0:00 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 5. We can say this together. You are protected by the power of God through faith. 1 Peter 1:5 once more. You are protected by the power of God through faith. 1 Peter 1:5. So, um just looking at the context of this 0:19 verse. This verse is actually just partially simplified so we can memorize it. But we look at it we turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1 and we read from verse 3. It says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his 0:32 great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you." I love that 0:47 word reserved in heaven for you who are protected and this is our memory verse who are protected by the power of God through faith. For what? For a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And this is a huge encour- especially if you're a 1:00 young person recently given yourself to the Lord or you're new a Christian or even for us who've been walking with the Lord for a while. It is a great reminder that the Lord has reserved a spot in heaven for us. He's protecting 1:14 our salvation. We don't have to live in condemnation. And that word reservation is beautiful. When you think about reservations, what do you make reservations for? I like to think about reser- dinner reservations. And I like 1:24 the idea of thinking that there is a table reserved for me with Jesus. Like to even think of it as a table for seven, my family of six plus Jesus sitting down at a table. That reservation it's not going to can- The only person 1:36 who can cancel that reservation is me by rebelling against the Lord or or turning away and against the Lord. But even my ups and downs of my life, I can I can say with confidence and without condemnation even if I fall into sin and I'm quick to 1:51 repent that the Lord is going to protect my salvation. And it's a great uh great comforting word to me. But how is he going to protect that? How is he going to How is that going to be protected? And this verse tells us of 2:05 two things that will help protect that. One is from him and one is from me. One is his power and the other is my faith. We're protected by his power through our faith. So I just wanted to share a little bit about that. What is the power of God? If 2:20 you turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1 verse verses 18 through 20. We'll just read that real quick. It says I Paul says I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the 2:36 riches of the glory of his inheritance and saints. And what is the surpassing greatness of his power to those who believe? It's a It's a power that is too great for me to understand. These are working in accordance with the 2:50 working of the strength of his might. And what is this power? It's the same power in verse 20 which brought Christ from the dead and seated him at the right hand in heavenly places. And that's something we often to think about this 3:03 thought that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to me. It's available to me to protect my salvation, to protect me to reserve, to keep that reservation in heaven, to protect me today for the things that the Lord wants to save me 3:17 from. It's the same power that raised the Son of God from the dead, that from from from the cross and seated him in heaven. That same power is available to me today. And I don't want to take that lightly. It's immense, it's a surpassing power, 3:32 and I want to tap into that. We read in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9. This is a verse we don't have to turn that, but we know this verse well. Paul says, "My grace is sufficient for me The Lord says, "My grace is sufficient 3:47 for you. For power is perfected in weakness." And therefore, Paul says, "I'll rather boast in my weakness because the power of Christ may dwell in me. So, how is this Lord's amazing surpassing power perfected in me? It's perfected in me 4:02 being completely weak. And that sort of leads me to the second point which will protect me, which is my faith. Uh we read when you think about the definition of faith, the common definition of faith is Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 which says, um it's faith is 4:16 the assurance of things hoped for, it's the conviction of things that are not seen. And that's a great assurance of uh believing that the promises of the Lord are meant for me. But, there is another definition of faith that I'd 4:29 like to infer, which is from the parable of the widow uh uh persisting with the judge in Luke chapter 18 where where Jesus teaches us how to pray at all times. And we can turn there to Luke chapter 18. And uh 4:50 uh this this parable is from Luke chapter 18 verses uh 1 through 8. I'll just sort of work backwards from here. Uh in verse 8 it says, I tell you that he will bring about justice for the Lord will bring about justice for me. 5:06 But, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? And what is what is the faith that it's talked about? Verse 7, the definition of faith, now will not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night. 5:20 And will he delay over them? And I like that definition of faith. The faith that says, I'm going to cry to the Lord day or night. Faith equals me crying to the Lord day or night with the assurance, combine these two two two thoughts 5:33 together, crying to the Lord day or night, helpless helplessly crying with hopeful confidence that he's going to give me what he promised me. That when he promised me these verses that we memorize as promises, when he says, 5:47 uh if you set the Lord before you, you will not be shaken. Lord, I cling onto that. You promised that I will not be shaken because I put you first. You promised that you will perfect that which concerns me. I'm going to cry out 5:56 day and night. You promised to deliver me from anxiety, from this sin that's uh, plaguing me. I'm going to cry out to you day or night. And that's a beautiful way to think about the widow in this in this parable is a picture of somebody 6:09 who's completely weak, has no strength of their own to uh, defend themselves, absolutely no resources of their own. The only thing they can do is go and persistently nag. And that's the pic That's a beautiful picture of faith. A nagging faith that's 6:24 willing to just bother the Lord, wake him up in at midnight, whatever it takes and say cry before him and say, "Lord, you have promised. You have These are the promises you've laid out for me, and I'm hopefully confident that you will do 6:38 that you will do these, but I'm not going to be complacent about it. I'm going to cry and persistent, and that's the faith that will protect me. The Lord's going to give me that power if I'm if I'm willing to boast in that 6:48 weakness and cry out to him." So, I pray that we will be shamelessly persistent in that uh, pursuit. The other parable, we don't have to turn there, which is on prayer is in Luke chapter 11 where Jesus talks about a friend who knocks on midnight to 7:05 another friend's home on behalf of a friend that was visiting him, right? And it's a great picture of how we can have that same faith for our family, for for our children, for our spouses, for our uh, brothers and sisters in Christ, 7:17 where we're willing to knock at midnight and ask the Lord. In Luke chapter 11 says that that this friend went and knocked at midnight and for for three loaves. For a word, if we think about the loaves and the fishes, the loaves 7:28 are a picture of a a word, a sustaining word that we can provide to a weary one by listening to the Lord. And that again is it says in Luke chapter 11 verse 8, he says, "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is 7:43 friend he is his friend yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So what's better than being a friend of the Lord according to this verse? Luke chapter 11 verse 8 says, I'll read it again. It says, he will not get up 7:58 and give him anything because he is his friend. So even though he's his friend, he will not give it get up and give him. Yet because of his persistence, and I take that to mean what's a better relationship with the Lord than being a friend to the Lord is 8:10 being a nag to the Lord. And when I think about my family, oh, maybe earlier on in my family, the people who were the most nagging in my life were the little kids. Probably the most nagging member of your family is a baby, isn't it? 8:22 Unashamed, he doesn't care if you're on a Zoom call with your vice president or if you're in the middle of doing if you're in the middle of cooking, he or she is nagging you. I need to be fed. Crying out, I need to be fed. And 8:34 that's the relationship that's that's the amazing relationship that we can have with the Lord where we're shamelessly persistent about, Lord, I need you. I need you. And the great part about that is there's nothing to boast 8:45 in that. I can't compare my faith to another faith. It would be as silly to another person's faith. It would be as silly as me saying, "Yeah, I cry out for milk louder than you cry out for milk." What does that even mean? 8:56 There is the only thing I'm capable of is crying out. Crying out in weakness and and I know if I'm persistent in that he has promised me that his power will protect me. Uh and protect my salvation. Let's go back to 1 Peter uh 9:13 1 and just read a few verses after that uh after this memory verse. In verse 6 it says, "In this you greatly rejoice." What is this that I greatly rejoice? I greatly rejoice in that my salvation has been protected through his power and through 9:27 my nagging faith. Even though now one one uh version says for a season, and I love that uh picture of a season. If necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, 9:43 may result in praise and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And it's where goes on to say in verse 8 that this gives me joy in inexpressible, obtaining for the outcome of my faith the salvation of your souls. And I love 9:56 that picture that this life here, leave alone my little trials, this entire life here is just a season. It's just a season. And really what my hope should be is for that reservation that's up above. And the other thing, just to use to close, to 10:12 use another picture of a reservation, you can think about something else you make a reservation for. We make reservation, we make flight reservations. So, kids, you can follow along with this. Think about your favorite vacation. Per- perhaps it's 10:24 going to visit your grandparents. You've got a flight reservation that your parents have made. And now, what are you doing? Now, let me it's a week away. It's just a short while away. What is your mind on? Is your mind on, you know, school, tests, 10:39 exams, whatever is going on at home? No, you're starting to pack. You're starting to think about like, man, I'm really looking forward to this vacation. And if you're an adult, you're thinking about maybe you're for some of us visiting 10:50 family in another country. I remember when I was uh uh yeah, when my parents were in India, I'd go and visit them, and sometimes I would think about, okay, what do what do I need for this trip? US dollars are not going to help me, so 11:03 let me get some foreign currency that's actually usable over there. Let me uh think about what I'm going to pack. I'm going to pack clothes that I need that's appropriate for the weather over there. I'm going to go I've done this, call up 11:15 my parents and say, "Hey, is there anything you need that I can bring for you from here?" And that's the way, if you think about that spiritually, I want to pack I I want to look at this, where we are at this phase in our life. 11:26 It's like we've got a week left. We've just got a week left before we've got that trip. We've got that flight that reservation. What are we packing with us? The clothes, the righteousness of Christ. Those are I just want to pack 11:37 those clothes. I don't need to pack anything else. I don't need to pack anything of the currency of this earth. I need to trade for the heavenly currency. That's what I want to bring. And then I want to call up my heavenly 11:46 father and see and ask him, "Lord, what would you want me to bring? Perhaps you need a little bit more patience in me towards my spouse. Perhaps you need a little bit more humility, a little bit more love, joy, peace." That's That's something that's a 11:59 presentable gift that I want to bring for you. And I want to leave room. I want to first clear out the my suitcase of the junk that might exist in it from my last trip. And I really want to focus on packing knowing that this is 12:10 imminent. Now, do I get caught up with the things of the this earth? Yeah, but it doesn't distract me from the goal of saying this flight reservation is imminent and I need to be ready for that. Perhaps we're even past that stage. Perhaps 12:22 we're actually at the airport and at the boarding gate. And now we're just like, "Oh, do we have time to go pick up a bite?" Sure we do. But we're Our ears are trained for the boarding announcement. And that's the way I want 12:31 to live. What What I love about this passage is it reminds me that I'm looking forward to that reservation that the Lord has for me at his table. Uh and I'm taking comfort in the fact that he's protected. And even with these 12:46 things that I'm looking to pack, I can still have that same crying faith and say, "Lord, you've promised." Not only have you promised me the destination, you promised to help me with the packing here on earth. And you've helped me with 12:56 the packing list of humility, joy, peace, love, whatever it is that I might be lacking. So, may we have that assurance that the Lord will protect us. And may we have a greater realization of his surpassing power, the power that raised Jesus 13:11 from the dead that is available to us. And may we do our own part to have a nagging, crying faith that will persist, that will be shamelessly persistent in seeking the Lord for the promises that he has promised us. Amen. Yeah, I want to share something 13:29 that uh I believe I heard from the Lord in terms of how I should keep my heart attitude uh while speaking to someone or sharing something. Uh, so I'll start with uh one uh in chapter two of Acts. Acts chapter two, 13:47 verse 20 to 20 23. The first uh uh sermon that was preached in the Christian church. And by Paul. Acts chapter two, 20 to 20 by Peter. 20 to to 23. "Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man 14:05 attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourself know, this man delivered up by the predetermined plan and knowledge of God, you nailed to a cross 14:21 by the hands of godless men and put them to death." Again, in verse 36, he says, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made it this made him, which is both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." 14:38 You know, while Peter was speaking this uh or preaching this sermon or this gospel to people, uh it came to me that there was another message being preached in his heart. I mean, for example, when he said this, I mean, surely there is a suddenness by 14:54 the devil saying, "Look who is talking. What did you do few weeks ago? I mean, to this Jesus about whom you are preaching here." And uh I mean, yeah, Peter can say, I I am I I was part of the the innermost circle of the Christ for the Lord. He 15:10 took me to the very special occasions where only me and Peter and John only me and James and John were allowed. And then and he even warned me that I was going to deny. And I still failed. I still I still uh denied my Lord who 15:25 loved me so much. And then I mean then humanly speaking he could have said, "Oh, how can I get up and speak? Everybody else is loving her. This 10 others are more worthy than me." But but he was so assured by the fact that the Lord 15:40 sought after him. Specifically for Peter. And and he assured him that I want you in my team. And and I want you to share this word of the gospel which with with which you are forgiven. And I want you to share with others. So 15:56 So he had the boldness even though he knew that he is I mean he he did really really bad things in terms of his relationship to Christ. But he knew that he is now a forgiven uh forgiven sinner who is very precious to the Lord. And what led me to 16:15 think about this is and I other day I was reading a portion in Isaiah chapter 6. I shared this in the weekly group where we know the place where the Isaiah comes and gets a vision of the glory of God. And then when he sees that verse 5 16:31 he says, "Woe is me for I am ruined because I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts." I mean Isaiah was preaching even before this. He was preaching and I 16:47 mean to set right set things right in the people very very boldly and denouncing so many things. But then when he got a glimpse of the glory of God I mean what he could see is is not another message that now I can preach to people. 17:01 But he saw himself. He saw his heart which is so corrupt and which is so filthy. And he said, "I mean how can I come into the presence of God with such a heart?" And I was I was much encouraged by this. I mean I even now I I take that as a 17:18 sign to judge or discern if I am walking with the Lord in a true sense. I mean, I I I if I'm really in the presence of the Lord like this, I should be able to get a a a revelation of my own heart. And not this blissful attitude of yeah, 17:35 everything is going well. I'm getting I'm I'm understanding things. I'm able to share things. Not that way. I must be able to see Lord. I mean, just like Paul when he was writing in the I mean, I mean, episode of Paul, episode of 17:47 Romans. I mean, he cried out at the in Romans 7 towards the end, "O wretched man that I am, who shall set me free from this body of sin and death?" I mean, it is not because he was the worst sinner, but because he saw himself 18:00 in the light of God. And and that is what I want to see more and more. Lord, help me to see my heart before you as as you would want me to see it. You know, and then when he when Isaiah saw that, the Lord in verse 6 and 7, he said, 18:14 Yeah, behold in verse 7, "This has touched your lips and your iniquity has been taken away." And he was cleansed. And and he was set free from his sin. And then comes this call from God, "Whom shall I send?" Verse 8, "And who will go 18:30 before us?" Then Isaiah says, "Here I am, send me." The man who said two two verses ago or a few minutes ago, "I am I am ruined." I mean, how can I this unclean creature stand in the presence of God? And and he can say, "Lord, send me. I'm ready." 18:47 And and that's where I see the beauty of a truly coming into the presence of God and receiving his forgiveness. I mean, not because, you know, I I know things or not because I have a track record, but because the Lord has mercifully 19:01 forgiven me and drawn me closer to him. And that is a qualification for me to share something, not anything else. And and then I I mean, he has given instruction to I say so many things that you should see say this say this and I 19:16 am sure you know, when I say I speaks those denouncing words of judgment and and and many things of prophecy. He will always say, "Yeah, I know who I am." When the Lord showed me my real nature, I saw my heart. And Lord, so help me Lord to stay in 19:34 that place of humility and brokenness and to deliver this word that you have committed to me. And that is the heart I want to keep before the Lord and I pray that I will never forget that what the Lord spoke to me recently and I can 19:48 I can benefit from that in in making sure that like it says in in Psalm 50, I can order my conversation my my walk rightly before the Lord. Amen. Thank you, brother Shaji, for what you shared. Few weeks ago, 20:10 I went to the bank to take some money from the ATM. But the ATM malfunctioned somehow or other, I don't know. Yeah, if it was because of my inefficiency or anything. Anyway, I did not get the money and so I went inside the bank and 20:28 um withdrew some some money. And um after a couple weeks, I got the statement from the bank in that it was stated that I withdrew the money. And um it was debited to my account and so 20:47 I was um disturbed and angry. My heart was um very disturbed. And um I decided to go to the bank and uh bring it to uh their notice and they 21:07 have filed they have filed claim and I hope that I will get that money. Even though I don't get that money, I am now comforted through the through God's word. In Luke 21:26 Luke 21:34, we read that Luke 21:34 we read Be on guard so that your hearts will not be weighted down with the dissipation and the drunkenness and the worries of 21:44 life and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap. So actually I was weighted down with this incident but I got courage and I got comfort from the 22:01 words of the New Testament and Old Testament saints how they lived. One example is Habakkuk 3:17-19. Habakkuk 3:17-19 Though the fig tree should not blossom 22:21 or blossom and there be no fruit on the vines though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food. Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls yet I will exult in 22:41 the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. So he was really comforted by that and when I went to the bank I actually praised God. God you gave the money. It is your money. Even if I lose 23:00 it Um I don't want to uh I want to be disturbed by that. So, uh strengthen me, oh Lord. I prayed on the way. And the the Lord gave me uh these um verses for me. E- Even if I don't get the 23:18 problem fixed, I decided to confess my faith uh with these uh prophets. Then, in the case of Job, we can see that in Job 1:20-21, there Job lost everything. But, he 23:37 was not disturbed by that. Job 1: uh 20-21, we Job Yeah. Job 1: 20-21, there uh 23:54 uh then uh Job arose and tore his robe and uh shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshipped. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and uh naked I will I shall return there." Uh the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken 24:14 away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. So, even though Job lost everything, he at that time was uh worshipping God, and uh he was not at all disturbed by losing everything. The psalmist did not desire 24:31 or love money or material things. His only desire on earth was God Himself. And in heaven as well. That is uh Psalm 73:25. We all know that Psalm. Um Whom have I in heaven but Thee? On earth 24:49 I desire nothing but You. So, I don't want money lead me astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ that is in 2 Corinthians 11:3. The disciples left everything to follow 25:09 Jesus. Apostle Paul counted everything rubbish to know Jesus Christ that we read in Philippians 3:8. Philippians 3:8 Philippians 3:8 here from it. 25:31 Philippians 3:8 Yeah. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so 25:50 that I may gain Christ. So, Jesus Christ is our example. Christ-likeness is the goal our heavenly Father has set for us Romans 8:29. The Holy Spirit will help us 26:07 to reach that goal. Amen. Good afternoon, Sizzler family. Good to see everyone. I just want to share a little bit about something that God has been reminding me of recently and that is the Christian life, I believe, is meant to be lived by 26:23 the power of the Holy Spirit and not by simply following a list of do's and and don'ts. I share this because we often hear a lot of challenging things at church and my reaction after hearing these things is, "Okay, I got it. I'm going to go home 26:36 and and work on it." And it's I think it's an okay attitude to have, but a lot of it lies on me trying to to obey. And I was just been reminded recently that, again, the Christian life isn't simply about me just obeying a bunch of 26:48 things, but opening my heart and allowing the Holy Spirit to come in and using his power to live out this Christian life. So, if that's the way the Christian life is meant to be lived, I think a natural question is, well, how does one get the 27:04 Holy Spirit? And one of the requirements for the Holy Spirit, as we all know, is is faith. And I just want to share just two passages in the Bible today, which has helped me a lot in terms of having faith towards God, to believe that he will 27:17 give me his Holy Spirit when he asks. And I hope that this will help others to have faith in God as well. So, the first passage I want to share is from Titus. If you want to turn with me, Titus in chapter 3. Titus chapter 3 27:31 and verse I'll start from verse 3. Titus 3 and verse 3. And this is what Paul writes. And he talks about how we were how how we once were. And he says that we used to be disobedient, deceived, enslaved to lust and pleasures, hateful, malice, 27:47 full of malice and envy. Really bad situation. Now, imagine a situation. If we were all like that before, just full of evil and malice and hateful, full of envy, what do you think God would do when he comes and he sees a group of people like that? 28:03 Well, if I wrote the Bible, I would have said in verse 4, God came and he smote these people and he punished them. That's the way the the Bible according to one I might have been written. But thankfully, I didn't write write the 28:14 Bible. And look what God says in verse 4 when God appears. Says, but the kindness of God our savior and his love for mankind appeared. What did he do? He saved us. And he forgave us. And then in uh end of five end of verse five and verse six, 28:31 he gave us the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our savior. And so, it really encouraged me to think that these were a group of people that was completely disobedient to God. And yet, when God appeared through his 28:46 kindness, what did he do? He gave us his Holy Spirit richly. And it just encouraged me to think that well, if God is willing to give his Holy Spirit richly to these people when they're disobedient, then how much more so now that I'm his son, now that I 28:59 actually want to follow him. How much more would he be willing to give his Holy Spirit and to us? And I really like that word richly. It's not just little drops here and there, but it's rich. In other words, if I uh have a cup, God 29:13 will fill that cup with overflowing. If I pull out a pail, God will fill up that pail with overflowing. If I give him a swimming pool, he'll fill up the swimming pool to overflowing. So, the limitation is not so much with God, but 29:23 it's with me in terms of my faith. And that word richly has really encouraged me a lot to believe that God is not stingy about giving his Holy Spirit to me when asked. He'll give it to me richly, as much as I need to overflowing. So, that's one passage that 29:35 has encouraged me a lot in terms of faith in God. The second passage I just want to share quickly is from Luke chapter 11. And this is a story we've uh which actually just heard recently uh from brother Sunil. And this is Luke chapter 29:48 11, verse 11. Luke chapter 11, verse 11. Uh when I was thinking about asking God to give me his Holy Spirit, one thing that I did was I I read a lot of articles and I read some passages in books. And while that was helpful, at 30:02 the end of the day I realized I'm just a really simple guy. I have a very simple mind when it comes to things. And this passage in Luke really helped me to simplify all the things that I read. And the example that Jesus put here in terms 30:13 of asking for the Holy Spirit, the example he gave was just like a child asking a father for for some food, for a for a fish or for an egg. And I think about my my young kids when they come and ask Daddy for food, Daddy doesn't 30:27 say, "Excuse me, please fill out some paperwork, go talk to Mommy and come back to me in 2 hours." No, I just say, "You want food? I'll I'll give it to you. Whatever you want, just I'll give it to you as long as you're hungry. I'll 30:35 give it to you." And it's just a very very simple thing. And it's that simplicity which has really uh blessed me a lot that whenever I ask God, I can just believe it. This is as simple as a child asking a parent for a piece of 30:49 bread. It doesn't get much simpler than that. That's all Jesus used to describe what it means to ask God for the Holy Spirit. And so those are just two things that has encouraged me a lot that one when I ask God for the Holy Spirit, 31:01 he'll give it to me abundantly. And then secondly, it's as simple as trusting a father as a child asking for for bread. Uh thank you for letting me share. Today, I would like to take everyone on a 5-minute 31:17 virtual train ride. And we have seats for everybody. So in my hand here, I have a wonderful instrument. It's called a harmonica. And I've been having a lot of fun with 31:35 it lately. And I would like to play you the first song I learned to play. I think you're all too serious. And that's making me nervous. 31:54 Can Can you please turn to someone next to you and smile? And if you're by yourself, can you smile as well? It will make sense. Okay, I think you're ready. All aboard! 32:21 Uh you don't like that, huh? Well, I did warn you it's my first song that I learned to play. So I want to share three things that I need to play this wonderful instrument. Number one 32:41 is I need I need my lips. I put them like this. Number two I need my No, no, no. Oh, my tongue. Yes. 33:01 It helps to align the lips and I can also make vibrato like this. And number three Well, I can't show it to you. But you you'll understand. Wind. 33:28 Now, how can I apply these three things in my Christian life? Well, number one, the lips. That's my outward life. It's the words I use, how I treat other people, how I dress. Number two, the tongue. That's inward 33:46 life. You can't see my tongue right now, can you? No. Those are my thoughts, my attitudes, my motives, my desires. And number three, the wind. That's God's spirit. The Holy Spirit who lives in my heart. 34:03 Now, I've recorded many, many songs. Well, really five if you include the choo-choo song. You see, I've tried to play and record a song, but I would mess up. 34:22 And then I'll have to stop and re-record. And sometimes a 3-minute song could take 3 hours. But you know what's great? Over time, I improve and I get better at it. And that's exactly how I want to live my Christian life. 34:42 I will still fall, but I have Jesus there to get me back up and to let me try again. And my goal is to be made Christ-like. I want to read 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 26 and 27. So, I do not run 34:59 aimlessly and I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. About 10 years ago, a train 35:17 was coming across my life's path. And on this train was this Indian brother. Oh, by the way, I think Indians really love to ride their trains. I've seen a video and they really packed it well. 35:36 And there was no room, so a bunch of them actually got on the top of the train and rode like that for hours. Anyways, um so this Indian brother, he was brother Zach and he was preaching about Jesus. And to get on the train, 35:54 the ticket was to surrender my life. And I've I've been on this train ever since and it's been the best ride ever. I have I hope I have inspired someone to maybe pick up a musical instrument and learn. 36:12 But better better yet is to get on this train that leads to Jesus, if you have not done so. And the ticket is surrender your life. But you if you are already on this train, then let us make melodies with 36:30 our hearts to the Lord. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 19 says, speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord. And Holy Spirit is there to help us. 36:49 God bless you. I hope you enjoy the train ride. Thank you, and Thank you, Andrei, and thank you, family. Thank you, brothers, for sharing. It's great to be with you all. I want to share a few things that are on my heart. 37:03 Um first, I want to point out to a verse that has been spoken many times from from at our church and from our pulpit, and that is in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3. It's a verse that I've heard many times while I was there at NCC. It basically 37:18 talks about two things, simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. And there are many things that that are that are against to uh that are uh in competition to steal that very, you know, two things from us. Uh in relation to that, I want you to 37:35 turn to Old Testament to the book of Nehemiah. And as I was um reading this book lately, and I want to point out few things from this book where I was able to see some beautiful things from from the life of Nehemiah that are 37:50 uh the his devotion to the Lord, which which was simple and pure, both. First, let's turn to Nehemiah chapter 1 verse verse verses verse 11. So, what was God to Nehemiah? That That's the first point that I want to share. 38:06 Uh what does God mean to Nehemiah? Uh if you read the book, you would realize that God was a great God to Nehemiah. He was not some small God to Nehemiah. He was great God. And if you know about Nehemiah, he was working in he was working in the palace 38:24 of one of the greatest kings of the world at that time, this I believe Persian or Medes kingdom. Right after Babylonian. So, he was at the he was at the top spot and you know, serving the the the most important if person in the 38:37 world, Artaxerxes at that time. And he was the cupbearer, he would give him wine and all that stuff. But when he's addressing about this king in his prayers to the Lord, which there are many prayers in this book, in chapter 1 verse 11, he calls 38:52 the king a man. And it is it is very important to note that because he's he's addressing the most important person in his life on earth as a man. And because his God was way bigger than this person. And that's very important because later 39:10 in in the in the book, you would see many other great people come to face with Nehemiah and they don't even stand tall in front of God. They they just fall fall flat. So, one thing that I that I was blessed to see in this book 39:23 was that God was God was a great God in his life. There is another verse that that I think points this out in Nehemiah chapter 4 verses 14, if you see that. These are the words Nehemiah is saying speaking to the people when they were 39:39 really frightened. And in Nehemiah chapter 4 verse verses 14 in the middle it says, "Do not be afraid of them, all these other people who are trying to threaten. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome." You know, when the Lord is when we come 39:55 to interact with our Lord as a great and awesome God, um then we when we decide to fear him, that you will see that in even in Nehemiah chapter 5 verses 15, you can read later, that Nehemiah says that I fear this God this great God. And 40:13 when you when we do that, we fear nothing else. We probably heard another words from Isaiah that if you fear God, you fear nothing else. That is exactly where Nehemiah was. He had a great God. He was He feared this God and he would fear 40:27 nothing else. And secondly, every every work of this God was was And before that, I think the people of this God. Now, the book starts with Nehemiah the completely breaking down in chapter chapter 1 verse 4. He hears about the 40:43 state of the people in Jerusalem and he breaks down and he prays. Why? Because he's seeing the people of God as great people. He His heart went to him. And I was encouraged to see that when I see the God as a great God, I see God's people 40:59 as great because they're his children. And that's exactly how he interacted. He sacrificed his work for maybe 12, 13 years. He left his work though probably the best job he had and he left and went to went to take care of these people. 41:14 And and also he calls God's work as great. You know, how many how many of us think God's work is great is is a is a question but in Nehemiah chapter 6, you know, there the people are trying to call him to have a discussion with him 41:27 and all that stuff and he he answers them in Nehemiah chapter 6 verse 3 that I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down. Nehemiah had a great God. Nehemiah um saw God's people as great people and also Nehemiah saw God's work as great. I 41:41 mean, I was really encouraged that maybe be able to see that uh in the same way Nehemiah saw. And the second topic that comes into this book is there's a If you If you search this book, the word fear, frighten, uh intimidation comes a lot in that 41:56 least the first six first six chapters. Nehemiah wasn't shaken because he already had a God that he feared. I think that's a great encouragement to me that if I fear God, if we fear God, nothing else should fear us. I mean, 42:09 cause us fear either our bank balance going down as brother Thomas shared or health, work, anything, accidents. There's no fear that should come and take take that place because we already fear God. And and thirdly, I want to point out 42:24 that Nehemiah, you know, fought this fear with prayers. Nehemiah had a very intimate relationship with the Lord, simple simple and pure. He prayed so many prayers. I don't have time to show that, but one of his best prayers is, you know, is written in 42:39 Nehemiah chapter 12 verse verse 4. It's a very short prayer. He prayed before answering a question. That's that's that's an amazing prayer life. Whereas as brother Sunil was pointing out, to go into the Lord every for every small thing, every big thing 42:54 as many times as we you want. God is not going to refuse us and push us away and he There's so many prayers recorded in this. If you have time, please go through it. They're absolutely amazing. And finally, I want to share with that a 43:07 quick point and then I'm going to end at chapter 5 verses verses 16. He says, uh I I also applied myself to the work of the wall. Nehemiah didn't think too much about himself. He being in a governor, he applied himself to work. He was He I 43:22 I feel like he was a new covenant person. He was He was an example. He had an intimate prayer life and relationship with the Lord. He saw Lord to be some, you know, absolutely great. And a lot of fear and intimidation came his way, but 43:36 that didn't shake him because his he already feared God. I trust that the Lord will help us to pick something from this great man's life and to that will encourage our own, you know, devotion to our Lord. Yeah, thank you.
