The Demonstration

John 13:³⁵ “For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re my true followers.” (TPT)

When I preach a sermon, my three main goals are To Be Practical, so that people hear the word and know what to do next. The second goal is To Be Personal, I try to be real, and I bare my heart.The third thing is I try To Be Positive. No one gets better by being bashed. People get better through encouragement and positivity. A Pastor friend said to me, ‘So you do not tell people about lying?’ I said, “No, I don’t.” He said, ‘So what do you do?’ I said, ‘I teach them how to be honest.’ He probed further, ‘So you do not talk to people about stealing?’ Thou shall not steal; anybody can say that. I said, ‘I teach people how to be gainfully employed.

I teach them how to discover their own oil. I teach them how to be productive. I teach them how to stand above’. I choose to be positive. He asked, ‘You mean you do not tell all those girls, men and women not to sleep around?’ I said, ‘I teach them how to bulletproof their marriages. I show them how they are not making God unholy but hurting themselves. I show them a higher way. I show them how to be positive!’

Why church? Why do we exist? We Exist To Celebrate His Presence. We Exist To Communicate His Word. We Exist To Educate God’s People. And We Exist To Demonstrate God’s Love and God’s Power. We exist to demonstrate God’s love. Ministry is meeting needs and healing hurts. We meet needs in love, and we heal hurts in power. You cannot meet a need if you do not have love in your heart. Do you know that you can actually give someone money and the person still does not feel loved? In John 13:³⁵ “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (KJV). We do not tear one another down, we love one another. The question to you is, what group of Christians have you committed yourself to?

You cannot be a Christian until you commit yourself. You cannot live as a Christian until you commit yourself to a group of Christians called a local church. It’s just like the best footballer the world has ever seen saying he wants to play in the world cup and insisting that he does not want to belong to any country because he is a universal citizen, a citizen of the world. Similarly, it is foolish to claim to belong to the capital letter ‘C’ Church and refuse to commit yourself to a local church. It does not work like that. The church must grow larger and smaller at the same time. Larger as we come together, and smaller in the life groups at the same time.

Prayer: Father, I ask for the strength and courage to consistently demonstrate Your love for me to others, in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen!