters in the church. Because they are part of the same family. I want you to turn to John chapter 17.

We read yesterday that we love Jesus because He first loved us and it's because Jesus loved us first that we also love one another. So, you cannot separate our love for Christ from our love for one another as believers. Sometimes we concentrate on that vertical aspect only.

I want to endure and love for my Lord. But I have found from my life that sometimes it can be deceptive. You know, there are two arms to the cross, loving the Lord with all our heart and loving one another.

You can't have a cross without two arms. So, one way all of you brothers and sisters can check your love for the Lord right now is by asking yourself, how much do you love the brothers and sisters sitting here? Particularly some of the difficult ones and give yourself some marks for that and then you will know how much you love Jesus Christ. It's a very good test because we can very easily deceive ourselves by saying, oh I love Jesus with all my heart but is this brother living in this church whom I cannot stand the sight of him.

That is a deception because then it is a a very selfish attitude we take and we are deceiving ourselves. So, it's good for us to wake up from that and ask ourselves whether our love is only vertical. It must be vertical and the two arms of the cross remember because once when before I come to John 17, I wanted you to turn to Matthew's gospel and Matthew's gospel chapter 22.

Somebody asked the Lord a test. Matthew 22. A lawyer.

Lawyer means a bible scholar in those days. Matthew 22 35. He asked him a question to test the Lord.

Imagine they were testing Jesus. These scholars, the Jewish scholars. So, we read here they asked him teacher Matthew 22 36 which is the great commandment in the law and he said the greatest commandment in the entire law is love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind.

There are so many commandments in the law 613 commandments in the law of Moses but all of them can be summed up in love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and everything else if those 613 commandments don't come out of that love for the Lord God then it is worth nothing. Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments. So, we keep a good conscience out of love for the Lord but then in answering the he asked only for one question what is the one great commandment of the law verse 36 and Jesus said love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind that is the great commandment but it says it where he was saying I'll tell you what's written on the other side of the coin.

You know every coin has got two sides. Every currency note has got two sides. So, you can't just look at one side if it's only one side it's a counterfeit.

Counterfeit coin counterfeit currency note. Please remember this if it is only love for the Lord and the other side there's no love for one another it is a deception. It's a counterfeit love.

You're fooling yourselves. So, that's why Jesus said here you asked me for one commandment but I want to tell you that that one commandment has got two parts. One is love the Lord your God with all your heart and the second verse 39 you love your neighbor as yourself.

Why did Jesus give two answers when he asked only for one what is the great commandment because it's like you can't give half a coin to somebody with only one side when you give a coin to somebody both sides are there when you give a currency note to somebody it's printed on both sides. So, remember this always that love for the Lord is tested by our love for one another. So, to endure in love for the Lord means to endure in love for one another and it's very good that the Lord has given us this practical test by which we can find out because God in heaven is invisible and it's very easy for us to fool ourselves that we love Jesus because that can be a very emotional thing.

Oh Lord I love you so much you died for me but the test is can you love that brother who's sitting next to you or that sister whom you see so often in the church are there some sisters you like to avoid because you think they're not so spiritual well we were not very spiritual when Jesus loved us Jesus did not love us because we were spiritual I know he certainly did not love me because I spiritual I had sort of worldly ambitions and all before I was converted I wanted to become a big person in the world but he loved me at that stage and taught me that I got to love other people like that too so that's very very important that we test our love by our love for one another and see that the two commandments which Jesus spoke are like the two sides of a coin so in John 17 Jesus says here John's gospel chapter 17 verse 6 I have manifested your name to the men you gave me out of the world they were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word and verse 8 the words you have given me I have given them see Jesus is trying to show how he loved his father he loved his father by serving these disciples and praying for them I ask on their behalf I do not ask on behalf of the world but those you may have given me and you have given me all things are mine are yours and all things yours are mine and now he says I am no longer in the world but I want I'm praying for these people who are here and my great burden this is John 17 verse 11 father please keep them in your name that they may be one even as we are one if I love the Lord with all my heart I will have a similar desire as Jesus has you know if Jesus is in my bridegroom and I'm the part of you a part of the bride a wife must have the same desire as the husband even she must be wanting to go in the same direction hand in hand with her husband God put Adam and Eve together in the garden of Eden he said to Adam I want to give you a helper suitable for you and that's the picture of the Christ and the bride we and you know which is the first sin that was committed in the garden of Eden most people do not know I think many of you also will be surprised when I tell you what is the first sin that was committed in the garden of Eden it was not eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge that was the second sin the first sin committed in the garden of Eden was that when the devil came to Eve she did not submit to her husband who was standing next to her and ask him Adam what should I do the story would have been very different if she had asked her husband the Lord had said to her this is your head you must submit to him and he was standing just next to her you read that in Genesis 3 standing right there and the devil came brought a division between them so the first sin in the garden of Eden was a lack of submission to authority to God appointed authority have you ever thought of that what is the first sin committed in the universe when the highest of the angels did not want to submit to the authority of God and God cast him down and he became the devil that's the first sin among the angels lack of submission to authority what is the first sin committed by man in the garden of Eden lack of submission to authority that God has placed over Eve and because of that she fell into the trap of the devil if she had submitted to Adam I believe the story would have been very different because they'd have been together against the devil and the devil knew that he said the same sin I committed I'm going to make this woman commit because she's the weaker one so please remember that our love for Christ is shown by submission to him is shown by obedience to his commandments and wives will show their love for their for the Lord by submitting to their husbands that's what we teach in cfc it's what the bible teaches wives submit to your husbands Eve submit to Adam she didn't do that and sin came into the world let all wives learn a lesson and the bible says that just like the man is the head of the woman please turn with me to 1 corinthians and chapter 11 1 corinthians 11 it says in verse 3 Christ is the head of every man and man is the head of a woman like in the military they'll have a general underneath him will be a say a colonel underneath him will be a captain so there are many other ranks but let's think of a general a colonel and a captain it's like that and he submits to the one above them so the man has to submit to Christ and the woman submits to the man just like the captain will submit to the colonel and the colonel submits to the general so it's this headship Christ is the head of the man the man is the head of a woman so when a man tells his wife you got to submit to me that's absolutely right but then he himself must submit to his head that is the that is Christ it's not that the man is without a head so this matter of submission is a very important law in God's kingdom and Jesus demonstrated that throughout his life if we could submit if he could describe the life of Jesus in one sentence we can see it in John chapter 6 and verse 38 i've never forgotten this John chapter 6 and verse 38 Jesus description of his own 33 and a half years on earth in one sentence if you ask the Lord Lord why did you come down from heaven to earth most people will say he came to die for the sins of the world that is part of the answer the full answer is in John 6 38 i have come from heaven not to die for the sins of the world read it Jesus own words i came from heaven John 6 38 not to die for the sins of the world i came from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me my father in other words i submit to my father as my head Jesus said i'm on earth as a man my heavenly father is my head i submit to him throughout my life 33 and a half years he submitted to his father and among all the items he did in submitting to the father one item was dying on the cross you got it like if a man is given a job in an office i have to submit to my boss and everything a hundred things and one of them is item number 95 or something so in Jesus life also item number 95 was dying on the cross what about all the other hundred things never doing his own will right from day one in the beginning he wasn't dying on the cross he was just submitting to Joseph and Mary how did he show his love for his father by submitting to Joseph and Mary because they were appointed by God to be over him so that he can be an example how do i show my love for the Lord by submitting to those whom he places over me you children if you obey your parents that's how you prove your love for the Lord not just by singing hymns in the church wives how do you show your love for the Lord by submitting to your husband husbands how do you show your love for the Lord in a church you submit to the elders in your life you submit to Christ he's your head so this principle of submission is found throughout you see that that is how satan became satan that is how Eve fell into sin by lack of submission to her husband and that is to correct that and overcome that Jesus came and his entire life from day one was a life of submission to the father whatever the father said he lived in constant submission to the father so i want to say dear brothers and sisters that when we think of enduring in love for the Lord this is the proof that i love the Lord that i submit to him in everything and how do i know what he's saying to me people say i don't know God's will i'll tell you what there's one area where all of us can know what God's will is what your conscience tells you every human being has got a conscience even a two-year-old child has got a conscience he when he disobeys his father or mother he knows it's wrong and there's no child that is not convicted in the heart when they do something wrong if it's a little baby lying in the cradle their conscience is not developed but conscience develops very quickly and they know they've done something wrong and that's what we've got to teach our children all of your parents you've got to teach your children when you feel in your heart that you've done something wrong you're told a lie you must ask Jesus to forgive you when you somebody fights with you hits you and you hit him back forget about what wrong he did he may not be a Christian but you have to tell your children you're a Christian you can't fight back you just got to forgive him and leave him go somewhere else stay away from these troublesome children so if we teach our children to keep a conscience clear that is how from a young life time young life from their young age onwards they can show their love for Jesus that is how we can endure in love until the end and it is going to be more and more difficult as time goes on because temptations are increasing the temptations for young people in the world today it's amazing it's nothing like it was a hundred years ago tremendous evil how shall we overcome these big strong temptations in the world if we start by the little things teach your children to obey your parents obey their parents honor your father and mother turn with me to Ephesians in chapter 6 verse 1 and 2 children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right honor your father and mother which is the first commandment which has a promise you know in the 10 commandments that God gave Moses only one commandment had a promise all the other commandments don't kill don't steal don't commit adultery had no promise attached to it did you know that that out of all the 10 commandments one commandment had a promise attached to it honor your father and mother verse 3 so that it will go well with you and that you will live long on the earth live long doesn't mean you live up to 100 years Jesus obeyed Joseph and Mary 100 percent but he lived for 33 and a half years but he completed the work God gave him to a long life is not 100 years or 200 years it can be 33 years the long life is a life which has completed the work God planned for you to do on this earth I want to say to all of you my dear brothers and sisters before you were born God made a plan for your life and you must seek with all your heart to fulfill it you say how shall I know that plan I'll tell you you keep listening to your conscience as soon as your conscience tells you something is wrong don't do it and if you already did it go and set it right ask forgiveness and set it right keep your conscience clear and you will fulfill God's plan for your life and I want to tell you that is the best way that is the only way actually by which you can prove your love for the Lord and if you teach teach your children if you want it to go well with your children Ephesians 6 3 if you want your children to live long and fulfill their plan God has for them what shall parents teach their children to do obey your parents honor your father and mother nowadays a lot of children grow up they don't honor their father and mother and don't and don't be lenient with them parents please don't be lenient with your children when they disobey you you're not helping them that way you're ruining them don't say oh I'm going to be merciful I'm going to be kind that is a foolish type of kindness where you tolerate disobedience in your parents in your children rather if you tolerate disobedience in your children I would say to you you don't love your children you don't prove your love for your children by getting them food clothing and education the best way you prove your love for your children is by teaching them to obey their parents obey their teachers submit to authority it will go well with them they will live long means they will live as long as God wants them to live on the earth it may be 33 years like Jesus it may be 120 years like Moses that's up to God so that's very important because I found this area of loving the Lord I'm talking about myself that I found in the early days I didn't have anybody to teach me I never had a spiritual father you guys are all so lucky you have a spiritual father many spiritual fathers to help you but I never had one and so I made a lot of foolish mistakes in my life not serious things but I didn't take little little things seriously and to keep my conscience very sensitive to submit to authority never to speak evil of any authority over me do you speak evil of the elders by God's grace he kept me from speaking evil of elders but I remember once when I was long before I had light on all these things when I was a young man I I foolishly criticized one of the godly elders and boy God taught me such a lesson by punishing me for that in a physical way that I had to humble myself I said Lord I'll never forget in my life I will never again criticize an elder brother a godly elder brother I mean there are a lot of useless elders in the world but I God says who are you to think that you can criticize my servant but I was so foolish that I as a young man I didn't nobody taught me you must never speak evil about God's servants it'll go badly with you nobody taught me that and I regretted it and from my failure I can teach other people learn to respect your elders learn to respect the servants of God who are serving him who are been appointed by God that is how I prove my love for the Lord see unless we put it all down to some practical things we can think love is an emotion oh I feel so much love for him when I speak to him when I sing for him I felt like that sometimes when I sing a sing a hymn oh I feel so much love for the Lord but it's a deception it's tested out in daily life in practical things where I submit to authority respect the elders don't speak evil of others and love my fellow believers and bear with the weaknesses of others that's how it is so when Jesus was praying let's get back to John 17 John 17 is a great prayer because it tells us how much he cared for us the whole prayer is concerning us Lord he father he says I pray I've given them your word verse 14 John 17 14 they are not of the world and I'm not of the world the world has hated them I'm not asking you verse 15 to take them out of the world but keep them from the evil if you can see the burden in Jesus heart oh father please keep these ones from evil and I want to tell all of you elders if you want to know how to pray for your flock go to John 17 then you'll know how to pray for the people in your church fathers and mothers you know want to know how to pray for your children go to John 17 this is how Jesus prayed father verse 14 they are not of the world I'm not of the world I'm not asking you to take them out of the world father verse 15 please keep them from the evil one can you see the burden there that is a proof of Jesus loved his father and by the love he had for the disciples and I prove my love for Jesus by the love I have for my wife and my children and my fellow believers when I have a burden oh father please keep others from evil you don't see the connection of that between that and my love for God that is the proof that I love God Jesus loved God is seen love for God is seen in the fact that he had a burden praying father keep these disciples from evil and sanctify them father verse 17 and then he goes on to say in this wonderful verse which to me is most most wonderful verse in the whole bible John 17 23 I have loved them I want them to know when the last part of verse 23 heavenly father Jesus is praying I want these disciples to know that you love them as much as you love me that is the most fantastic truth in the whole bible for many people John 3 16 is the great truth God so loved the world that he gave his son to that whoever believes in him should not perish but to me John 17 23 is the great truth that God the father believe it or not loves a person like me as much as he loved Jesus now if you just say God loves me that's one thing but if you say God loves me as much as he loved Jesus you say how can that be it's one of the most amazing truths it's not a if you ask me do I deserve to be loved as much as Jesus loved definitely not which of us deserves God's love and that's why God's love for us is called unconditional love unconditional means there's no reason for it he just loves you what is the reason no reason he loves you because that's his nature and to go from there and to say that he loves me as much as he loved Jesus it's absolutely amazing so I thought about that you know how can I find let me I always look for illustrations because Jesus is always using examples and illustrations so I found a proof of it here you turn with me to Romans and chapter 8 this is an amazing truth which is very many many of you may not have even heard about it for some of you this may be a new truth please listen to it Romans chapter 8 we must read verse 28 and 29 together don't read it by itself Romans 8 verse 28 we know that's very important we must know this definitely 100 we know now there was no need to put that we know it could have just said God makes everything work together for good but when it says we know the emphasis this is the truth that we must know all of you must know this truth very important truth what is it that if you love the Lord God will make every single thing that happens in your life to work for your good the evil things that happen will work for your good the good things will work for your good God will make everything work for your good if you love God and I'll prove it to you I often ask people this question you can answer this question to yourself simple question think about it what is the most evil thing that anybody ever did on this earth the most evil thing that ever happened in the history of the earth of this world it is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ killing the son of God that was the greatest evil that is ever done in the history of the world I'm sure you all agree okay my next question is what is the best thing that ever happened on this in this in this earth the very best thing that happened on this earth the crucifixion of Jesus Christ isn't that right that's how our sins are forgiven that's how we can go to heaven that's how we become children of God so what do we see the worst thing that man did God turned it to be the best thing of all teaching us one lesson that every evil that people do to you God can turn it for good and the greater the evil that people do to you the greater good will come out of it the greatest evil was the crucifixion of Christ and the greatest good came out of the crucifixion of Christ that we become children of God so God makes everything work together for good Romans 8 28 if you love God and what that good is is described in the next verse the next verse is that we can be middle of the next verse we can be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ do you know what is the greatest good that God can do for you and me dear brothers and sisters is to make you like Christ to make us like Christ to cleanse away our sin the greatest good can God can do for you is not to make you a millionaire not to make you a lacquer or a crorepati the greatest good God can do for you is not to give you a good job or a beautiful wife or a good home you can ask for all those things but the greatest good God can do for you is to make you like Jesus Christ if you believe that you will say I want that Lord the greatest good I wanted my life teach your children pray Lord Jesus make God make me like Jesus Heavenly Father make me like Jesus Holy Spirit of God make me like Jesus that is the great those best prayer you can pray for yourselves and why does he want to make us like Jesus it says here see the second part of verse 29 so that Jesus can be the firstborn among many brothers meaning so that Jesus can be the eldest brother in heaven Jesus is going to be our elder brother and he's going to be the eldest son of the father in heaven and we are the younger sons and daughters and Jesus is the eldest from there I learned one lesson I have four sons and everything that I did for my first son I did for the other three I would never do anything for my first which I would not do for the other three I did not have any love son that I loved more than the others not even today and never and it has got nothing to do with how those sons behave it makes no difference it's only got to do with my heart my heart is the same towards son number one son number two son number three son number four exactly the same otherwise I'm not Christ-like God loves us as he loved Jesus I'll be also spiritual that God should love us as he loved Jesus Jesus was so perfect God loves him I can understand but that John 17 23 that the world may know that God loves you and me as he loved Jesus where are we compared to Jesus if you love only those children of yours who are obedient to you and you don't love the children who are disobedient you're not like God you're not like God God loved Jesus who was totally obedient to him and he loves me who's not so obedient to him and he loves some of his other children who are more disobedient than me nobody's perfect only Jesus was perfect and to think that God loved an imperfect people like you and me just like he loved the perfect Jesus that is an example for a father and mother that you must love all your children equally even if some of them are disobedient and rebellious and some other child is totally obedient and submissive in the world is not like that fathers and mothers will love the obedient child and be very rude to the disobedient one God is not like that here is the proof John 17 23 he loves me an imperfect person like me he loves as much as he loves the perfect Jesus and he so Jesus is going to be my elder brother and I said I told you from my own experience that whatever I did for my elder son I would do for all my sons God is much better than that whatever he did for his elder son Jesus he will do for you and me this is one of the most revolutionary truths that changed my life nearly 50 years ago at the beginning of cfc there was that song that I wrote which sometimes you sing in cfc called what he did for Jesus he will do for you this is the good news what God can do what he did for Jesus he will do for you I got that truth from John 17 23 to do for my youngest son also what I do for my perfectly obedient son I will do for my imperfect disobedient son also there I see the love of God and I have to if I want to be like God I got to be like that and that's the thing that makes us love the Lord more and that's what helps us to love other people who are not so spiritual sometimes we say it's easy to love those who are love the Lord and who are obedient but God's love is so vast it loves people who are disobedient and that's how he wins them in the history of the world one day when we get to heaven and we hear the stories of all you know one of the things that we'll be spending millions of years in heaven will be I know what I'll be doing I'll be going to all the millions of believers there and say tell me or give me your testimony and it'll take many hours to listen to one man's testimony then I'll go to the next person I've got a job ready for eternity I'll be talking to all these people one by one because I like to hear people's testimonies oh how were you how did the Lord love you and and we'll be amazed when we hear those testimonies how God loved people and drew them to himself and we'll discover that some people were criminals and Jesus loved them and brought them into his kingdom look at the thief on the cross he didn't deserve to go to heaven but God loved him that is an example that Jesus gave right when he was dying that I'm not looking for perfect people if there's a slight desire of repentance I'm sorry for what I did the Lord says come you can be with me in heaven today it's it's it's a wonderful gospel this is what we are to proclaim sometimes we can become so rigid with rules and regulations and all that that we become very hard on other people but God is not hard like that on us God is a very gracious loving compassionate God think of what he says I want you to read Isaiah all of you who are very uncertain in Isaiah 49 those of you who are a bit uncertain whether God loves you or not let me give you this verse you please remember it all your life and remember the reference Isaiah 49 and verse 15 sometimes we may say verse 14 let's start with verse 14 Isaiah 49 verse 14 Zion or the child of God may say the Lord has forsaken me the Lord has forgotten me situation in your life oh God is not God has forsaken me he is not thinking about me he's forgotten about me I'm praying nothing is happening this is for you this verse is for you Zion says verse 14 the Lord has forsaken me the Lord has forgotten me here is the Lord's answer can a mother forget her nursing child a mother may forget the grown-up child who's gone out to play somewhere but a nursing child which she has to feed many times a day a good mother will never forget the child and suddenly the mother will remember oh it's time to feed feed milk to my child and some hours later again the mother will say I have to give milk to the child how many times a day I've got to change the my baby's diaper I've got to wash his body now I've got to give him some milk I got to embrace him can a woman forget her nursing child and remember the Lord is trying to tell us how he cares for us he says listen please listen to this all of you it's as if God is saying to you personally today my dear son and daughter I love you just like a mother loves her nursing baby her nursing baby and then he says even if that mother forgets verse 15 I will not forget you so he's saying my love for you is greater than the love that a mother has for her nursing baby now you ask yourself but I'm not doing anything for the Lord you say I'm not very gifted I can't do anything I don't know much I can't do much in the church also because I'm not gifted I don't know I can't preach I can't sing properly okay let me ask you what can that nursing baby do for its mother can you tell me is there a single thing that nursing baby can do for the mother zero it just creates so much work for the mother it can create so many problems it can get sick it's always dirtying the diapers so many times a day that's all the baby does constantly making work for the mother whole day 24 hours you can't even get sleep at night that's how a nursing mother is imagine that God takes that example of a mother who of a child that can do nothing for the mother and God says I love you like that I'm not asking you to do anything for me you may be creating so many problems for me in your life I'll still love you I care for you like a mother cares for a child and then he says even if that mother forsakes a child forgets a child I will not forget you my dear brothers and sisters how are you going to respond to such a loving father who's like a mother and a father all combined I know how I responded I said Lord I will never live for myself I will live 100% for you I will love my fellow believers because you love them they are your children I will love them even if some of them are difficult I will love them because I am difficult and you love me so why can't I love somebody else who's a bit difficult sure I can love them with the same love that you give me and that also God helps us he gives us love in our heart for those people it's like saying I want you to go and buy something for them and he gives us the money he never asks us to do anything without giving us the resources I'll tell you something if he asks you my brother sister please listen to me if God asks you to love a difficult husband or a difficult wife I tell you in Jesus name he will give you the power to do that he will never ask you to do that without giving you the power will you send your child to the market to buy something without giving him the money how many of you will send your son or daughter to the market to buy something without giving them the money do you expect them to go and work somewhere and get money no you give them the money and say my girl my boy please go and buy this and if the Lord says I want you to love that difficult brother he'll give you that love have you remember that have you thought of that but you must ask him Lord please give me love for this difficult person maybe your husband is a difficult person or your wife is a difficult person don't complain that doesn't solve the problem it just makes it worse go to Jesus go to God and say Lord please give me some love for this difficult husband of mine this difficult wife of mine or this difficult neighbor who's not even a child of God they're always harassing me please Lord give me some love for that person so that they see Christ in me it's the Christian life is such a wonderful life because God does not ask us to produce anything he says I ask you to do something come and take the resources from me and that is why the best example is John chapter 15 verse 5 he says I'm the wine I mean and wine is a very common tree in Israel if it is in India you'd have said I'm a mango tree whatever fruit whatever tree is most common in your country I am a mango tree and the branch that is in the tree will produce mangoes and there it's talking about grapes if the branch stays in the tree fruit will automatically come if the branch does not stay in the tree there'll be no fruit even if the branch has produced fruit for 50 years it produced mangoes you cut off that branch it will not produce one mango after that you cannot love the Lord by experience you cannot serve the Lord by experience I have served the Lord for 60 years I know that if I get cut off from the Lord I will not be able to preach even for five minutes with any anointing no I have to be constantly dependent on the Lord like a branch is in the tree if you go to a branch and say how do you produce such lovely mangoes say I don't do anything the branch says I just stay in the tree and the tree sends a thing called sap it's a liquid it's a picture of the holy spirit going through into the branch producing the fruit and look at the branch is the branch struggling struggling struggling to produce a mango no and I'll tell you my dear brothers and sisters in the beginning you may be struggling but a time will come when your life will be a life of rest the ideal christian life is a life of rest Jesus said come to me I will give you rest it's a life of peace it's not a life of constant struggle for me it was struggling in the early years but I'll tell you today it is not a struggle for me it's not a struggle for me to love the Lord at all it's not a struggle for me to overcome sin it was once upon a time but not today it's like you ask a boy who's riding a bicycle or is it a struggle is it a struggle for you to ride a bicycle not at all but was it when you started learning yes it was everything is a struggle when you whether you're learning how to swim or riding a cycle or driving a car everything is a struggle in the beginning some studying mathematics is a struggle in the beginning a lot of people enjoy it finally it's the same in the christian life God will give you the ability exactly like the branch gets power so how shall I love Jesus the Holy Spirit gives me the power to love Jesus how shall I love that difficult person like the branch gets the sap from the tree the Holy Spirit will give me love God never asks you to do anything without giving you the resource for it please always remember this picture that you send your child to the market to buy something you will give them the money so when God tells you to love a difficult person he will give you that love when God tells you to overcome dirty thoughts he will give you that power all of you men I want to say to all of you men all men have a struggle with dirty thoughts have you ever thought of asking God to give you the power to give you a clean thought life you know you go into supposing you go into a room which is all full of muck and dirt and filth many people's minds are like that and God says will you allow me to clean up that room so that you can go to a clean room isn't it pleasant to go into a room it's not full of muck and dirt a clean room God can make your mind like that like a clean room and you sisters you may not have a problem with lust you can have a problem with bitterness you can be bitter against your mother-in-law can God give you love for your mother-in-law yes I'm not talking about obeying your mother-in-law you don't have to obey your mother-in-law you got to obey your husband but you can love everybody you can love a difficult neighbor what do you have to do go to Jesus and say Lord how does that branch get the liquid sap to produce a mango give me love I will produce love but you got to give me the power the branch can tell the tree don't ask me to produce mangoes if you don't give me the sap there's a liquid that goes from the tree to the branch and you see that when you cut a branch there's a liquid there you can see that is the thing that flows into the branch all the time and that's what produced the apples or the mangoes or grapes or anything and the branch says you give me the sap oh tree I will produce any amount of fruit that's what Jesus says without me John 15 5 you can do nothing isn't that a good statement I believe that many of you haven't understood John 15 verse 5 without me you can do nothing so you say what is the Lord expecting you to do nothing zero isn't that a good thing to hear God is expecting you to do nothing but he expects you to come to him and ask him for the power the sap to love people to love him with all your heart to love your fellow believers to be patient and forgiving and good the Christian life is a wonderful life because God asks us for nothing he says come to me call upon me I will show you ask and you will receive he told his disciples once you don't have because you don't ask you do not have because you do not ask why is it you don't have power to overcome sin you don't ask for it why is it you don't have the ability to love that unlovely person because you don't ask for it why don't you have peace in your home because you don't ask for it you do not have because you do not ask I want to encourage all of you my beloved brothers and sisters in CFC start asking today my father in heaven daddy please give me some power to overcome the dirty thoughts to overcome my bad language I get so angry so quickly please give me an inner power to put my foot on the brakes that the car will stop the bike will stop and I'm tempted to say something give me the power to press the brakes that no bad words will come out of my mouth the car will stop right there the bike will stop right there you won't go into a collision with your husband or wife or anybody else so many collisions when people get angry with each other they don't know how to press the brakes ask god to help you he will help you you do not have because you do not ask please remember this one sentence today god says you do not have because you do not ask ask of me and I will give you which father will deny bread or food or chapati or food to a son who asks saying dad I'm hungry mom I'm hungry give me something will you say no much more your heavenly father will give you he does not ask you to love him he asks you to open your heart so that he will put his love in your heart I know in my heart I love Jesus with all my heart but that is a love given to me by by god himself I did not produce it I cannot produce it and even the desire I have to serve the lord I have a great desire to serve the lord I said lord I'm willing to live up to 120 years like Moses I'll never get tired of serving you but that's a desire he has put into my heart it's not something I can take credit for it's not always act when I had a great desire to serve the lord no I'm a sinner saved by grace but I ask god to give me lord give me the words I don't know the need of these people sitting here give me the words give me a passion to live for you give me strength and health to live for you everything you need my brother sister teach your children also go to Jesus go to your daddy in heaven give me this lord give me love for this situation give me love for that person give me love for Jesus so that I'll never lose my love for you all my life that is how we will endure in love until the end towards the lord and towards one another let us bow our heads in prayer I hope you learned something new today and if you are one of those people who already know so much I hope you got a revision and a reminder of what you already know so that you can be challenged to go one step higher to love the lord a little more than you loved him till now to love other people a little more than you loved them up till now say lord let your spirit flow into me like the sap flows from the tree to the branch automatically producing fruit you will do it in me I believe heavenly father so father we pray to you that every one of these dear brothers and sisters are bowed before you I believe they are all sincere otherwise they wouldn't have come here they'd be doing something else this morning they think it's a waste of time to go to a church but they don't feel like that I believe everyone sitting here has come here with seriousness with a real desire to get something from you they haven't come here for fun they haven't come here to play games they've come here seeking for your power for your holy spirit heavenly father I pray in Jesus name that every single person who has come to the hall today will go back having received something from you that will change their life I can't give it nobody else can give it but you can give it lord Jesus heavenly father you can do it by the holy spirit move upon every single person here answer our prayer we commit ourselves to you don't let anyone go away empty thank you for your good gifts remind us of all that we heard today we pray in Jesus name amen