LOVE IS NOT JUST WHAT YOU FEEL, LOVE IS WHAT YOU ‘WILL’ AND WHAT YOU DO
WE DON’T JUST FEEL THINGS FOR GOD, WE HAVE EMOTION THAT IS BACKED UP WITH MOTION AND ACTION
WHEN YOU LOVE GOD, YOU LOVE HIS PRESENCE, HIS COMPANY AND LOVE TO HANG AROUND HIM
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO LOVE GOD AND NOT LOVE HIS VOICE (WORD)
EVERY DISTANCE FROM THE WORD IS SHOWING A BANKRUPTCY OF LOVE FOR GOD
IT IS ALMOST ABOMINABLE FOR FOOD TO CROSS MY MOUTH IF WORD HAS NOT ENTERED THE EAR EVERY DAY
THERE ARE UNCOMPLETED CHURCHES WE HAVE ROOFED WHEN I VISITED AS A GUEST MINISTER BECAUSE MY FATHER’S HOUSE CANNOT BE LIKE THAT
WHEN YOU MAKE EXCUSES TO NOT GO TO CHURCH, IT’S BECAUSE YOU DON’T REALLY LOVE GOD
WE HAVE A GENERATION OF PEOPLE TODAY WHO HAVE NO LOVE FOR THE HOUSE OF THE LORD
WE APPEAR BEFORE GOD IN ZION, NOT BEFORE ZOOM, TELEVISION SET, OR PHONE
DON’T LET ANYTHING KEEP YOU OUT OF CHURCH
YOU DON’T HAVE ANY REASON TO BE AWAY FROM THE PHYSICAL CHURCH BECAUSE LOVERS OF GOD LOVE HIS HOUSE
SOME CHRISTIANS ARE THE REASON WHY SOME UNBELIEVERS WON’T GO TO CHURCH BECAUSE OF THE KIND OF LIFE THEY LIVE
IF YOU LOVE GOD, YOU WILL DO SOMETHING ABOUT SOUL-WINNING
THERE’S NO GENUINE LOVER OF GOD WHO IS NOT INTERESTED IN THE SALVATION OF THE LOST
WHEN YOU LOVE GOD, YOU WILL LOVE GOD’S CHILDREN
MANY PEOPLE HAVE INCURRED THE ANGER OF GOD BY TOUCHING GOD’S CHILDREN
YOUR LOVELESSNESS NEUTRALIZES THE IMPACT OF YOUR FASTING AND PRAYER
YOU CANNOT WALK WITH LOVE AND NOT CATCH LOVE
IT IS POSSIBLE TO GIVE WITHOUT LOVING BUT IT IS NEVER POSSIBLE TO LOVE WITHOUT GIVING
WHEN A PERSON CLAIMS TO LOVE AND GIVING IS NOT A PART OF THAT LOVE, SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THAT LOVE
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO CLAIM TO LOVE GOD AND YOU DON’T LOVE WORSHIP AND PRAISE
WHEN YOU LOVE GOD, YOU WILL LOVE TO OBEY HIM
QUESTION TO ASK IS, “IS MY LIFE GIVING GOD PLEASURE OR MY LIFE IS GIVING HIM PAIN?”
– Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche on “EVIDENCE (PROOFS) OF LOVE FOR GOD” || Sunday Combined Service || Glory Dome, Abuja
I welcome everyone again here this morning in the precious name of Jesus. I bring you greetings from Port-Harcourt in Rivers State. Church Gist. We had the most explosive healing and deliverance crusade there.
Mark 12:29-31. The Lord bless His Word in Jesus’ name. I’m speaking on the subject “Evidence (Proofs) of Love for God”. Our objective is to understand what love for God is all about. Church Gist. By midweek service on Wednesday, we looked at what it means to be dedicated to God, because many do not understand dedication. Some think that it is mere religious activity that is dedication, others think that it is a look of piety or piousness that is dedication to God. But we looked at 8 phrases that describe dedication. Church Gist. The first phrase was Love for God (affection), then sold out to God (donation), yielded to God (submission), hooked on God (addiction), Stand by God (protection), stand before God (supplication), stand for God (representation), living for God (consecration). Church Gist. If you were not in that service, it’s important to pick up the message and I believe it’ll do something for you.
Now, the first of those definitions of dedication is “Love for God (Affection)”. The question is, what is the evidence of a person’s love for God? Many people think that love is just an emotion, no. Love is an emotion that has both motion and action. Church Gist. That is, love is not just what you feel, love is what you will and what you do. In loving, you will it, you don’t just feel for yourself, you will and you do some things. That is how it is. We don’t just feel things for God, we have emotion that is backed up with motion and action. Church Gist. So what are the actions or the doings of lovers of God? If I love God, what will I do? What are the characteristics of a man who loves God?
1. Love for His presence. When you love God, you love His presence, His company, you love to hang around Him. As it is in the physical, so it is in the spiritual. Church Gist. When you love a person, you love their presence, you love to hang around them. Psalm 42:1-2. You want to spend time with Him. Psalm 63:1-2. You want to spend time with God, you want to dwell in His presence in communion, you want to dwell in His presence at the place of prayer. Like I said, one thing about lovers is that they want to hang around each other’s presence. Church Gist. So, if you don’t love the presence and the company of God, something is wrong with your dedication.
2. Love for His Voice (Word). What is the meaning of that? Everybody knows, if you have ever loved anybody, something about it is that you want to hear their voice. Church Gist. There’s something about their voice that does something to you, there’s something about their word that does something to you. Songs of Solomon 2:8. There’s something about the voice of the one you love, you want to hear that voice.
Have you seen a young man who wants to get married to a young lady? They just carry the phone (always talking to themselves). Church Gist. That is what it means. It is not possible for you to love God and not love His voice. Exodus 20:6. Every distance from the Word is showing a bankruptcy of love for God. Everytime you’re ready to go days at a time without hearing from God, His Word and His Voice, something is wrong with your relationship with God. Church Gist. The other day, I saw my wife reading and studying very aggressively, I said, “what’s happening?” She said, “I have to catch up on my Bible ready schedule”. You want to hear His Voice. Love for His Voice.
For me, it is almost abominable for food to cross this mouth if Word has not entered the ear every day. Job 23:12.
3. Love for His House. Love for God culminates in love for His House. The house of your lover is never too dirty or too distant for you. Most of us, our parents are in the village, the village is not too ‘villagey’ for you to travel, it’s not too ‘villageous’. Church Gist. The road may be impassable, bumpy, by the time you have passed through some village roads, it’s like you had a bath with sand but you’re going there because your lover is there. “Church is too far”, it’s because you don’t really love for him. “Traffic is too much”, it’s because love is not really there. “I am unable to go because of fuel scarcity”, we are trusting the Lord for that scarcity to be arrested, but there are things we can do even if we need to trek to do them, if we are really, truly committed. Psalm 122:1. Church Gist. We have a generation of people today who have no love for the House of the Lord, it’s a challenge today, with the demonic coro that came at a point. Psalm 27:4. Psalm 84:7. Church Gist. We appear before God in Zion, not before zoom, not before television set, not before phone. There may be time where there’s a need to watch on phone because you’re not in the physical vicinity, they may be a time to watch before a Tv set or the computer because you’re not physically where the brethren are but where it is possible to be physically there and you’re not there. Psalm 133:1. Hebrews 12:22-24. Church Gist. People, don’t let anything keep you out of Church. Don’t let anything keep you out of His House.
While I was in the university in those days, I had so much depth of God’s Word, so loaded with Word. Church Gist. When I opened the Scripture, I saw so much out of Scripture. When I went to service at a particular Church I was going at that time, the Pastor for one reason or the other didn’t seem to see so much out of the Word, get a verse and just play around it and go and just do other things. That was almost going to tempt to say, “ah ah, I’ve seen so much depth out of this Word, there could be more that can come out of Word”, but I didn’t bow for that temptation. Do you know what I’d do? I’d go to the Church, because I must be in service and I will sit down there, enjoy the worship and every other thing and the man, out of the same passage that he’s preaching from, I will start receiving light from that same passage inside the Church and be writing notes. Church Gist. You may think that maybe what he was saying was what I was writing, I will write some things he was saying but out of that same verse, because he’s not the owner of that passage, and if God led him to open that passage for that day, then there’s a message from that passage, so, I will trust God and receive it in the Church and then receive a lot of light, by the time service is over, I am going home fully loaded, not empty, not bankrupt. Church Gist. That’s the challenge of young men today, “I can’t go to Church, we are the generation that are the Remnant people that have been called out of Church. We have so much revelation that people of Older generation don’t have” and they just mess up their lives. Church Gist. It doesn’t matter how deep you are, how fireful you are or how anointed you are, there’s a place for you in the Church and God can minister to you in the same Church where you thought you can get nothing.
– somebody say a loud Amen.
Something about Church excites you, something about God excites you, something about His House excites if you’re a lover of God. When I get to a Church that doesn’t have a window or a door, the first thing I will do is to make a pledge. I’ve been invited as guest minister to uncompleted Churches many times, first thing I will do is (to make a pledge). There are Churches we have roofed the whole Church, I was there only as a guest minister and I saw it without roof, “the house of my father cannot be like this”. Church Gist. This is very important. I am saying this because the situation of the earth today, theories online and all manner of things is antiGod and antiChurch, anti-local assembly but we don’t have any revelation that is higher than the revelation of the Word. Church Gist. Even as keepers as the Apostles were, they met daily in the temple and from house to house. Nobody could have been deeper than Paul or Peter the Apostle but they met daily. We are not even meeting daily yet, we have not beaten their record at all, we have not matched it. Church Gist. But they came to Church everyday and from house to house. Beloved, if you’re seated here or you’re hearing me anywhere you are, you don’t have no reason to be away from the physical Church because lovers of God love His House.
4. Love for Souls. Our love for God will culminate in love for the souls of men. It’ll culminate in the salvation for the lost. We love Him so much, it’ll provoke our love for His concern. Church Gist. When you love a person, anything that bothers them, bother you and we know that souls bother God. 2 Peter 3:9. So, He is concerned with the death of the wicked. John 21:15-17. Matthew 9:36-38. This is the concern of God. Church Gist. If you love God, you will do something about soul-winning; either you win souls directly or you invite them to Church to get saved, you give towards the winning of souls, you intercede towards the winning of souls or you do all of the above. Church Gist. There’s no genuine lover of God who is not interested in the salvation of the lost. Everywhere we go, souls come around us, “pray for me”, hardly will we miss the opportunity of leading them to Christ. Passion for souls. I said, in this season, only the politicians have the fields and the stadiums and all and Gospel seems to be quiet, why? Why should God not be on the field? Raking souls into His Kingdom, so we are out there as well. Church Gist. We were in Port-Harcourt, we will be in Makurdi this week, one in the south, one in the north before the general elections. John 9:4. 1 Corinthians 9:16. When you love God, you’ll love souls. Beloved brothers and sisters, let us prove our commitment to God in talking to our friends, colleagues in the office, talking to our brothers and sisters, our family members and friends. Church Gist. The way I think is, if I love God and I love people, I cannot tell them everything, you’re discussing with someone about everything else except the matter of his eternity. Why? Church Gist. You’re talking clothes, dress, house, hairstyles and everything apart from the most important thing of that person’s life which is, “where will you spend eternity when you breathe your last?” Everybody you see will go one day.
5. Love for God’s children. When you love God, you will love God’s children. One woman insulted me one day when I was a baby, my mother almost tore her to pieces. Church Gist. She said, “look at you. Is it my son you’re talking to like that?” The kind of words mama rained on that woman, what they call in our place, ‘body insult’, just rained her down, dried her up. Church Gist. My mother was like a mother hen and most mothers are like that. “If you look for my trouble, I might leave you but look for the trouble for the baby I was pregnant for for 9 months, I will deal the hell out of your life”. If human beings are like that, how much more Almighty God? Church Gist. If you want to see the anger of mother hen, touch the hen.
Many people have incurred the anger of God by touching God’s children. You say, “but I’m a child of God too”, He’d say, “yes, but I haven’t given you the license to touch another child”. Church Gist. Am I communicating? It is not possible for anybody to claim to love God and you don’t love the children that God whom you love, has, it’s not possible. Church Gist. It’s not possible to claim to be a Christian and you don’t love Christians, it’s not possible. 1 John 3:14-17. John 13:34-35. Romans 12:10.
You’re a prayer warrior, Evangelism team member and you do all the long fasting but you can’t greet brethren. You’re so holy, so dedicated, so committed that interacting with people is a sign. Church Gist. Where are you going? Who are you deceiving? It’s plus one minus one. Your lovelessness neutralizes the impact of your fasting and prayer. Isaiah 58:6. If you’re dedicated to God, you will be the most lovely personality anybody can hang around. Church Gist. If you genuinely love God, you’ll be a lovely, lovable and loving person. but when your presence is highly toxic, the atmosphere around you is very toxic, nobody wants to hang around, nobody is interested in interacting because you’re very cantankerous, quarrel looking for where to happen. What kind of Church is that? What kind of Christianity is that? Church Gist. Permanently under pressure, under tension, can’t laugh or smile, nothing. Something is wrong. You cannot walk with love, for God is love, and not catch love. I make no boast, but my wife and my children, they’re permanent recipients of love overflow. Atimes, I come out of the closet, hugging everybody and patting everybody at the back. If it is the presence of God you’re coming from, you can’t be coming with bitterness, for God is love. Church Gist. So, your dedication to God should translate into practical love for the brethren, for the people of your life, your wife, your children, for those around you. I can tell, if you can love and love like God does, in a short while, there’ll be a revolution in our generation.
6. Love for People. Mark 12:29-31. 1 John 4:20. God loves people so much, He made man in His image. Genesis 1:26-28. God loves people so much He sent His only begotten son. John 3:16. Church Gist. So, He expects us to love human beings, to love people. People around your life and in your World should feel the love of God out of you. When people encounter you, let them encounter love. There are some Christians, they are the reasons why some unbelievers won’t go to Church. Church Gist. They say, “if this is how to be a Christian, I don’t want to go to Church”. Why? Because of the kind of life, the kind of wickedness the so-called Christians have perpetrated towards the unbeliever. Love for people.
7. Love for giving to him and his course. John 3:16. Lovers are givers. It is possible to give without loving but it is never possible to love without giving. Church Gist. The Bible said, Charity is kind, love is kind, it’s generous. 1 Corinthians 13:4. That is why when the man says, “I love my wife” and he has the means and he doesn’t give anything to the wife, that love is questionable. 1 Kings 3:3a,4. Love gives. Lovers are givers. Church Gist. When a person claims to love and giving is not a part of that love, something is wrong with that love.
8. Love for praise and worship. When you love God, you like to express your love to Him, express your value that is done at the place of praise and worship. Church Gist. Everybody who loves, expresses value. In the physical, “mama, I want to let you know that I appreciate all your inputs in my life. Daddy, I want to let you know that I am happy that God brought me out into this life through you. I’m grateful. Thank you for all that you have done for me”. Wife, “honey, I want to appreciate your place in my life and I thank God that He brought you into my life” and so on and so forth. Church Gist. We express value, we give appreciation to people we love to communicate our love to them. That is what we do in praise and in worship. It is not possible to claim to love God and you don’t love worship and praise. David was a man after God’s heart. 1 Samuel 13:14. Acts 13:22. Because he was a man after God’s heart, he moved and flowed in praise and worship. Psalm 63:8. Church Gist. The outcome of that was that he was a sweet psalmist of Israel.
– if you love the Lord, say Amen.
– lift your right hand, say, “I love you, Lord!”
If you love the Lord, murmuring will not be part of your vocabulary, complaining and grumbling. You will love to praise, give thanks and appreciate.
9. Love for service. When you love God, you love to serve Him. You love to do something. Church Gist. You know, service is one of the love languages. I’m sure some of you have come across the love languages, highly popularized in our place here by Dr. Mrs Becky Enenche, when she was teaching the women. Love languages; Quality time, acts of service and so on and so forth. Church Gist. When my children were much younger, everytime I came home, they’ll all rush at me, one will take hold of my shoe, he’s pulling it and the socks, another one took hold of the tie, they just want to do something and all of them, they’re doing different things, that is, it is another way to say, “daddy, I love you. Daddy, I appreciate you. Daddy, is there anything more I can do?” Am I communicating?
Service is a demonstration of love. When you love somebody, you want to run errands. Church Gist. You want to say, “is there anything I can do? Is there any difference I can make?” You want to run errands. How is it that we are claiming we love God and we’re not interested in doing anything? How can somebody sit in Church for 20 years and he has not been involved in one activity of service for any reason, why? Deuteronomy 10:12. Church Gist. When you love the Lord, you want to serve Him with your might. Deuteronomy 11:13.
One woman called us, I think from Europe, she said she wants to appreciate for myself and family because we kept them going during the lockdown. Many people said such, from America, from all around the world and we appreciate our media people as well because they did the setup. Church Gist. At that time, when Churches closed down, all manner of things and then those who were doing online services, some will come with T-shirt and sleeveless and sit on the chair because they’re talking from home. you know what we will do? I will come like I’m coming for service, suit, tie, pray and prepare, fast, every day was a different message for almost a year; intense, deep message, stand in front of the microphone, no audience in the place and preaching as if I was preaching to Glory dome filled audience and God saw it. Sweating, cleaning sweat, why? Church Gist. Because for me, Paul the Apostle said, “to live is Christ”. I mean, we don’t have a spare life, you can have spare tyre but you don’t have spare life. The day that has passed forever, it’ll never reverse. Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all that you have got. Back from Crusade yesterday, in Church, preaching today, schedule continues tomorrow. By weekend we’re in Benue State for crusade, return back, the following week, elections and then, next week, I believe it’s Ibadan crusade and then the next week, I believe it’s Accra, Ghana crusade and then the next week, I believe it’s Benin Republic crusade. Church Gist. We are on our feet and people are more tired than us.
– Somebody say Amen
– lift your right hand and say, “I am going to serve the Lord”.
One day, I finished night vigil here and then, by that morning, I was in the south-south part of the country, preaching in a stadium. Church Gist. Our music director said, he turned on the television and said, “who is there preaching? All of us left vigil this morning and he’s preaching somewhere? I’m not tired again”.
– I prophesy upon someone here, energy for service, enthusiasm for Kingdom service is released upon you now in the name of Jesus!
– lift your right hand and say, “father, I receive the grace to serve you with all my heart and with all my strength. I receive that grace now!”
– shout the loudest Amen.
10. Love to please Him. When you love anybody, you don’t want to offend them, you don’t want to disappoint them or irritate them. You love to obey them. When you love God, you will love to obey Him, you will love righteousness, you will love to keep His commandments. John 14:15. Revelation 4:11.
🎵🎶Thou art worthy O Lord, to receive Glory and Power 🎶🎵
The Father looked from Heaven and He said, “this is my beloved son in whom I am well please”. When God looks at you, what will He conclude? Question to ask is, “is my life giving God pleasure or my life is giving Him pain?” Because it’s not neutral, there’s something God is feeling when He sees you. Church Gist. In the world of Noah, He said, “I repenteth me that made man. I’m sorry for creating man. I regret”. Can you imagine Jehovah regretting? Question I will ask myself is, “is God regretting over my life? Does He regret creating me or He’s happy He made me?”
He told satan, “look at my servant Job”, “is God bragging over me for the devil or the devil is bragging to God that God could not have me?” It’s a question to ask. “The way I dress, is God pleased? Is He proud of it?” “The kind of businesses I do, how I make money, is God happy with it or He’s pained?” “Is He pained with my interactions, the way I talk about people to others?” These are questions to ask. Church Gist. But one thing I want is when I see Him, He’d say, “well done, thou good and faithful servant” and like Kathryn Kuhlman said, I will tell him, “Lord, I may not have done everything perfectly but I want to let you know that I tried my best to do everything possible” and like we have always said, even if you’re not yet perfect, be brutally sincere with God, “Lord, this is who I am and this the help I need and I don’t want to offend you deliberately, I can’t”.
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