0:07 Yeah, hi family. Happy New Year to you all. I'm really looking forward to this year with you all and what the Lord will do in our midst. Just thinking about the memory verse we had for this last week. Are we allowed to be anxious? 0:24 No. No is correct and yes is also correct. We just said waiting anxiously. I hadn't thought about it until sitting there I was like, "Okay, so I'm allowed to be anxious." Now that word has a different meaning from what you think of when you 0:38 think of anxiousness or anxiety. But I thought about this even as I was listening to you all say the memory verse from last week. If I'm going to be anxious about something or anytime you're tempted to be anxious, it's always about something of this 0:53 earth. Like is there healing going to come? Is the money going to come? Is the situation going to be okay? It could be even a spiritual battle. But every time you're tempted to be anxious, turn that anxiety towards the coming of 1:08 the Lord. Let that be an eagerness. Waiting eagerly, I think some translations say. That's the real meaning there. We're not fretting about Christ's return even though he delays, but we're eager. This the thing that captivates our attention more than 1:24 anything else. Let it be true this year for each of us individually, for our marriages, for our homes, for our church, in every situation we face. We're eagerly, eager. You know, there are things that you eagerly wait for on this earth. Maybe 1:39 it's a birthday, children. I can't wait for my birthday. You count down the days to your birthday. Think about even though we don't know the day or the hour when Christ will return, we know he's coming soon. We can't count down in terms of from 1:56 down to zero, but we know it's soon. I want to be ready. Perhaps today the Lord will call me home. Perhaps this week sometime the Lord will call me home. Will that sadden your heart? Is there something on this earth a relationship or a thing that's holding 2:12 you down where when the Lord says come, you're not able to be released right away. You're held down by something on this earth, some plan you made for this week. And so we're told in the scripture, make your plans, but say if the Lord 2:27 wills. The Lord doesn't call me home today, I'll see you guys we'll have a meeting on Wednesday. We'll have a prayer meeting on Saturday. I don't think we have prayer meeting this week, but that's the way we go about our lives. I'd like you to just 2:39 quickly return to Jude 1. And in view of this, keeping ourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Um he says first of all that there will be some who will bring division, verse 2:57 19, worldly-minded, devoid of the spirit. But then he also says in verse 22, in the verse after that, as you keep yourself in the love of God, waiting anxiously, have mercy on others. Be merciful. If God has given you light 3:16 about his return and his mercy and you're you are keeping yourself in the love of God and you see somebody else who's not, have mercy. Who are on those who are doubting, have mercy on some who are doubting. Save others, snatching them out of the 3:34 fire. And on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. So there will be those who you'll have to show mercy from a distance. Pray for them like we heard last week, intercede for them, but be careful of that garment polluted 3:50 by the flesh. Don't get sucked into their way of speaking or their sinful behavior or attitudes, their fleshly garments, but have mercy. And so, I pray that this is a good verse for us to start this week also. Psalm 16, I have set the Lord continually 4:07 before me because he is there at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Say that verse to yourself often, dear brother, dear sister, dear children, I will not be shaken in 2022. Maybe you'll look back on 2021 and you were shaken every now and then. 4:24 Maybe. But make it a goal, this is God's will, this is why we claim the promises of God. If you can really say, I will not be shaken. It's not just a memory verse, it's a promise. Because I have set the Lord before me continually, I will not be 4:42 shaken. And if you wake up one morning and realize you were shaken the day before or the night before, you say, somehow I didn't set the Lord continually before me, so I'm going to do that again and I believe I will not be shaken. 4:56 Uh, let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and I'd like to continue where I left off a couple well, three or four weeks ago, I think now. Where I was talking about how the life of Christ is received. It's not produced. 5:15 This is um, something I've been meditating on for a number of weeks, but um, actually for a number of months, I would say, cuz I find it's so easy for us to try to produce the life of Christ. It's our tendency and no matter how much 5:30 we hear about it and are reminded about it, there's a tendency to slip back into, okay, I'm going to try harder this time. I'm going to try to produce the life of Christ. The life of Christ cannot be produced, it is simply received. But I started by 5:44 talking about how God can only give the things of heaven to those who are nobodies. Those who have low thoughts about themselves and and actually no thoughts about themselves. Lowly lowly like we sang even in one of those hymns. Lowly in every situation 6:03 when a thought tries to exalt itself, a thought about yourself, a thought about you and your idea, your agenda tries to lift up itself. Choose the way of lowliness, the way of being a nobody. In every situation be a nobody. Don't 6:18 seek to be a somebody even in the church. Let God determine the circle that he draws around you and in that circle be a nobody. If he calls you to preach, be a nobody. If he calls you to clean the toilet, be a nobody. If he calls you to 6:32 fill the water jug, be a nobody. If he calls you to give a ride to somebody, be a nobody. If he calls you to help somebody move something, be a nobody. If he calls you to give a gift to somebody, be a nobody. If he calls you to be hospitable, do be 6:45 a nobody. Then God can use you. And that's what Paul was saying here in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and 3 and 4 where in the church in Corinth because they were carnal. Carnal means they were fleshly in their thinking. It's possible for Christians to be 7:01 carnal. That means they're born again. They're you know, he he says that they have laid their foundation on Christ in chapter 3. But their carnality is their fleshly ness. They still have an earthly way of thinking. As a result there are divisions in this 7:18 church. And there are people who say, "Well, I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos." And and the other one says, "I'm of Christ so I'm even more spiritual than all of you." And it's just division. It's even saying I'm of Christ in an earthly way. 7:31 In a divisive way, in a way that looks down on others. And Paul says, "What is Paul? What is Apollos? They're nothing." We saw that last week and I want to continue where he says so verse 5, 1st Corinthians 4:5, do not go on passing judgment before the 7:47 time. Anytime you're tempted to judge somebody else over anything, about anything, even if they disagree with you on some doctrinal matter, let's say, don't go on passing judgment. You follow the Lord according to the light 8:01 he's given you. You follow him wholeheartedly. Let Jesus be everything to you, and don't judge anybody else." That's what he's saying here, "Don't go on passing judgment before the time." And then he says in verse 8, "You are already filled. You have 8:16 already become rich." And Paul is comparing himself to the church that he planted. He says, "I planted, Apollos watered, God caused the growth." And he says, "You, who are the fruit of my labor, you've become kings. But I'm a servant," Paul says. 8:32 And there's a testimony. I I ask you a question. Who are you following? Are you following the Corinthians, who were a good church in some ways, planted by Paul, or are you following Paul? Do you want to be a king like the Corinthians were, 8:48 or do you want to be a servant? See, I remember hearing this analogy that my dad shared once in a message, and it's I've never forgotten it. Imagine if you were serving a king, and the king said, "I want breakfast ready at 8:00." 9:02 What time should you be ready as a servant? 7:30, maybe, in case he shows up early. And let's say you're ready at 7:00 or 7:30. Everything's neatly laid out, and you're standing there at attention. This is the king, and he walks in at 9:00, 9:18 cuz he overslept. What would you say? Would you be upset? He made me wait a whole hour for you? If he's the king, you have no right. You're just there. You had it ready before. You just make sure it's not late. The king can be late. The king can 9:34 come at his convenience. And Paul had this mentality. And I'm not talking about timeliness specifically, but just the attitude of a king versus the attitude of a servant. That's makes all the difference between those who build up the church, 9:49 those who have a a desire to be a servant, to be a nobody. I'm here to think of others as more important than myself. These are the ones who are useful in the body of Christ. Not thinking of myself and oh, they didn't treat me a particular way or they didn't 10:06 invite me for this or they didn't say that to me or nobody talked to me. These are kings who think like that. Servants are not there to be served. They're there to serve others. And the best church is the one where it has the most number of servants or the 10:23 highest percentage of servants, I would say. Most of the world thinks of churches in terms of how big they are, whether it's the building or how many seats are filled. That's not what God is interested in. How many people in a 10:38 local expression, in a local gathering have the spirit of a servant? That means they're the the church, the needs of the church, not because it's RLCF or anything like that, but because it's an expression of the body of 10:49 Christ. And I don't want to be exalted. I want Christ alone to be exalted. Because I want Christ to be exalted, it doesn't care it doesn't matter to me what my calling in life on this earth is in this body. If God calls me to be a nobody 11:06 or he calls me to be a somebody in the world's view, I'm still a nobody. I'm a servant. Seek to be a servant. He says, "You are filled, you have become rich, you have become kings without us, but we are servants." He says in verse 9, 11:20 you know, a lot of people use the word apostle as a title. Follow Paul's example as an apostle who saw the apostle as one who is condemned to death last. Look at verse 9. I love this expression of being an apostle. Some people say that the ministry of the 11:40 gift of apostles has ceased. I I don't believe it has because none of the other gifts, where he says in Ephesians 4, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, none of the others has ceased. Um and he's talking about Christ having 11:52 ascended on high and then given to the church apostles, prophets, evangelists. But don't If you If you desire to be an apostle, desire it this way. Desire to be last. I think God has exhibited us apostles last. And the ones whom God can truly use to 12:12 be apostles in his body, whatever that function looks like, are the ones who are striving to be last more than anybody else. Such a person can actually be an apostle. Every situation, they want to be last. They want to be last. You go ahead. You 12:26 go ahead. Not just in standing in line to eat. Because that can be something that you gain honor for. You know, everybody looks at the person going last and says, "What What a What a self-sacrificial person." No, not in that. In your own 12:38 thinking, when nobody knows that you think of yourself last. Whether you stand in the front of the line or not, are you at the back of the line in your mind? Then, you're the last. God can use you. Last of all, as men condemned to death, because we 12:57 have become a spectacle to the world. Somebody that they make fun of. Do you desire this? I want to be somebody the world makes fun of. They think of Ah, what good is he? Look at him. These are the ones that God chooses to 13:12 be the most effective. So, don't think of the word apostle as, you know, aspire for that as a gift. Aspire to be the last. Aspire to be a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men. Fools for Christ. Let everybody else be thought thought of 13:28 as wise, you be thought of as a fool. Oh, Santosh, ah, he's a fool. He's a little too radical, a little too crazy. I want to be known by that. Not because I'm I desire to be made fun of, but because I'm following Christ who 13:42 was a fool hanging there on the cross. And when everybody said, "Prove that you're the son of God by coming down." He says, "I'll be a fool. I'll stay here." Then he says in verse um third Yeah, we'll continue reading verse nine. 13:59 We are verse 10, "We are fools for Christ, you are prudent in Christ, we are weak, you are strong." Do you want to be the weakest person in this church in terms of earthly gift? Oh, what good is that person? He has no gift, can't do this, can't do that other 14:13 thing. God says, "I can use you." Like Paul. You know, Paul was an an amazingly gifted man. He'd studied in the top seminary in Israel at that time under the school of Gamaliel. But after he was born again, he counted all of those things as loss, he says in 14:30 Philippians 3. All of that education, all of that ability, he didn't throw it away, but he regarded it as useless, as manure, dung. For the sake of Christ, and that's why God was even able to use the gift that he gave him. Paul's amazingly sharp mind 14:48 God used to write more scripture than any of the other apostles. And so God in a sense could use all of that training in Gamaliel, and then take him for 3 years to the Arabian desert so that he would spend 3 years counting all of that knowledge as 15:05 useless, good-for-nothing, worthless, dung. And then he says, "Okay, I'm not going to take away your mind, but I'm going to call you now to serve me, and you look at that gift as nothing. You are a nothing." You are distinguished. You We are 15:25 without honor. Think about this. The The person who planted the church says, "You who Excuse me. You who are planted are distinguished. I who did the planting, I'm without honor." I tell you my honest prayer I don't know as God is my judge, but 15:42 this is the desire of my heart even as an elder in this church that I would be the one without honor. I don't seek I don't want to seek honor on this earth. Let the other pastors and churches in the world desire that to be the first 15:56 and have their picture on the website. I we don't need that. I want to be the one without honor. I want to follow Paul who who's following Christ. And if we can all go that way, thank you. If we can all go that way, what a 16:08 wonderful blessing it would be. Even as a father in the home, even as a mother in the home to be the one without honor. Keep reading. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty. Can you imagine? Paul came to the church 16:24 meeting in Corinth and they forgot to feed him. This is how lightly and lowly they thought of Paul. He is the one that planted the church and they forgot about him because he had such a lowly way of going about them in their midst. 16:38 I imagine Paul when he came to the meeting, he played with the children. He was like the little children. He played with them and everybody else had their intellectual conversations and there was Paul and they forgot to feed 16:48 him. Like you would forget a child maybe that's ah it's a child. I Did you you know um If you forget to talk to a child, do you go back and think, "I didn't talk to that one child. I wish I had talked to them." This was Paul taking the place of 17:04 loneliness. We To this day we are both hungry and thirsty and poorly clothed. Paul came in with the worst looking drag clothes on. Now, it doesn't mean that we follow that example physically. That would be a dead work. You wear the 17:19 clothes God has given you, but you don't pride yourself in it. You have the home God has given you. You have the job God has given you, but you don't esteem those things as highly. You don't think of others yourself as better 17:30 than others because of something God has given you. That's what he's been saying. What do you have that you haven't received? Everything you have has been given. We are roughly treated, homeless. You know, Paul was homeless. 17:46 Not in the way that we think of as homelessness today, but he was he didn't count of anything as a home. He didn't wasn't attached to anything on this home. It says in the last chapter of Acts that he lived in his own rented 17:57 apartment. So he clearly he had a home, but it wasn't his his home in his affections. We toil working with our own hands. That's why we followed Paul's example in all of us elders in this church, those who serve. Nobody's supported by the 18:12 church. When we are reviled, we bless. When and and when when they want to speak evil about this church, I pray I hope you will be one that says, "Yeah, let them speak evil of me. It's okay." When we are reviled, we bless. 18:27 When we are persecuted, we endure. When we are slandered, we try to reconcile. We have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things even until now. You know what the dregs of all things are? When you make a cup of coffee and some 18:44 dregs remained on that, what do you do with that? You still think, "Ah, I want to eat the dregs." The leftovers. A little bit of ground coffee didn't get filtered properly. It got left over in the cup. What do you do? You just toss 18:57 it into the trash. That's Paul. That's how he thought about himself. And that's why he was the most effective man after Jesus Christ, I believe, in the history of mankind. Do you want to be effective, dear brother, dear sister, husbands, wives, 19:12 children. The world will tell you to pursue the big examples of those who become rich and famous. And I pray that it'll be true about every single person that's come through RLCF or considers themselves a part of RLCF, that we're seeking to be the 19:26 drags. That RLCF be the church that everybody says, "Oh, there's this church and that church and another thing." And they forget to mention even us. We're not seeking to be known in this town or this state or in the country or anything like 19:37 that. Let God be the one who allows us to have an influence. And we must have an influence, but we don't seek a reputation. We're the drags. We think of ourselves as the drags, and then God can use us. So, this is the verse I wanted you to 19:52 see though, verse 7. "Who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive?" 1 Corinthians 4:7, a very important verse for us to remember through this year. Everything you have received is given by God. 20:09 And anything that's of value, if you think you've gotten it in your own strength, it's not going to be a value. What Whatever you have, you have received. Whatever you have, you have received. And I think of it like this, that there 20:27 are two types of Christians in the world, those who are trying to produce the life of Christ, like I was saying earlier. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 4. There are two types of Christians in this world, and they're represented, I 20:39 think, by these two men that you see in Genesis chapter 4. Those who are trying to produce the life of Christ, saying, "I'm going to do it better. I'll be a better husband. I'll be a better wife. I'm going to try harder, and I'm going to 20:52 by hook or by crook, I'm going to be a better Christian this year. That's my New Year's resolution." And they fail. And the second group of Christians are those who are receiving the life of Christ. Simply receiving it. 21:06 And they recognize that I did nothing to deserve this. I did nothing to to deserve that I am the husband that I am, or the wife that I am, or the hus- or the father, or the mother that I am, or the brother, or the employee, or 21:18 whatever. I didn't work hard to be that person. The follower of Jesus that I am today. It was simply given to me. Those are the people who receive the life of Christ. And you see that here as a picture in the difference between Cain 21:33 and Seth. Cain was the firstborn. And the attitude that Eve had when she gave birth to Cain, even in his name, look at what it says in Genesis 4:1. The man had relations with his wife, Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to 21:49 Cain, and she said, "I have I've done it." And in a sense, you could almost say that she said, "God, you produced the first man, Adam. I produced the second man, Cain, just like you did. See, I'm like Christ, too. See how I died in that 22:07 situation, and I denied myself. Jesus denied himself. I did it, too. Look at my Christ-likeness. This is the root of all religiosity. Cain represents religiosity. He offered a sacrifice to God and was proud of it. It says God had 22:24 no regard for Cain, and that's why he rejected his sacrifice. He saw in Cain this spirit of, "Look, God, I have given you a an offering. Aren't you happy with it? I brought it by the toil, by the sweat of my brow, I produced this this fruit of the ground, 22:42 this wheat, or this whatever produce from the ground he brought. And he I imagine in in Cain's thoughts, there were, "Oh, I I tilled the ground really well, and then I watered it, and I watched over it, and I cared for it. And 22:54 then, when these bugs came, I pushed them away. And look, God, I brought this tremendous harvest for you, and I've laid it on the altar." And there was nothing wrong with the fact that God that he brought grain. It was what God saw in Cain's heart that 23:08 it was a producing of the sacrifice that God rejected. And may it never be that we have an attitude of coming to God like I've produced this selfish unselfishness or this patience or this love or this forgiveness 23:27 or this kindness or this mercy I showed somebody and I look back and say, "Ah, I was merciful in that situation." And I sit with my shoulders up because I'm something. Or God uses you to be a blessing to somebody in the church or you share a 23:41 word that is prophetic and it's an anointed word and you it's an encouragement to others and you sit there and think, "I said it and they quoted me." This is the way it is in the world. Don't desire to be quoted. Don't desire to even say something. Be a 23:56 nobody. This was the root of religiosity. Seth on the other hand, after You know what the result of that was? Cain killed his brother Abel. Quickly sin evil comes into the world. And then after that Eve heard learns her lesson. You read in 24:15 verse 25, "Adam had relations with his wife again and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth for she said, 'God has given. God has appointed.' Now it's God. Now, I'm not trying to give Eve more credit or give her more blame. I just 24:31 believe there's a there's something represented here and you go on to read what it says, "God has appointed for me another offspring in place of Abel for Cain killed him." To set to him also a son was born and he called his name 24:42 Enosh. And then it says this, "Then men began to call the name of the Lord." To call upon the name of the Lord or my margin says be called by the name of the Lord. That's the literal meaning there. The it's not we this church or that church or my 25:01 religiosity my spiritual it is the name of the Lord. Whose are you? What church are you? Where Jesus Christ? That's it. Yeah, we have a name so people can know where to find us but the name of the Lord. That's what one that's what we 25:14 want to be known by. Then men began to be called by the name of the Lord. Not by the name of Cain. Not even by the name of Abel. It says that Jesus Christ has offered a sacrifice his blood is greater even than the blood of Abel's. The blood of Abel 25:30 was good to a certain extent but it cried out for revenge. The blood of Jesus Christ speaks louder and we want to be known by the blood of Christ. We want to be known by that name. That when they come into our meetings and they see we exalt Jesus more than 25:45 anything else. It's not our programs. It's not this or that. It's not anything of an earthly value that we can offer to people but simply this. They they esteem Jesus. When they come into our homes whether we play games or 25:58 have conversations or sing or have a meeting or or just eat a meal together these people are taken up with Jesus. Not ministry. See there's a there's a there's a subtle difference there. Cain was taken up with ministry. That's 26:11 religiosity. I'm doing this for the Lord and I'm doing that other thing though for the Lord and I have this meeting and I gave the gospel here or I did this and do that. What are you doing for the Lord? I said some may say I'm just raising a 26:21 godly home. But I'm known by the name of the Lord and I want every one of my children to be known by the name of the Lord. I want our marriage to be known by the name of the Lord. Seek for this. This is true worship. And the difference between 26:36 religiosity and spirituality is this. Outwardly it looks the same I think in many ways. You might go into one church and to another church. One is religious the other is spiritual and you may think well there's not much difference. They 26:49 they kind of yeah the songs they sing similar songs. they they speak similar messages, but there's something different and you'll only know it by the taste. There's a verse you know in Psalm 34:8, have you seen that verse? 27:04 How do you know that the Lord is good? You know, when God is good, he doesn't just say I'm good. He doesn't just proclaim it from heaven. He says Psalm 34, a man, David, writes, God is so good that you can taste that he's good. 27:22 Psalm 34:8, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." He doesn't just say, "Believe me when I say the Lord is good." Or trust me, take my word for it. You who are hearing me, David says, you taste the Lord himself. However you 27:39 However that is. Now, in the Old Testament, it was only through his word. That's why he could write Psalm 119, which is the longest chapter in the Bible. And in that he talks about the the precepts of the Lord and the law of the 27:51 Lord and he's precious and you can tell it's coming from a man who's not just set out as a goal to write the wrong longest chapter in in the Bible. I mean, can you imagine that David said, "I want to write the longest chapter in 28:04 the Bible, so I'm going to write Psalm 119." No, that's not what he set out to do. He said, "I've tasted the Lord. He's so good." And the extent to which he could know God was through his word at that time cuz Jesus had not yet come. 28:17 But he's so good that I want to keep writing and I want to keep writing and I want to keep writing. 176 times he wrote a verse to talk about the goodness of the Lord. And now he says, "Come and taste and see, the Lord is good. He is good." 28:31 Now, our standard in the new covenant is much higher than David had. We don't just read the Bible and say, "Oh, the Lord is good." He says the word has become flesh and dwelt among us and we have touched him and tasted him. 28:44 Is a sense that I get from John. John got to physically touch Jesus, but he was talking about something much more than that. Through the Holy Spirit, this is why we must seek for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy 28:57 Spirit, the taste of Jesus becomes real to me. He's not just something I preach about and know about and I know all the wonderful things he's done for me, but the Holy Spirit has come within me and disclosed to me the things of Jesus and 29:10 I have taken a bite of his life. And I'm experiencing it. This is the difference. And I believe if you have discernment, I desire that we will be a more discerning. You can spend 5 minutes with somebody 29:28 and taste of their Christianity and know whether it's real or not. Let me use an analogy. I have here an apple. Do you believe that it's an apple? You should because it looks like one. It's a very good apple. And here's another one. That's not an 29:45 apple. This is one. They're different colors. But this is supposed to be an apple and you might look at it from a distance and even touch it and these days they can make apples that are fake to feel realistic. In fact, as I touch this 30:00 it feels quite real. It's just a toy. But I bet if I can imagine that if somebody wanted to imitate a real apple, they could make it feel so good, so soft and perfect like an apple until you take a bite into it. And then you realize it's not. A real 30:18 life. That's what the apple represents here. Real life cannot be duplicate, cannot be created. You can't create this with human strength or human ability. Only God can. You can put a seed in the ground, you can water it and you could take care of 30:35 that apple tree, but the production of apples like this takes life, takes creation. Life in that seed, can't create life. Man has been trying. They've come up with realistic robots and been able to replicate and, you know, test tube babies. All these things 30:52 science is doing a lot of amazing things seemingly, but there's one thing they will never be able to do and that's create life from scratch. Only God can do that. And it's the same with the Christian life. It's the same with the life of 31:04 Christ. No matter how much I as a good man as a good disciple try to produce the life of Christ in me, it's impossible. It will It could look really good. And the Pharisees, Jesus said, "Do as they say, but not as they do because they don't 31:21 have it." Once you actually take a bite into it, you realize it's not real. And so think about it, dear brothers and sisters, if people take a bite into your life spiritually, what are they tasting? Is it real? You can't fake it. You can't 31:39 say, "Well, I've got the right doctrines and I know I've listened to this sermon and let me point you to that other sermon and I know what this means and what that other thing means." But then they come and taste in your marriage and they taste in your 31:51 home and they taste of your children and the way you're raising them and they taste about the goals that you've set and they realize, man, yeah, the language is there, but it doesn't taste good. There's something missing. 32:05 Doesn't taste like an apple. And I have a longing with everything within me. Now, there will be people who will be offended over the fact that we stand for the truth. People may be offended by the by upholding the standards of Christ, 32:20 but in our spirit they must see a gentleness. Little Let your gentle spirit be known to all. Why? Because the Lord is near. Says in Philippians 4, "Let your gentleness be known." And when they interact with you, even though they see you like a lion at times 32:37 when you preach the truth, when they actually spend time with you, realize you're a lamb. This was Jesus. Chasing the money changers out of the temple, but when you sat with him and you really had a hunger to be lowly and 32:48 you were in need, like Mary Magdalene found and the prostitutes and the tax gatherers found, he was gentle with them. That woman caught in adultery, he was gentle with her. He I imagine maybe he put his arm around her and says, "I 33:02 don't condemn you. Go and sin no more." The lion and the lamb. You know, this is Jesus said in Matthew 5:13 that you are the salt of the earth and if salt has lost its savor, what good are you? What good is it? You say I'm the salt. 33:18 You say we are new covenant. You say we uphold this and we uphold that truth and we're seeking to follow Jesus, but when they when you actually put when you're actually put into the food in the world, there's no taste. You look just like the world. You act 33:32 just like the world. The things that captivate your attention are just like the rest of the world. So, there's this tasteless white powder that's getting put in the world and you say I'm salt and you put the two in and doesn't doesn't taste. 33:46 I've never tasted salt that's lost its savor, but apparently there is such a thing. Jesus said it's possible. Sometimes you can tell that salt is not quite as salty, certain brands of salt. They cheapened it by mixing in something 33:59 else. Maybe they put a little bit of stone in there, too. And so, the overall effect, no matter how much you grind it, you put it's salt mixed with a little bit of stone as well. Fine stone, sand, white sand. And then you put a bunch of that and you 34:13 taste it and you realize, man, it didn't have any effect on the food. Jesus warned us in Matthew 5:13, "You are the salt of the earth, but a lot of people memorize you are the salt of the earth, that's it. You're the salt of the earth, but you what was 34:28 Jesus' point in saying that you are the salt of the earth, make sure the taste is there. If the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? Um remember that miracle that Jesus did, which is another wonderful picture of 34:44 the life, the new covenant life of Christ. It says, um in Cana, John chapter 2. You know, Jesus put He had them put water and filled the water cups water jugs up. And then he did a miracle and the water was immediately turned to 35:03 wine. And then he said, "Go give it to the head waiter." And it says, when the head waiter tasted the water, it doesn't say that he tasted the wine. It says he tasted the water. That means I think it looked like water. Now, that's my opinion. 35:23 Um you know, it says it had become wine. So, I don't know. May I I don't want to make a theological point of for this. Maybe it looked red, I don't know. But, it says he tasted the water, which had become wine. And he knew. He tasted it. And so, 35:38 whether the water whether the wine looks red or looks transparent is not the point. And I believe there's a spiritual principle there that each of us may be called to look a little bit different. Our gifts may be different. And you may 35:49 think I look like water and that person looks like wine. And no wonder everybody's drinking that. We say, "Lord, it's not about how I look. It's not about the calling that you have for my life and what my family looks like or how many children I have or what 36:03 I do for a living or this or that. No. This is what the world is taken up with. This is what religious Christians are taken up with. What things look like on the outside. Let them taste of you. If you have one child, uh let them taste of how God has called 36:19 you to raise that one child in the fear of God. As opposed to whether he gives you more. You know, a lot of Christians even make a big deal about large families. You know, there is a blessing in large families, but how many children you have 36:31 or don't have is in the hands of the Lord. Let him decide how big your quiver is. Just make sure it's full. That's all he says. If God has planned for you to have a full quiver of three children, make sure it's full. That every single one of 36:43 those three children is following the Lord. And if your quiver consists of one arrow and it's full, make sure it's full. That that one child God gives you is following the Lord raised up in the fear of God. So, it's not about how it looks, 36:56 but that it tastes. The they taste like the goodness of God. Um and so it's like this fruit, you know, um remember what John said in the next chapter we read in John chapter 3. John the Baptist said this. John chapter 3 we read in verse 27. 37:15 Here too, you know, the the disciples of John John was an amazingly godly man. Especially given the fact that he was under the old covenant, did not have the Holy Spirit living within him like we do. He had the Holy Spirit upon him, and yet 37:28 there was a tremendous nothingness about John. He says in verse 30, "I must decrease. I must decrease, and he must increase." John was seeking to go low, and he recognized his calling. My job is to push up Jesus. And if God has called me to do it in a 37:45 way that is less visible than somebody else, that's great. We're all called to push up Jesus. That's it. If God calls you to cause Jesus to increase in this church in a hidden way, do it in a decreasing way. If God calls you to share something, do 38:02 it in a way that increases Jesus but having low thoughts about yourself. John the Baptist got it. And his disciples were the factional type. Faction means they had groups. Oh, they're going, you know, they say, "Hey, John, that person whom 38:17 you who came after you, people are going to him to get baptized instead of coming to you now. You know You know why nobody's coming to your church anymore, John the Baptist? Because they're going over there to meet with Jesus. 38:29 And John wasn't jealous. At this time at least he wasn't. And he wasn't saying, "Oh, well. Well, how come, you know, this or that?" He says, "My job is just to exalt Jesus." So, he says in verse 27, "A man can receive nothing unless it 38:43 has been given him from heaven." He recognized that if the anointing of God And by the way, I'm not talking about quantity. I'm talking about the quality. If you see the anointing of God over somebody else in the church 38:55 uh and a and a ministry that God gives somebody for a particular calling, don't be jealous over it. Don't say, "Oh, I wish I could do that like he does." Say, "A man can receive nothing except it's given from above. If God has given them 39:08 that gift and given them that calling, it's given from above. I recognize it. And God has given me something from above, and I want to make sure that I'm living in that, and that the circle that God has drawn around me is full, 39:20 whatever that circle is." And in heaven we'll realize that there were many people who had such tremendous gifts, but they weren't They did it They didn't do it in a way that was of being a nobody. And somebody else I love to pick on 39:34 housewives. Cuz they are, you know, sometimes you fill out these these um forms where they ask the husband, "What do you do?" And you say, "This is what I do." And then it says, "Wife, what do you do?" Homemaker is also there. It's almost 39:46 there as an afterthought. Oh, homemaker. Oh, okay. You don't make any money, right? That's the way the world looks at homemakers. And I believe there are going to be homemakers who are first in heaven. I wouldn't be surprised if there are at 39:59 the right hand of Jesus, right and the left hand of Jesus, two homemakers. Not because you All of us may not be called to be homemakers. I recognize that. But there are ones who saw their calling in life, and they were so taken up with that. 40:14 They don't want jealous about the other person who had that calling, and the other person has that other calling. And for you sisters, so much of the world is getting you to be taken up with being preachers and being this and being 40:22 something great in the eyes of the world. And you have such a tremendous calling to be a servant like Jesus was a servant. Like Jesus is a servant even today. It says that when we get to heaven, he will gird up his loins to serve us. 40:37 Do you want to be at the right hand and the left hand of Jesus serving others even in heaven? Then you're ready. Let's follow him that way. Let's all seek to be homemakers. Irrespective of what our job title is. Let's seek to be winners of the bread of 40:53 heaven, whether we're breadwinners in terms of this earth or not. Breadwinners for heaven. That's my job title. So, he goes on to say verse 31, "He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is from the earth and 41:06 speaks of the earth." Uh verse 34, "For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure." We've heard this verse often. He gives the spirit without measure, but what is the context? Why does God give the 41:21 spirit without measure? So that Christ might be exalted. Don't skip to verse 34 where we're seeking for the anointing of the Holy Spirit without first going to verse 30 that says, "He must increase." If it is the burden, if it's the desire 41:34 of your heart that Jesus Christ might increase in this church more and in your home more and in your marriage more and in your job place more, then he will fill you with the Holy Spirit. And I know that for years I missed the 41:46 true anointing. I got gifts, I got tongues, I got a lot of other things, I got emotional stirring, but I lacked the anointing of God over my life, which made Jesus tasteful and made the Christ in me tasteful to others as well. Until I became a nobody 42:00 and say, "Lord Jesus, I have one ambition in life alone and that is to be pleasing to you." That That people may taste Christ in me, not a little bit of Santosh and some Christ. No. Nothing of Santosh. Oh, Santosh tastes horrible. He really does. 42:15 There's death in him. Christ is tasty. And I want every bite that people taste of me and in my marriage and my home and in this church to be tasty. That's why I want to decrease more that Christ might increase. And so in order for us to receive, let's 42:32 continue. I'll finish this chapter. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has the same thing that the Father gave to the Son and the Son has given to him. He says it, clarifies it in John chapter 5 a few 42:48 verses later. The Father has all things. And he's given it into Jesus. Look at the position that Jesus took. He didn't come here strong in his own strength or as God. He emptied himself and says, "Father, I'm going to live in such a way 43:00 that whatever I have, you must give me." This is what John the Baptist was saying about Jesus. What do you have, Jesus? Nothing. Oh, oh, can you heal the sick? Yeah, that's because the Father gave me that ability. Can you cast out a demon? Yeah, because 43:13 the Father gave that me. I Nothing of Jesus. That's the mentality Jesus had. The Father, the Father, the Father, the Father, the Father. And now he says, "As the Father has sent me, so send I you." So that Christ would be exalted. And I 43:29 ask I I I say, "Seek for the power of the Holy Spirit," Jesus says, "so that Christ can be exalted. He will testify of me. He will exalt me." Does God give you a gift? I don't think any of us has cast out demons or performed 43:41 miracles. I've heard preachers boast about miracles they did or this or that. I can tell that they don't know God. They don't really have the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Because when the anointing is there, you want to speak less about yourself and 43:52 what you've done. And you want to exalt Jesus. You want to lift him up in such a way that people are drawn to to know him. Not to know what miracles you've done and some other thing you've done. They know Jesus. They taste Jesus in you. He 44:05 says, "Wow, I spent 5 minutes with him and all he could talk about was Jesus, not what he did for Jesus." And that's the man I want to follow. That's why I follow Paul. That's why I have set as an example for myself men 44:16 and women who, as I taste of their life, whether I read about it in a biography or hear a message that they preached or know them in person, I see that they have set Christ as everything for them. And the more I taste of them and listen to their 44:30 sermons, the more I'm tasting Christ and less of them. That's why we are careful about who we listen to as preachers cuz not everybody's preaching Christ. Not everybody tastes like Christ. He who believes in the Son has eternal 44:44 life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. How do we receive this power? I'd like to close with that. I'm going to show you five things that I thought of. Let's turn to 44:57 James chapter 4. A man can receive nothing except that it is given him. You can receive nothing unless it's given to you. Do you want the life of Christ? You could try all you want. You could read your Bible, you could fast and pray, you could grit your 45:14 teeth and you could try and try and try and try and try and try, and you will receive nothing. A man can receive nothing. That's a promise. You will receive nothing. But if God gives it to you, then you have something. A man can receive nothing except 45:29 Have you read the verse that way? A man can receive nothing. A man can receive nothing. A man can receive nothing. A woman can receive nothing. Everybody will receive nothing except the one whom God gives it to. And so now you see, like Paul said, 45:42 "What do you have that you haven't received?" I hope that with every day this year, it will be the testimony of my life. This day, whatever I had of this day, it was just given to me. I had a little bit more of Christ today. 45:57 That's my goal. And I'm going to I want to be able to say at the end of my life, it was just simply given to me. I did nothing to deserve it. I didn't try harder to be a better husband or better wife or better brother or better elder or better 46:09 employee. No. I just went to God and he gave it to me. I was a better husband today. I was a better father today. I was a better brother today. I was a better disciple of Jesus Christ today simply because God gave it to me. Gave me that life. 46:24 Think about what of how much of the life of Christ you will have 365 days from now. If 365 times you said, "Whatever I had today was just given to me." 365 times. And not just 365 times, every minute of every day. Oh, by the end of 2022, you will really 46:44 have this. But people will bite into it and taste it and see, "Wow, that's tasty." This is who Jesus was. So, if you want it, if there's a longing in your heart for this, let me show you God's word. James chapter 4, he says, 46:59 first of all, don't compare yourself with others or quarrel. Refuse to fight with anybody. Anybody wants to pick a fight with you, argue about this and even doctrinal arguments, well, I don't like this or I don't like that. Just just pull back. We don't want 47:16 to fight. Somebody criticizes the way you follow Christ or criticizes the stance you take. Criticisms we receive against this church sometimes, we just say, "We don't want to fight. We'll just We don't want to quarrel." Why? Because we want the 47:27 life of Christ. The life of Christ is the number one qualification disqualification for receiving the life of Christ is if you qual- if you quarrel with others or you compare yourself with others. He says verse one, James 4, "What is the 47:42 source of quarrels and conflicts among you?" He says he's writing to churches, to Christians. He's not writing to Christians fighting with unbelievers. It's Christians fighting amongst themselves, within a church. Like the church in Corinth we read, 47:59 is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. Now, he's not talking about people bringing swords or 48:13 guns and shooting each other in church. No, they committed murder with their tongue. They gathered in homes privately and spoke evil about the others or spoke evil about somebody else or criticized this in secret. They committed murder out of envy and 48:26 jealousy and a quarreling mentality. What's going on in James' day is going on today as well. He says, "Because you're jealous, you don't have, and so you look at somebody else that has, whether it's a ministry or the job they have or the wife they 48:38 have or the husband they have or the house they have or the the the abilities have, the health they have. You think, 'Why How come I'm the one that's always sick?'" You're envious of others. So, you quarrel and you're jealous and 48:51 you cannot obtain. So, decide first of all that this year will be a year where I never compare myself with others and I never quarrel with others. If you don't compare yourself with others, you won't quarrel. There's no reason to quarrel because 49:05 I have a calling in life. God has determined the the boundary around me. I'm going to make sure I stay within that boundary, and the reward in heaven will be rich. It will be equal. I'll tell you this. There will be people I'm absolutely 49:19 convinced of this, absolutely convinced of this. There will be people who will have a greater reward in heaven that had a smaller circle drawn around them in terms of earthly ministry. And they'll have a greater reward in 49:31 heaven. And there will be others who had a larger circle on this earth, but have a smaller reward in heaven because they didn't fulfill the circle the the circle of their responsibility completely. So, don't be envious of somebody else who has a 49:45 greater circle because they've got more to They'll be held accountable for. To whom more is given, more is required. And if God has given you a small circle, be content with that. Be thankful for that and say, "Lord, the reward you give 49:57 me is simply to hear, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You did what you could. You've done all that I asked you to do.' I drew a small circle and you were faithful within that." And somebody else who was famous in the 50:07 eyes of the world will will say, "Well, Lord, look at this big circle you drew around me." And he'll say, "Yes, but I saw that you only colored this little bit." Or you didn't color it at all because what you did was wood, hay, and straw. 50:20 It was done for your own sake and for your own name and for your own glory. And it got burned up. And so, you got this big circle, but there's nothing colored in it. It got burned up. And there's this little housewife, again, I'm going to pick on a housewife 50:33 who said, "Lord, you drew a small circle. You gave me a few children to take care of and a husband to love and to teach other sisters how to love their husbands and to be keepers at home, Titus chapter 2." And I did that faithfully, Lord. He 50:45 says, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master." These are the only words that keep me going. Lord, I want to hear you say that. So, don't quarrel or compare yourself with others. Secondly, 50:58 he says, "You do not have because you don't ask." Having decided that you're not going to compare yourself or with or quarrel with others, now you must ask. If you just think, "Well, Lord, you didn't give me any any gifts, so I'm 51:10 just going to sit here." No, ask. If you struggle with knowing what is your function in this church, dear brother, dear sister, dear child, there's a simple word, number two, ask. Live in a constant state of seeking. Lord, why did you call me and plant me 51:27 into River of Life Christian Fellowship as a local expression of your body? Why? Not just to sit here and spend my whole days wondering, "Well, Lord, I'm just here. I'm along for the ride." I'll tell you this, there's nobody who's along for 51:38 the ride. There shouldn't be anybody in this church. 100% builders. That That's a wonderful church where everybody's building up. Not people who are just going to along. Yeah, it's I I this is where I sit on Sunday morning. 51:52 No such thing. There's nobody who's just sitting at RLCF. Be a builder, your brother, your sister. Be a part of that. Now, doesn't mean that you have to preach or anything like that. Carry a burden for the church in your heart. Pray for others. 52:04 Intercede for others. Let the Lord plant a burden for this group of believers that he's placed you in. That's what it means to be a member here. Yes, you might have a burden for others as well, but there should be a specific burden in 52:14 the same way that he's given you a family, a husband, a wife, and children that you carry a burden for. You don't have to try to do that. It's there. And so, same in the same way, there's a specific burden God wants to plant in 52:28 your heart for this local expression of your of his body. That's why he's planted you here. That's why you can say, "I love the brother whom I see." And that's how you know that I love God. The taste of Christ's love is there because you can 52:41 see the practical ways and the ways of self-denial in the ways which I give up myself for my husband, my wife, my children, the brothers and sisters he's placed me around, and others around in that increasing measure. But you must 52:53 ask. I want to tell you my honest testimony. This last year, the last two or three years, I would say, has has been characterized in my life by this constant seeking, where it used to be constant trying before that. I was trying to be a Christian, trying 53:11 to be a Christian, trying to be a Christian. Now, it's constant seeking. I remember this um I was somewhere traveling once and somebody said, "Hey, you have a few children and can you give us some advice on parenting?" I said, "I'm sorry, I can't." 53:26 I told him I told them, there's a group of people who were sitting there. I said, "If you had come to me 13 years ago when I had only one child, I could have given you a lot of advice." I only had Olivia, and I could have 53:38 given you lots of advice of how to be a godly father and a godly parent. But now I have had six and I tell you this only one piece of advice I say, make it your prayer, Lord, help me. That's the advice I'll give you to be a 53:52 godly father and a godly parent. Lord, help me. And I I reflected back on how I would hold my older children and had all these prayers, Lord, they're going to do this and they're going to be like that and all these things. 54:04 And they were long prayers I prayed for my children. I still pray some long prayers, but my prayers are much shorter now. Lord, help me. I just need your help, Lord. I don't know what tomorrow's going to look like because I've learned from experience 54:16 that as much as you say, well, Lord, tomorrow's going to look like this in how I'm going to be a husband and a father and then you get to tomorrow and realize it looked nothing like that. And you tried and you tried and you 54:26 tried and then you finally gave up and says, Lord, I'm going to seek your face. Lord, help me. I'm a I believe maybe you can check with Megan afterwards if I am, but I I believe I'm a better husband today and a better father today because I'm not 54:41 trying as hard. I'm just going to God with my face in the dust and say, Lord, help me. And when I fail, I want to be quick to apologize and to quick to set things right and say, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Lord, help me. 54:54 So my prayer is to be a better husband and father even as an elder in the church. I tell you I had long prayers I would pray before the Lord, I want to be like this as an elder. I want to be like that as an elder. I want to be like do 55:04 this and do that to reach the lost and to do this to reach the lost. Now it's simply, Lord, help me. Show me. What would you have me do? You know, this was the prayer Paul prayed. He says, Lord, what would you have me do? That's it. Not I want to do this and 55:17 I want to do the other thing. That was before he was converted. He says, I'm going to be most zealous Jew there was. I'm going to be so zealous I'm going to persecute the enemies of God who he thought were the enemies of God. 55:28 Then he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and his prayer was immediately changed to not from Lord, I'm going to do this for you. I'm going to do that other thing. Lord, what would you have me do? Help me. That was the man who was so effective. 55:41 So, live in a state of constant seeking. A constant state of seeking, seeking, seeking, seeking, seeking. Seek and keep on seeking, you will find. It'll just be given to you. You'll wake up one morning and realize they're tasting the life of Christ in 55:56 you. You didn't try anything. You did this for years and nothing happened. And then you started seeking. God says, "Lord, I'm going to lay a hold of you and I'm not going to let go of you until you give me this. I'm not going to 56:06 settle for anything that looks good." You know, the artificial fruit looks better. Look at this. This is perfect. This has got some smudges on it, a few uh overripe spots. There will be some flaws in you, but it's real. 56:19 And I would take this 100 times out of 100, even if I have to cut off a little bit of a spot that's overripe. Until I'm conformed into the image of Jesus fully, there will be parts of me that people will taste and say, "Man, 56:31 that didn't taste good." And I'm say, "I'm sorry. Yeah, you're right. I'm not yet there, honey. But I want to, and I will never go back to this. Artificial. So, live in a constant state of seeking. Verse three. Number three. Uh which is 56:46 verse three. Your motive Make it your motive to only seek the glory of Christ. Not to be known as a godly man or a godly woman. Not to be known as this or that. Your only goal is to seek the glory of Christ. See, he says in verse 57:04 three you verse three of James 4, "You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures." He's not talking about lusting and all these things. He's He's talking about asking for 57:17 good things. And I've been convicted about asking God for a good thing so that I can spend it on my pleasures. Give you an example. There was a time when I sought for the baptism of the Holy Spirit so that you would know, not 57:32 you, but people I knew would know that I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. And you would know, "Ah, there's a spiritual person." To be known as a spiritual person. That's a wrong motive. Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit and 57:43 even if nobody else realizes that you filled me with the Holy Spirit, I want Jesus to be exalted. I want the glory of God in my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit for that reason. Do you think God will not fill you if that's your purified motive? 57:57 Lord, I don't want to be a better preacher. I don't want to be a better this or better that or anything. Simply, Lord, that you might receive the glory from MY LIFE. POUR OUT YOUR HOLY SPIRIT UPON ME. Let this be your motive. You 58:08 ask because you and don't receive because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you will spend this good thing that you want me to give you on your own pleasures. Number four. Don't doubt God at all. He says in chapter one, 58:27 James chapter one verse five, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Says again, "Ask, but he must ask in faith without any doubting." 58:45 So you cry, I know there were times when I cried out for the fullness of the Holy Spirit and I doubted. I says, "Lord, I just have a feeling you're not going to give it to me somehow. I'm just not good enough or I failed that way or 58:57 um I don't know. I've asked you so many times and you haven't, so it's just going to be like that." Don't doubt. No matter how many times have you asked God for that which you know is His will and even even if you're unsure if it's God's 59:11 will. For example, healing. We ask for healing. We don't know if God is always going to heal. He doesn't always heal. But we ask every time without doubting. That's the important thing. I don't doubt what? That God loves me. 59:24 He's my father. He knows what's best for me. He must ask in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Oh, God didn't answer. So, I'm going to give up. I'm going to try that other 59:39 thing. Then you come back and says, "Well, let me try God again." No, he didn't answer. So, I give up. Ask and keep on asking without doubting. I pray that if there's a burden God lays on your heart, maybe you're asking for 59:51 the conversion of a relative. And you think, "Well, Lord, I've been asking for that loved one for years and they haven't broken yet. You have They haven't broken yet. Keep asking. Go back in faith." That we know is God's will. 1:00:02 God is not willing. There's that word will. You want to know what God's will is. He's not willing that any should perish, not even one, but that all should come to the knowledge of salvation. Second Peter 3, verse 9. God 1:00:13 That's God's will. So, if you're praying for the salvation of a loved one, keep praying. I love the testimony of George Müller. Had five people that God laid on his heart. As far as I know, one of them was born again in his lifetime. The 1:00:25 remaining four or something like that happened after he died or maybe it was two in his lifetime. And the others, his prayers outlived his life. Are you willing to pray such a prayer? God heard the prayer. It was sealed in 1:00:37 heaven who's with the eternal God. And then George Müller died and the physical evidence of that prayer was not answered, but he didn't doubt until his last day. Can you imagine George Müller on his deathbed thinking about these 1:00:49 remaining three, I think it was, or remaining two, I forget. Do you think he doubted? I don't think he did. He says, "Lord, I'm about to die. I'm about to see your face to face, but you have to answer that prayer." It was a prayer of faith. You put that 1:01:01 burden on my heart. Can we pray for our loved ones that way? With such faith. He says, "Lord, I I don't even need to see how you're going to work out the answer, but you're going to. I'm going to pray in such faith. Don't doubt. 1:01:16 Um Yeah. Um and then the last thing I'll say and that is this, verse five. Guard. Once God gives it to you, guard it. Once he gives you the life of Christ, guard it. Be vigilant over it. See this verse in 1 Timothy chapter six. 1:01:36 God will give. He will pour out his life upon you. He will give you the Holy Spirit. But once you receive it, it's possible to lose it. There's two ways to lose the Holy Spirit, I believe, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. 1:01:46 One is the quick way and that is the way of pride. They like There's two ways to dump a bucket. One is to take it and turn it upside down. You will always receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit if you're humble. That is this cup that's upside that's right 1:02:00 side up. If you're humble, God will always fill it. The moment you become pri- proud, in a moment, I'm not going to flip this over, but because the water's going to spill. But in a moment that if I was outside, I would do it. 1:02:12 The moment you become proud, this cup is upside down and everything that is there, the anointing in a moment is gone. It happened. That's how the Satan became the devil. Satan became the devil. In a moment he was lifted up. 1:02:25 The one who had the most gift became the devil himself in a moment, instantly. The sure way to lose the anointing of the Holy Spirit in a moment is to think that you're something, that you're a somebody. Immediately God takes your 1:02:37 cup, turns it upside down and says, "You're my enemy now." God resists the proud. But he gives grace, the spirit of grace, to his to the humble. They're like cups that are right side up. He says, "Fill it, Lord. Fill it." 1:02:50 So, that's the first way to lose the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The other way is to put a little hole in the bottom. Put a little hole. It may take a little longer, but the anointing will slowly be drained away. And one of the ways that Paul says that 1:03:02 you can lose the anointing, 1 Timothy chapter six, verse 20, he says, 1 Timothy 6 verse 20, "Oh Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Guard it." Yes, guard it with humility, but also make sure there's no holes at the 1:03:16 bottom. Guard what has been entrusted to you by what? Avoiding worldly and empty chatter. Are you a chatterbox? There's some chatterboxes in the world, even in Christendom. They just love to chat. I got this to say about that and I 1:03:33 got something else to say about the other thing and then something else to say about the other thing. Oh, God spoke this to me and here I'm going to give you the whole sermon that he gave me and chatterboxes, chatterboxes, 1:03:41 chatterboxes. So, sure way to lose the anointing. Little hole. You may think, well, you know, what what was the point of saying that? Gossip. Why does the New Testament speak so much about gossip? Why do we speak about gossip so much in 1:03:53 this church? It's not, you know, slander is one thing when you speak evil of others. Gossip when you say stuff that's not necessarily evil, but it's just juicy information. Just oh, did you hear about so-and-so or this little piece of they they they they 1:04:06 got engaged or okay, so what? Let them be the one to announce it. Why do you we have to be the one to spread the news, whether it's bad news or good news? This empty chatter, worldly and empty chatter. I tell you in the last couple of years 1:04:21 I've seen so many Christians are taken up with the government and this and the pandemic and the vaccine and all that stuff. Now, what position you take on that is up to you. You follow your convictions, but don't get drawn into 1:04:32 chatter because you'll lose the anointing. That's that's a sure way to get taken up with all these things that are going on in religious Christendom. You lose the anointing. There was a man uh a godly monk in the old 1400s, I think. His name was Savonarola, 1:04:48 an Italian monk. And I heard a quote by him. He says, um and it was quoted by Richard Wurmbrand in a book that he wrote called In God's Underground. It's a wonderful book. He quotes Savonarola Savonarola in saying that um 1:05:04 um if the mouth is too much open, it loses the heat, uh the the fire in the in the heart, In the same way that a an open door that that room will quickly lose its heat through an open door. I completely butchered the quote, but 1:05:21 you have to read sometimes. That's the essence of what he said. He says, "Just like if you open the door and you have the heat running, you know, it's a common phrase in our perhaps the most commonly spoken word in the Poot-Poot home is 1:05:34 shut the front door, the heat is on." Shut the front door, the heat is on. Especially when the kids are trying to go in and out and play and this Shut the front door, the heat is on. It's a good phrase to put into practice 1:05:45 this year. Shut the front door. The heat is on. Shut the front door, the heat is on. Avoid worldly chatter. It's empty. And so, even if you say what is good. Now, you might say, "Well, what I said was nothing wrong. It was something 1:06:01 meant to be good, but God didn't ask you to say that." I I'm I'm trying to be I'll tell you, my natural temperament is is to say a lot. And sometimes God calls me to do that, but I'm trying to wind that down a little bit. And when 1:06:15 God says something and speaks something to my heart, says, "Lord, my my natural instinct should be to shut my mouth." Be slow to speak and quick to listen. And then before you say it, send it through the fire a second time, and a 1:06:29 third time, and a fourth time, and a fifth time, and a sixth time. And each time it's getting less and less and less and less. What happens when you send something through the fire? You end up with less than you started out with. 1:06:38 It's always true. And it says, "The words of the Lord are like refined like silver refined by the fire seven times." If you want to speak the words of the Lord this year, send it through the fire seven times, and you'll find that you 1:06:51 have sometimes nothing. Cuz you come and realize every single word I was going to say was myself. It was more of this, and I refined it and refined it and refined it, and then all I ended up with is a small little apple, 1:07:04 much smaller than anything I could have come up with, or nothing at all. And God says, "Now go back and I'm going to speak. That was just for you." And you go back and and he gives you another word, and you refine it, refine 1:07:14 it, and then there's a little one sentence. Or it's simply saying, "Hey, I read this verse and it blessed me." And you let the Holy Spirit speak whatever he spoke to you to them privately. Not you having to give them your 1:07:27 interpretation of it. And you it's just small it's starting small. We believe in the gift of prophecy in this church, dear brothers and sisters. Uh we value it. 1 Corinthians 14 says, "Earnestly desire to prophesy." But this 1:07:39 is the root This is the secret to prophecy, where we refine the words, where we say less and less of our own ideas. Which is also why, you know, you've you've heard us say that we we we we limit the the sharing in the church to 1:07:51 those who are members of the church. Those who have expressed a commitment to this church and say, "I'm here to build up the body." Not just somebody who has a cute idea. I'm sure there are a lot of people who come as visitors that might 1:08:01 have good to say, but we want to esteem the gift of prophecy as diamonds uh in the rough that are more valuable than anything else. And we're not here to judge what other people say. And you can get plenty of what the world has to say, 1:08:15 even good things. But we want to avoid just the chatter or even intellectual interpretations of what this means and what that means. And let every word that we say in this church come out of a commitment, of care. I speak because I care. 1:08:31 If I was to try to correct your children, they have every right to say to me, "Well, you're not my dad." Now, they wouldn't say that disrespectfully, but they have the right to say, or if some stranger comes to your children and tries to correct them, 1:08:42 you could tell them, "Well, that person hasn't demonstrated a care for you." But I do as a father. I do as a mother. I can correct you. I can speak words of encouragement to you because I'm living out a commitment to you in my life. 1:08:55 Which is why we preach and and live out commitment in this local body as well. There's a sense in which I'm invested in your spiritual welfare, and you must be in mine as well. And out of that investment where I'm I'm I'm vulnerable and I'm invested I'm in 1:09:09 committed I'm in giving up other interests for the sake of your the welfare of this local expression of Christ's body that I speak. And I speak a little. If you wonder why we have two minutes is because we we're not good yet at at limiting 1:09:26 and sending it through the fire. And I I tell you honestly even though I speak and sometimes I speak long. This is the desire of my heart. I want to speak only what God has spoken and if he's if there's something I said 1:09:37 Lord, if there's something I said today that you didn't want me to take it away, Lord. Remove it from our minds. And I pray that any I'm sure there is, Lord, but you take whatever is of eternal value that which you the Holy Spirit 1:09:50 speak and write in our hearts. Do that, Lord, in my heart I pray. Do that in every single one that's here from the oldest to the youngest even our children. Thank you. You're on our side. You will fill us with your Holy Spirit 1:10:02 that Jesus Christ might be exalted. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
