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Zion Bread of Life Christian Church

Sunday Sermon – We Love Because God First Loved Us

Sunday, 14^th January 2024

Rev Daniel Xi An Poon

Psalm 46

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the cations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”

1. Not Fear

We love because God loved us first. As believers, how can we understand and believe God loves us? God’s Word gives us hope, even though the world around us seems to give us burdens and troubles, but we must not fear. God is our refuge, He is a shelter for us, in Him we don’t need to worry. Why do we need to hide in the shelter? In a war, people would look for the shelter, because it can protect them. When we cannot rely on ourselves to protect us, when we cannot rely on others to protect us, then we will look for refuge. God has the strength, and God can surely protect us. In Psalm 46, it tells us that even when the earth moves, and mountains fell to the sea, God’s protection for us will always be there.

People are small, so we must seek God, He is our Creator, He created us and He would not forsake us. God does not create people to suffer in this world, but to make us the salt and light of this world. He has the Father’s Love for us.

2. Not Be Moved in the Presence of God

People like to move, when we face challenges, we tend to move. Human nature wants to walk the easy way, but when we move from one place to another, from one job to another, or from one relationship to another… will we be better? If we don’t see our problems and learn from them, then we will bring our problems with us wherever we go. Why do we want to move? Because we don’t have faith in God.

In Psalm 46:4-7, it talks about a river. What does the river mean to the people? Civilization tends to start by the river, because by the river, they can have everything they need. The world gives us a lot of problems and troubles, but God gives us a river. What do we see in our problems? Do we see curses or do we see the river, which provides us everything we need! Why we want to move? We want to move away from our problems, we will to give up and we refuse to face them. We thought starting anew can take away all our problems.

When we face problems, we must come and seek God, there is a river, flowing from Heaven to earth. God already gave authority to church, to release the power from the Heaven. Do we know how powerful our church is? Do we know how much the authority God has given to the church? Let us come to church and know our holy God is with us, because He is almighty, He is our loving Father, and He can solve all our problems. God’s presence is with us, and we shall not be moved.

3. Be Still in God’s Works

God is doing His Works in our lives, He is doing many things, but can we really see everything God is doing? It’s very easy for us to complain about God and not easy for us to see what God is doing for us. In the beginning, when we first come to know God, we may see many signs and wonders, and we may be very excited. But as time goes by, we forget about how God has helped us, and we start to try using our own ways to live our lives and solve our problems. God’s Works never stop, but we stop seeing God is working. We turn ourselves into a ‘doing’ mode, and we walk in our own way.

God calls us to come and behold God’s Works, to focus, and to use all our strength to see what God is doing in our everyday lives. When we see problems, God told us to go to Him, to swim in His river, to feel His presence, and to behold His Works. God can settle all the conflicts, and all we have to do is to be still. But this is also the hardest to do.

Many people may come and challenge us, when we be still, we may receive attacks from this world. What does it really mean by ‘be still’? It does not mean not to care and not to do anything, God worked for six days and rested on the seventh day, He did not do nothing, but to have fellowship with men. When we are being still, we must connect to God, we must have fellowship with God, and we must pray.