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ER2024

At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart thrown away, It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day.

 

Praise the Lord. Praise the Living God.

 

It is another session of the reign of God’s Word. I welcome us to this special time in the presence of the Lord. It is a time to switch camps.

 

It is a time that the Lord has slated to release His inexhaustible resources, His insatiable resources, because we are in the time of great need, time of great lack. A time that is bedeviled with a lot of troubles and traumas. A time of abounding iniquity.

 

It is a time that the Lord said, where sin abounds, His grace will much more abound. And so He is set to enable us, to quicken us, to energize us, to switch camps, so that we’ll be in the place He has slated us to be. He will not hoard His help, because our help can only come from Him.

 

I would like us to open our hymn books and sing from hymn number 145 and hymn number 163. Hymn number 145, I am so glad that Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me.

 

Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me.

 

Jesus loves me with me. Though I forget Him and wander away, still He does love me wherever I stray. Back to His dear loving arms so I flee, when I remember that Jesus loves me.

 

I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me.

 

I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me with me. There’s only one song I can sing, when in its beauty I see the great King.

 

This shall my song in eternity be. Oh, what a wonder that Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me.

 

Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me.

 

Jesus loves me with me. Jesus loves me and I know I love Him. Love brought Him down, my poor soul to redeem.

 

Yes, it was love made Him die on the tree. Oh, I am sighting that Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me.

 

Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me.

 

Jesus loves me with me. If one should ask me, how can I tell? Glory to Jesus I know very well. The Holy Spirit with my heart I bring.

 

Constantly witnessing Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me.

 

Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me with me.

 

In this assurance I find sweetness rest. Trusting in Jesus I know I am blessed. Satan is made from my soul, now don’t flee.

 

When I just tell Him that Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me.

 

Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me with me.

 

I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me.

 

I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me with me. Hymn number 163.

 

Oh, to be like Thee. Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer. This is my constant longing and prayer.

 

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of His treasures. Jesus, I bind them, let them to wear. Oh, to be like Thee.

 

Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer. Pure as Thou art. Love in Thy sweetness.

 

Love in Thy fullness. Stand, Thy hope be made deep on my heart. Oh, to be like Thee, full of compassion.

 

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind. Sharing the fainting, seeking the wandering. Seek not to find.

 

Oh, to be like Thee. Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer. Pure as Thou art.

 

Love in Thy sweetness. Love in Thy fullness. Stand, Thy hope be made deep on my heart.

 

Oh, to be like Thee, lowly in spirit. Boldly and heartless, patient and brave. Weakly enduring, cruel reproaches.

 

Willing to suffer, orders to say. Oh, to be like Thee. Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer.

 

Pure as Thou art. Love in Thy sweetness. Love in Thy fullness.

 

Stand, Thy hope be made deep on my heart. Oh, to be like Thee. Lord, I am coming.

 

Now to receive You, planting divine. All of this moment, all shall be Thine. Oh, to be like Thee.

 

Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer. Pure as Thou art. Love in Thy sweetness.

 

Love in Thy fullness. Stand, Thy hope be made deep on my heart. Oh, to be like Thee, while I am pleading.

 

Born out of spirit. Filled with Thy love in the altar. Oh, to be like Thee.

 

Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer. Pure as Thou art. Love in Thy sweetness.

 

Love in Thy fullness. Oh, to be like Thee. Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer.

 

Everlasting Father, we are grateful unto You once again for bringing us into this time a time to have slated to walk in our members, to walk in our lives, to walk in our hearts, to fashion us to be like To fashion us to be like You. Lord God of heaven, I bring each and every one of us before your throne now. I am asking that Lord, in your mercy, compassion and love, that you stretch forth your hands and prune us and cut off whatever excesses there be in our lives that have made us not to fulfill your purpose for our lives.

 

All the things that are found in us that are not planted by you, Jehovah, we ask that you root them out of our lives and bring us to a point where the measure of the fullness of Christ shall be ours to testify about. Thank you very, very much, because I know that it is your good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Therefore, every needed grace, every needed enablement, every needed upliftment and every needed pruning, Jehovah, we ask that you have your way.

 

In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray, and amen. The topic before us now is, the second is like the first. The second is like the first.

 

In Matthew chapter 22, I would like us to read from verse 34 to 40. Matthew 22, from verse 34 to 40, but when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them who was a lawyer asked him a question, testing him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.

 

This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

Let’s look at the account of Mark, this very episode, Mark chapter 12. I want to read from verse 28 to 34, draw out more information from that passage of Scripture. Mark chapter 12, verse 28 to 34, And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him.

 

Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

 

There is no other commandment greater than this. And the scribe said unto him, Well, master, thou hast said the truth. For there is one God and there is no other but he.

 

And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the soul and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that dared to ask him any question.

 

Christianity is not a religion. Why do I say that? If we describe or define religion as man’s search for a supreme supernatural being to be worshipped and adored, a search for the almighty God so that he can be worshipped and adored, if that is what we define religion as, with all the paraphernalia of worship, with all the doctrines and all the rules and regulations about it, but man is the one searching for God, that is religion. Any other religion can fit into that definition, but Christianity does not.

 

That is why I said it’s not a religion. Christianity is rather the search of God for man to establish a healthy father-child relationship with him. In Christianity, it is God that is searching for man, not man searching for God.

 

Jesus Christ told the apostles in John chapter 15, saying, you didn’t choose me. This relationship that the Lord seeks to establish with man, for which he’s been searching for him, looking for him, came down from heaven in search of man, he did so many things, including the sacrifice of himself in order to get man. That relationship can be simply described as love, agape, God’s kind of love.

 

God loves man with an everlasting love, with a magnitude that is not comprehensible to man. In Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 3 and verse 4, the word of God clearly states, the Lord has appeared of old unto me, saying, yeah, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee again.

 

I will build you, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel. Thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dances of those who make merry. In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 5, Hebrews 1, 5, the Lord has loved us with a love we can’t comprehend.

 

For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he said, and let all the angels of God worship him.

 

And of the angels he said, who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the son he said, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Escaper of righteousness is the escaper of thy kingdom.

 

Chapter 2, verse 5, for unto the angels had he not put in subjection the world to come of which we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou made him a little lower than the angels. Thou crowned him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands.

 

Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all things in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

 

Here he talks about Jesus Christ and the special place that he occupies. Though at the time of his incarnation, at the time he became a man and came to this planet Earth, he was made a little lower than the angels. But then he is crowned with glory, with honor.

 

And the angels have received a command to worship him. And he has done, by reason of what he has done, in obedience to the Father, he has been lifted up above every other. Then he came and took the form of a man.

 

And the word of God says in chapter two from verse five, that none of the angels was given a position, the privilege, the things that the Lord has lavished on man. Now, whosoever accepts God’s love and agrees to establish this relationship with him comes under some great responsibilities. Seeing that the unmerited favor of his love has been bestowed upon him, he needs to repair.

 

When somebody loves you, it is only reasonable that you love him back. We see in Deuteronomy chapter 32, from verse six. Deuteronomy 32, from verse six.

 

Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father who has bought thee? Has he not made thee and established thee? Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show thee.

 

Ask thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the Most High divided the nations, their inheritance. When he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

 

For the lost portion is his people. Jacob is the lord of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land and in a waste howling wilderness.

 

He led him about, he instructed him, and he kept him as the apple of his eyes. As the eagles stirred up his nest and fluttered over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, buried them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him. He made him to ride on the high places of the earth, and that he might eat the increase of the field.

 

And he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, and on and on and on. You see him talk about the benefits and the largeness of heart of God toward man. The things he has lavished upon him.

 

Then he was asking in verse six, is it the way you will requite the Lord for all his goodness upon your life? How do you pay him back? How do you respond? Then in verse 15, he says, but Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. He had become fat, he has grown thick, and was covered with fatness. Then he forsook God who made him a light in the esteemed, the rock of his salvation.

 

That’s why he was asking, is that the way you requite God? Is that the payback? Is that what you give back to him in return for all the love? He has lavished upon your life. The expectation of God is that we should love him back. That’s the bottom line.

 

And if any person agrees to accept this love of God, as all the people that are born again have agreed to do. If any person accepts that the love of God should be in his life, it should be reciprocated. If any person acknowledges this love, it is necessary that he should make up his mind to return the love to God.

 

In this message before us, we are going to consider the responsibility of love that man owes to God. And that will lead us into these three points in this message. Number one, the primary responsibility of love.

 

Man’s primary responsibility of love. Two, the twin responsibility of love. Number three, the consequences of deficiency of either the primary or the twin.

 

The consequences of deficiency of either. What is man’s primary responsibility of love? The dynamics of God’s love for man demands that man should reciprocate God’s love. Because of the depth of God’s love for man, he is expected and commanded to love God back without any reservation.

 

We are all commanded to love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, with all our strength. In Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 1 to verse 9. Deuteronomy chapter 6, from verse 1 to 9. Now these are the commandments, the statutes and the ordinances which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land to which you go to possess it, that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged. Here, therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, and that you may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers has promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

 

Verse 4, here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sit in thy house, and when thou walkest in the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou riset up, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontless between their eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. In Matthew 22, Jesus quoted from these scriptures in answer to the question of that scribe that came around when he had silenced the Sadducees in their questions that were aimed to track him down.

 

He came and asked, seeing how great and mighty the Lord is, and seeing how he has condescended so low to love us, and establish his filial relationship, the relationship of father to children with us, it is necessary that we understand that he has commanded us not to take that love for granted. He has commanded us not to despise that love, but to fear and tremble before him, and to set him apart from other gods. That is the commandment of God.

 

That is the expectation of God. That is the only thing that is apt, that is reasonable for man to do. We have seen that in Deuteronomy chapter 6, where he commanded us to love him.

 

Look at verse 12 to 15, Then beware, lest thou forget the Lord who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people who are round about you.

 

For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you. Lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. God expects us not to go about other gods, not to go about seeking other beings in this special relationship that he has called us onto.

 

He wants us to be his, and he wants to be ours. The commandment of God that we should fear him, and set him apart, implies that the love we have for God should so fail, or dwarf the love we have for any other being. That love we have for those beings, even if they be our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, blood brothers and sisters, can be described as hatred.

 

When you compare the love you have for any other person, any human being, anything at any quarter, when you compare it with the love you have for God, the love for God will make that thing, that love for any other thing, any other being, any other human being, to be described as hatred. In Matthew chapter 10, that is the understanding that Jesus was given, in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 37. Matthew 10, 37.

 

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Then, and I put it this way in Luke chapter 14, verse 25 and 26.

 

Luke 14, 25 says, And there went great multitude with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, hates even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. When you compare the love you have for God with the love you have for yourself, it will so pale that your love for yourself will be described as hatred. The same, the love you have for your mother, the love you have for your wife, the love you have for any other being on earth.

 

That means the love for God should be so high, he said it should be with all your life, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, the strength in you, everything within you, you will use to love the Lord your God. Because his love for you is with everything. He didn’t compromise anything, he didn’t spare anything, including his life.

 

John 3, 16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Even that description, only begotten son, is a God that became a man for the purpose of the sacrifice of himself. That’s how you want to understand it.

 

God, the word of God that is God, became a man in order to qualify to sacrifice himself to the demand. That is the love we are talking about. Love is usually expressed in sacrificial giving to the loved.

 

So, he so loved the world that he gave. In John 15, 13, Jesus says, Greater love has no man shown than this, that a man should give his life for his friends. God so loved the world that he gave.

 

Greater love has no man shown than this, that a man should give his life for his friends. It is expressed in giving any person that claims he loves another and doesn’t give anything for the benefit of the love. Sacrificially, that person is lying.

 

He doesn’t love a person at all. Love to God is also expressed in obedience and living to please the loved. Living to please him.

 

In John chapter 14, let’s read verse 15. John 14, 15. If you love me, keep my commandments.

 

Verse 23. If Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. If you love me, keep my commandments.

 

That is a proof of your love. If any man loves me, he will keep my words. That is a proof.

 

Number one, if you love him, you will give whatsoever that is necessary to be given. You will give unto him because the proof of his love for us is that he gave his life. So, we need to give sacrificially, even to him that we say we have loved, even God.

 

We also need to live in obedience to his word. We ought to live to please him. It is not enough to believe in God.

 

We must love him enough to do all his pleasure. It’s not enough to say we believe in God because the Bible says in James chapter 2 verse 19 to 20 that believing in God is not a big deal. If you say I believe in God, that is not sufficient.

 

That even satan believes in God and trembles. So, having faith in God, believing in his ability to do this and do that, believers now I am able to do this and you say yes Lord I believe and you have your miracle. It is not enough.

 

You have to do to all his pleasure because if you don’t then you cannot claim to love him. Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments. He said if you love me, keep my words.

 

So, you love him and you do what he has commanded us to do. Now, if we love God this way and we give to his cause during any time the church is calling for money, he’s calling for this or there is a project to identify to give for the cause of the Lord for the needs in his house. It is wonderful but Jesus said there is a second commandment.

 

The Pharisee that asked him the question in Matthew 22 and then Mark chapter 12 asked him one. He said which of the commandments is the first, is the greatest commandment and in answering that question Jesus didn’t give one. He gave two.

 

He said the greatest, the first of the commandments is love God. Loving with all your heart, with all your soul but he didn’t stop there. He said the second is like the first.

 

Love your neighbor as yourself. He said on these two hang all the laws and the prophets. Anything you want to find in the Bible, it is on these two truths that they are built upon.

 

So that takes us to the twin responsibility of love. The original intention of God in creating man and in setting his love upon him is to establish a family where he God is the father and all of us human beings are his children. He set his love upon us and in return we are to love him back in much the same way he commanded us not only to love him back but also to love one another, to relate with one another, to care for one another with such fervency, with such passion that will make us different from the rest of the people, that will make us set apart from the people that are not his children.

 

Jesus Christ says it is in this kind of love that the rest of the people will know that we belong to him. In John’s gospel chapter 13 reading verse 34 and 35 Jesus said a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. Jesus brings to perfection the demand of the law.

 

In the old testament he said you love your neighbor as yourself but now Jesus is saying I am bringing you a new commandment love your neighbor as I have loved you not as you love yourself this time. He said by this shall all men know that you are my disciples. This is what marks you out as a child of God, a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Christ.

 

If you have love, this kind of love, my own kind of love one toward another. In Deuteronomy chapter 10 let’s see verse 12 and 13. And now Israel what does the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his ways and to love him and serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I commanded this day for thy good.

 

That’s the expectation of the Lord. Leviticus 19 verse 17 and 18. Leviticus 19 17 and 18.

 

Thou shall not hate thy brother in thy heart. Thou shall surely rebuke thy brother and not allow sin upon him. Don’t hate him because of his misdemeanor, because of the things he has done wrongly.

 

Rebuke him, call him, correct him so that he will not continue in that evil that’s a show of love. Don’t because he has misbehaved hate him. Verse 18.

 

Thou shall not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people but thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord because I am the owner of your life. Lord simply means owner because I am the owner of your life.

 

I brought you forth when you got lost into the camp of Satan. I came seeking for you. I came paying the price for you.

 

I came to redeem you with at the expense of my blood and finally I have found you and returned you to myself. Returned you to the very blessings that have been proposed before you were created because I own you. Now this is my demand.

 

You must love your neighbor. Don’t hate him even when he wrongs you. Correct him, rebuke him before his face.

 

Don’t hate him but love him. Praise the Lord. Luke chapter 10 verse 25 to 37.

 

Luke 10 25. And behold a certain lawyer stood up and tested him saying master what shall I do to inherit eternal life and he said unto him what is the what is written in the law how it is thou and he answered and said thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself and he said unto him thou has answered right this do and thou shall live but he desiring to justify himself said unto Jesus and who is my neighbor and Jesus answering said a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed leaving him half dead by chance there came down a certain priest that way and when he saw him he passed by the other side and likewise a Levite when he was on the place came and looked at and passed by on the other side but a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him and on the next day when he departed he took out two denarii and gave to the host and said unto him take care of him and whatever thou spendest more when I come again I will repay thee verse 36 which now of these three thinkers thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves and he said he that showed mercy on him then said Jesus unto him go and do likewise so who is my neighbor from the record that we have read our neighbor is not just our blood brother is not just our maternal relations our paternal relations it’s not just the people that we know closely from our kindred or from our village or from the circle where we find ourselves in the church our neighbors are not just the people we live together with in the yard or on the same street or friends that we school together no you see that this person that was attended to by the Samaritan Samaritan were not Jews they were not Israelites they were people that were brought from other nations and in the days of Esa-Haddon when they were in captivity and they were brought to inhabit the land of Israel and general of Israel we are taken to various other foreign lands they stayed there and established there even though at the nick of time God brought back Israel to their land but these strangers didn’t go back to the countries they came from so they were they stayed there and those are the people called Samaritans that’s why you had the woman of Samaria he told Jesus that we Samaritans have no business with the Jews we don’t have any interaction they are on their own we are on our own so this person that was a total stranger who even the culture of the people did not permit to mix with the Jews when he saw this person helpless had compassion on him and came to help him and then Jesus says that foreigner that Samaritan is neighbor to the Jew that was battered that was wounded so to love your neighbor means that you don’t despise him to love your neighbor means you don’t oppress him with your position to love your neighbor means that you consider him to provoke unto love not unto wrath in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 4 and ye fathers provoke not your children to rot but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ye fathers a number of us delight to answer daddy daddy because we are ministering to the people in the locations and they call us daddy daddy and they call our wives mommy mommy and we like it we answer but then the Lord is saying to daddy provoke not those children unto rot don’t provoke them to rot instead provoke them to love and to good works there are certain things you do and you simply press upon the people because of respect because of regard they may not tell you you are offending me sir they may not tell you you are wounding me they may not tell you you are you the thing you are doing is not acceptable to me they will keep quiet and you continue to do it and you continue to do it and if any of them is pressed to the wall to express himself to you you feel insulted how do you why should you talk to me like that how can you say this and how can you say that God is saying if you are occupying the place of a parent then you must not provoke your children to rot you must consider them many a time the problem is that we don’t consider the people with whom we have to do we don’t consider their feelings we don’t consider anything that concerns them we just you know instruct them and command them do this and do that but love does not provoke unto rot it rather provokes unto good works in philippians chapter two and verse three philippians 2 verse 3 let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves in relationships there are things that make people unable to encourage one another to love one another to show concern one for another many a time relationships become sour between husband and wife between parents and children between people in higher authority with those that are subordinate to them the reason is that many many people have what the servant of God calls the nasty nature of the natural man he still retain it which things should have been taken care of gradually by the word of God that they eat and pray in and finally by the uprooting of the adamic nature that is resident in the soul at sanctification experience these we have been taught these we have been shown but a number of people who have not passed through these experiences still retain the nasty nature of the natural man and these things manifest in their lives this nature is essentially selfish this nasty nature of the natural man is essentially selfish is essentially self-centered it is egocentric it preserves itself and its own at the expense of others this nasty nature seeks to preserve itself seeks to preserve its own the people that belong to him or her those are the people that should be preserved others can go to blazes this nasty nature excuses self it excuses the people that are close or it feels that belong to him and then it indicts others it excuses self and indicts others this is the reason a man and his wife will not be able to stay harmoniously together to stay you know loving each other encouraging each other and you know being happy with each other because of this nasty nature this selfish tendency when the two of them are discussing each one will want to justify himself in any matter the other will want to justify herself the husband will want to justify himself he wants to you know excuse himself and the wife wants to excuse herself so one will be pointing accusing finger on the other and by that the situation will escalate a relationship will go sour in the home the woman will excuse her biological mother but will never excuse her mother-in-law because that is the mother of the husband this one is my own this one is not my own and so she will find everywhere every grain of excuse to blame the mother-in-law but if her mother does even worse things than the mother-in-law has done she will excuse her mother if the mother has need you will do the things that she has to do she will persuade the husband to also bring to meet the need of her mother but if her mother-in-law has need even lesser than the mother it will it will be able she will manufacture excuses and reasons why the money that will be used to solve her problems were meant for some other things in the house that is the nasty nature of the natural man he never understands that by virtue of marriage if the two of them have become one actually her mother is her biological mother and her husband mother has become her own mother by the law of god and that’s why it’s called mother in law the man also will also recognize that his own biological mother is his own blood mother biological mother but the mother of his wife by virtue of that marriage the two of them have become one so the mother of his wife is now his own mother by the law of god that’s why it is called mother-in-law and we understand this and we know that the two families have actually become one family her father is now my father my father is my wife’s father her mother my wife’s mother is now my mother and my own mother is now her mother and we take care of them as such when that happens you see that all the situations and circumstances of discrimination putting this one in a disadvantage position and favoring the other one will no longer be and we will be able to live harmoniously when two people have an issue the way you will know whether these people whether they have become born again sanctified whether they have the adamic nature has been uprooted or it is still there the way you want to know is how they talk about the problem how they relate the issue what happened i read about a couple that were always exchanging was always quarreling always finding problem one with another and uh but the home was a very big hell for both of them and then one day they had a friend that came into the neighborhood to settle and they decided to go and visit them one of the days one evening like that and then they went as they welcomed them and they began to you know entertain them the wife went to the kitchen to bring some things for them to drink as she was coming out she brought the tea and the milk in a breakable jar as she was coming she remembered something that she should have brought together with it and she kept the a jug in on a stool just on the way and went back to the kitchen and stayed long in the kitchen i don’t know what kept her that long and the husband became embarrassed there’s something should have been brought to entertain the people then he went to see what the woman was doing in and inadvertently kicked the stool where the jug was on and the thing tripped and broke on the ground the milk spilled everywhere as the thing broke the wife rushed from the from the kitchen only to see the man with the broken pieces the woman bent over and opened her mouth to apologize to the husband and the husband opened his mouth and both of them this one said i am sorry i am sorry darling i am sorry the two of them were you know apologizing to each other and they bent down and picked the bottles i mean the broken pieces and then the woman went back to get more milk eventually served their host i mean their guests yes as the people finished and interacted with the host and they went back as they reached home the husband called the wife do you see anything in the place where we went today and the wife said yes said what did you see said i saw opposite of what used to happen in our house in our house if that thing had happened i would be blaming you and you’ll be blaming me but with the people we met each one acknowledged his or her fault in the matter and it was easy to forgive and reconcile and together they packed the mess the woman was saying i am sorry i didn’t i just kept this thing here i didn’t know i was going to stay long and the thing was uh you know blocking the road and the man was saying i’m sorry i should have seen this thing i should have seen the job i am sorry i i was just overtaken i i tripped over it each one acknowledged what he or she should have done that he didn’t do but in the other family this one with big fault with what this one shouldn’t have done which he did or should have done which he didn’t do and the other one we retort each one we pick fault with another and that would create commotion that is the reason there is commotion in homes that is the reason there is commotion in churches in parishes in locations each one is picking forth with the other never can see his or her own error that is a part of the nasty nature of the natural man when we learn as we read in philippians chapter 2 verse 3 when we learn to extend orders better than ourselves when we learn to justify others more than ourselves then we will understand that the solution to the problem should be found in us not in the other there is an understanding that we should have and it will help us to overcome to overthrow this nasty nature when you recognize that something that somebody else is doing you as a man cannot change him but you have the authority you have the ability to change your own self to change your mind to change your decision but you don’t have the ability to change another man’s decision is it true you don’t have the ability to change another man’s thought Another man’s, you know, lifestyle, you don’t have that ability, you are not God. But you have the ability to address your own thought, your own self, your own fault.

 

And so when there is any controversy, if we learn to look inwards, to look to ourselves, to find where did I get it wrong that this thing should result to this problem. What is my role in this matter? What should I have done that I didn’t do? And what should I not have done that I did, that created this problem? When we begin to understand, we begin to search for what it is that is in us, that is creating the problem or not helping the solution, then we have arrived. We have become like Jesus.

 

The reason people continue the way they are going, the reason they continue to do things that are odious, is because they never stop to think. This attitude of mine, how do others see it? How do people see it? What do they say about me? By reason of this nagging nature. By reason of this weak temper.

 

What do they say about me? But Jesus Christ at a point called his disciples, and he asked them, what do people say about me? They wanted to know. If they were complaining, they would have told him. If they were agitated about one attitude or the other, they would have told him.

 

Say, what, who do people say I am? And they told him, some are saying you are the prophet that has been expected, some are saying you are Elijah, and he now turns around to seek their own opinion. My relationship with you, as we go in and come out, who do you say I am? What do you see in me? What is your opinion about me? And then they told him, if somebody is sincere, if somebody is humble enough, like Jesus was, if somebody is meek, like he was meek, and he has commanded us, he has told us to come and learn from him, learn from his meekness, learn from his humility. If we make up our minds to understand the feelings of people about us, we will go into ourselves and seek for a change.

 

So, to love your neighbor means not to provoke him to rot. You should remember the golden rule. In your relationship with your wife, with your husband, with your children, with your parents, remember that Jesus says everything whatsoever you would like that men should do for you or to you, do it unto others.

 

He said this is a whole essence of the law and the prophets. In Matthew chapter 7 verse 12, we should make up our minds to improve our relationship with other people. It is not good for us to fall out with people.

 

You go to market, you fall out with market people. You go to church, you fall out with church people. You go to the places wherever you are, there is antagonism, there is commotion.

 

Your relationship with people is toxic. It shouldn’t be like that. Jesus talks about loving your neighbor, loving the people, provoking them to love and good works, and not being an instrument of provoking them to rot.

 

So, if in your relationship with your superior in the office, or anywhere, you discover that what he did to you, in this manner, in this manner, you don’t like it. The love of God will constrain you. That thing you have marked that he did to you, you didn’t like, make up your mind never to do it to any of your subordinates.

 

Did you hear what I said? If you must love and your love will rub off on your relationships, and nobody was born at the top, no. We grow from the ranks. And as you are coming up, there are people above you.

 

The centurion told Jesus, I am a man under authority. And I also have soldiers under me. So, while I have soldiers under me, there are some other superior officers that I am under.

 

When you recognize that, then you want to know. The people that I am under, are there things, are there ways they have addressed me in the time past that I didn’t like? Are there attitudes they have shown toward me that I didn’t like? Are there actions they have taken that didn’t go well with me? And when you see that there are things they have done at one time or another that you didn’t like, then mark those things out. And tell yourself, I will never do any of these things to my subordinates.

 

Because the way you didn’t like it, that is the way your subordinate will not like it when you do it to them. You need to recognize this. But students, especially in the secondary school, they need to open their ears and hear this.

 

That what your seniors did to you, and you didn’t like it, you must resolve. You must make up your mind never to do it to your juniors. That is what the Lord expects from you.

 

Students, you hear it. Because what the hinting is, by the time the students are in JS1 and JS2, and they suffer unjustly at the hand of senior students, by the time they now become seniors, they said, okay, I’m going to deal with junior students. That is a nasty nature of the natural man.

 

Pastors should hear it. A parish pastor is under district pastor. District pastor may be under zonal pastor, may be under distant pastor, and so on and so forth, under the general superintendent.

 

If there is anything your district pastor has done to you that you don’t like, make sure you don’t do it to the home prayer meeting leaders. Make sure. That is how to stop evil.

 

That is how to promote good relationship. That’s how to foster love. You are a HOD in the place of work, but there are supervisors over you, and there are things they are doing you don’t like.

 

Make sure you mark those things out and resolve never to do it to the people that are under you. You are a CEO of a company. You are the person in charge of your trading company, of your business.

 

There are people that are working with you. Make sure when you were an apprentice, when you had your own ogre, there were things he did you didn’t like. Now that you are the ogre of the place, you are the CEO of your own, you have now established those things you didn’t like that your own ogre did to you.

 

Make sure you don’t do it to the boys or the girls that are serving you now. That is how to improve in relationships. The way you treat your maid, your maid in the house, the way you treat your servant in the house, may determine whether you go to heaven or not.

 

A maid in your house, a servant in your house, the way you treat him, the reason is very simple. In Matthew chapter 7, 1 and 2 says you don’t judge so that you will not be judged. It says with the same measure that you met out to somebody, that is how the measure of God will measure to you again.

 

It is important that you want to ask yourself, these things I am demanding from my subordinates, are those things reasonable? By 2 a.m., because of your lack of discretion, because of your lack of planning, there are certain things that you would have gotten from the market while you were there, but you didn’t, and now it is 11 p.m., and you are sending that child out to go to about 500 meters, half a kilometer, to go and buy this thing or buy that thing, at such a time as dangerous as we are in, such a time of insecurity, because he’s another person’s child, your own child is fast asleep on the bed, but you have to bring her out and now send him out to go and buy this and go and buy that for the morning meal by 10.30 p.m., and then the child is going. Tomorrow you bring prayer point, that we should pray that God should recover the child. He has not been seen for such a number of days.

 

That child you are treating that way, you treat your own children that way, don’t you understand that with what measure you measure, God will measure to you again. Can you do the things you are asking your subordinates to do? A leader is somebody that does something and brings others to do. Those things you are demanding from them, can you do them? If you cannot do those things yourself, but you are demanding that your subordinates will do them, then Jesus calls you a hypocrite, and hypocrites have no place in the kingdom of God.

 

In Matthew chapter 23, verse 1 to 4, the demand that you must make of people that are with you must be reasonable. You don’t just close your mind and close your heart and send them on very dangerous errands and dangerous missions, and then, because they are not your biological children, anything can happen to them. In Matthew 23, Jesus spoke unto the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat, all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do.

 

But do not after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. In verse 14, look at the conclusion Jesus made.

 

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites you are. He calls them hypocrites. Those people that sit on Moses’ seat, those people that demand on people, you must do this, you must do that, but they are not able to do any of the least of those things they are demanding from people.

 

And by the time they are scolding, by the time they are talking, they talk as though those people have failed woefully and all that. They are hypocrites. And hypocrites are not candidates of the kingdom.

 

It is important that we should know that the God of heaven, the one that has called us unto himself and has demanded that we should love our neighbor, not as we love ourselves now, but as Jesus has loved us. How does Jesus love us? His demand on us is that we should love as he, Jesus, has loved us. He loved us while we were yet sinners.

 

So, the things that we do, the love that we show, because somebody is pleasant, because somebody is fine, somebody is doing our bidding, is pleasing us well, that’s not the love of Jesus. That one is common. Jesus said even unbelievers, sinners, and children of Belial, they do the same.

 

When you do something that is wonderful, even a wicked person will be happy and will do you good. Love, the way Jesus showed, is the way he said we must show. When you do, to give somebody something because of what he has done, it is quite commendable.

 

It is good. But what you have given him is not the work of grace. What you have given him is the benefit of what he has done.

 

You have only paid him back. That is a debt to pay. But when you do something for somebody that he does not desire, then you are doing it out of the flow of love, according as Jesus did.

 

For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And the goodness of God unto the people that are disobedient, so he does good to us while we are yet in sin. Jesus died for us while we are yet sinners.

 

And the purpose of doing that is that he can provoke us to repentance. So, it is necessary that we should recognize that the measure of love that is expected of us is not the measure of love as in the Old Testament that is talking about our loving as we love ourselves, but our loving others as Jesus has loved us. And this love, when it is the way it ought to be, will engender good living among brethren.

 

It will engender peace. It will engender harmony, harmonious living. It will engender wonderful relationships that people will be encouraging one another to do the will of God, to continue in the race.

 

So, the second is like the first. If God has demanded that we should love him back and has threatened that if we don’t, then what we are looking for is a severe punishment from him, make him angry and he will deal with us. But if we do, we now eat all the food he has prepared for us.

 

He says, if we are obedient, if we hearken and we are obedient, in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18, we shall eat the good of the lamb. But if we rebel and refuse, then we’ll be devoured by the sword. So, God is expecting us to follow in that way, to follow in that step and to forge harmony among the brethren.

 

By the time we are provoking one another unto love, by the time we do not begin to point accusing fingers, to begin to, you know, blame the other person, we rather seek solution to any misunderstanding. We seek the solution from within us. We look at what we didn’t do that we should have done, what we did that we shouldn’t have done.

 

The moment we focus on that, there will be great improvement. Today, the auto brand known as Toyota is among the best-selling brands in the world, if not the best-selling brand. It’s among the best.

 

Some years ago, they were struggling. They were having some issues and they engaged a new chief executive, a new managing director. And when the man assumed office, he called all the people, the high and the low, working at the head office and other strategic branches.

 

He called them together and he asked two questions and asked all of them to go and find sincere answers to those two questions and give to him. He asked them, what are we doing in Toyota Motor Company that in your opinion we should not be doing, which in your opinion is hindering our growth and our success rate? Number two, what are we not doing at Toyota Motor Company which we ought to be doing to ensure that we improve and we have a better success rate? Those two questions. And he left them to go and to answer it as sincerely, as openly as possible.

 

Everybody went and penned down. He gathered all of them and went and studied them, categorized them. What are we doing that we shouldn’t be doing? What are we not doing that we should be doing? The man in his search for progress didn’t look at the workers.

 

He didn’t look at the people. He looked at the management. He looked at himself, the people that are running the company.

 

What are we doing that we shouldn’t be doing? What are we not doing that we should be doing? When the people poured out their observations and their hearts, he gathered them together and began to make, take measures to attend to those things, to make amends. And here you are. Toyota grew beyond any other motor company.

 

And today, their market share of automobile market in the world is phenomenal. So if we apply that to ourselves and we ask ourselves, in this sour relationship that I have with my wife, in this sour relationship that I have with my husband, that I have with my children, that I have with members of my parish, that I have with people that I am working with in the office, the people that are in the business place with me, what am I doing that I shouldn’t be doing? What am I not doing that I should be doing? So that there will be peace, so that there will be harmony, so that we can flow together as brethren. The moment we go this way, you will see that the places will change.

 

And we will begin to do what we ought to do and progress in the way that the Lord has made us to progress. Remember Jesus, our master, our mother, at a point he asked the disciples, what are people saying concerning me? And you yourself, what are you saying concerning me? We must be able to do likewise. Finally, the consequences of deficiency of either of these responsibilities.

 

Our first responsibility, Jesus said, is to love God. To love him back. To reciprocate his love because he has loved us beyond description, beyond imagination, beyond our understanding.

 

It is with an everlasting love, an unprovoked love. For while we are all together without interest in him, we didn’t even know him. He sought us.

 

He bought us. He suffered. And he eventually brought us to himself.

 

It’s a love that you can’t understand. The song we sang is, the first song we sang said, this is the greatest thing that I can imagine that Jesus loves me. It makes me so glad.

 

Then he said, he loves me and I love him. The book of 1 John says, we love him because he first loved us. We reciprocate his love.

 

That is normal. That is proper. That is otherwise would be completely abnormal.

 

Love is reciprocal. But then Jesus said, the second is like the first. The second love is like the first.

 

They asked him for one, he gave two. And said the two are of equal footing, of equal weighting before the Lord. Love your neighbor.

 

In the Old Testament, as you have said, but now I give you a new commandment, as I have loved you. Our relationship and love toward God and our relationship and love toward fellow men are two sides of the same coin. They are our twin responsibilities, having equal weighting.

 

If we neglect any one of the two sides, the coin is lost. Is it true? If a coin is given and you know that the coin has two sides, if you make effort to remove one side of the coin, even if you are using a file and you are filing it, as you are filing, it still has two sides. Am I right? As you are filing and you are bent on removing one side, the moment one side is removed, the coin is lost.

 

True or false? They are two sides of the same coin. And if you succeed in removing one side, you have lost the coin. The consequence of not loving God is the same as the consequence of not loving your neighbor, as Jesus has loved you.

 

And what consequence is that? The loss of eternal life. That’s what it will bring. It will bring punishment in hell.

 

In 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. Let’s read from verse 14. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loved not his brother abided in death.

 

This is very simple and straightforward. Whosoever hated his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

 

By this perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. For whosoever has this world’s goods and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his compassion, his bowels of mercy from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word by mouth, neither let us love in tongue, but in deed and in truth. By this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him.

 

None let us love with mouth. Oh sister, I love you. Brother, I love you.

 

It’s very easy to say it. But he said, let it not be by mouth. Let it be in deed and in truth.

 

And the proof of love is in what you are able to sacrifice for the Lord. Even when he misunderstands you and speaks harshly, you are enduring that harsh word is a proof of love. You endure it because that thing he has said is hurtful to you.

 

And you don’t want to hurt him back. You don’t want to hurt her back. You just bear it.

 

That’s a proof of love. In Matthew 22, 37 to 40, Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and the great commandment.

 

The second is like the first. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

So if you remove one, you have dismantled something. If you love God, fear him and keep his commandments, you do well. But in addition to that, endeavor to love your fellow man.

 

Endeavor to love your brother. Endeavor to love the people that are around you and relate with them as God demands. Relate with them as God.

 

Don’t relate with them as though they are nobodies. Even though they be your servants, they are people that have inherited the same salvation with you. They are people for whom Jesus also died as he died for you.

 

So you need to exercise caution. You need to exercise, you know, great restraint when you are dealing with them. When you are speaking to the people under you in the place of business, you are speaking to the people under you in the parish as a pastor, as a women coordinator, when you are speaking, exercise restraint.

 

Know that these are fellow men and women like you. Don’t talk as though they are riffraffs. They are nobodies.

 

They know nothing. They mean nothing. You are all in all.

 

No sir, no ma’am. The Lord is the master of us all. When you deal with them as they are nothing, the same measure you measure to them, God will measure to you again.

 

That’s the rule. Understand that the relationship you keep with your neighbors will determine whether you see God at the end or not. It doesn’t matter whether it is your neighbor that was at fault.

 

It does not matter. When Jesus was coming from Samaria and was heading to the next city, young men from Samaria came out and said, you must not pass this way. You can’t pass.

 

We won’t allow it. Were they right? No. Did they have right to stop Jesus and his disciples from passing the way? Public rule.

 

It’s their legitimate right. Now James and John said, now give us, just allow us, and we will show these people how not to misbehave. And Jesus said, no.

 

You don’t know the kind of spirit you have received. The Son of Man didn’t come to destroy man’s life. He came to save them.

 

We are told, let us take the longer route. Let’s avoid problem. That’s Jesus we are following.

 

That’s the Jesus we are following. It is necessary that we keep a bond of peace with the people. And for you to be at peace with your neighbors, remember, you must be a fool.

 

Wherever you see two people staying together and there is peace and harmony, either the two of them are fools or one is a fool. That’s how to live together harmoniously among brethren, among partners in business, among the people in the yard, in the place where you are working. It must be that you make up your mind to be a fool.

 

The Word of God tells us we are fools for Christ’s sake. For the sake of Christ, let’s be fools. Let’s bear the wrong.

 

Let’s take it. Let’s take the wrong. And let us have harmony in the body of Christ.

 

Let’s have harmony among the brethren. In 1 John chapter 4, 1 John chapter 4 verse 19, we love him because he first loved us. If a man says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

 

Did you hear that? If a man says, I love God and hates his brother, that man is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? You need to ask yourself. Answer that question.

 

You are claiming you love God and you are zealous in the church, but your relationship with people is toxic. The way you treat people is nothing to write home about. You despise them.

 

Sometimes they will greet you, you won’t even answer their greeting because you feel that they are low. For God, the Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, condescended from his being God Almighty and became a man and became obedient unto death just for your sake. And at a point he said, look, you are no more my servants.

 

You are my friends. I’m from France. He said, you are no more friends.

 

You are my brethren. He said, I will talk about you in the midst of the brethren. I will testify about you.

 

Jesus Christ says so. So, if he condescended that low to pick us up from the dust, from being less than nothing and made us give value to our lives, our lives were completely valueless. Zero.

 

And then he came along. And he is number one. He is the champion.

 

But now he came and united with us. He is one, number one. Our own, we are zero.

 

No value. But as he came and placed himself by our side, united with us, we are now one, zero. That zero now has value.

 

One zero is ten. And in ten, zero has value. Praise the Lord.

 

But without the one, that zero standing alone is useless. That is the way our lives are born. So you can relate with a zero around you.

 

You can relate with a zero in the yard. You can relate with a zero in your own company, in your own workplace. You can relate with a zero.

 

You can relate with a zero in the house of your father. Maybe a polygamist home. Maybe a large family.

 

And some people are just below zero. And you are there, you know, you are shining. You are the number one.

 

You are the champion. You can come down low. As Jesus came down low to pick you up from the dust.

 

You can come down low and give value to their lives. Yes. In fact, it should be that what gives us joy is when we add value to people’s lives.

 

When we add value as we relate with them. There is somebody we greet from your height. And that greeting will make him pray for two hours as he goes.

 

Because of the joy that will come into his life. There is somebody that you can stop and shake hands with the person. And as he is going, he will be saying, sure, is that what Christianity is all about? Does this man can shake hands with me? And he will resolve, I will never go back.

 

Let’s provoke one another unto love and unto good works. If we don’t, and we are so zealous in church and our neighbors are nothing to us in our eyes, the question God is asking, how can you say you love God when you don’t love the human being that you see? How can you love God that you don’t see? Answer that question. But he has already answered it in verse, the early part of verse 20 says, if a man says I love God and hates his brother or does not love his brother, say that man is a liar.

 

Are you a liar? Are you a liar? As you clutch a Bible and you come to church and you are going, you know, bending your head like a bulrush as a lover of God, what is your relationship with human beings around you? How do you add value to their lives? You give good offering, yes, in church, it’s wonderful. Project money, you are giving, you are giving, sacrificially to God. But there are people around you that are dying.

 

There are people that are not able to eat. Jesus said, it is wrong for you to tell your father or your mother, the money I have is something I have already dedicated to God. It is coban.

 

So I will not be able to help you with it. You have made void the word of God by the tradition that you keep. What does that mean? God is not interested in your money that you are bringing to him when people are dying around you.

 

God is not interested when you, okay, you give him 1 million, 10 million, 20 million, or 1,000 naira, but somebody is dying around you. And you see it. Sometimes you say, well, he’s the one that caused his problem.

 

Since he started coming to church, he’s not serious. If he had been serious, God would have changed his life. He would have changed his testimony.

 

But do you know that the lifeline you give him, even in his condition, in his lack of seriousness, the help you give him can make him repent. Doesn’t the word of God say, the goodness of God to the sinner can lead him to repentance. And you are a representative of that God.

 

You’re an ambassador for Christ. You are representing him on earth. For as he is, so are we in this world.

 

So, brethren, the thing is, Paul is in our court. We need to make up our minds. We need to decide what to do.

 

We need to say, from this day, these two irresponsibility I must carry out. I cannot begin to claim I love God when I am not showing love to my fellow brethren, to my brethren, to my people, men, women, young and old. And I’m not interested whether they be from my village or whether they be from my town.

 

No. Remember what Jesus described as your neighbor. That person that is in need is your neighbor.

 

Doesn’t matter whether you just chance him on the road. He’s your neighbor. Many people that have helped people, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, have entertained angels on our way.

 

You are looking for the person from your village. But God sent somebody and he came as a needy person and you despised him because he’s not from your village. Sorry about that.

 

Because you have missed a lifetime opportunity. I want us to stand on our feet and talk to God. Don’t need to elaborate a point.

 

God has called us. The second is like the first. The first is love toward God.

 

The second is love toward your neighbor. The concern, the things that you need to do. He said the second is like the first.

 

If you neglect the second and claim that you love God, say you are a liar. You must carry the two with equal passion. You must pursue the two with equal vigor.

 

Call upon the Lord right now and tell him what must be in your life. Remember, we have come to a point where the Lord is poised that we should change camps. We should come over to the side of the Lord.

 

We should come over to his side and take advantage of the release of his resources that are not in any way searchable. You can’t search all of them out. No.

 

Call upon the Lord and let him deal with your life. Let him refashion you. Let him remove you.

 

Let him reformat you so that the testimony of Jesus can be your testimony. That’s the thing that we are talking about. We are not talking about something that is utopia.

 

No. We are not talking about an idealistic thing. No.

 

This is normal Christian life. That’s what God demands from us so that we will be able to be our father’s children. He makes his reign to fall on the just and on the unjust.

 

We should be our father’s children. If we only do things to the people that know us and love us, what better thing have we done than unbelievers? Even hoodlums do like that. People that are Indian smokers, they always give their fellow smokers some things.

 

If they are smoking and the other person doesn’t have money, they will give. They will pass the judge. What better thing have you done if only the people that give you are the people you give? The people that have attended your wedding, those are the ones who will attend your wedding.

 

If they are giving you gifts, you will write the list. Social person, 5,000. When he is waiting, you give 5,000.

 

Sorry. You are not a representative of Christ. The people that didn’t do anything to you, those are the people you can be committed to better your lot.

 

That is the way of God. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. If he expects us to do this to people that didn’t do anything for us, how much more will we do for people that did something for us? Call upon the Lord.

 

There needs to be a change of camps. There must need be a change of camps. It is important that you make up your mind to be on the Lord’s side, to be a representative of Jesus Christ in this dark and wicked world.

 

You must be his ambassador. You must be the express image of his person, the brightness of his glory, the shining thought of his glory, of his nature, right in the darkness of this world. That is what he has made us to be.

 

He says, as he is, so are we in this world. Call upon the Lord. This is something the Lord is set to do.

 

He wants to achieve it. He has the resources to achieve it. A torch is just what you need.

 

Just one torch. Just a torch from Jesus. Ask him to touch your life.

 

Call upon the Lord. Just one torch. Just one torch.

 

Open your heart unto him. The Lord is by your side. He has all it takes.

 

His resources are unfathomable. He will bring you to that for which he has called you and that without measure. Just one torch and the deed is done.

 

And your life will be different, very different. And the fellowships, the places will be shining with harmonious relationships. Just the torch of his love and your life will never remain the same.

 

Call upon him. We are not preaching fanciful things. Utopia, no.

 

This is real. Call upon the Lord. All I need is a touch of your love.

 

All I need is Jesus Christ. All I need is a touch of the Holy Ghost. All I need is a heavenly touch.

 

All I need is a touch in my life. All I need is Jesus Christ in your soul. All I need is a touch of the Holy Ghost.

 

All I need is a heavenly touch. All I need is a touch in my life. All I need is Jesus Christ in your soul.

 

All I need is a touch of the Holy Ghost. All I need is a heavenly touch. All I need is a touch in my life.

 

All I need is Jesus Christ in your soul. All I need is a touch of the Holy Ghost. All I need is a heavenly touch.

 

You need this heavenly touch. The Lord is available to bring it into your life now. I want to pray.

 

Heavenly Father, we give you glory and praise. We thank you because of this hour. The hour of your spirit.

 

The hour that you have determined to make a change. Both in our lives and in our communities. By the release of your power.

 

By the release of your resources. By the manifestation of your grace. Lord, even to those of us that are most undeserving.

 

Because you have said in Romans chapter 2 and verse 4. That your goodness to us at this time leads us to repentance. I therefore pray. Father in heaven, that you stretch forth your hand upon each and every one of us.

 

And remove this situation in our lives. That make us always think for our own good. Always think for the things that will benefit us.

 

We defend ourselves. Defend our ego. Defend our name.

 

And we will indict others readily. Everlasting Jehovah. I pray that your anointing will break this yoke of our lives.

 

In the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, as we consider the truth. As we muse on it.

 

As we give ourselves unto it. Lord, as we request for this change. Jehovah, change our hearts.

 

Change our minds. Change our orientation. Change the situation of our lives.

 

Let the ego. Let the selfishness. Let the things of God that will make us to consider ourselves and ourselves first and foremost.

 

Let them all be slain. That will begin to consider others. But Jesus didn’t consider himself.

 

He considered us. And he sacrificed himself. That we should also give our lives for the brethren.

 

That is the demand. It is not utopian. At all.

 

At all. It is the just demand of the holy God. Lord, I am asking that you work in our lives.

 

And make it possible. By the release of your power. By the release of your grace.

 

That will change our nature. That will change the situation that we are born into in this life. Let the nasty nature of the natural man.

 

That tends to selfishness. That tends to self-centeredness. That tends even to defending self.

 

And defending the people that we see as our own. Let such tendency be slain. Let them be destroyed.

 

That we might look into the well-being of others. That we might begin to consider, oh, Lord, that others are better than us. Others are more important than we are.

 

And we begin to seek their welfare. And we begin to seek their good. And we begin to lift them up.

 

Even from their downtrodden state. That the glory of God might be made manifest in their lives. Thank you very, very much.

 

Lord, I ask by this time in the coming months. The testimonies in the locations will change. People will begin to consider that the troubles that are between them and their fellows can be traced to their lives.

 

So that they will now, oh, God, look inwards. And find solutions to all the wrong relationships. To all the troubles and all the things that are causing fracas in the places.

 

Dependable Father, let there be peace. Let there be harmony. Let there be the love of God flowing in all the locations of the watchman.

 

That this truth might simmer down into every heart. And the God of heaven be glorified in our midst. In the various homes.

 

Between husband and wife. In the various places of work. Lord of heaven, let this same rule prevail.

 

Let this same truth prevail. And let your name be forever lifted up in our lives. In Jesus’ victorious name, we pray.

 

And amen. And I’m not left alone. Every heart may watch me.

 

At the Master’s command. Hallelujah, I’m free. At the touch of His hand.

 

At the touch of His hand. And my troubles are gone. At the touch of His hand.

 

And I’m not left alone. Every heart may watch me. At the Master’s command.

 

Hallelujah.