3:50 Let's sing a first song. Praise. Praise to the Lord. Let's all clap and sing. Praise. [music] 4:16 [singing] Praise to the Lord. Praise. [music] Praise to the [singing] Lord. For he is good [music and singing] and merciful. 4:35 His love is great. He's so wonderful, [music] my Lord. Let's sing it again from the door. Praise, [music] praise to the [singing] Lord. Praise, [music] praise to [singing] the Lord. 5:01 For he is good [music and singing] and merciful. His love is great. He's so wonderful. My Lord, [music] in the battles, [singing] Lord, you are my peace. [music] When I'm broken, [singing] 5:23 Lorden, you are my strength. [singing] You're my [music] strength. You're my love. You're my life. You're my joy and my song in [singing] the night. 5:39 How I marvel at your [music] mercy. And I say, [music] "Praise, [singing] praise to the Lord." [music] Praise [singing] 6:00 praise to the Lord. [music] For he [singing] is good and merciful. [music] His love is [singing] great. He's so wonderful, my Lord. For you are good. 6:18 For you are [singing] good and merciful. Your love is [music and singing] great. You're so wonderful, my Lord. Please be seated, dear brothers and sisters. The victory is mine when the battle is 6:40 the Lord's. [singing] Hosana. Hosana. [music] No enemy can stand when his praise goes forth. [singing] Hosana. Hosana. The victory [music] is mine when the battle is the Lord's. Hosana. [singing] Hosana. No enemy can stand when his praise goes 6:56 forth. Hosana. [singing] Hosana. When fear and doubt surround you all about and the [music] enemy's camp is near, say that Jesus [singing] in me is greater than he who lives in the [music] world. The victory is mild when the battle is 7:13 the Lord's. Hosana, [music and singing] hosana. No enemy can stand when his praise goes forth. Hosana. Hosana. Hosana. He has won [singing and music] the victory. Hosana over all our enemies. [singing and music] 7:33 Hosana we lift our hands in [singing and music] praise. Hosana. We will conquer in his name. [singing and music] Victory is mine when the battle is the Lord's. Hosana. [music and singing] Hosana. No enemy can stand when his 7:52 praise goes forth. Hosana. [singing] Hosana. >> [music] >> The victory is mine when the battle is the Lord's. Hosana [singing] hosana. No enemy can stand when [music] his praise goes forth. [singing] Hosana. Hosana. Hosana. Hosana. [music] 8:08 Hosana. Hosana. [music] >> [music] 8:35 >> Glory, [music and singing] honor, power [music and singing] belong to you Lord. Blessing graces, [music and singing] wisdom and strength are yours. We cry [singing and music] 8:55 holy Lord. You [music] are holy. Only [music and singing] you will we praise and adore. [music and singing] We cry worthy 9:15 [singing] Lord. [music] You are worthy [music] forever [singing] and ever. Forever and ever [music] more. Let's play it again from the top. [music] 9:37 Glory, [music] honor, power [singing] belong to you Lord. Blessing, [music] [singing] praisees, wisdom and strength [singing and music] are yours. 9:54 We cry holy [singing] Lord. You are [music] holy. Only [singing] you will we praise and adore [music] [singing] 10:13 we cry worthy Lord. [music] [singing] You are worthy [music] forever [singing] and ever. Forever and ever. [music] Forever and ever. Forever [singing and music] and ever. 10:34 Forever and ever more. [singing and music] The next song, Wonderful, Merciful Savior. [music] 11:01 Wonderful, [singing and music] merciful savior, precious [music and singing] redeemer and friend. Who would [singing] have thought that a lamb could rescue [music] the [singing] 11:18 souls of men? Oh, you rescue [music] the souls [singing] of men. [music] Counselor, [singing] comforter, keeper, spirit [music and singing] we long to 11:36 embrace. You [music and singing] offer hope when our hearts have hopelessly [music and singing] lost the way. Oh, we hopelessly lost the way. [music] 11:54 You are the one that we [singing] praise. You are [music] the one we adore. You [singing and music] give the healing and grace our hearts [music and singing] always hunger for. 12:13 Oh our hearts [music] always hunger for. Almighty [singing and music] infinite father, faithfully [singing] loving your own. 12:31 Here in our weakness, [music and singing] you find us falling before your throne. [music] Oh, [singing] you're falling before your throne. You [singing] are the one that we [music] praise. 12:51 You are [singing] the one we adore. [music] You [singing] give the healing and grace our hearts always [music and singing] hunger for. Oh, our hearts always hunger for. Let's 13:09 sing the chorus again. Only voices. You are [singing] the one that we praise. You are the [singing] one we adore. You give the healing and grace our hearts always [singing] 13:26 hunger for. Oh, our hearts always [singing] hunger for >> [music] 13:59 >> Father, [music and singing] the heavens and earth that you make are shouting [singing and music] your glory and power, but nothing [music and singing] compares with the love of your son who came to reveal [singing and music] who you 14:17 He shown in [singing] darkness the light of your glory to make [music] us a [singing] part of your wonderful story. Jesus [music and singing] alone is the way that your children can come. Jesus deserves [music and singing] to be 14:38 seen. And Jesus deserves to be heard. Jesus [music and singing] deserves to be magnified and lifted up all over the earth. 14:55 Father, if this has to be [music] and let it begin [singing] in me that your will be done in this [music and singing] younger son. May Jesus be seen in me. 15:13 May Jesus [music and singing] be seen in me. >> Father, you [singing] spoke [music] to the darkness and void and filled it with [singing] all that was [music] good. And Jesus lived down on this earth 15:32 [music] like I do, but did [singing] everything as he should. [music] Help me to live [singing] by the word of your power. [music] Let me be [singing] under your glorious shower. Jesus, [music] the hope of your 15:51 glory [singing] in all that I do. [music] Jesus deserves to be seen. And Jesus deserves [music and singing] to be heard. Jesus deserves to [music and singing] be 16:09 magnified and lifted up all over the earth. Father, [singing] if this has to be [music] and let it begin [singing] in me [music] that your will be done in 16:26 this younger son. May [music] Jesus receive in me. May Jesus be [singing and music] seen in me. Father, [singing and music] when evil 16:43 and pride touch my heart, you can bring things [singing and music] to a head. Worst thing that happened, [music and singing] you change to the past. When Jesus was raised from [singing] the dead, [music] 17:00 he came for sinners. Of who? I'm the chiefest. Show forth the [singing] power of your grace [music] in my weakness. Jesus, the cross where you humble [singing] yourself. I am brave. [music] Jesus deserves to be seen. [music] 17:23 Jesus deserves to be heard. [singing] Jesus [music] deserves to be magnified and lifted [singing and music] up all over the earth. Father, [music and singing] this has to be. 17:41 And let it begin in me. Let your will be done [music and singing] in this younger son. And [music] may Jesus be seen in me. May Jesus be seen [singing] in [music] me. 17:59 May Jesus be seen in [singing and music] me. May Jesus be seen in me. [music] It's in the next song. Wonderful, Magnificent God. >> [music] 18:29 >> At your [music] feet [singing] I bow. There is none like [singing and music] you. For all [singing] that I have found. All I [singing] want [music] is you. 18:54 For all the wonders [singing and music] you do and all that you are. [singing and music] What can I bring to you? I offer my heart [singing] wonderful [music] 19:14 magnificent God. I'm humbled [singing and music] by the life you gave. Beautiful [singing and music] redeemer, you are worthy [music and singing] of thy 19:33 highest praise. At your [music] feet I bow. There is [singing and music] none like you. All that I have found. 19:54 [music] All I [singing] want is you. [music] For all [singing] the wonders you do, all [music] that you are. What can I [singing] bring [music] to 20:14 you? I offer my heart. [music] Wonderful, [singing] magnificent God. [music] I'm humbled by the [singing] life you give. Beautiful [singing and music] redeemer, you are 20:39 worthy [singing] of my highest praise. [music] What can we give to you, oh [singing and music] God, for everything you have given to us? What can we give to [music and singing] 20:56 you, oh God, for everything you have given to us? [music] We offer our lives. We offer our [singing] lives to you, oh God, for everything [music] you have given to us. We offer our lives. We offer our lives to [music and singing] 21:14 you, oh God, for everything you have given to us. Wonderful, [singing] magnificent [music] God. I'm humbled [singing] by the life you gave. [music] Beautiful [singing] 21:35 redeemer. You are [music] worthy [singing] of my highest praise. [music] Wonderful. [singing] You are wonderful. Wonderful God. [music] >> Wonderful. 21:54 You are wonderful. >> Magnificent God. [singing] >> Wonderful. [music] You are wonderful. [singing and music] >> Wonderful. Magnificent God. Let's all stand up and sing the last 22:13 song, dear brothers and sisters. [clears throat] I worship [singing] you through all my [music] days. I'll 22:29 raise [singing] my hands. I'll sing your praise. I'll [music] bless [singing] your name and lift it high. With [music] heart and soul [singing] and voice I cry, 22:49 Jesus [singing] [music] I worship you. >> I Jesus [singing] I [music] worship you >> I >> Jesus [singing] I [music] 23:04 worship you my God [chant] and my king. Let's sing that again from the top. [music] I [singing] worship you through all my days. [music] 23:22 I'll raise my hands. [singing] I'll sing your praise. Bless your [singing] name and lift [music] it high. With heart [singing] and soul and voice I cry, 23:41 Jesus [music] [singing] I worship you. I >> Jesus [singing] I [music] worship you. >> Jesus I [music] worship you [singing] my God [chant] 24:00 and my king. Just the voices chorus. >> Jesus [singing] I worship you. [singing] >> Jesus I >> Jesus I worship you. [singing] >> I Jesus [music] I worship [singing] 24:22 you my God and my king. Brothers and sisters, [clears throat] 25:07 let's bring our complete attention. stand silently in the presence of God. Let's have a longing for him to move in our midst, 25:32 to touch, lift up. Jesus deserves to be seen. Jesus deserves to be heard, deserves to be magnified all over the world. Let's bow down in our spirits. Acknowledge 25:50 that he alone is worthy of praise and glory and honor and worship. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Let's rejoice in his presence. says about Jesus in Mark chapter 37. 26:36 They were utterly astonished. They were saying, "He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." That's who he is. He has done all things well in our midst. He's opened blind eyes to the glory of his gospel. 26:53 He's opened the deaf ears. Some of us who have sat for many years without hearing anything, suddenly the spirit of God pierces our hearts and the truth of his word comes alive and we hear his voice 27:11 speaking comfort and conviction into our hearts, transforming us. He makes the mute to speak. Those who sat silently have the boldness to testify of the goodness and glory of God. Yeah. He raises up the sick. 27:30 He strengthens weak hands and legs. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. We want to praise him. We want to glorify him. We want to acknowledge his goodness. He has done all things well. Psalm 126. 27:56 When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, when the Lord brought us and gave us a home in the church, it was too good to be true. We were like those who dream. Our mouth was filled with laughter, with joyful shouting. 28:13 They said even among the nations that the Lord has done great things for them. Yes, the Lord has done great things for us and we are glad. Brothers and sisters, let's acknowledge the greatness and the goodness of our 28:30 God, his great power and might and all that he's done for us. And it says, "Refresh us even now as the streams in the desert. Those who sw in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. And he who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bad bag of seed shall 28:49 indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheav with him." Brothers and sisters, let's lift up our voices and give thanks and praise to our faithful God for all he's done, for all he's doing, for all he's able to do, for 29:02 all he will do. Lord, we thank you and praise you. Oh Lord, you've done great and mighty things. Lord, truly, we are glad. Lord, you restored us. You gave us a home in the church. You opened our eyes. You gave us words to speak, Lord, 29:16 and a heart full of rejoicing, Lord. Your spirit flows like mighty rivers, Lord, in our midst. We praise you. We praise you. And even today, Lord, we know that you will refresh us. And we thank you, Lord. We lift you up. We give 29:29 you glory. There is no one like you. You're the mighty king. You deserve to be seen and heard and magnified, Lord, all over the earth. Even now, we want to praise you and lift you up, Lord. Acknowledge you're the King of Kings, 29:41 the Lord of Lords. We thank you, Lord. You had a shepherd's heart, Lord, for us. You came to seek and save the lost, Lord. You came for me. We thank you, Jesus. We thank you. We praise you. Lord, who is like unto you in all heaven 29:56 and earth? There's no one like you, Lord. You're the name above all names. We praise you. We praise you and thank you. Your heart is tender Lord towards us even today Lord. You gladly wish to give us the kingdom. Give us hungry 30:09 hearts Lord to please you as we come to you in faith. We thank you. We praise you. We commit ourselves into your hands. We pray in your mighty name Jesus. Amen. Brothers and sisters, you can be seated. Let's 30:33 repeat our memory verses. Let's try and commit them to to our memories. This last week we had a command. Uh you can repeat after me. Hebrews 12 and verse 5. Do not regard lightly 30:55 the discipline of the Lord. Amen. And uh this week we have this wonderful promise from 1 John 3:1. You can repeat 1 John 31:13 3:1. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us. that we would be called children of God. Let's say that once more. 31:32 One John 3:1. See how great a love the father has bestowed on us that we would be called children of God. Brothers and sisters, let's sit with the 31:54 joyful anticipation of sitting at the banqueting table with a banner of love over us. Father is far more eager to feed us than we are to be fed. Let's trust him. We want to hear the word of the Lord from brother Danish. It's our privilege to do that. 32:13 Let's have ears to hear. Brother Danish, please come and share what's on your heart. Good morning dear brothers and sisters. 32:33 So we teach in this church the Sunday is not a special day of Monday and Tuesday and every day is the same but the honest testimony of my heart is I'm not yet there. So for me I still feel the Sunday is very special as we come together. 32:52 There is a special joy, there's a comfort, there is a hope and there is there are words of faith. So we trust that the Lord will speak to us even this morning. And while brother Suresh was praying he was mentioning this verse 33:09 from Psalm 126. Psalm 126:E5 it says those who sow in tears shall 33:27 reap with joyful shouting. It's a promise. Those who sew in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. Now that that is not what I wanted to share this morning, but I was reminded of uh David Wilkerson. If you heard about 33:45 him, he's written a book, The Cross and the Switchblade. Switchblade. And he was a a pastor in a village church. and uh he felt a burden to come to New York City to help the drug addicts 34:02 and he was a village guy and he didn't know what to do where to go and uh he was driving if I remember correct he was driving the car and there was other brother with him and uh he had a burden his heart was full of burden 34:17 for the young people and uh he asked uh his friend to take his Bible and uh read a verse and this is the verse his friend read that day morning maybe that day those who sew in tears shall reap with joyful shouting 34:37 maybe some of us it's a season of tears maybe your prayers are not answered or maybe you're going through a struggle and but don't waste your tears and sew in tears And if you sow in faith, if you sow in tears, the day will 34:57 come you're going to reap with joy, brothers and sisters. Then I want to move on to what I would like to share this morning. So there's a verse in second Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter 3:12. 35:19 Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things even though you already know them. The burden in Peter's heart was to remind them of certain things, not to teach something new, but to remind them 35:37 of uh some things. So that is what I want to do this morning some time. three things which I wanted to remind you and uh these are not three tips which you can take and then you practice it 35:54 you become a little more better. Uh that's not my intention. This is essentially what we heard from brother last Sunday about the the crucified path the the way of the cross and uh hating our self life and taking 36:13 up the cross and following the lord. So one thing which we need to flee from and two things which we need to pursue. one thing for us to flee from and two things for us to pursue that's what 36:32 which I want to remind you the first thing we need to flee from you know if this is a church where allows worldliness allows sin takes sin 36:49 lightly we don't need this verse because there is uh freedom there is No freedom in the sense there is a wrong freedom not the right freedom which set us free from sins and self and the power of the devil but a wrong freedom a wrong 37:06 comfort you don't need this verse but for us who take the the words of life the the preaching about sin who understand the right doctrine I believe we need this verse 37:22 I remember once uh I came to know that uh there is a believers meeting happening in the office my office where I used to work and uh I've been there for a few years and then see I was in a church like something like a Catholic 37:37 church and came to this church and I never been to [clears throat] a a Protestant church where they preach about being born again. [clears throat] So I I walked uh on the way and I was asking the Lord, Lord, give me a word 37:54 because I'm going to be in that meeting. I don't know how because I never interacted with many believers outside the church. So as I walked, I remember very uh vividly the words which came to my heart was do not judge. I was uh this is not the word which I 38:13 was expecting but I took it to my heart and I went inside and I realized why the Lord gave me that word of warning not to judge by what we see you know we want to turn to that verse 38:29 in John chapter 7 verse 4. John chapter 7 verse 24. 38:49 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. [snorts] Another verse from Matthew chap 7:3. 39:08 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold, the log is in your own eye, 39:27 you hypocrite. First take the log out of your your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. So you know the food that we eat sometimes some food it will get digested fast but 39:47 some food it will take some time to get digested and I believe the truth that we hear in the church is like that some of the truth which we hear it may take some time to become true in our life 40:04 when I'm in that process I see many truths which is not a true in my life but I am pursuing that path now the food which is not digested in the stomach you know what will happen we will omit it'll 40:23 come out so I think that's a picture I see of judging others it's not the older ones even teens younger children, all of you can fall into this judging others. 40:43 It's not a new truth, brothers and sisters. You know, when we have baptism, we listen to the testimony of uh brothers and sisters and the boys and girls who come forward and I remember once uh recently I think couple of uh badges before I was 41:02 listening to a young girl. I asked a testimony uh about just wanted to make sure that he has a she has a genuine experience of being born again. And she told with much sorrow, "Uncle, I I I knew that I was 41:18 saved when I was in 10th standard. But then I started backsliding." So then I asked how it happened. She said, "Uncle, I started judging my mother and she got light and she started 41:37 repenting of it." There are two sides to it. One side I see I rejoice because a young girl at a very young age she get light that judging others is sin. And then other side I see this danger we can all fall into. And I didn't want her to explain to me 41:56 that if you started judging others you will backslide in your heart because I myself has faced that. You know we as elders we come to know many truths about other brothers and sisters in the church and I really understand that I need to 42:15 guard my heart that I will never have any bitter or wrong attitude about the brothers and sisters in the church. [snorts] So and when she said I said you don't need to explain too much I understand it. We judge. We look down. 42:34 There's a beautiful verse in Job 36. You want to turn there. Jobs chapter 36 verse 5. Behold, God is mighty 43:03 but does not despise any. God never look down on any human being. No matter how he looks, how he appears, he never looks down on human being. I think if I remember correct it's uh DL 43:23 Modi is someone who said even if I see a drunkard I will look at him with love or compassion because he is also created in the image of God. So let's seek brothers and sisters not to have take up our cross in this 43:42 area of judging others. Don't misunderstand me. If you you are in the church, you have some responsibility. We need to discern. If you're parents, you need to discern your children. And uh if you see something wrong in the 43:58 church, something which is dishonoring the lord, some disturbance in the meeting, you can come and speak to elders. That's not judging. So think this is of like this is like your family. So and if you don't have the freedom to 44:15 come and tell either an elder or facilitator here, I don't think brothers and sisters you truly belong to this place. So if you see this home, you'll be responsible. You'll have a sense of responsibility. 44:32 So brothers and sisters who are shepherds who have compassion, you know, we need to have compassion on our brothers and sisters, the younger one who are growing up in the church. There is a verse in Isaiah 49:10. All 44:49 those who minister to the teens, young people, children, remember this verse. Isaiah 49:10. The last part of that verse says, "He 45:09 who has compassion on them will lead them and will guide them to the springs of water." They want to see the children, the boys and girls, other young people guided to the springs of the water. 45:29 Don't have a hard heart, a judgmental heart but have compassion on them. And you know we often forget brothers and sisters and you know couple of uh weeks back brother Suresh was mentioning about this 45:46 book of intercession by Ree Holes. I think if I I would have read that book many years back but there is one incident in that book which never it's always I keep remembering now and then. So once uh there was a time where God 46:04 gave a burden to this man Ree Holes to take care of the homeless, the tramps and he used to pick them from the street and give them a home and once he picked up a family from the street and uh he gave them a place, 46:23 he g gave them a home and uh he gave a job to that man, the head the husband of that house and a little later uh Ree Holes came to seek help from this man because there was another tram homeless 46:42 because this house which he gave him for first was a big house he wanted to ask his help can you please accommodate this homeless person into your house because you have lot of place there he said no my house is not for the trams 47:01 how conveniently he forgot his past. So this is uh the human nature brothers and sisters. We easily forget. We forget how we were in our young age. We easily forget how we were when we came to the first church first time to 47:19 the church. I don't want to forget. I want to remember. And that leads me to the second point which I want you to pursue. And one thing for you to forsake, one thing for you to flee from and then pursue the attitude of gratitude. 47:38 That is what this man which I was talking about this who lost it. Pursue the attitude of gratitude. Psalm 104. Psalm 104. It says, "Enter his gates with 48:08 thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name." I'd like to read again. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. 48:26 Give thanks to him. Bless his name. It reminds us how can we walk into the house of the Lord with a heart full of gratitude. A spirit of thanks and praise. Does that mean till the gate we can come grumbling 48:45 throughout the week we can remain in the place of grumbling and complaining and unthankful and then we come to church when we sing we say thanks nothing will change brothers and sisters often we forget like you know when Adam 49:03 sinned he was accusing God you don't need to turn there he said this woman whom you gave So he said a right thing, a marvelous thing but with a completely wrong spirit. When I look at my wife, this is the 49:23 woman which you gave. This is the church which you gave. This is the children which you gave. This is the brothers and sisters whom I should work which you gave. It should bring a holy reverence and 49:39 fear and gratitude in our heart. Are we losing it? Brothers and sisters, it's easy to remain thankful when we come first initially to the church. But you know I remember when I came to the 49:56 church I heard brothers were mentioning they used to pray those who seek for godly life please bring them to CFC. I heard that and I was thrilled. I never even heard there is such a thing called godly life and I was pursuing not 50:15 godly life. I wanted to make money but still the Lord brought me to this church. So I want to be thankful to the last day of my life that God has not done according to what we deserve. 50:34 He has done according to his mercy, his kindness, the riches of his grace. Now Israel, you know the story of Israelites when when they see a miracle they are thankful for a second, for a minutes, for a few days perhaps, but 50:51 then they will again go back to their grumbling and complaining. There is this word Psalm 106:25. You want to turn there? Psalm 106:25. But they grumbled in their tents 51:16 and they did not listen to the voice of the Lord. If there is grumbling in your tent, in your heart, you won't be able to listen what the Lord is saying to you. Be thankful. Give up all the complaining, brothers and sisters. Be 51:32 thankful in whatever situations God has placed you. Maybe as we heard in the beginning, it may be a season of tears for you. But don't grumble, don't complain, don't blame each other. Remove the pointing finger as you heard multiple times in 51:49 the church and be thankful. So the second thing for us to pursue, first thing for us to pursue gratitude. Forsake the attitude of judging others. run away from it. 52:07 Pursue gratitude. And the third thing or the second thing which we want to pursue, pursue brokenness. Pursue brokenness. Not gifts, not talents, but brokenness. 52:26 You know, some of us have a wrong picture when we think about brokenness. you know speaking in some little cracking voice or few tears from her eyes. None of these you know the perfect picture of 52:44 brokenness for me in the Bible is Jacob. Couple of years back, I think it was a youth coordinators. They made us some of us to stand in front and they asked us to remember from Bible one character which relates to you most 53:04 and any Gus can you say which character from the Bible got most votes that day? Yeah, please speak loud. I can't hear you. Peter. Yeah, that was right. Almost 53:21 everyone said Peter. I also said Peter, you know, but but I went back and I thought about it. But I didn't get a picture that I can relate to Peter. You know what? I found a m match for 53:38 Jacob. Yeah. My life pictured about the life of Jacob. So he was pursuing the things of earth. You know he started his life holding pulling his brother's heel. 53:57 A perfect picture of mankind. And there is another picture here in Hebrews 11:21. Brother Ian used to say he wanted to end his life like this. I believe God answered the desire of his heart. 54:15 Hebrews 11:21. By faith, Jacob as he was dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph 54:34 and worshiped leaning on the top of his staff. By faith, Jacob as he was dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped leaning on the staff. 54:52 So this man who was a suppler, who was a deceiver, who always pursued the things of the earth and he became a worshipper. Brothers and sisters, the the earnest 55:11 desire in my heart is not to do something great at this point. I'm very clear. I have come to that rest. But I want to be a worshipper. I want to complete the plan which God have has for 55:28 my life that all other desires are all way behind in the queue. I want to be a worshipper first. I want to turn to Psalms 51. Psalm 51:10. 56:00 This is the desire which David had in his heart. Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence 56:19 and do not take away your holy spirit from me. His desire is not he didn't say that Lord don't take away this kingdom from me. He didn't say that Lord don't take away the throne or this crown from me but he said don't take away the Holy Spirit 56:38 from me do not cast me away from your presence and then he said you do not delight in sacrifice otherwise I would give it and you're not pleased with burnt offering but the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit 56:57 a broken and contrite heart of God you will not despise. Brothers and sisters, anyone sitting here with a broken heart, maybe brokenness from the failure or sickness or a miserable past 57:16 or fear of the future like Jacob, that's what pursued him to seek the Lord. He was afraid of his brother. But it says God won't reject a broken 57:33 and contrite spirit. One more verse from Isaiah chapter 66 66. You know these pillars there are many pillars on e either side of this 57:51 building and uh inside that pillar there are iron roads this is called RCC RCC rainforced concrete and uh those roads are hidden you won't see it but it is those roads if you take away 58:10 then the structure won't hand. Do you know how to be like that in the church? Not by your gifts, not by your abilities, but if you have the spirit of a humble contrite spirit, 58:27 the Lord will be here because of you. This verse says in Isaiah chapter 66:2, the second part of I'll read the full verse from Isaiah chapter 66. My hand made all these things. Think about all the things which you see 58:49 in this earth. And all these things came into being, declares the Lord. But to this one, I will look to this one. Not to this church, but to this one, to him who is humble and contrite in spirit 59:06 and who trembles at my word. Brothers and sisters, pursue this attitude. It is precious in the Lord's sight. I also want to, you know, show you the change which happened in Jacob's life. Otherwise we'll have a wrong 59:25 understanding of brokenness. Genesis chapter 32 verse 3. You know when he know that he's going to face 59:44 the fear of his life his brother he did some interesting thing. Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 1:00:03 And he commanded to them, saying, "Thus you shall say to my lord, thus says your servant Jacob, thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and I stayed until now. I have oxmen and donkeys and flocks and 1:00:20 males and female servants I have sent to tell my lord. So it's a bribe. It's not a bad thing. So he's sending a bribe because he's afraid of facing him. 1:00:39 And then the wonderful things happened. He wrestle with God. And the man who pulled his brother's heel, the Lord breaks his thigh and God knows where to touch. 1:00:56 Now he is a different man after pineal. Look at Genesis 33. Then Jacob first verse it say Jacob lifted his eyes and looked behold Esau 1:01:14 was coming and 500 men with them. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids and who put the maids and the children in front. Leah and her children next and Rachel and Joseph last. Verse three. 1:01:32 But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. So he's no more standing behind. He's no more standing sending bribe. He's ahead of all of them. He's facing the 1:01:51 challenge. I see the picture when Jesus they came to arrest the Lord. He went in front. He said, "Whom are you seeking for?" I am Jesus. I want to end with this promise in Matthew 3:11, sorry 3:12. 1:02:14 His voying fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clear thoroughly clear his threshing floor, and he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. the promise of the Holy Spirit. It says 1:02:32 uh he will gather the wheat into the barn and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. We heard about Daniel's three friends when they came out of the fire. Not even their hairs were burned. 1:02:51 But uh nothing was changed except their heart. And I believe they came with more faith, with joy in their heart. And for us, when the Lord lead us in the [snorts] path of trial and fire, we will come through. Brothers and 1:03:08 sisters, the Lord will burn up all the chaff. The Lord will take away all the wrong fear and replace with a reverential fear in our heart. May the Lord put a desire and hunger for him supremely. Give us grace to give up the attitude of judging others 1:03:27 and pursue brokenness, pursue gratitude in the days which are left for each one of us. So now we will hear brother Sanjay and after that we'll have a closing song. Good morning 1:03:59 CFC. It's a tremenous pleasure and joy to be here. My home church as they say in Hindi salaga amara CFC. I hope you can all say that even if you are not here every Sunday. Uh good news 1:04:19 through the audiovisisual ministry. I'm very grateful for all of the hardworking brothers who work there. You're able to broadcast this uh video stream to the far corners of the earth and around 8 or 9:00 in the night on Saturday, it 1:04:37 streams into my home. So I'm able to join you virtually through YouTube and it's a tremendous blessing. Often some my family will read. I know many of my brothers. So you are a tremendous blessing here in Bangalore to the far 1:04:52 corners of the earth. And it's not just uh in the United States. I know many countries. Um I want to just build on where brother Danish um talked about. Many times you hear these messages. I hope all of you have a chance to also 1:05:08 listen to the daily devotionals. We try to make it a habit in our family. Um all of you who have to go to school or have to go to work, um you probably have at least a 10 to 15 minute commute. Uh some in Bangalore have a 2-hour commute. 1:05:28 It's not a difficult thing now. In the old day and age, everything was in writing and you read. But now you can actually stream the daily devotional on your phone. Make it a habit to listen and take away one thing um that you can 1:05:45 apply in your daily life. So you know I want to talk about that one thing. Brother Danish talked about three things. One thing to flee judging others and two things to pursue. Um so if you can and it's good to write notes but 1:06:00 often it's difficult to remember many of these things we come every Sunday um we're studying for example in our in NCCF uh brother Zach is teaching through the sermon on the mount and the sermon on the mount has I think 100 plus verses 1:06:15 it's hard to remember every one of them not much less just the nine biatitudes but if all of you can take especially those of you who are young one thing away from every Sunday or every daily devotional, write it down and meditate 1:06:29 on it. God can do an amazing thing um with the future of CFC for whatever number of years is left before the Lord comes. Uh many of you now you know maybe 3 500 people here in this fellowship. uh when we started in our home, I was 1:06:47 just a 5-year-old boy in 1975 and there was five families maybe 20 25 that met in our home in D Costa Square. Uh many of you were not even born then and then um a few years 7 years later there was a meeting hall. Many of you know that in 1:07:07 40 Costa Square many years we met there and most of my memories growing up uh were all there and I'm very grateful for the brothers who in invested in my life. See some of the brothers who invested in my life who were 10 years older than me. 1:07:25 I don't know where they are. Some of them have left the church. Some of them different parts of the world. But God used them for a period of my time. I'm not here to judge where they are today. I hope they're with the Lord. right um 1:07:37 for at the time they were so even if you your children and your parents go to the church and you don't feel it's easy for you to take it for granted uh especially those of you who have grown up in CFC and not to value um and to have that attitude of 1:07:52 gratitude that brother Danish talked about is tougher often if you've been tasting all of this good food at CFC every Sunday until you leave maybe you're somewhere else in Bangalore or someplace else And a little bit like a 1:08:06 son or a daughter who comes back to mommy's cookie cooking, right? Often um one of the greatest joys of a mother is children come back and said, "Mom, can you make me that dish you used to make?" And however old the mother is, that 1:08:20 gives them great joy. They come back and their children still remember the food they may have cooked uh many many decades before. So I hope the same way this is more important. This is heavenly manner that we get here and it's easy to 1:08:33 take it for granted. So I hope all of you young um children who are growing up those of you who are older now who are growing up uh we've had weddings one was yesterday more weddings I think are happening this week these are all 1:08:46 children who've grown up in the church I hope that you will value this incredible fellowship there was a day and age in CFC in the 1970s when we were not a popular church okay um going to school most of my friends despised me because 1:09:00 we were meeting in a home church how can you meet in a home church that that why would you leave a mainstream church? And we stood for some very radical things that were, you know, some people described it's in your face a little 1:09:12 bit. And now it might be easier to be a little bit more popular cuz it's a bigger church. And we have to come back to the things that the day of those first beginnings. So I'm grateful for um the elders here. I want to give them 1:09:28 honor. um the things that made us follow Jesus in the early days. It doesn't mean it doesn't have to be just CFC in Bangalore but there are many churches now Bangalore may be you know maybe uh 10% in this in the city are Christian 1:09:44 parts of Kerala a little bit higher so there are many other churches and we're not you know saying that there's the only place but there's very few places where you will hear the fiery word of God like you heard this morning and that 1:09:59 we've heard for many decades and I want to encourage every one of you especially the younger ones to to be thankful and have that attitude of gratitude and find something small, one thing that you can apply to your life during the day because it's so easy 1:10:14 to forget 1000 verses but there's one thing and that's what I want to talk a little bit more about today. Um, if you would turn with me to Luke 10:42, and this is a story of we all know about 1:10:32 uh Mary and Martha and uh we know Martha was busy doing all the food and Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. And then the Lord an um answered her. 1:10:52 Martha was upset, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the busy work in verse 40? Tell her to come and help me. But the Lord answered Martha, Martha, Martha, why are you worried about so many? But there's one thing is 1:11:08 necessary. One thing. Okay. One thing is necessary. Sit at my feet. That's what Mary has chosen. So everything else when you forget this sit at Jesus' feet that's an opportunity. Um and when you kind of you know boil 1:11:26 away all the different things that might you might forget during the week say Lord there was one thing I heard on Sunday I want to apply or there's a reminder of that in the daily devotional and I often we I now take my children to 1:11:40 school and we'll listen to the daily devotional. And I ask each of them um initially there was three now one's a little older went to go to college now there's two who we go to school together ask them what did you learn from the 1:11:52 daily devotional those of you parents when you have a chance to sit with your children to do that ask them what's the one thing you took away that you can apply cuz it's very difficult when you're young children you have many 1:12:03 things going through your head you have a lot of academics you're studying but there's one thing you could remember from that daily devotion apply to it because the sad thing about it is we may hear so many different things in CFC and 1:12:16 at the end of it there's only you know very the teaching of of of of what we hear it's when you boil it down um there's so much simplicity to it that we could just fly we've heard I'll give you some other examples we've heard the most 1:12:31 important thing um is humility humility humility okay the good news there's many many one things but okay that next day I'm going to hear about humility and And maybe 5 years or 10 years ago, 10 years again later on I hear that same picture 1:12:47 of humility and remember those people all standing with zeros and then we had somebody who stood with a one next to them and that that picture will come back to us that video that illustration will come back to us. Um and m if you 1:13:01 look at the sermon on the mount the first thing it talks about is being poor in spirit and again we'll come back to Lord the most important thing as I get older is to be humble. The sad thing about it is if you look at many of the 1:13:14 churches in Revelation 2 verse4, Revelation 2 if you turn there um [clears throat] and this is examples of where sadly Jesus writes to seven churches many many things. 1:13:32 Two of them were churches he praised the Lord and then five. But you'll see over and over again this one thing I have against you. Okay? So you can focus on the one thing, right? Or the Lord may have one thing against you. You start with with the the 1:13:49 first one, Ephesus. Uh work work down in verse three. You have perseverance, have endured for my name's sake. You've not grown weary. Many of those things could be said about any of us at CFC, but I have this one 1:14:09 thing against you. You've lost your first love. So we may have the appearance of coming to church every day, sorry, every Sunday or maybe even the midweek, but the reality is God looks at the inside of the cup and he says, "There's 1:14:27 one thing I have against you." All these other things didn't matter. the one thing then if you look at the next chapter you can all I encourage you to read those seven churches revelation 2 and three because it's often as a church 1:14:43 like CFC gets older it's good to ask ourselves when a generation passes away sadly we've had brother Ian u pass away in the last few years at some point in time brother Zach will move on from this earth and the next generation we have 1:14:57 four elders here there'll be younger brothers what is going going to be said of CFC. Uh we're at the 50-year mark now. If the Lord carries and there's another 50 years, many of us won't be alive. What is going to be said? And you 1:15:10 read Revelation 2 and 3 and you ask yourself, is this what we want to be said of our church and the many other churches that we fellowship with that have a similar burden? You go to Revelation 3 and you look at um uh Sardis 1:15:27 and um I know your deeds. This is the one thing he has against them. You have a name that you're alive, but you really are dead. Wake up and strengthen yourself. So you can read, I won't go through all of the seven churches, but ask yourselves, 1:15:44 Lord, if there's one thing I want to do, here's an example of a few other one things that have really um encouraged me. Um Mark 10:21, give you another one thing to think about. Mark 10. This is the story of the rich young ruler. 1:16:03 It's good sometime if you have a chance do a concordance lookup of one thing. you'll find a lot of one things that are important to remember. Okay. Um there's ten commandments. There's lots of different 100 verses in in sermon on the 1:16:18 mount. There's many times Jesus or the Bible says one thing. We talked about Mary and Martha's one thing here. Sadly, this young man, and this could be said of anybody here who was young, 20, 30, and I I suspect when Jesus was 1:16:34 um having the ministry in his 3 and 1/2 years, there were many, many young men, disciples who came. Some of them really wanted to follow him, eventually 11. But many came, maybe out of those 5,000 who uh came to listen to him, and many of their 1:16:51 wives, many of them weren't really interested. But here was one of these young men who says, "Teacher, what do I need to do to inherit life?" Okay, give me one thing I could do to inherit life. And then Jesus says sadly in 31, looking 1:17:06 at him, he said, "Felt is love and maybe sadness. One thing you lack, give up everything and come and follow me. Give up everything, the rest of its possessions. Give it to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven." So often, you know, we're not willing 1:17:22 because there's many other things we're holding on to. The Lord says, "Give it up. There's one thing you lack." Um, another um example of things that's really spoken to me, it's very um often sad as a church evolves, um it becomes hard for 1:17:41 the next generation to submit um to the elders. there becomes often differences of opinion. It's very easy for pride to set in. And we've we've we've heard many times at at at CFC how important uh Romans 1:18:00 13:1 is. We all know that verse. We can turn that to Romans 13:1. This is al also another one thing that's I think very important and often not something that's taught in other many other churches brothers and sisters they 1:18:19 come they listen to a pastor they leave it's a little bit like you know coming to a home as a guest right sometimes those of you who are children you may invite your friends over to the home they may come as guests they may come 1:18:33 and play with you okay they have to listen to the return to the home because there's parents but they when they leave the home they have no uh obligation to submit to the parents but the children of the home you are living there for 18 1:18:46 years maybe every person is supposed to be subject to the governing authorities whereas no one authority except from God and those who exist are established for God this is often a stumbling block to so many brothers and sisters in the 1:19:00 church churches I've seen because um they don't understand that the the thing that caused Satan to be cast out was he was not willing to submit. And often it's hard to submit to someone who's younger than you in age. 1:19:18 And you think, you know, I'm an older person. And the Lord has has taught me the most important thing you can have. It doesn't matter what your status is in the world. When you come into the house of the Lord, the Lord has ordained, leadership, 1:19:37 authority. It's important for us to find a place. I'm very grateful that in the local church that I attend, NCCF, all the four elders are younger than me. Some of them, one of my brothers who are younger than me. So I'm grateful that 1:19:54 the Lord can teach and especially if you've grown older than some of the elders or the brothers who the Lord has asked you to submit to. Don't act like the, you know, the elder Anna, okay, the uncle who everyone fears. Submit. And 1:20:10 the Lord can do an amazing things when you learn humility through submission. And I've seen this here at at CFC with older brothers who've gotten older and they have submitted and those who have not. And you can see a difference in the 1:20:27 way in which it's gone their lives, their families and children. um very important that you learn to submit to your parents who are godly in the church. It's very easy when we are young to think we know it all and we um have 1:20:43 all the ideas figured out. I used to be that way as a teenager. I would think that my parents were too strict. And my dad and mom used to say something to me that I now still remember 30 to 40 years ago, which is you wait till you have 1:20:57 your own kids. Okay? You wait till you have your own kids. Those words ring in my head. You wait till you have your own kids. And now I have my own kids and I see it's not easy. And u we we we find ourselves when we have our own kids. We 1:21:13 go back to those godly parents and say how did you do it? Can I get some advice from you? So children don't think you have it all figured out as a teenager and yeah your parents are strict. They may not always do it right. Sometimes as 1:21:26 parents I have to okay we got that wrong but our heart is in the right place if we're following the Lord as parents to bring up our children in the fear of the Lord and that's the most important. So, children submit um to your parents. 1:21:39 Ephesians 6:1. It's a really important verse. So many uh of my own friends whom I've seen and this is nothing not even a a biblical statement but um I've seen you know classmates of mine who you would see they were rebellious in school 1:21:55 and that rebellion continued with them continued for them uh in some fashion or the other as they got older and it was hard for them to work in a workplace and u you know things have not gone well. So this idea of one thing that's important 1:22:11 that we can learn here in humility is submission. Submission to the authority the Lord's placed and often it becomes that single thing becomes a tough point. One of the elders may say do this or don't do this. And even if we don't have 1:22:26 a agreement we could say Lord you have appointed authority over me in this situation. I'm going to obey your authority. If they've asked me to speak or not speak or go here or not go here, it's really really important um um for 1:22:42 us to learn that um and then the Lord can bring authority and there's a beautiful example of 5 10 15 20 25 people when we met at CFC. It was easy to form unity there. But now 300, 500 people, how is there going to 1:23:00 be unity for what the Lord wants to do in CFC? Let me close on this example that we all know very well. There's two stories that that I'm going to just refresh. We don't have to go over it in detail, but let's look at Judges 7. I 1:23:15 want to close on these two stories in the Old Testament that you all know very well. Okay? Judges 7 and you know the story of Gideon right 1:23:37 if you follow the narrative of that story this is like a big church 30,000 people some of the big mega churches maybe even some in Bangalore of hundreds and thousands of people not the way CFC started which was three people 1:23:52 five people. 30,000 people started and Gideon felt he had an army. Lord, you can do an amazing thing cuz we have all these great people who come to this church. There's 500 people at CFC. Oh, it looks good. We have a many people in 1:24:07 the Sunday school. Uh, and we feel like, okay, now we've made it. And then the [clears throat] Lord tells Gideon, you have too many people. So, out of the roughly 30,000, 20,000 were removed. And now Gideon still feels, 1:24:23 I've got 10,000 people. This must be a great church the Lord's going to use. And the Lord says, "Nope, you're still too big." Okay. And we know the rest of the story. Uh 300 people were picked. How they were picked is actually very 1:24:38 interesting. But now if you ask how is the Lord going to use 300 people or maybe in 1975 30 people in CFC, whatever the number doesn't really matter. point is it's very hard for a large army to achieve what you're going to see happens 1:24:54 here. I read this and I didn't see it until more recently I was I think the most often the way in which you win a battle is with a sword. Okay, you win u those days with a sword maybe today with guns and whatever have you. But the Lord 1:25:09 tells these 300 people to drop their swords and take two things in their hand if you read the story very carefully. Okay. One is a trumpet and the other is a pitcher. Okay. With torches in it. No sword. Drop the sword. Take a trumpet 1:25:26 and a pitcher. Picture with a light and the trumpet was a Now you ask yourself, we have musicians sitting here. Okay. There are some singers who come up here. Very hard to get 300 trumpets to play together. You try. It's very difficult. 1:25:40 I mean, one or two, three, five. You look at orchestras maybe 10, 15, 300 trumpets to be in unity very hard. The Lord was trying to teach them the more important thing is not by your sword. I'm going to teach you how in that small 1:25:57 group the Lord's going to teach you unity. And you see the same thing in the story of Jehoshaphat. We don't have time, but you can look at it your the 2 Chronicles uh 20:12. You can turn very quickly to the 2 Chronicles 2012. These 1:26:11 are two credible stories of [clears throat] and and uh Jehoshaphat and we know the story. I don't know the exact number, but I'm going to assume it's a it was a large semi-large group of people. Maybe a few hundred people singing. Certainly 1:26:30 wasn't 30,000, 10,000. Maybe in a few hundred, maybe it was under 100 people. But we know the rest of the story. Um, and you know, in in 2 Chronicles 20:12, our God, will you not judge them? We are powerless before this great multitude 1:26:49 are coming against us. Nor do we know what's but our eyes are on you. That's the most important thing. And at CFC when we started in 1975, I saw these elder brothers, one of whom has passed on now. Their eyes were on 1:27:08 Jesus. They're fixed on Jes. They the most important thing was to do what the Lord wanted them to do. And that's my prayer for CFC, Bangalore, for NCCF where I fellowship that our eyes would be on Jesus that we would remember these 1:27:25 one things like we heard today from brother Danish. Sit at the feet of Jesus. Have an attitude of gratitude. You may forget a lot of the other things, but write down one thing that you can remember from the Sunday meeting, from what you hear, perhaps 1:27:40 from the daily devotional. If not, it's from your reading of the word of the Lord. And may the Lord honor the and and give grace to the next generation. Uh I believe, you know, we're in the end end times, but the Apostle John said in 1:27:55 Revelation 1, it was the end times then and that was 2,000 years ago. So we don't know exactly what the date, but all the signs are we are in the days looks like the days of Noah. Um and this the this may be you know the time of the 1:28:10 Lord coming back but whatever is soonest uh whether the Lord comes or he takes us away into glory as we get older I pray that the Lord will um have a remnant here in Bangalore that is faithful um that's another one thing right when 1:28:27 we get to heaven the Lord looks at us doesn't matter all of these other things here were you good and faithful were you faithful and the good thing about faithful is that you don't have to whatever the past doesn't matter. You 1:28:39 can start being faithful today. It's how we end. It's not how we start. Right? So if you've fallen behind, thank God that we still have woken up this morning with life and breath. And you can be faithful from now till whenever the Lord comes or he takes us 1:28:55 home. And that's the most important thing that I pray will be true. Um I appreciate very much appreciate all of you at CFC. By the way, my parents, I spoke to them this morning. They both uh um both my parents, my brothers, and our 1:29:10 families send warm greetings to all of you. Um I know many of you would like to see Brother Zach and Sister Annie often. Uh it's a little harder for them to travel, but I'm glad you can see them over Zoom, but if the Lord wills, they 1:29:25 will come again to India. I know they were here earlier this year in January, and and we pray that the Lord may allow that to happen again. But thank you for your prayers. they're in good health and um we also really appreciate the 1:29:36 faithfulness of all of you brothers who serve um in various different forms of ministry that help the far corners of the earth. Thank you very much. Thank you dear brother Sanjay for that 1:29:58 words from your heart and bringing that aroma which uh we enjoyed. We'll just pray and thank the Lord for blessing us this morning. Our gracious heavenly father we want to thank you and praise you for the open heaven this morning and 1:30:16 speaking to us reminding us Lord to fix our eyes upon you and to be faithful till the end. We humbly submit ourselves into your hand. We believe you are able to do much more beyond we can ask or think. Thank you. We pray for brother 1:30:32 Sanjay as he go back. Bless him. Continue to anoint him. Fill him with the Holy Spirit and use him wherever you take him, Lord. Use him as a bold witness as you've been doing all these days. Thank you. Help us, Lord, to be 1:30:46 faithful till the end. In Jesus precious name we pray. Amen. So, we have the book of the month and then the announcements. >> [music] 1:31:28 >> Daddy, what is this [music] big book you are reading? >> It is through the Bible. >> What is through the Bible? Daddy, >> it is a Bible commentary. [music] My child, >> what is a commentary? >> It is an explanation of each book of the 1:31:46 Bible, my child. >> Ooh, who wrote this explanation, Daddy? >> It was written [music] by Uncle Zach. He wrote it after studying the Bible faithfully for over 40 years. It is very interesting [music] and very practical 1:32:04 and brings out the message of each book of the Bible. Oh wow. Daddy, there are many things in the Bible I don't understand [music] when I read it. Is there commentary that we 1:32:22 children can also read and understand? Maybe something with pictures. Presenting Through the [music] Bible, illustrated. [music] 1:32:49 This is Brother Zack Punan's Bible commentary in comic book form. The whole commentary [music] is split in many parts and each part is beautifully [music] illustrated by brother Vini Kurua. The illustrations [music] 1:33:07 engage the young and old alike and bring out Bible's message for us today in an engaging way. You can read this [music] collection online at www.cfcindia.com. cfcindia.com/te-ench [music] 1:33:25 children. You can also download this collection and read it on your computer [music] or mobile device.
