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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Benjamin Ng

How To Love When You Don’t

For those who don't know me, my name is Benjamin Ong, and I had the privilege of speaking here last week.

And I'm continuing the topic that I was speaking about last week, entitled something differently, of course, this morning, but last week we're looking at the spiritual rat race.

Now I need to clarify something before I move on.

There was a certain group of people that I guess I offended somewhat with the words that I chose to use last week and as I mentioned last week I was saying just briefly for those that were here, for those that aren't, just listen on, that I said that woman was man's problem.

Now, I'm not pointing at the woman, okay, ladies?

I love the ladies, my sister's up there, she's not my problem, she's my help.

But what I mean by that is that woman is man's weakness.

I'm not going to elaborate anymore on this because I need to move on with my sermon, but if you need to know more, read Genesis 3.

But nonetheless, last week I left off with the understanding that in order to get out of the spiritual rat race, what is the answer, friends?

Now, here's a question that we all fall over.

Why is the solution so simple but yet the application so difficult?

And I want to look at this this morning that why is it so difficult to just put in such a simple answer.

Do we all have our bibles with us this morning?

I pray that we do, but what I really want to look at is that why we don't study the bible.

Before I open the word, let's have a word of prayer together.

Father in heaven, as we open your word now to read blesses with understanding and lord most of all I pray that you'd help us to put the application of things about a study I pretty give me the right words to speak lord that my words in itself won't offend anybody yet the same time what you told us that your word is like a saw that cuts and I pray that it would cut where you need to cut today is a prayer in jesus name call me to john chapter 5 of us 39 I've been there a few times but it always pays to refresh because you know as human beings we only use about 8% of our brains.

He didn't need to have a Bible that was written before him, but we do today.

In John chapter 5 and verse 39 it says, "...ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye think is..." what?

So, we study the Scriptures Because in them we think is eternal life, but really what does the Bible do?

But in coming back to the question that I posed right at the beginning, why don't we study it if it gives us eternal life because it tells us about the man Jesus Christ.

Simply putting, Why don't we study our Bibles today because we don't love God?

And I'll be correct in this sense because the Bible says so.

But I've been doing injustice to the Word of God by not teaching us how we ought to love God.

My sermon entitled this morning is called how to love if you don't love.

How do you love a God that you can't see?

How do you love somebody that you've never known physically before I'm in a long distance relationship and it's difficult to handle a relationship with a person that you cannot see how do you do this?

How do we love a person, especially a God?

God is a person, He's a Goddess at the same time.

But how do we love God, especially when we don't love Him?

Genesis chapter 2 and we're starting with verse 7.

The Bible says here, And the Lord God formed man with the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

God at the beginning when he created Adam he created him not by speaking but by hands that touched and he created him with love and it says that God bent down he stooped down and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul at the beginning God and man now we read further on come with me to verse 15 and the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden to dress it and keep it the first thing that God gave Adam to do was what physical manual labor physical manual labor that's the first thing that god gave him because he loved him but then it says verse 16 and the lord god commanded the man saying of every tree of the god and thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die now verse 18 and the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone I will make and help me for him So after God gave Adam physical manual labor and gave him restrictions then he said what?

The first time recorded in Bible that God said it is not good it is not good that man should be alone.

Now observe with me carefully how God makes and help meet for Adam.

Verse 19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof.

Verse 20 and Adam gave names to all the cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field but for Adam there was not found and help meat for him.

First, by helping him to realize his need.

You see, God says, it's not good that man should be alone, so I'm going to make a helpmeet for him.

He says, Adam, I want you to name all the animals.

And he sees 2 pairs, 2 pairs, 2 pairs, 2 pairs, 2 pairs, and he names them all.

And then God puts Adam to sleep, takes a rib out and creates Eve and the rest is history.

But I want you to realize that we're never going to love until we realize our need for it.

We're never going to love, and that includes human love, okay?

We're never going to love until we realize our need for that love.

You see, in the same way that God created Adam and put in him a desire, a need for Eve, a companion in life, the same way He does that with us for Himself today.

The message that I'm preaching today is very simple.

But somehow I feel that many of us miss this experience.

So what do we need to realize in order that we may love God.

Just as how Adam felt the need, we also need to realize the love that God had for us.

What is this love that God showed to us so that we in turn may love Him?

But God commended His love toward us in that While we were yet what?

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for me.

While he was hanging on the cross, even though I was not born yet, he knew that Ben in 2006 would sin and he died for me and that is the greatest expression of love that God could have shown to man.

But in order for us to be able to grow in the love of God we must first realize number 1 that God loved us but in what state did he love us?

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How To Love When You Don’t

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