Defenseless Love

Let us turn our attention to 1st Samuel 15 19 and 20. Somebody please read that in English too. 19 and 20 So there is a debate going on here. Somebody is saying that you did wrong and somebody is defending himself. No, I did everything you told. Somebody is defending. Somebody is protecting. When we read verse 24, So please read that in English again. Now he is confessing actually I s see he sinned his sin is that he didn’t listen to what the Holy Spirit was telling him and he is defending himself at first and then finally when the prophet comes out so strongly, he admits to his sin. Praise the Lord. What are we defending today? Today, Pastor Daniel was supposed to lead the service, but uh yesterday night he sent me that he’s under the weather, so he won’t be able to. And I told Pastor Anel, and he uh gracefully accepted. Praise God. But one thing I liked about that is he was speaking on the love of God to know the love of God. Praise the Lord. We always go to God. Sometimes we ask guidance, right? I’m speaking of prophets before getting married before you going to go join a course we do all this stuff and what is the purpose of getting a guidance praise the lord that is the question why are why are we why are we defending why are we protecting why are we seeking guidance praise the lord hallelujah we want the test. Am I going to seek counsel because I want the best of the best in my life or I want God’s counsel because I love the Lord and to walk only in what he wants for me (defenseless love). Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Here is a man who is rebelling against God. Actually, first place is not rebelling. He is rebelling in a way. The second time souls Saul committed uh twice when God speaks to him after that sin after those two sins Saul again committed a lot of sins but the Holy Spirit does not come after him. He murdered, executed 70 priests. The Holy Spirit not say one word. See, but these two sins but God is telling you did wrong. The second time Saul is doing a great act. You know he’s laughing and smiling pleasantly coming and greeting Samuel and he said I listen to the Holy Spirit I destroy the amalgates very happy and Samuel is saying stop let me tell you the word of God so Samuel kind of speaks so that’s in uh 1st Samuel 15:20 and 22 and 23 we read that we don’t want to go there we don’t want to read. I will say when Samuel is speaking, Samuel speaks a few words to soul. Obey, obedience, pay attention, defiance, rejecting the word. See partial obedience. And when the Holy Spirit is confronting him, he is defending himself. He is protecting himself in defending. What are we defending today? What are we protecting ourselves from? You know, criticisms come, corrections come. And when it happens, how do we do this? So all was not like this at all. say when we read chapter 10 verse 9 don’t read I I I will explain Samuel when Saul was leaving Samuel he received a new heart and he was like a new person he started prophesying when he’s coming from the fields everybody is weeping about uh another Amalgated king Amian king or Ammonite king coming to destroy Israel and he comes is filled powerfully with the Holy Spirit and he says okay we are going to war he is on fire for Israel and he goes to war in the name of Saul and Samuel after the war He even builds an altar. And there is a verse that says that was the one of the first altars Saul built for the Lord. Praise the Lord. This was the man we when come later is now rebelling. Praise the Lord. He comes to a point where he is rebelling. Are we rebelling against the Holy Spirit or are we obeying the Holy Spirit? See in our mind we are all obeying the but a partial obedience is not real obedience. Praise the Lord in 15 verse 31 very interesting verse. Saul worshiped the Lord. But the next verse says Samuel went home and he never came back to Saul again. He never spoke to Saul again. Praise the Lord. And Samuel mourned and the Lord repented. So the reason is the question here is why what is the problem here? The problem is the love relationship. That is where that is the message I wanted to uh talk to you today and I’m glad Pastor Ronald was speaking of it and even Sneha was speaking of it. The love relationship with the Lord. Praise the Lord. See we need to let me bring David before you. David also, the prophet goes to David and very very assertively tells him, I will bring disaster in your family from your own ones and the sword shall never leave your family. See that is in 2 Samuel 12 verse 8. 2 Samuel 12 verse 13. Shamh. See what is happening here. Both of them sinned and the Holy Spirit rebukes both of them. But one of them both of them said I’m sorry but one of their sorryries is accepted immediately. The other sorry is not even counted. Soul does not have a personal relationship love relationship with the Lord anymore. Praise the Lord. That is the only reason. Praise God. You know, I brought all this stuff to sacrifice for your God. And then please come with me before the elders. Praise the Lord. Compare him to David. Do you know how many times David says in the Bible, “My God, 70 to 80 times.” My God. My God. Do you have a deep relationship, personal relationship with the Lord? Or is this Lord the Lord of Bethl or Billy Graham or or or my husband’s God or my wife’s God? Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. David has that connection. My God, my God. You know last day somebody asked me where do you want to go visit? Which place is in your mind? And I said Israel and there is a reason Israel everybody most of you have gone to Israel visited Israel. I could have gone easily from the Middle East. At that time I didn’t think about going to Israel but uh you know what happened when I was doing my MTH there was this priest uh Solomon one day he spoke about him visiting Israel and then this man started narrating I want to remove my shoes. What he was saying is the the when you get to Israel and walk the path the Lord walked, you are thinking this is the path that the Lord walked. You really want to remove your footwear and and and feel it you know and that is an absolute incredible feel till now that passion is in my heart how that shook me. Praise the Lord. But be careful when you remove your and stuff and all that. There is something called Jerusalem syndrome. I I hope you have heard about it. Jerusalem syndrome is the thing that all the you get overwhelmed when you get to Jerusalem because of you know all the stories you heard all the experience you have and what happens is that if you are at the tipping point or emotionally uh not stable what happens is that sometimes people take their white bed sheet and slit it up and put it there like that and then they wrap a belt around them and they take pick up their Bible and walk out to preach to the crowd. um before you get out of the lobby uh the emergency services will snatch you and take you to a psychiatrist and it’s not like the United States they will give you all the treatment and send you back home. Praise the Lord. So but still I want to go and do that not not the preaching part but of walking experiencing that we love the lord we love the nation children we love the lord that’s if you love the lord you know a multitude of your sins will be forgiven and you can always get back to the lord the name Eli you know who is Elise is the priest. The meaning of the word is my God. How many times he has said my God in the Bible is the Lord. Let him do what he wants to do. He’s speaking in third person about the Lord. Praise the Lord. And he but he advises Sam Samuel next time the Lord calls say here I am speak to me you lord he knows all the words he knows all the stuff but one thing he doesn’t know he doesn’t have that connection with the Lord hallelujah Samuel and Eli both their children messed up but Eli’s sons sins were really horrible and they sinned against the Lord but God always accepted Samuel even when he rejected Eli. See the thing is that we all know we all children of God know one thing for sure. We all know that we all are scared of the Lord’s disciplining process because if we miss do mistakes or sin or error in the sight of God, God will discipline us. That is for sure. There is no option out of it. Praise God. But here repentance is not about the fear. Repentance is not about losing my position. Repentance is not about losing my comfort. Repentance is not about, oh now what is going to God going to do to me? Is he going to kill me? Is he going to make me suffer? What is he going to do? See, repentance is about the love relationship. Hallelujah. I am worried when I do something against the will of the Lord. How much I am wounding that relationship. How much I am hurting his or or his his wounds again that he died for me on the cross. He has forgiven all my sins. Now again, hallelujah. I am wounding that relationship. That is the core thing. Praise the Lord. In David’s life, when we read about David, he sinned and the Lord told him he’s going to discipline. But the Lord accepted him. Lord told him, “Your sins are forgiven.” That didn’t remove the disciplining part. The discipline was still there. David said, you know, that man should die. That rich man should die. He should pay four times. You know first David when he prays the Lord says you will not die but he didn’t say the rest of it he didn’t remove the rest of it four times the baby died. Absalam died only the baby had a good death the rest of them were executed were murdered. Not once David complains. That’s the thing. Not once David complains about the disciplining process. Lord, why? Why? Why? No complaints. He is walking with the Lord. See, because he knows he messed up. He is in love with the Lord. Praise him. However, look at the king soul because of the elders. Please come with me. Do you love the Lord today? Do we love the Lord? What keeps us from sinning in the presence of God? Is it because that I am pastor Manu and if I make a mistake, you know, that will be big shame for me as a as my position. Is that the reason or how I am going to wound the Lord? Or how I am going to wound you? Wound the church. That is the thing. Keep the Lord before our eyes. Keep the church before our eyes. Every children including, I’m telling you, you do something, you think it is a big thrill, I tell you the thrill will be gone by the end of it. And then what is before you the wounds wound wounded the relationship with the Lord and wounded the relationship with in the church and the family. I love you my Lord. Oh Lord my strength I love you. Hallelujah. And David is always speaking of my God in the Joseph is standing before that lady. He’s Joseph the patriarch. The way he pronounces the words is your husband has given everything in this house to me under me except you. So how will I sin against? He should have said him. But he says that how can I sin against God? See Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What leads me? What what what stops me from sinning? It is my love for the Lord. What takes me to repentance? That is my love for the Lord. Hallelujah. What is the reason I’m asking or seeking the guidance of the Lord? That is my love for the Lord. Hallelujah. Why am I suffering through my mission? That is because of the love for the Lord. Did Paul walk around to make a mega church? No. What he did is because of the love for the Lord. Hallelujah. Now, let’s come to Jonah. See, we all know the story of Jonah. Pastor Thomas has uh elaborated on uh the book of Jonah. But uh one thing that two things that came to my mind from that book is the first thing is Lord appointed Lord had appointed a fish I think it’s 17 or something like that 17 maybe I don’t know because Lord had appointed a fish God had already known that Jonah is going to mess up. Jonah is going to get angry about this. Jonah is going to walk away. And Lord had already known this story. And Lord had already predestined a fish and told that fish, you need to the time is coming. You have to solo a man and then you know for three days and three nights you have to travel high speed hundreds of miles you have to go. Praise the Lord. See picture. So this guy his name is Ous or Oenus. He is like a fish god or a sage according to Babylonian and Assyrian belief. He wears the skin of a fish. So Joanna was swallowed by the fish. Now the word says Joanna was vomited by the fish on dry ground. So if you say that if you You know this is like I’m I’m just drawing like line over the map. This is a Mediterranean Sea and here is Israel. Here at the top is the Assyrian Empire. When Joanna is thrown off or or or vomited by the fish, he the fish throws him up at the shores of Assurin. The Assyrian people when they went to beach or when they’ve been fishing they are looking around and watching around. This is a big myth in their in their land that this fish god this always comes and teaches wisdom. He teaches geometry or or algebra whatever you know he teaches all that stuff. That is the myth story they have. And they are all in the on the shore. And here comes a big fish onto the shore. And the fish comes onto the shore. He doesn’t it doesn’t throw him up into the water, but dry ground. He comes up the fish. The fish comes up and everybody backs away. And here comes a man out of the fish mouth. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. And then Jonah is walking hundreds of miles. First is the repentance of Joah. But what is Joah praying? If you read chapter two, that is a prayer of repentance. But it is also an assertion of faith. I went down, but the Lord will deliver me. Hallelujah. I went down to sh but I am looking at the temple of my God. Hallelujah. And in verse 17 of 7 he says my God. See when God is your God. Hallelujah. He will even use your mistakes. Hallelujah. To promote his mission. See Moa if he had gone straight to Nine and Israel going to Nine and saying I’m a prophet and in 40 days uh this country will be destroyed is going to get murdered or he’s going to get assaulted but a Yona coming out of fish a Jonah coming out of the fish mouth is a different Jonah these people are scared now here is on coming you know and Jonah know there is a similarity to the name even and Jonah is speaking to them And they are all ears. And the story is preceding Jonah into Nineveh. And Jonah goes to Nineveh and he preaches. That is the reason why even the king falls down. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Peter and Paul. We know that messed up. Peter messed up. We were uh discussing that during the Bible study. Peter stood condemned. He stood condemned. And Paul confronts him. Paul was going to confront him. Do you see Peter defending? Do you see Peter protecting himself? Do you see that? No, you don’t see that. Hallelujah. We see Peter is not responding. Later Peter speaks highly of Paul in his epistle. Paul on the other hand says Mark is not good enough for ministry. See in Timoth the book of Timothy when we read second Timothy chapter 4 I think why did Paul write that bring Mark with me with you Timothy when you come here bring Mark with you that was enough but Paul is writing a specific word there or specific phrase there because he is useful for my ministry bring him with you. Hallelujah. Holy Spirit is changing the words written about you. Holy Spirit will change the words written about you. Hallelujah. Praise God. Doesn’t matter what others think about you. Hallelujah. I had an inmate in Winslow. He would always joke with me. He would come to me and say, “Chaplain, you are a nice man. Whatever others say you know I told so he’s always thinking others are saying no good about you but doesn’t matter what others think about you doesn’t matter what your father and your mother think about you doesn’t matter what your brothers think about you hallelujah God is going to change the writing about you hallelujah when we come to Thomas Hallelujah praise the Lord he’s the he’s the guy who is the late bloomer in the crowd. He’s the one who says, “Let us go with him to die in.” Why? Because I love my Lord. I love my Lord. I’m not going to send him alone. I’m going with him and let us go with him so that we can die. And when Jesus says I’m going to that place, you don’t know where the where I’m going and all that. He says, Lord, we don’t know where you are going. The other side of that statement is where you are. That’s where we want to be. We want to be with you. And when the Lord comes and confronts his unbelief, you know what? You know, put your put your fingers into my hose here and into my uh chest and all that bosom. When he says that the first confession, my Lord and my God. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. You know that is the first confession of Christ as God. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. See, even Jesus on the cross. Jesus spoke seven times on the cross. I’m going to conclude. Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing. This first address to God is father. But the fourth time he speaks, he speaks the word Eli. My God. My God, his forefather wrote in the Holy Spirit ended the life and he is quoting hallelujah. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And at the end he again says the last verse seventh time he speaks he says like this. Lord I commit my soul unto you. Father, I commit my soul. Ask Jesus, what is the best thing? Hallelujah. My relationship with my father. Ask Thomas, what is the best thing? My relationship with my Lord. Ask David, what is the best thing? Hallelujah. Why are you walking in the path of the Lord? Hallelujah. Because of my love, relationship with my father, with my Hallelujah. You know we will be given many titles in this world whether it’s in the church or in a career wherever you are. Why are we doing that? Why are what are we doing? Every title is not about the position. It is about deacons. Being a teacher you know even in the church many titles are there you might be the pastor but who are you really you are a what do whatever I don’t have to speak of any other things administrative offices whatever you are a deacon of you are a dulos of the lord what is a dulos slave surrender You are a dulos of the church. You are a dulos of So today we are all going. Why are we here? We are here to open our hearts before the Lord and before the church. Sometimes people, it hurts me a lot. When everything is going well in their life, they come to church, they give testimony. When something is not going well, they stop coming to the church. And even if they come to the church they will keep a distance where nobody should know what is going on. Nobody should go. I tell you either you are wrong or you are in the wrong place. Why does the church exist? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is not a place for condemnation. This is a place not for judgment. This is a place for acceptance. This is a place for love. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise. So you should be able to you don’t have to come and declare about the whole crowd but you should be able to share your pain, share your sorrow, share the insult or the shame with somebody. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I try to do that to the best of my life. I don’t not defend myself. No family secrets are a big deal that causes high stress because every family has its own secrets and protecting those secrets becomes the burden of the children and the members of the family. Every church might have secrets and protecting that secret those secrets could be the uh a lot of stress will be induced in that. But hallelujah this is a place of openness. This is a place where everyone will be helped with love, corrected with love. Hallelujah. Guided with love in the Lord. Our loving gracious father god. Hallelujah. We come to you today morning. Hallelujah. As we are in your presence as a congregation, as a church, connecting our hearts, connecting our voices. Hallelujah. We look unto you and we confess our love for you. We pray together that you will be talking to the church through visions, through dreams, through the word, through the messages, through each other. Gracious Father, equip us to encourage and to lead us forward in your love, Lord. And we want to be in you and we want to please and we want to follow you. Hallelujah. We pray for your presence, a powerful presence that will lead each and every one of us. Thank you for our Bible school, our Sunday school. Thank you for blessing it. Thank you for the hallelujah vision you have given for each and every one of us to follow in your footsteps. And in the coming days as the church is going through we’re taking many steps in that direction. We pray for your guidance and we pray that you will lead us. It’s not about how comfortable we are. It’s not about anything about us, but it is about our call, our love for you, Lord, and the love relationship with you. I bless each and every one of us here. Let them be a blessing as we walk out. Let us be even more blessed than we came in. Connected with love a little more than when we came in. Forgiving each other in your love and growing together in your love. All in Jesus most precious name. Amen