First Love
This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Esmi Lukman, from the CBC English Prayer Ministry Core Team, and edited by Brigitta Tedja
Watch full sermon here
Pastor Paul Tan opened his sermon by sharing one of his air travels experience several years ago as he needed to travel to several cities in Indonesia. He had to change his flight since he had an emergency landing due to an engine malfunction that caused the plane to suddenly drop 20,000 feet in altitude in a split second during his first flight. Everyone continued with the second flight but was still afraid and when the flight attendant went over the safety procedures, this time all the passengers paid close attention to the instructions.
Pastor Paul emphasized through his travel experience story that we should not treat him like a flight attendant by ignoring the safety procedure announcement. His sermon will carry words of caution and warning for things that for sure will happen because it was already prophesied by Jesus Himself. We need to pay close attention because Pastor Paul wants every one of us to be ready and prepared.
Matthew 24:12 “And because lawlessness and iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
Lawlessness and iniquity are increasing in our nation right now. The spirit of anti-Christ is working all over the world. When lawlessness and iniquity shall abound, the love of many grows cold. There are many other end-time signs such as rumors of wars, food crises, false prophets, and many will be deceived, even, if possible, the elect will be deceived. Pastor Paul wants to focus on the one sign that Jesus told His disciples, which is “the love of many shall wax cold.”
As our nation is heading into the mid-term election in a couple of weeks, Pastor Paul mentioned that Proposition 1, if passed, will codify abortion into the California state constitution. This is dangerous. Proposition 1 will allow individuals to have an abortion to the very last day of the ninth month of their pregnancy and even when the baby is 1 to 2 weeks old, there will be no criminalization or penalty for that choice.
This situation is prophesied in Isaiah 5:20, “That there will be a time when they will call evil good and good evil, they will call sweet bitter and bitter sweet.” We are living in the day when the love of many shall wax cold and people will persecute us because we are the followers of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Is it possible to love people who hate and persecute us? It is difficult but it is possible by the power of the Holy Spirit and not by our own strength.
Matthew 22:37-39 “Jesus said to him, ‘'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.”
The soul includes your mind, your will, and your emotions. When Jesus said, “You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your soul,” it means that the soul includes your mind and your will and your emotions.
When Jesus said it twice, Pastor Paul would like us to understand that he can also say it this way, “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your mind.” It means that we need to have our minds aligned with the Word of God. It means that whatever happens in our lives, we can have a sound mind because if we are deceived, we do not know that we are deceived.
For this reason, we are going to dedicate this coming Wednesday to humbling ourselves and seeking the Lord through prayer and fasting. A devotion will be available digitally here to guide our prayer and fasting with daily prayer points. We can no longer be passive with what is happening in our nation; we need to pray more!
Pastor Paul learned that by talking about loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, there are some people who stop running after God. Pastor Paul is not talking about stop coming to Church. He is referencing to having no more hunger for God. Even when worshipping God, you missed the awesomeness of God and how He IS healing, He IS power, He IS life! You can sit in Church but your mind is not in Church; being in Church but not really being in Christ.
And the second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. You cannot say that you love God but you hate your brother, you do not care, you do not help, and you do not serve. You do not want to be involved; in other words, you are passive.
There are Christians today who do not even know the Lord. They know His words, but they do not know Him. They know what He said, but they do not know the One who said it. There is a lot of knowledge but no anointing and there is no presence of God that is evident in their lives. We need to ask the Lord to create a new hunger for God.
Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
We need to submit our mind, will, and emotions to God. How? By prayer, fasting, and worship. “What you think in your heart affects your vision, it affects how you see yourself, how you see God, how you see others, and it affects how you see your future.”
What is the opposite of “love”? The opposite of love can be hatred, ignorance, and excuses. Christ is not the center of your life.
Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God”
How can you do that?
Ask Him for more hunger
Ask Him to give you the first love again
Exodus 20:5 “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.”
God is jealous because He loves you so much and is jealous when you have another lover. Pastor asked those who are married how they would feel if their spouse had another lover. By utilizing Facebook, some people reconnect with their old boyfriends and girlfriends and this communication may result in sin. God is #1 in our lives.
The difference between love and lust is that lust satisfies you but love wants to serve and give to others.
Luke 14:16-24 “The man who prepared a great feast and sent out many excuses not to come.”
Another opposite of love is making excuses. Pastor Paul used the analogy, “when there is traffic, you have problems; when there is no traffic, there are no problems.” It is the same as only going to God when you need something. In Luke 14, the story shows a sign of ignorance, people with no priority.
First love is very important and very powerful. Think about this: Do you still love to pray, or do you have to pray? Pastor shared how he wanted to tell his parents that he loved them when he went back to Indonesia, but he could not do it. He ended up sending a letter. In conclusion, God is love, and the best thing we can do to show God our love is to give Him our hearts.
Revelation 2:2-5 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them, liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sale and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent.”
God is talking to us personally; He knows our busyness. We need to pray that He will bring us to the next level. Pastor Paul had the congregation sing the following song as a declaration:
I Speak Jesus
By Charity Gayle
I just wanna speak the name of Jesus
Over every heart and every mind
'Cause I know there is peace within Your presence
I speak Jesus
I just wanna speak the name of Jesus
'Til every dark addiction starts to break
Declaring there is hope and there is freedom
I speak Jesus
******************
'Cause Your name is power
Your name is healing
Your name is life
Break every stronghold
Shine through the shadows
Burn like a fire
I just wanna speak the name of Jesus
Over fear and all anxiety
To every soul held captive by depression
I speak Jesus
******************
Shout Jesus from the mountains
Jesus in the streets
Jesus in the darkness over every enemy
Jesus for my family
I speak the holy name
Jesus
******************
God is not looking for worship music, He is looking for worshippers. Remember when you worship, you need to declare it out loud because you need to love the Lord with all your soul, mind, and heart. When you declare it, your faith will begin to rise up.
Matthew 5:43-47 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”
Learned >< Unlearned
We pray that we can allow the Holy Spirit to unlearn what we have learned and untrain certain things that we have allowed to become normal in our lives. Then allow the Holy Spirit to transform us and allow Him to teach us something new. When we welcome the Word of God, we will become changed individuals.
Trained >< Untrained
Pastor shared the testimony from the amateur boxer. When he wanted to go professional, his trainer told him to change certain moves and unlearn some habits he had as an amateur boxer. When the amateur boxer fought the professional, he could not hit him because the professional had trained for so many years. In the spiritual world, you are not fighting against flesh and blood. In order to become a good disciple of Jesus, you need to change your mindset, and love your enemies.
Pastor Paul shared a personal story of how Pastor Joyce was attacked and ended up with a broken arm and concussion while he was in Japan. Pastor Joyce prayed and told Pastor Paul to stay in Japan for the rest of his trip. Pastor Paul was very angry, but then he thought of Matthew 5:43-47 and then Pastor was able to pray over the man who attacked his wife. In the end, he had no more anger and Pastor Joyce did not experience any trauma.
Matthew 5:43-47 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Even corrupt tax collectors do that. And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”
As followers of Jesus, you need to act, say, and think differently, and you can do so with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer Points:
Pray for us not to be ignorant anymore, that we will take heed and pay close attention to the warnings from the words of prophecy spoken from Jesus and from his prophets.
Pray for that our love for people will not grow cold, that the power of the Holy Spirit can still change us.
Pray for a new hunger for God and that it will grow deeper so that we will not miss His presence when we worship Him, that we can be in awe of who He is, that He is life, He is power, and He is healing!
Pray for us to be consistent in loving God and His people, that we would genuinely care for the needs of our brothers and sisters without reservation, that we will love to help, and love to serve others.
Pray for us to go back to first love, not allowing other gods to be in our lives.
Pray for repentance from not spending enough time in His presence due to our busyness in our lives and even in our ministry.
Pray for us to unlearn things we learned that are not in alignment with the Word of God and allow Holy Spirit to teach us new lessons.
Pray for us to untrain things that have molded our mindset, we ask the Holy Spirit to train us in the way of the Lord to direct our lives