Boast in God’s love for you

What do you like to boast about? yourself? things you do? your heavenly encounters of works of charity?  or about Jesus’ love for you??

What is the Definition of love?

1 John 4:10 In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

*I boast in God’s love for me, not in my love for God; my confidence is in His love for me, not my love for Him. God’s love for us is unchanging, eternal, everlasting; my love for Him has its ups and downs, its not always consistent. If my foundation/focus in life is on my love for Him, then I will become depressed, unworthy and condemned.

John 17:26 I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.???

God our Father loves us the same way He loves Jesus!!

Question: Do I always tend to focus on my love for God rather than His love for me? How does this affect my relationship with God? Or with others

“I AM THAT I AM??? is the Name of God

*Exodus 3

3:11 Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt???? 12 He replied, “Surely I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain.???

13 Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they as me, ‘What is his name?’– what should I say to them????

God said to Moses, “I AM that I AM.??? And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’??? v15 God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord –the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob –has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’

*When Moses discovered “Who??? God is, he also discovered “Who he is???.

If you know His Name “I AM that I AM???, then you will know your name, “I am that I AM???.

*One of the revelations of my identity in Christ, is that “I AM God’s beloved???

See yourself the way God sees you: the One He loves.

Luke 3:22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight.???

*I don’t say ‘I am’, but I say “I AM”. When I declare God’s Name, “I AM that I AM???, I am actually saying I AM one with God, I AM one in Him, He is in me, he lives in every cell of my body.

My name is connected to His Name, because God is in me, I can say “I AM”, I exist because of Him

*I don’t say, “I can, I will be???, but I say, “I AM??? because I already have it, I lack nothing. It’s not going to happen, but it has already happened.

Questions: How important is it for us to know who we are?

Declarations you can make everyday (I do this every morning when I get up)

I AM beloved

I AM the one He loves

I AM God’s beloved

I AM Father’s beloved

I AM Jesus beloved

I AM Holy Spirit beloved

Questions: How is your self talk? Do you have bad self-image? do you speak about yourself as God’s Son or Daughter?

What is the Difference between OC and NC love?

*In the OC, you boast about your love for God because you were obligated, had to love Him

*In the NC, you boast about God’s love for you because you want to love God, not because you have to, but you have such an revelation about how much He loves you that it stirs a reciprocal love towards Him

Lazarus was referred to by others as “the one Jesus loves???

John 11:3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.???

v.36 Thus the people who had come to mourn said, “Look how much he loved him!???

*If you want to get Jesus attention, say “I AM the one He loves..”

John called himself “the disciple Jesus loved???, John boasted in God’s love for him

*Who wrote the book of John? John wrote of himself as the One Jesus loved!!

What is the difference between disciple John and Peter? Peter was someone who boasted in His love for God, whilst John was someone who boasted in God’s love for him.

Benefits of boasting in God’s love for you, not your love for God

1)You will feel the closeness of Jesus, find rest in His bossom, know the secrets of God

13:23 One of his disciples, the one Jesus loved, was at the table to the right of Jesus in a place of honor. v24 So Simon Peter gestured to this disciple to ask Jesus who it was he was referring to. v.25 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved leaned back against Jesus’ chest and asked him, “Lord, who is it????

Peter couldn’t ask Jesus’ directly the question, but had to go through John, because he felt far away.

2)You will follow Jesus all the way to the end.

19:26 So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, look, here is your son!???

John followed Jesus all the way to the cruxifiction, while all the other disciples deserted him

*You will outrun (more passionate) than anyone else

John 20:1-9 Now very early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. So she went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!??? 20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed. (For they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.)

*You will have greater faith. No need to see with your physical eyes to believe. Why didn’t John go into the tomb straight away? Because he knew Jesus wasn’t there, he remembered Jesus said “I’m going to rise from the dead???.

*You will be the first to recognise when God is doing something in your midst, His Presence/appearance, signs and wonders.

John 21:4 When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you???? They replied, “No.??? He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat,and you will find some.??? So they threw the net, and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!??? So Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (for he had nothing on underneath it), and plunged into the sea.

 

The negatives of boasting in yourself and your love for God

Peter was always boasting how much he was doing for God, he thinks he know it all,his eyes was fixed on himself, not Jesus.

*You will end up getting ahead of God’s will

Matt 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: “God forbid, Lord! This must not happen to you!??? 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.???

Peter thought he knew it all, he knew better than God.

*You will end up denying Jesus, become hypocritical/compromise/backslide

Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “This night you will all fall away because of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

32 But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.??? 33 Peter said to him, “If they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away!??? 34Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, on this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.??? 35Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.??? And all the disciples said the same thing.

*You will always be comparing yourself with others, judgmental and jealous of others, proud, self-conscious, self-righteous, self-condemned

John 21:18 I tell you the solemn truth, when you were young, you tied your clothes around you and went wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will tie you up and bring you where you do not want to go.???19 (Now Jesus said this to indicate clearly by what kind of death Peter was going to glorify God.) After he said this, Jesus told Peter, “Follow me.???

21:20 Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. (This was the disciple who had leaned back against Jesus’ chest at the meal and asked, “Lord, who is the one who is going to betray you????) So when Peter saw him, he asked Jesus,“Lord, what about him???? Jesus replied, “If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours? You follow me!???So the saying circulated among the brothers and sisters that this disciple was not going to die. But Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but rather, “If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours????

1Peter 5:5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

*You will live legalism- condemnation and death.

2 Cor 3:7 But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets – came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), 8 how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory!

Question: Can you see some examples of when you have boasted in your own love for God?

Or when you boasted in God’s love for you? What happened?

What are some practical ways I can boast in God’s love for me?

What are the some other benefits of boasting, focusing on God’s love for me?

When you boast, only boast in God’s love for you and He did for you, don’t boast about how good you are!! Don’t boast about your good works- you will always fall short, but focus on God’s eternal, unchanging love for you that is Constant, you will have a stable consistent life.

Don’t boast about your ministry, what you do for God, but what He has Done for you in Christ!!

Grace is about “wants to??? not “have tos???, stirs up voluntary/spontaneous love for Jesus, reciprocating His love

1 Corinthians 1:31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.???

Galatians 6:14 But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

In conclusion, say with me,

I AM God’s favorite One!!

I AM God’s Chosen One!!

I AM God’s Beloved!!

*This message has its origins in a message on “Boasting in God’s love for you, not your love for God”, by pastor Joseph Prince

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