0:12 It's really a privilege to look into God's word and and come together like this to encourage one another. It's a privilege because 0:33 uh when we look at God's word through the help of the Holy Spirit, we see God's heart. The every word which was spoken by the Lord through his prophets and his servants are uh the burden of the Lord 0:53 and what God desires. And also when God looks at his people and the Lord says, I want you to come up and um uh come to the place where I have 1:10 called you or uh a standard of life I want to give you. Uh but we should not forget about adversary. I would like to read a verse in Isaiah chapter 57 verse 14 1:29 says it shall be said build up build up prepare the way remove every obstacle out of the way of my people. Verse 15. For thus says the high 1:48 and exalted one who lives forever whose name is holy. I dwell on a high and holy place and also that is that is the privilege. The Lord lives in the high and holy place 2:07 and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. If we come with lowly heart, contrite 2:27 heart, word says the Lord is committed to revive us. Revive our hearts. Revive our hearts. I would like to underline myself for myself that the 2:44 Lord is concerned about my heart. He wants to revive my heart. That's what uh I was much thinking and uh I would like to turn to a burden 2:59 which Peter had in 1 Peter chapter 5 1 chapter chap 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8 here Paul uh Peter was concerned he 3:17 says be of sober spirit Be on alert. your your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour and also that don't be careless uh don't be 3:48 um careless and be sober spirited. Be on the alert. Your adversary is there. And he is always waiting to capture. And before that, what we read? We read in verse 5, uh, be subject to the elders. All of you 4:08 clothe yourself. It's in our hearts attitude. Clothe yourself with humility towards one another because God is opposed to the proud and he gives grace to the humble. and be therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God so 4:23 that he may exalt you and casting all your anxiety on him. And then it says be sober and verse 9 it says resist him firm in your faith. So it's all heart's condition clothing our ourselves with humility towards one another because the 4:41 Lord has shown mercy to me and humble humble myself under the mighty hand of God and humble ourselves that is whatever circumstances God gives Lord it's all for my good I would like to humble myself and I cast all my anxiety 4:58 on you Lord so many things I don't understand but I cast but I want to be careful because my adversary is waiting to capture my heart. What Jesus told in John 10 verse 10, it's something similar. The thief's purpose is to 5:18 steal, kill, and destroy. But my purpose is to give life in all its fullness, abundant life. That means what I am burdened is that see God has called us not only to forgive us and cleanse us 5:37 so that we will be witness for him on this earth. And devil knows that that if we stand before God, clothed in his righteousness and with having a good 5:53 conscience, pure heart and sincere faith with love in our heart, then he's he has lost our heart. So here Jesus is talking about um a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. what thief is 6:13 really after. See any thief who comes to a house, he will not try to steal newspapers or something which is not valuable. See what is devil is after. So earlier we read God is 6:31 committed to revive our heart but we have to have humility. Humility means Lord I I will come to you. I'll be honest with you. I I want my hearts to be re renewed. I want to be lowly. I want to be contrite in my heart so that 6:49 you can work in my heart and revive my heart. And also Peter says that uh clothe yourself with humility. Be humble. Otherwise Satan is waiting. But here Jesus said thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. What he wants to 7:06 steal, kill and destroy. He is after my heart. He wants to make me little more selfish, little more proud. That's all. He got me. So we have to be aware of that. And when we are aware, we'll be careful. If we are careless, if we are 7:24 if we are not on guard or not on alert, then there is a danger. I have come across and it's not um it's not new to me. I also gone through that path. I can become proud and think that I am okay. I am spiritual. I am humble. That's the 7:43 danger we all we all have. Uh what is the indication that I am proud? I won't know that I am proud and uh I uh behave as though I am spiritual, I am humble and devil has fooled me and I am 8:01 fooled myself. I think that I am spiritual. I am okay but uh I don't see the pride in me, selfishness in me and the devil got me. That's why we have to uh be thankful that we have a church where we have a fellowship. The light 8:20 dwells here, the lord dwells here. If we come with a humble and contrite heart and we can be we can get light on ourselves. I long to I I can say that if I'm preserved in faith uh in the Lord all these years uh I uh I 8:39 have been helped by the fellowship of godly people and messages I have heard uh toward uh examining myself being humble and how to get right with God. These are the things which has helped me. See that is what Jesus was burdened 8:58 that Jesus said I am the good shepherd I want to give you abundant life means the mainly what I'm thinking is our standing before God we have to stand before God with clear conscience that's what uh Hebrews chapter 4 the Hebrew writer says 9:18 here chapter 4 verse 16 it's a well-known verse it says let Therefore, draw near with confidence. Brother Danish was mentioning that. Let's draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and grace to help in the time of 9:37 need. It's it's our standing. The the scripture is saying we have to come to the throne of grace with confidence, with boldness. See our right our it's a it's our right to be bold before the Lord. But if you are if you're not 9:57 careful the Satan can rob our boldness by defiling our heart. That's what uh I was concerned. See that that is what we have to preserve. See in Exodus chapter 14:E8, Exodus 10:16 14:8, it says, "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, but uh he so because of that he pursued after children of Israel, but children of Israel went out with boldness." 10:33 See there was a time they they were scared of the word name of Pharaoh but when the God instilled faith in their heart and through Moses they were encouraged but whatever hardness 10:49 Pharaoh had they were not afraid. See Satan can be scheming so many things. He can hollow allow so many sufferings and difficulties. But what is our rightful place? Like here we should go forth. Israel went out 11:08 with boldness. We have to keep marching forward with boldness because our boldness is not because of our strength because of the Lord. Psalm 138:3 says like this, I cried out uh in the day when I cried out, you answered me and made me bold with 11:28 strength in my soul. That is our standing. The Lord, we cry out to the Lord and he will make make me bold with strength in my soul. And uh Proverbs 28 says it's one of the wonderful verse 28 verse1 the 11:47 wicked flee when no one pursues. See when we lose our confidence before the Lord some defilement the Satan will bring um you know that verse I would like to come to 12:05 um you know goal of all the preaching 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 1 Timothy 1:5 The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and good conscience and sincere faith. 12:23 See what is the goal? The every time when we hear God's word, God's God wants our heart to be filled with love from a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith. See this faith and good conscience and pure heart. And Satan is 12:42 trying his best to defile our conscience, defile our heart, defile our faith. And he is after that. He is he is a full-time worker. He's always after me. But I don't have to be scared. But but I should know that I am in danger. 13:00 So I have to rely myself on the Lord. See that that's very important. That's this verse what it says uh Proverbs 28:1. The wicked flee when no one pursues. This is what happens you know. See ultimately what is the goal 13:18 uh of a child of God? The goal of a child of God, he will live such a life which brings honor to the Lord. See if you see any person who is living on the street and somebody comes to hey whose 13:34 son he is? He is son of the so and so and oh who that man is a very good man but how come this man is this son is living like this. See that brings dishonor to the father. But that is what Satan is after. He wants to defile our 13:52 heart so that you see here it says the wicked flees. Wicked means somebody who has lost his identity before God or standing before God like that prodigal son who went away and he had lost his identity. He lost his confidence and 14:08 boldness and closeness with the father and he went on defiling means dishonoring father's name. went on and on and on and on and one day he didn't have any more ways to go forward and he realized oh I'm I'm such a foolish 14:26 fellow senses came to him he came to his senses he he walks back and when he comes back to his father his confidence was restored see it's something like this but he was a wicked person who went away from the father's place and went 14:45 ongoing and I I don't think at that time if he had come to know that father is coming that way I think he would have ran away because he didn't have uh confidence to face his father see this is what happens when we def when Satan 14:59 defiles our heart through something the main thing we lose is the boldness that is what happens the wicked flee when no one pursues is so scared of so many things I'm scared of this I'm scared of this I'm scared of future oh job that 15:14 this so many things, everything scares me. That that dishonors God. That's what God says. God, no, I'm not happy with that. And then what happens? The righteous. But the righteous are bold as a lion. See, people lost so many 15:31 things in the world. We read in the history that believers have lost so many things. I think many godly people were put in jail and persecuted put to lions. But the thing was they were like lion. They faced every situation, 15:50 circumstances, everything they faced like like a lion. That brought honor to God. See many people must may have been killed. Uh yeah many have been killed in the past by persecution and so many things but they died as martyrs and 16:08 brought glory and honor to the lord but they died but uh what about those who are living we can live in such a way that uh it will bring dishonor to the lord when we don't live in faith and 16:26 good conscience in love for example Stephen, Stephen died and his heart was full of love for those who are persecuting him. That is the heart of a lion. That's what God is desiring that no matter what you suffer and what goes 16:45 on but don't defile your heart. Don't let Satan steal your heart and defile your heart so that you you will you may be living. You may be having comforts. You may be having riches but you are you are not a righteous person. You are not 17:01 bold as lion before Satan. See the thing is two boldness is very important. So boldness before God, boldness before Satan. This this boldness and confidence is very important. No matter whether we are rich and we have all the fullness of 17:18 this world or not but uh our heart should be the uh the heart which has confidence and boldness before God and also before Satan that's what happens when somebody testifies in their baptism waters of baptism they say that now my 17:36 heart belongs to the lord I'm I'm going to live for the king and all this while I was so scared and lived in fear and anxiety. No, it's not that I live for the Lord. He will take care of me. That puts Satan to shame. So that that is 17:55 what God is concerned, burdened. And uh I would like to read few verses in the New Testament in especially in Acts Acts 4:13. Now as they observed the confidence of Peter, see Peter was Peter and John was in 18:14 trial, people saw, they observed the confidence of Peter. Acts 4:13 confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men. 18:34 They were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. What is the connection? I was so encouraged to see that. See, they they were in helpless situation. Anybody else who didn't have faith would have suck succumbed under 18:52 pressure and said, "Oh, sorry, sir. Leave me. Leave us. We want to go away. We will not do this." But you know they looked at them and with the confidence they had in God the faith they had and they understood hey these people are so 19:08 uneducated untrained it's it's I don't know where the confidence came then they recognized hey they were with Jesus Jesus was also like that regarding Jesus also it says oh he was not educated and untrained but he had the confidence of a 19:26 as a lion He was bold as lion. So then then they rec recognized oh they are the disciple of Jesus. See it's not just because they were with Jesus. See there was a coward lived with Jesus. Um he went away. 19:43 But Peter and John were not like that. The main thing the difference was they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The spirit which was in Jesus, the same spirit which was uh on Peter and John also one more verse uh acts chapter 14 20:00 verse three. Therefore, they spent a long time there. This is talking about I don't want to read the context. This is talking about Paul and Barnabas. They were they were also in in a situation tight situation. People were against 20:14 them. But they were not disturbed but they in fact there was a persecution and they it says that they spent a long time there. They if their heart were not was not with confidence they would have run away from there because so much opposition 20:34 was there. But no, they spent long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord who was testifying to the word word of his grace and granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands. I was so encouraged. See th this 20:51 is our standing before the Lord. We don't have to succumb under pressure or whatever circumstances. This is what we see. And I I believe that people recognized, hey, this Paul and Barnabas, I think they were with disciples of 21:08 Jesus. The same spirit is there. So that yeah, one more verse I would like to read one Timothy chapter sorry 1 Thessalonians chapter 2:2. It says, "But after we we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you 21:26 know, we had the boress in our Lord to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition." This is the testimony of Paul. Paul is saying that that to whatever the situation, circumstances, we have preserved our heart, we have 21:43 guarded our heart uh from Satan. The thief ste comes to steal and kill and destroy. I believe that all the time the Satan was after them to destroy their confidence somewhere bring some defilement something defile their 22:02 conscience, defile their heart, defile their faith so that then Satan can capture and make them uh live a so substandard life where they were scared of everything. And see we have seen in our midst godly examples how they lived how 22:22 they faced the life uh and they overcame so many oppositions they overcame so because they kept their heart that is what our calling brothers and sisters I was thinking much about that Lord I I don't want to lose my 22:41 confidence I have heard many uh brothers coming and saying brother I am finding it difficult I'm failing in the same area. What do I do? I say what else you can do? Nothing. You just get back and say, Lord, I'll give my life to you and 22:57 I want to live for you. Please give me power. Give me grace. What else? There is no other go. There is no other go. Okay, I slept up in the morning. What shall I can do? I'll forget. I'll cleanse myself before the Lord and gain 23:13 back. That's what uh Hebrews 4:16 says. Come back. Come back to the throne of grace. The first thing is mercy. Okay? If you have fallen, receive mercy. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Get back your confidence in the Lord. And then 23:30 and if you're not fallen, come to the throne of grace and receive grace so that you will not fall again. You will stand before Satan. That is our standing. I was thinking about Gideon's army. I just don't go into the detail. I 23:44 was thinking about that there was three category of people there was there was uh 32,000 we know that out of 32,000 people uh the Lord said you have too many people how can I win the battle with 24:01 these people uh the Lord could see that 22,000 people were so scared scared of Satan maybe somewhere some defilement but God said no I cannot give a battle victory and then they boast. Oh, these fearful people go and 24:20 boast. Oh, we won the war. No, I don't want that. I don't want to give glory to them. I want somebody who stand in my name, with boldness, with my confidence. Then the the Gideon was told that tell all 24:39 those who are afraid to go. all those who were scared. 22,000 people went away. And then the Lord felt still too many. I have certain people whom I'm not impressed. And there were about 9,700 people who were so 24:58 uh kind of concerned about their own needs. You see that is also uh that can also bring down our confidence before God. See concerned. Yes, we we need we need uh so many things uh we need to go to work and so many things we need in 25:17 this world. But how do we approach them? Are we so paranoid and kind of so obsessive about those things and oh brother I don't have time for anything. Oh I have to do this brother this is need this is need. Yes, God knows you 25:32 need and Jesus told you don't have to even worried about eating and drinking and clothes. These three things we cannot live without. But Jesus said no no no God your father knows but don't be paranoid about it. But you seek his 25:51 kingdom and his righteousness. See that is that was the lack the is fear and anxiety uh sorry the fear of Satan or fear of the opposition was not the concern for these 9,700. Their concern was oh when I get something when I'm 26:11 needy when I'm put into uh situation then I compromise. That was the problem with this 9,700. God said no I don't want them. They were sent out and 300 who had the confidence in the Lord not in themselves. They said yes the Lord will 26:29 deliver us and they kept themselves from the fear and anxieties and also u afraid of uh so many things. They they they were not possessed about uh the things their own needs. See they kept their 26:46 heart and the Lord said those 300. So like that in the church also our battle is with the Satan whom the Lord uses. Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit have that confidence have that confidence that Lord you will deliver 27:02 us. You will help us and I don't want to be afraid of opposition and also I'm I don't I'm this I'm not belonging to this world. This world is not my kingdom. If those who those who have that kind of an attitude the Lord will use such people. 27:19 We have seen over the years those are the brothers and sisters whom the Lord is using to put Satan to shame in the church in their own personal life first in their family life and also in the church and such ones uh u uh for that such ones the Lord is 27:38 looking forward to and uh the main burden what the Lord has see anybody who is lacking that that kind of a confidence the Lord wants to revive their heart and bring them to the original place where he has called. That's why Paul prays Lord uh uh I pray 27:56 that your eyes of your heart be open and know the your calling. I think in Ephesians 1 would like to read another verse in Ephesians 6 where it says verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in 28:14 the strength of his might. This is what uh has encouraged me. It's not that Lord Lord is saying John you be strong in God's word read the word that this okay yes I have to do that but ultimately what is the goal goal is I want to know 28:30 the strength of the Lord I want to be strong in the Lord I have to keep my heart and strength of his might I should realize that he is so powerful he can help me he is committed to help me he is committed to revive me and make me walk 28:47 like lion. So put on the full armor of God so that you'll be able to stand firm is again see we we are called to stand firm against the schemes of the devil so that if I stand then I can help others. That's 29:04 what happened with Peter. Jesus said Peter when you when you come back and when you come back to the Lord you may fail but your faith should not fail when your faith doesn't fail you strengthen your brothers when we stand we can help 29:23 others and so that we know the schemes but uh our fight is not not against flesh and blood if if I have an attitude to oh fight with this and that and circumstances situations s then I I will lose my ground. So that's why Jesus said 29:42 before he left, wait in Jerusalem. Wait because you cannot manage on your own. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to stand your ground and live with that confidence and also preserve your heart from all defilement. Keep 29:57 your conscience clear and have genuine faith. we can't manage and uh we need to be filled with the holy spirit. G Jesus said no without this you cannot manage that that's the difference which happened with disciples before the baptism of the holy 30:16 spirit they were all scared but after the baptism of the holy spirit we saw Paul and Barnabas and also we saw John and Peter and they were bold may the lord help us to understand his heart and also uh come back to the place where god 30:33 has called us so that we live with total confidence and but if if we don't have that confidence, we can come back to him because he's committed to revive us. May the Lord help us. Amen. Once when Jesus was ministering, somebody came and asked him 30:53 what is the greatest of commandments and Jesus told them told him to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul. and also to love your neighbor as 31:11 yourself. In both these commandments, one God word, one man word, it is love that Jesus spoke, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. And the sum and substance of all that we 31:29 hear in the church and what we read in the Bible, it's there in that verse that brother John read in 1 Timothy 15. 1 Timothy 15. It says the goal of 31:47 our instruction or the goal of all the teaching in the church or the goal of all the commandments in the Bible is this that is love from a pure heart. There are three things there. Love from a pure 32:05 heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. These these are the three things Jesus said. Love the Lord your God with all your might, souls and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. And 32:24 there are different types of love in this world. love towards God and love towards human beings in different forms like fatherly love, motherly love, brotherly love and love of friend, friends and then erotic love, love 32:43 between man and woman and things like that. But the love that the Bible speaks of is the love that God himself has demonstrated to us. That is what is written in John 3:16. It says, "For God so loved the 33:03 world, not because the world deserved it. It didn't deserve, but in spite of that, God so loved the world that he gave his only son that we might uh believe in him and have everlasting life." And also in Romans 33:21 5:8 it says God demonstrated his love towards us in this that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. This is the kind of love that God has shown us that even when others 33:39 do wrong to us, others are evil and wicked towards us, we show them God's love because God's love is not dependent upon our performance. 33:56 God's love is something that is uh beyond uh our grasp because we see even when we were at sinners deserved to face his punishment even 34:16 then God had mercy on us and demonstrated his love in sending Jesus to die for So that is the kind of love that Jesus is speaking here or the Holy Spirit is speaking here. Or you want to 34:35 know more about that you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. That great chapter on divine love. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Many of us know this passage. Love is patient and so on and so forth. 34:55 But the Bible says God is love. And here you can read it, God is patient. Or you can read it as Jesus is patient. And Jesus is kind and he's not 35:13 jealous. He does not brag. He's not arrogant. And he doesn't act unbecomingly. He doesn't seek his his own nor is he provoked. He doesn't take into account what wrong suffered that is demonstrated on the 35:31 cross and doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. Bears all things believes all things. Hopes all things endures all things and Jesus never fails. So 35:47 now as followers of Jesus over a period of time, can we now replace that word love and put our name there and read it? Put your name and say I am 36:07 patient. I am kind. You may not have come to that place but at least you can read it like this that I can or I want to be patient. I want to be 36:25 kind and not be jealous and I don't want to brag and I don't want to act arrogantly and I don't want to behave unbecomingly and not seek my own. So if 36:45 that is your prayer and if that is how you live then you think God will not help you. Will he say no I cannot help you. He who did not spare his own only son but gave him up for us all. Will he 37:01 not with him give us all these things that we may live this life victoriously. So here he's speaking about pure love that is towards God and his love 37:20 imparted to me poured out into my heart that becomes manifest in different circumstances and situations when I'm faced with the difficult circumstances then I react the way God reacted Jesus 37:35 reacted and I can say from my behavior in that particular situation that or I can examine myself and see whether I'm becoming little more like Jesus or I'm still the same old rotten 37:53 fellow. So there is a growth in the Christian life and it comes only as we make an attempt and cooperate with God and then that happens. A love goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart. And then the second 38:12 one it says about a good conscience. Good conscience is something that we all need to preserve and keep because with a bad conscience we live under 38:32 condemnation and we will not have boldness. If our con if a conscience doesn't condemn us like it says then we have boldness with God and if we have a clear 38:49 conscience and I fear only God and nothing else then like that verse says in the living paraphrase which is written there at the back if you fear God, you need fear nothing else. You 39:07 don't even have to fear the devil. If you fear God, that is enough. If you live before the face of God, that is enough. You don't have to try to impress to others about your about your um 39:26 spirituality or about your Christianity or about your testimony. If you live before God's face, that's all. Brothers and sisters, you don't have to live before the face of men. They can say anything, they can do anything. But if God is for you, who 39:44 can be against you? That is having a good conscience that you to the best of your ability do things that glorify God and you walk in the light. That is the meaning of having a good conscience that 40:02 you walk in the light as he is in the light. When Jesus was here on earth and and even after Jesus left and after the day of Pentecost, you see all the disciples how they lived. They didn't live live a double life. They didn't 40:20 live one life on Sunday morning and another life in between. Their life was transparent. beheld by God and the angels like it says in 1 Timothy 3:16 the 40:39 uh I think I'll read that in the next page only it is it says by common confession great is the mystery of godliness you want to live a godly life here is the secret that God was revealed in the flesh That is Jesus was revealed in the 41:03 flesh was vindicated in the spirit and beheld by angels. So you and I are being beheld by angels day and night and God also and proclaimed among the nations 41:23 believed on in the world and taken up in glory. And in the living Bible it says the secret of godliness lies in Jesus Christ who came in the flesh. If I follow this one, the Lord Jesus 41:41 Christ, who came in the flesh, God became man like you and me. Came in the flesh like you and me. Lived in this world like you and me and faced all that you and I face. Like we read that verse that he 42:01 was tempted in all points like as we are. He became man and he was tempted. James says that God cannot be tempted. If he came as God, he couldn't be tempted. But he came as a man. Even though he was God, fully God and fully 42:19 man, he kept aside his divine prerogatives, privileges, and took upon himself the form of a born slave and lived like you and me. And if he lived a godly life 42:38 about which God the father had to validate and say this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. If God could say that after 30 years having lived that life in the flesh, God can say that 42:53 to us. He a he's a challenge to us also. So we can we have no excuse. We can also live like Jesus lived. We can't say oh Jesus was a son of God be because of that he lived like that and he overc him. No. You read 43:13 there that he was tempted in all points like as we are at without sin there. Therefore, let's come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy for our past sins and grace for our future 43:30 struggles. That's in Hebrews 4:15 and 16. And then it says about sincere faith. See this good conscience. Before I go to the next one, it says in verse 19, there were some people 43:49 there about whom Paul is writing to Timothy. He says there are some people who go on, you know, confusing others by different types of doctrines. Avoid 44:05 those things and keep faith. Verse 19 he says keep faith and a good conscience which some have rejected a good conscience some have rejected thinking that I have said the sinner's prayer and asked the Lord to 44:22 come into my heart and now my seat is reserved my ticket is reserved now I can do what I like like these people once saved always saved they say whatever you do after you accepted Jesus doesn't matter. Your past, present, and future 44:39 sins are forgiven. That is a garbage. That is a lie of the devil. And Paul says here, some people having rejected their faith and good conscience have suffered shipwreck in this regard to their faiths. Among these he mentions 44:59 two people by name Himenius and Alexander whom I have delivered over to Satan. These apostles had power authority given by the Lord to hand over certain types of people to the devil 45:17 himself. Not just to some ordinary demons but to Satan himself. This is one case here. And another case is in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 where a man was living an immoral life and Paul there also he said I have 45:35 handed him over to the devil. So brothers and sisters be careful about with whom you fellowship. Bad company corrupts good morals. And like somebody said show me your friends I'll tell you what kind of 45:53 person you are. And the more there is a saying in the world, birds of a feather flock together. And you always tend to flock together with those who talk your language or your 46:10 interests. The things that you are interested in, they are also interested in. You gravitate towards them and you become one with them and pally with them and fellowship with them and that will take you along where they are going to 46:30 go in their way. So you need to make a decision my dear brothers and sisters whether you want to go there or whether you want to go the way God wants you to go by saying no to them. Sometimes you may have to break fellowship with the 46:48 children of darkness. And then it speaks about sincere faith. Sincere faith. The same thing again coming down to verse 19. Paul says to Timothy, keep faith. And some have made a shipwreck 47:07 with regard to their faith. Faith is very very important in the Christian life. We are saved by grace through faith. Ephesians 2:8 and we live by faith and we conduct our life here on 47:26 this earth by faith. And we end our life by faith. All of Christian life is one of faith. Not necessarily one of sight. that comes later on. But we go by faith and you read about that in Hebrews 47:45 chapter 11. That chapter is full of people how they lived by faith and how they ended their life by faith. And faith is not some just mental ascent or some abstract thing. Today I'm up and tomorrow I'm down. It's not a 48:04 roller coaster. uh life. Faith is something constant and it is something that has um substance and something that has evidence because the def biblical 48:21 definition of faith in Hebrews chap 11 verse1 it says now faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen. So faith has substance and faith has evidence. So 48:40 it is not something vague that I believe one day I doubt another day. It's not like that. It's is as sure as I know that tomorrow the sun will rise in the east. So that is faith. I know. We'll come to a place where we can say not 48:59 just I believe then we will say I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I have committed unto him until that day like Paul said. So pure 49:16 heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. And you overcome the world not by anything else but by faith. One closing word in 1 John chapter 49:34 5. 1 John chapter 5 verse4 it says whatever is born of God you can put your name there. I so and so born of God overcomes the world. Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. 49:53 Even our faith you can say even my faith. Though shaky it is today, I can still ask the Lord like that father said, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." If we can say that to the 50:12 Lord and cry out to him, "Lord, my faith is little. Increase my faith or strengthen my faith or help my unbelief. Help me Lord each day to live 50:28 with pure s pure love, sincere faith and a good conscience. With this we can run the race and we can glorify the Lord. Shall we bow our heads 50:46 in prayer and close?
