0:00 Pray. Our dear loving father, we come into your presence with thankfulness, with gratitude for all that you have done. For all that you have given. He did not spare your 0:19 own son. You have given himself for us all. How much more you give us Lord. every day Lord our daily spiritual nourishment you give us. We cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from your mouth. So we come to 0:39 you again as your children asking for a word from heaven. Uh even as I attempt to share what you have laid in my heart. You know my limitations. You know my weaknesses. Please help me to speak clearly and to speak your word um 0:57 exactly the way you want me to speak. Please bless us all with your word and encourage us in Jesus name I pray. Amen. All right. Um I have mainly two things that I wanted to share this Sunday. 1:16 Uh I want to begin by reading from Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 vers 10 onwards. Uh I'm going to read and then I'll share. Before that let me 1:34 start my timer. [sighs] Um Colossians chapter 3 verse 10. and have put on this new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. 1:53 A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, cythian, 2:08 slave and free man. But Christ is all and in all. So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, 2:27 humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also 2:46 should you. Beyond all these things, put on love which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you are called in one body 3:06 and be thankful. And that last part of the verse 15 is what um caught my attention as I was preparing. be thankful. Uh this verse is used in during the Thanksgiving season. Uh but I want if 3:25 you look uh the verses beforehand, Paul is writing about the context of the church about how God brings different people and from different places, different backgrounds and how we ought to connect with one another. And towards the end uh 3:44 verse 15 it says be thankful. I was thinking in the context of the church um as God brings us together and makes us one body. How am I being thankful for every member in the church and uh if you look at verse 11 uh [clears throat] 4:04 verse 11 it talks about Okay. Verse 11 talks about 4:22 the distinction. There's no longer any distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian and cyian, slave and free man. But Christ is all in all. We're coming from a different backgrounds right in 4:38 our church. So we living in the US one of the greatest advantages it's a melting pot of different cultures. If I was attending a church in say Andhra Pradesh uh in India in the state where I grew up um I would most likely see most 4:52 of the people who look like me who speak like me same culture. But thank God God has brought us here and for whatever reason and we have people in our church from different backgrounds. Uh this is a great way to exercise this verse and the 5:07 remaining verses how we become one body even though we are coming from different races, different colors of the skin, different nationalities and um different culture. Um there's there's there are multiple cultures in our church and uh different education 5:26 levels. Um the like we have people at at all levels and we have uh and also distinction by wealth or the financial status or whatever uh that comes with that and different temperament and some people may be extroverted, some people 5:46 may be introverted, some people may speak more, speak less and different way people react and God brought us all from different places and made us into one body and also most importantly different levels of spiritual maturity. 6:03 We are all growing and we are all at different levels. One of us, some of us may be at kindergarten, some of us may be at uh middle school, high school and undergrad, grad and all the way to PhD. And based on our past different 6:19 convictions, I myself I grew up in a Catholic church. I attended a non-denominational Protestant church and a brethren in church, a Baptist church. Now I am in CFC. A lot of things shape our faith, our convictions uh based on our past. 6:36 And Paul is drawing our attention. Now Christ is all in all. We are no longer distinction. There's no barbarian cyian. There's no Greek and Jew. There's no religious and not religious. Circumcised or uncircumcised. someone who grew up in 6:52 a religious environment. Someone who grew up as a pagan, no distinction. The day we accept Christ, Christ is in all. And um he Christ is all and in all. And having said that and immediately Paul talks about put on a heart of compassion 7:12 because we are going to deal with people from different backgrounds. Put on a heart of compassion and kindness, humility and gentleness and patience. these qualities and most importantly uh [clears throat] bearing with one another 7:32 bearing with one another and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone just as Lord forgave you so should also. And um just talking about the previous verse again I I missed one point man we in our in our 7:48 minds we want uni uniformity right we want everyone to look like me I want to hang out I want to fellowship with the people who look like me act like me have the similar convictions similar things similar background that's man's way is 8:03 uniformity but God does not operate that way you know two fingerprints would be same no two snow snowflakes will be same Everything will be different. We're all different, made different. But God wants to bring unity um not uniformity and 8:18 unity among this diversity. Even among the gifts, God gives us different gifts to build the church. It's all varieties of gifts but of the same spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, you see that varieties of ministries but the same 8:34 Lord. Varieties of effects but same God. So just because someone has such a different gift, he's not a different person but the same spirit operating and giving different gifts ultimately to build the body. So not the uniformity 8:49 but unity among the diversity of people that God brings us as I mentioned different backgrounds that the previous verse talks about. And now [clears throat] the verse 13 from forbearing starts with forbearing. Bear with one another because we're all 9:09 coming from different backgrounds, different convictions. Let us bear with one another. Forbearing and forgiving. Plenty of opportunities. Where else we can exercise this um this uh command to forgive one another? Starting in our own household in the h 9:27 in the church. he has given to us and anyone has a complaint against anyone think about the Lord has forgiven us just as the Lord has forgiven you so also should you it's not an option it's should so should you so when God brings 9:44 us different people and maybe they'll rub on us and we rub on them there are opportunities where we have to bear with one another and opportunities to forgive just as the Lord has forgiven us and put on love. Love that covers multitude of 10:02 sins, multitude of things that we hurt each other, we rub on each other. Put on love which is the perfect bond of unity. It starts with forbearing and then at the end it ends with being thankful and um as we go through this as we obey the 10:20 Lord's command that forbearing forgiving and putting on love what ends up is having a peace that let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. uh so if there is a disturbance in the peace in our hearts because of someone did 10:37 something someone did not say something someone did say something and if I if I do all these things that Paul is writing Holy Spirit is writing to us I have the peace I will let the peace of God rule in my hearts um and then 10:53 to which we're all called into one body it's not multiple we are not different organs separated but into one body And Paul ends this verse with be thankful. So the question is how am I being thankful? I I was questioning myself. Am 11:09 I thankful for the body of Christ God has placed me in? And uh how do am I appre am I appreciating every member the way God wants me to appreciate. Uh we are different members of one body. We are not one part is not like if the 11:26 whole body were an eye where would the hearing be? Uh every member brings certain thing that God that the body needs. We're not all of one type. One eye, one hand, one ear. No, I need ears. I need eyes. I need nose. I need every 11:43 single part. And some of them are visible. Some of them are not visible. Some of them are hidden. And most important organs are hidden. But we don't have to feel inferior. Oh, I'm not a hand. I may have a little uh nail or 11:58 maybe little uh finger. Um but uh I don't have to feel inferior. God has made me certain way. He has placed me, he has given me certain uh ability and I will do whatever I want. I will be the powerful little finger. If God wants me 12:13 to be the little finger uh so never want to be uh uh inferior because I as long as I'm connected to the head being filled with the Holy Spirit, I'll be that powerful little part that God wants me to be. [snorts] And I don't have to 12:26 feel superior. There are certain gifts and ministries may make us attempt us to feel superior towards others. Teaching, preaching, singing and all of that. Maybe public ministry may have some public attention but means nothing 12:39 before God. The person who is praying secretly, fasting and praying for the church may be more important and may may be doing um more to contribute to the church growth than the person who's speaking. So don't I don't have to feel 12:52 superior because every member so and then God's word says honor the hidden members um like the heart and liver and uh which are unseen prayer they get more abundant honor the honor the hidden members if you want to dwell more deeply 13:09 uh I don't have time to go through that but 1 Corinthians 12 chapter is a great um Paul uses the human body to explain how the body of Christ works and Why do I need the body of Christ? Um, it is practically impossible for me 13:27 to understand the four dimensions of God's love. What are the four dimensions? The breadth of God's love, the length of God's love, the depth of God's love, the height of God's love. If I try to attempt to know the love of God 13:43 by myself, oh, I don't want to be connected to the church. I'm myself. I'm connected to the head. I am going to miss out the other dimensions of God's love. Ephesians chapter 3 17-19. You may see that verse that you may be able to 14:01 comprehend, understand with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. It's beyond my understanding. If I bring certain aspect 14:17 of Jesus, I see God spoke to me. I saw this life of Jesus. I saw this aspect or characteristic or attribute that is still a little part of it. I need other brother, other sister to tell me the other aspect that I'm missing. I'm only 14:32 looking at the breadth of God's love. But I want someone to tell me the depth of God's love that can be experienced only in the church. If I am all by myself, I will miss out the other dimensions that I would otherwise experience within the church. That's why 14:47 I want to I want to grow in appreciation for the local body and the body of Christ or the network of churches God has given us, the teaching God has given us. So that with all the saints, I will be able to understand the all the four 15:01 dimensions of God's love and and church is a place where I learn to love and be thankful for others. And Jesus said in John 13:35, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one 15:21 another." Nothing is described. What is the most um most um uh important characteristic of it characteristic of God's Jesus disciples being part of one church is love for one another. By this the world will know that you are my disciples if 15:41 you have love for one another. Not the world's love for us but our love towards not to the world again towards one another. And the other challenging verse John writes uh in 1 John 4:20 in the epistle he writes the one who does not 15:57 love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Your love towards God is tested and validated by the brother I see every day, by the sister I see every day. If I cannot love the brother I see, if I say 16:14 I love God, I must be deceiving myself. 1 John 4:20. So all these things can be experienced in the local church, local body. And then the other thing that I want to say is why God has given two eyes because of a certain situation I went through uh in 16:34 my family. I had to uh study a little bit more. We get depth perception because God has given us two eyes. I'll explain how. So I'm looking at this camera. [snorts] I will not know how much depth how far it is unless I have 16:50 two eyes. These two eyes are slightly separated by a little an inch or so. But those two eyes are looking at the same thing. But because they are looking at from two different angles, the brain takes these two images and mixes them 17:04 and gives us not only the two dimension but the third dimension which is the depth. If I don't have the depth perception, it will be very difficult to drive. It will be very difficult to play tennis. It will be very difficult to be 17:15 in any sport. The two eyes are important. If I grow up with one eye, I will miss the depth perception. And there is a test people do doctors to measure the depth perception. We will fail that if I don't have two eyes, if 17:30 one eye is not working properly. So sometimes I see in my own marriage my wife sees something, I see something slightly differently, but we combine we get the full picture. I work with my fellow elders. They see things slightly 17:44 differently. I see things slightly differently. But I need both to get full understanding of that. Uh again God has brought us from different cultures, different places and we sh it shapes my faith and it shapes my understanding. If 17:58 I say this is how I look at it, this is the only way. No, I'll miss out. If I look at grace, I miss the truth part. I need the my brother or my wife to tell me the gra truth part. If I see only goodness, I miss the severity of God. So 18:12 all of that can be experienced only when we are in the part of a body of Christ and like two eyes seeing two things differently slightly differently but combining them will give me a good understanding of what the picture is how 18:26 how much depth it is. So grace and truth and goodness and severity. Now I want to just demonstrate this uh with I want just couple of volunteers uh who wants maybe few one two boys and two girls. Can you just come here? Yeah. Can you 18:42 come here? And any any girls? Come here. Yeah. So I'm going to show you one picture. You want to come? [laughter] No. Okay. Anyone who volunteers one or two girls. Okay. If not that's 19:00 fine. So, I'm going to show you one picture. I want you to tell me what you see. Okay? Look at it for 10 seconds. If you know the answer, please what do you see here? >> What is that? Can 19:18 >> a woman how old should be >> like 20s. >> 20s. >> Okay. James. [laughter] Okay. So, you're seeing what? >> Like early 20s. 19:34 >> 20s. Young woman. Okay. Anyone else? What do you see? Or else do you see >> you're seeing >> old woman? So Joey Bzam is seeing old woman. Sammy 19:51 is seeing a young woman. It's the same picture. Can you explain why you see why you think that's a young woman, Sammy? >> Uh cuz like uh >> there's no wrinkles. >> Okay. There are no wrinkles. 20:11 Okay. And Okay. Why do you think that's a old woman? >> Uh because >> what's >> longer? Okay. Face is longer. Okay. Okay. So, adults, do you see young women 20:30 or old woman in the picture? People who see old women, can you raise your hands now? Okay. Yeah. Five, six. And who? Oh, okay. Few people around 10 people who see the young woman here. See more on young women. But there is a 20:49 old women too here. Uh, look at this. I don't know how to explain [laughter] but the ear that you think the young woman has it's if you think like this an eye of a old woman looking this way you see the old woman if you think the 21:06 people who are looking at the old woman if you think the um the thing uh the eye eye of the old woman is actually ear of the young woman looking that side. Do you get it? >> No. Yeah. Yeah. Necklace. Yeah, that's 21:27 right. Necklace of the young woman is the mouth of the old woman. If you think that way, you see the old woman looking this side. You see the young woman looking that side. You get it? >> Okay. Thank you. [laughter] 21:47 So this is just to demonstrate how we miss out. If I say no, it has to be young women. No way it is a old woman. And I say no no no I see a old women I miss out that see you see that need for it's good to listen to others point of 22:05 view rather than saying that I am right and uh I have one more if you want to sorry just quickly I don't have time but do you see two what what what do you see here >> so what do you Eskimo. 22:30 Okay. What does What is the Eskimo doing? >> There's no face. Okay. So, yeah, it looks like someone facing this side. But if you look at it, the bottom two things, there are little legs and someone wearing a a coat looking towards 22:49 the darkness. There are two pictures here. again um you can take a look at that. I'll share this slide but you get the point. So in the same picture we may see two different things but both could be right. Grace is right, truth is 23:05 right, goodness of God is right, severity of God is right. So we see the things. So moving on I don't have much time. God shapes my faith through my brothers and sisters like iron sharpens iron. You know, we cannot sharpen an 23:20 iron with uh something that is soft and smooth. I need another iron to sharpen that. You know, sharpen knife. You need another metal like that. Proverbs 27:17. I need my brothers and sisters to sharpen my faith. Um so I'm thankful 23:37 because of that. I'm thankful because they're helping me to see a different aspect of God's love. I'm thankful because they're helping me to see the point I missed. And now I'm thankful because they're sharpening my faith and 23:49 also because my brothers and sisters when they share a prophetic word when someone shares here and children share here they're also protecting me from deception. I can be easily hardened by the deception of the sin. That's why 24:03 Hebrews 3:13 says encourage one another daily as we exercise the gift of prophecy and share and encourage. I'm going to be protected from the deception. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for keeping me in the church and mutual 24:17 faith. Paul says, I'm encouraged together with you. Paul, an apostle is saying in Romans 1:12, each of us by the others faith, both yours and mine. I'm blessing your you with my faith. You are blessing me with your faith. We need 24:31 both. We need each other. We are leaning on each other. We are running this race together. We need that encouragement. We need the sharpening. We need the faith that I need because we are tempted to be to go through unbelief. many times. 24:46 [clears throat] So thanking God for others especially the real test is thanking God for those who are not like me who are not like me and uh always try to find something that is um that blesses us in other lives in others. Uh there was a time uh there was 25:04 a presidential debate it was very intense both of them were fighting like anything for for that and then there was a town hall uh so one person was given opportunity to ask these presidential candidates well that question was can 25:18 you say something good about each other they were like oh okay then they both answered that it was so refreshing to hear it's always like they don't have to find false and criticize there something must be there must be something good in 25:32 others. Even a a clock that is broken will be right two times. So there will be something God has given. If God has accepted them, if God has made them uh into one body um uh and brought them into the church, there must be 25:45 something. God has done a work always there must be something in others to thank God. We ought always to give thanks uh to God for you. You know, interestingly, Paul wrote in nine epistles, u out of eight, out of nine, eight of them, he mentions thanks, 26:04 giving thanks for the members, giving thanks to the church. Interestingly, even to Corinthians when he writes a letter to Corinthians with all the problems and divisions and jealousy and immorality was tolerated there, lot of 26:17 lawsuits and lot of disorder to the church. He writes, what does he write? I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. He starts with thanksgiving to the church that has full 26:33 of problems. How much more we can be thankful for one another. Only Galatians one exception is Galatians because the gospel was at stake. It doesn't start with thanksgiving. He apparently gets into the point. Um and let's [laughter] you 26:50 know thinking about the times of Noah's Noah's time uh church sometimes I think brother Zach mentions is the ark of the new covenant if I am inside the ark I I should not be complaining yeah this I don't have all the facilities and 27:03 amenities of a cruise ship uh but I may be I may be with the animals and smell and I may not have a comfortable chair comfortable place to sit and but I'm inside the ark otherwise outside I would be perish I would be perishing in the 27:17 flood. I'm Lord give me that thankful spirit to be to for me to be inside the ark. If I were in Noah's time and Noah allowed me to come inside and God opened a door for me, I would it would be sin to complain that I have I I'm missing 27:33 the comforts of the outside world. I'm thankful to be inside. Okay, moving on to the next thing. So, first part I want to say is thank being thankful. Second one uh is about [clears throat] uh judging ourselves. Um one of the 27:50 thing that I noticed you know I mean we all experience that our the nature the items nature that we get sometimes is to judge others first and it serves itself first and we fail to examine ourselves before we judge others but the way of 28:09 cross way of Christ is judging ourselves. um and serving others, putting others first with all the humility of mine. Consider others more important and towards myself I go easy that's my default nature towards others I will be harder but the as the Holy 28:26 Spirit does the work we could move on from being judgmental towards others to judging ourselves. So instead of judging others being thankful and towards us judging judging uh so that um uh we purify ourselves. We judge ourselves as 28:45 just as Jesus is pure. And we do that because uh we are not going to compare ourselves with others. We compare ourselves with Jesus Christ. Our destination is to be Christlike. As we compare ourselves with Christ Christ's 29:01 character, we'll see so many gaps we need to work on. So that's why um we are often heard in our church purifying ourselves, judging ourselves. Uh I want all of us to know this verse 1 John 3:3. Everyone who has this hope that we will see Jesus and 29:19 we'll be like him. Uh that's a double hope uh fixed on him purifies himself, [snorts] not his neighbor. We are not focusing on purifying others. The conviction of the Holy Spirit um is individual. I cannot convict others 29:37 about certain things that like about certain sin or whatever they're dealing with. Uh the convict I will I do I do not want to play the role of the Holy Spirit. Only Holy Spirit the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict us. For me 29:52 it is as holy spirit convicts me I will purify myself just as he is pure Christ is pure. 1 John 3:3. And if we judge ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. I would if I am judging every day, I'm the person who need no 30:08 repentance. As uh Luke 15 says, um the Jesus talks about the lost sheep. Uh even today we heard about do not judge. Uh in Matthew's 7:1 uh if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. uh if we focus on purifying 30:25 ourselves uh we will we will be ready for his coming um so much it's so much profitable in judging ourselves rather than judging others [clears throat] so why I don't want to judge is one thing is I want to remember my own 30:44 journey so we're all pressing on we are we're all pressing on to maturity our mountain peak experience is say being Christlike totally being conformed to the image of Christ and we're all making progress step by step one uh if people 31:00 who have done hiking towards the mountain we start in the beginning eagerly and then towards the end it'll become tiring well we're making progress we're all like I used to hike a lot in California there's a place called 31:12 mission peak next to our home and I start and there are a lot of people who are ahead of me are going so we're all making progress ultimately we'll reach to the top and it's a great experience And likewise spiritually we're all 31:25 growing. And if I judge others based on the progress I made, if I judge others based on the light I have today, I am not doing the right thing. 10 years ago, I did not have the light that I have today. 10 years ago, I did not have the light I 31:42 have today. So may I need to make an allowance for my brother and my for my sister who is also making progress. Probably they're not making they're not seeing the light I'm seeing today. that they're still little bit behind me. 31:54 They'll come there one day. So I need to be patient with my children, with my wife, with my fellow brothers and sisters. Need to be patient. Just I want others who are ahead of me also to be patient with me. I'm learning. I'm 32:07 growing. Please, there's a wonderful song. He's still working on me, right? You know that song. He's still working on me. So he took like he God made the heaven and the stars and sun, moon, the earth, and the stars. and he's also 32:21 working in me. So please be patient. I'm making progress. I don't want to judge others based on what I have today. The light I have today. Uh I tell you 10 years ago I was not like 20 years ago I was worse than many 30 years here. So I 32:38 may God help me to never judge others based on the light I have today. And um and talking about God's patience towards us. I don't have time to go through all the verses, but Isaiah 61:2, the favorable year and the day of 32:54 vengeance. Favorable year and a day of vengeance. Year has how many days? 365 days of God's favor compared to one day of vengeance. So let's remember that that's how God looks at us. God is 33:11 expecting us to forgive others 70* 7. And um God is also patient. He waits. It is appointed for men to die once and then comes judgment. God waits until he die. Someone dies. The dying thief at the last hour, he was able to he was 33:29 able to repent and uh receive the salvation. And uh so let's be patient. Let's not uh let's not be impatient with one another. [clears throat] And um one thing that is amazing about Jesus disciples even though they made uh 33:47 you know now looking back probably even though we think oh they walked with Jesus for three and a half years how did they miss this point? How did they do this? How did they how did they fight with each other? Well one thing is 33:59 amazing what they did when Jesus said one of you will betray me. You know what they said being deeply grieved Matthew 26:21-22 they each one began to say to Jesus surely not I Lord is it I Lord is it I 34:17 what a wonderful response if if a message is given if we get [snorts] convicting message Lord thank you it's for me it's me oh Lord who is in need of prayer not my brother not my sister it's me there's another children's song it's 34:33 me. Thank you for this message. It's for me. Sometimes I heard I I did that. Oh, it's a convicting message. Oh, this is for my wife. [laughter] This is for that person. No, if I say this is for me, I'll make progress. If I judge myself 34:47 with the sermon and uh another thing illustration I want to do is um what do you see here? What do you see children? What that dots? How many dots? 35:07 Okay. Some dots. Uh what type of dots? Small, big. Okay. So, the first response for most of us is when I see a white circle and put several dots. The thing that comes to our mind is the dots 35:26 if we are honest. But there's a lot of white there. If you see, if you move all the dots into one corner, probably maybe 30% of dots, 30 40% remaining is white. We miss the white part. We focus on the dots. Our attention is drawn to the 35:43 dots. That's that's how that's how we are wired. Sometimes we see defects and shortcomings and failures in others more than the good things in them. uh even when when you see the moon see first thing is this black dots uh 36:00 whatever the dark things that we see. So may God help us to see uh the problem and appreciate one another. And uh finally I'm coming to closure. Do not judge before the time. It was a wonderful warning, a serious one, not a 36:17 wonder serious warning. Do not go on passing judgment before the time but wait until the Lord comes. Then each man's praise will come from him because the motives and what goes on in others mind. It is very difficult. We are not 36:33 we we are not capable as human beings. Only God knows. Only God knows. That's why we have serious warning in Matthew 7 about being judging others. Uh one of the girl was sharing this verse. My brother's fault even its worst is a 36:49 speck compared to my unloving and judgmental attitude which is like a log which is a log. I have a log if I have this unloving bitterness and judgmental attitude and I try to go and take out the speck in others. If that person who has a speck is 37:07 judging himself I'm sure he would say if the person with the lock comes and says I need to remove the speck I you have a spec. I say thank you brother for telling me I'm working on it. Thank you for the spec. You won't respond. See 37:19 look you have the log and you are telling me about the spec. If I am judging myself I would say thank you for telling me there was a spec and I will purify myself. Um so let's uh watch out for these attitudes. Firstly uh if we 37:33 judge ourselves we'll try to get rid of the locks in our own eyes. I heard this statement from brother Zach. I think he kept this in his office or something. Happiest people are those who judge themselves. Happiest people are those who judge 37:50 themselves. And this is a cycle I want to stick to. I judge myself. After that, what should I do? I judge myself some more. Some more. And then as God convicts me, I purify myself. Thank you, Lord, for showing me the light. Now I'm 38:07 little one inch closer to you. Thank you. I want to be like you. I'm comparing myself and and thanking God for others, for my brothers and sisters who are helping me to see the problems um and also how I am able to discover the things 38:25 that are uncristlike in me. So I want to be the happiest person on this earth. Not because I have plenty of money, not because of anything, but if I am judging myself, one thing for sure, we will be ready for his coming any moment. judging 38:40 ourselves and purifying ourselves. focusing our energies on that rather than judging others towards others it is being thankful towards myself judging um that's what I want to end with towards others let's grow in our gratitude thankfulness and 38:58 appreciation especially those of us who are in the household of God recognize the difference they are made different I'm not looking for uniformity but unity the spirit of unity behold how good and how pleasant uh to see to behold uh for brethren to 39:15 dwell together in unity in spite of all the differences the becoming one and to see what gives through them. I receive so much from one another the mutual faith encouragement the sharp sharpening of my own faith and towards myself 39:32 I want to first judge myself judge myself and accept others whom God has accepted. Um [clears throat] yeah, every brother and sister is a God's gift for me to help to know him more to know his love all the four dimensions of God's love 39:49 and God will give me grace through the power of the Holy Spirit to bear with one another to love one another to forgive one another and be thankful be thankful for them and uh towards myself judging judging some more judging some 40:05 more and purifying myself and I want to end this with this if this message. If you think this as you hear this message, if you thought this thought came, this message is for this person, for this person, then I have failed. [laughter] I 40:18 need to judge how I shared my message uh in terms of conveying what I wanted to convey. But uh my encouragement for all of us is to take this message to our hearts and to see what God is teaching us. Uh may the Lord help us to grow in 40:34 appreciation towards others being thankful for others in spite of all the differences and towards myself judging and judging and judging. May God help us. Thank you. 41:00 Thank you brother Suin for what you shared. uh it's really uh the emphasis on the heart and our attitude full of gratitude and thankfulness first towards our lord what 41:16 he has done and the people uh we are his body uh the way um how do we treat god's body um 41:32 no I I don't um um be able to cover everything brother has shared but couple of things what came home to my heart and blessed me is the bar is 41:49 the goal is to um become like the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the ad stick uh the measuring stick to allow the comparison what we can do it's like um you may hear multiple 42:09 things what should we do in this incident um should I be merciful or should I be truth here or as a father's like you know as a a manager's business decisions when you make it and the whom um 42:28 we had brother Augustine also addressed that as a bulk he removed deleted all the spam messages but one message he was about to delete but he asked what should I do and then he emphasized on 42:46 we need wisdom and the holy spirit filling uh in that moment What what do you want me to use it Lord? Not our human uh wisdom or soul power uh 43:05 theory. The reality the reality comes in there because we don't know the future. We are finite people. Um our lord is infinite. So we as elders also uh have to make some decisions in the church. Whether should we be merciful in this 43:24 area or should you be truthful? We ask your prayers. We ask um the Lord to help us and also the other one uh brother 43:43 mentioned from 1 John chapter 2. Um we are children of God. And it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears 44:05 we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. It's like we don't know people's motives, intentions or why they are doing it. Let's not judge early. When 44:22 the Lord comes, he will judge. He knew the motives, people's motives behind it. Since we have this hope that we will be like him when we see him, everyone who has this hope fixed on him 44:40 purifies himself just as he is pure. So while we are waiting we are not just waiting as like people who doesn't have a hope 44:56 we have hope and we will purify ourself that we may not have anything a clear cont we may have a clear conscience when we meet him. The other thing 45:16 um brother spoke something from 1 Timothy as well. Uh let no one 4:12 1 Timothy 4:12 I want to say let let no one look down uh on 45:33 your youth you youthfulness but rather in speech conduct and your love and your faith and purity. Show yourself an example to those who believe. We all may live an exemplary life uh in these areas 45:51 in our speech uh in our conduct in love, faith, purity, asking the Lord for wisdom. Um verse 16, brother said, "Pay close attention to yourself, 46:09 how we walk, how we conduct, how we show our love." This is a man of God, Timothy. Uh he has he himself has responsibilities over the church uh over the churches in fact. But still Paul was helping him too. How 46:27 should you conduct yourself? How do you do that? Not just your life, your teaching also. May the Lord help us as elders to live an exemplary life and also in teaching not to shrink away what the Lord wants to tell us. And 46:47 one morning uh came home this week as a brother uh a committed member in our church uh pointed this verse. Uh I just want to read it in um in the living translation. Uh this is from Isaiah. 47:06 Isaiah chapter 56. Few verses I want to read. Come wild animals of the field. Come wild animals of the forest. Come and devour my people. For the 47:24 leaders of my people, the Lord's watchmen, his shepherds, are blind and ignorant. They are like silent watchd dogs that give no warning when danger comes. They love to lie around sleeping and 47:43 dreaming like greedy dogs. They never satisfied. They are ignorant shepherds, all following their own path and intent on personal gain. Come, they say, let's 47:59 get some wine and have a party. Let's all get drunk. Then tomorrow we will do it again and have an even bigger party. I read it in the New Living Translation Isaiah chapter 56 9-12. We don't want to 48:18 be this this watchmen. We want to warn when we see it something is coming. So may the Lord help us as a um as a body which 48:36 follow what the Lord has given to us. uh our chief shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ is an example. The life he lived even though he was fully God um fully man and uh he loved us. He loved us and 48:56 he gave his life. Not only that and while going he has sent us his comforter, his holy spirit and his word as we sang in songs also his holy holy word. We may never uh despise 49:13 in our daily um habits of going and reading God's word and asking him uh to give us the wisdom in the right moment uh to take us the right decisions uh so that we all may be presented uh perfect in front of our 49:31 lord. We don't we are not perfected. We are pressing on the perfection because we have a hope. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you and we praise you for these words of encouragement and warnings you have given to us this morning. Lord, help us 49:50 to be people full of thankfulness, hearts full of thankfulness, Lord. And uh be grateful what you have done for us and thank you for giving this body Lord Father where all our families can come and be encouraged, be built up, 50:07 Lord. Thank you uh for um the new facility also you have given to us moving forward. Help us Lord to have your presence among us. Uh without your presence Lord it is in vain we gather. So thank you uh for giving this morning 50:24 these words bless throughout this week Lord. Father to be uh taken good decisions which you are pleased of. Lord we need wisdom. Give us your wisdom lord. You was promised that those whoever is humble we come and ask you 50:38 Lord. You said without reproach Lord help all of us Lord and our children also in school. Bless the brothers and sisters who came and heard this morning. We ask asked and received all these things in Jesus precious name. Amen. 50:53 Brothers and sisters, thank you
