The online KPPI (Praise and Divine Healing Service) took place again on Monday, August 24, 2020 through the Live Streaming program on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
The Word of God was delivered by Rev. Jacob B. Sumbayak, taken from Mark 12: 28-34 about the great Commandment.
Love is the First Commandment
When someone asked Jesus which was the first commandment of all, that was an important question, because it is very important to know which commandment is especially important in our faith in God. So that we will be made righteous when we do it because of God’s commandment. Likewise with a scribe who asked Jesus, which was the first commandment, in other words he asked: “What must I do to enter the kingdom of heaven?”.
And Jesus answered, “ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment”. (Mark 12:30)
There are four aspects of the first commandment in life, namely loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then the second commandment is to love our neighbours. There is no other commandment above these. If we do this commandment then we get salvation.
So the scribe said to Him, “.. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mark 12:33) Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (Mark 12:34)
True, if we enter the kingdom of heaven, it is not because of the offerings, good deeds, or rewards that we do. We do that, but that’s not the requirements that we can go to heaven. We cannot possibly boast before God by saying that I have done this and that. We cannot pay with all our good deeds and virtues even with our kindness. But what can make us enter the kingdom of heaven is if we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love our fellow humans.
God Loved Us First
How can we love God? We can love God because God loved us first. Without God loving us, we cannot possibly love God. Because God loves us, we can know God, trust God, have faith in God and love God. How can a child love his parents first, of course his parents are the one who love him first. We too, we love God because God loved us first.
There are three things that enable us to love God, because there are 3 things God does for us.
The first thing, it is God who created us. It is God who gave birth to us from our mother’s womb and put us on this planet Earth. And we were born in Indonesia, we were born in this beautiful earth. It is God who put us on this earth. God put us on earth and not on another planet. If we look up at the sky and we see the moon and stars, then we know that God put us on this earth.
The second thing, it is because God loves us first that we can love God. Romans 5: 8 “But God showed His love for us, because Christ died for us while we were still sinners”. When we haven’t known God, when we were still sinners, God died for us first. Doesn’t this show how much God loves us? There may be people who are willing to sacrifice for good people, but God is willing to sacrifice for us while we are still sinners. This shows God loves us.
The third thing, when we believe in God and believe in His sacrifice, the Word of God says that if we believe, we will be given the right to become the children of God. (John 1:12). So if we are in heaven, our status will be as children, not as strangers. That is such an amazing thing. We are made by God as His children. So that if we are in the kingdom of heaven, just like our Father is there, we are also in the Kingdom of Heaven. Just the same if we have parents, we will live in our parents’ house. We will be taken care of and our status is the children. As a result we will inherit everything that is good.
If we receive God’s love then we can keep these commandments, and we can love God. If we can love God then we can love our neighbours.
Do you want to believe in His love for us? Let us come to God. Trust in God that He came to love us. 1 John 4: 9-10, “In this the love of God is manifested among us, namely that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, so that we may live through Him. This is love: It is not we who have loved God, but God who loved us and who sent His Son as atonement for our sins. “
God teaches us to love our neighbors, even God teaches us to love our enemies. Because God is love, if we believe in Him, we are also full of God’s love, which will make us love God and others, and we don’t hate other people.
Jesus Healed Many People
God’s Word in Mark 3: 7-12 tells of Jesus healing many people. They were from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, across the Jordan, and from the region of Tire and Sidon. So, those who follow Jesus were not only from Israel but also from outside Israel and they were not Jews. Everyone were crammed to touch Jesus. They believed that Jesus was able to heal. Jesus was very powerful in healing the sick, even the evil spirits fell down before Him and shouted, “You are the Son of God.”
If you believe, you can experience the same miracle. The Word of God in 1 Peter 2:24 says: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we, who were dead to sin, live to righteousness. By His stripes you are healed. ” When Jesus was crucified on the cross, He bore men’s sin, He suffered as our substitute. Jesus died so we could live. [RS/EM]