Shammah Temple Fellowship: Sermon of January 21, 2024
By Pastor Egide Nibitanga
Theme: What can help Believers to stay in relationship with Christ?
Reference scriptures: John 15:9-14 & John 13:34-35.
Getting a pet to take care of is one thing but bonding with it is another. One needs to give it so much care that it replicates the friendship and accept to be by the side of the owner. Staying with Christ is also demanding, not in a negative way, but it reminds us He paid the ultimate price to save us and that the relationship with Him is worth our time and investment.
How can we say in a healthy relationship with Jesus?
- If we keep on meditating on the love Christ has for us.
Talking to His disciples, Jesus opened for them and clearly told them who He was and His major mission, the work of the Holy Spirit that was to come, and who they were to become as well as what would make it possible for them to carry on the mission He had for them.
Jesus commanded them to stay in His love, to cherish it. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:9).
What can we do to stay in Jesus’ love for us?
- Find a daily time to meditate on Christ’s love for us. Not just ceremonial, but a habit one should practice.
- Find a daily time to praise and worship Him.
The rightest offering ever we can give to God is our worship of Him, to tell Him that we love Him, that we are grateful for His wonderful sacrifice for our lives He saved on the cross.
- If we do what He commanded us to
Loving Jesus is not measured by just how we emotionally express it verbally. It goes beyond that and inspires us to lead lives that are thriving to make His kingdom know all over the world.
What are Jesus’ commands to Believers?
- Proclaim the gospel. Proclaiming the Gospel is not a thing we are called to do at our convenient time, it is part of Christian life, it is a command that we have to follow to the letter.
- Lead lives that testify for Him, be the salt and light for the world.
Believers’ lives should not be as everyone else’s, they should not conform to the present, they are to be exemplary in all forms, especially being Jesus’s testimony before they open their month to verbally testify for Him. It starts from obeying Him, the best sign of loyalty and love for someone.
- If we love others
When God decided to take Abraham away of his parents’ land, He promised to give him a very new family, which He did.
As Believers, we are part of a great family related to Jesus through his blood He offered as a price on the cross. We are commanded to love our brethren in Christ as a sign that we really love Jesus.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).
This is another testimony for Jesus as it shows the world that we are His disciples. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
How does loving others cement our relationship with Jesus?
- Christ is in that very fellow Christian
- It’s obeying His command
To end, let’s recap what we have been talking about. It is not possible for Believers to be safe unless we lead a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ. Interestingly, that relationship is not possible unless we constantly meditate on Jesus’ love, follow His command, and finally love our brethren in God.
