0:27 wants to sing. Since this is picnic Sunday, I'd expect everyone to sing with your hearts wide open. Come on. My heart is filled [music and singing] 0:50 with thankfulness to him who bore my pain. [music] Who plung [singing] the depths of my disgrace and gave me life [singing and music] again. 1:08 who crushed my curse of [music] sinfulness and clothed me [singing] in his life and wrote [music] his love of righteousness with power upon [music and singing] my 1:26 heart. [chant] My heart is filled [singing] with thankfulness to him [music] who walks beside. 1:46 Who [music and singing] floods my weaknesses with strength and causes [music] with life. Whose [singing] every promise [music] is enough for every step [singing] I take. 2:05 Sustaining me [music] with [singing] arms of love and crowning me with praise. [music] My heart is filled with 2:26 [singing and music] thankfulness to him who reigns above whose [music and singing] wisdom is my perfect peace whose [music] every thought [singing] is love. >> [music] 2:43 >> For every day I have on earth is given [music and singing] by the king. So I [music] will give my life my all to love and [music and singing] follow him. 3:02 For every day [music and singing] I have on earth is given by the king. [music] So I will give my life, [singing] 3:16 my all to love and follow him. >> Please be seated brother and sisters. Crown [singing] him [music] with many crowns. 3:35 The [singing] lamb [music] upon his throne. are [singing] how the heavenly anthem drone. [music and singing] Awake [music] my soul and sing [singing] 3:54 of him who died for me [music] and [singing] hail him as thy matchless king through all eternity. [music] [singing] In the Lord [singing and music] of life 4:16 who tri [singing and music] victorious in [singing and music] the strike. For those he came to [music] save. His [singing] glories now we sing. 4:35 who [music] died [singing] and rose on high. Who died [singing] eternal [music] life to bring and live that dead [music] crown [music] in the Lord [singing] of 4:55 love. Behold his hands and [singing and music] sight. Those who yet visible [singing] above [music] in music glorify. Oh angel [music] in the sky, [singing] 5:16 carefully bear, [music] but down [singing] his worth and [music] mystery so bright. [music] Crown [singing] in the Lord of peace 5:36 [music] whose far receptor swings from bold to [music and singing] bold that wars may cease and all we pray and praise [music and singing] 5:53 his reign shall no end [singing] and round his mercif be [music] fair [singing] of parise they stand [music] there. [music] 6:15 Crown in [singing] the Lord of years, the potent date [singing] of time, creator [music] of the rolling spheres, [singing] inev [music] Oh h redeemer [singing] h 6:39 for thou [music] has died for thee. Thy [music and singing] praise shall never never fail. Thy praise shall ever never fail. Thy praise shall never [music and singing] 6:56 never fail through all eternity. >> [music] >> blessing [music] 7:17 and honor, glory [singing] and power be [music] the ancient of days. From [singing] every nation, all of creation [music] bow before [singing] the ancient of days. 7:35 Every tongue [singing] in heaven [music] and earth shall declare your glory. Every [singing] knee shall bow at your throne. In [music] worship, you will be exalted, oh God. And [singing and music] your kingdom shall not pass away, 7:53 oh ancient of days. >> [music] >> Blessing [singing] and honor, glory [music] and power be to [singing] the ancient of days. From every [music and singing] nation, 8:11 all of creation, bow before the ancient of [singing and music] days. Every tongue in heaven and earth shall declare your [music] glory. Every knee [singing] shall bow at your throne in worship. [music] You will be exhausted, [singing] oh God, 8:30 [music] and your kingdom shall not pass [singing] away. Oh ancient of days, your kingdom [music and singing] shall reign over all the earth. Sing [music and singing] it to the ancient of days. 8:50 For none [music and singing] can compare with your rightous words. Sing it to [music and singing] the ancient of days. Every [music] tongue in heaven and earth shall declare your glory. [singing] Every knee shall bow at your throne in 9:07 [music] worship. You will be exalted, oh God. And [music] your [singing] kingdom shall not pass away. Oh ancient of days, [music] [music] 9:26 sing, father in heaven, how we love you. Blessed be the Lord God Almighty. Father [music and singing] in heaven, how we love you. We lift [singing] your name [music] 9:44 in all the earth. May your kingdom [singing and music] be established in our praises as your people [singing] declare your mighty works. 10:02 Blessed [music and singing] be the Lord God Almighty [singing and music] who was and is and is [singing] to come. [music] Blessed be the Lord [singing] 10:20 God Almighty [music] who reigns [singing] forever more. [music] from the top. Father [music and singing] in heaven, 10:38 how we love you. We [music and singing] lift your name in all the earth. [singing] [music] May your kingdom be established in our praises [singing and music] as your people declare your mighty 10:59 words. Blessed [singing and music] be the Lord God Almighty [singing and music] who was and is [music] and is to come. [singing] Blessed be the Lord [music] 11:18 God Almighty who [singing and music] reigns forever more. Who [singing] reigns forever [music] more. [music] 11:38 Let's all stand up and sing. How great are you, Lord? Great is your mercy. How great are you, Lord? [music and singing] How great is your mercy? 12:01 [music] How great are [singing] the things that you have done [music] for me. How [music and singing] great are you, Lord, your loving [music and singing] 12:21 kindness is filling [singing] my heart as I sing. How great [music] are you, Lord? How great [singing and music] is your 12:38 love reaches [music] to [singing] the heavens. [music] How great [singing] is the heart that sought and rescued [singing and music] 12:56 me. How great [singing and music] are you, Lord? How great [music and singing] is your mercy? >> How great are [music and singing] the 13:15 things that you have done for me. [music] How great are you, Lord? [music and singing] Your loving [singing] kindness [music] is filling [singing] my heart as I sing. 13:41 How great are you, Lord, [singing and music] >> how great [music and singing] is your love? It reaches [music] to [singing] the heavens. [music] 13:58 How great is the heart [singing] that s and rescued [singing and music] me. As we remain standing, shall we bow our 14:47 heads in prayer? Let's come to the presence of the Lord with 15:11 reverence, with thanksgiving and praise because he is great and greatly to be praised. The heaven of heavens cannot contain 15:29 him. is so infinite as we just sang. How great are you Lord and how great is your mercy. Great are the things that you have done 15:47 for me and for you. Remember that dear brothers and sisters, don't think about what you don't have, but think about what you have. How great are you, Lord? Your loving kindness is filling my heart as I sing. 16:06 How great are you, Lord? It reaches to the heavens. How great is the heart that sought and rescued me when I was sold in the slave market of sin. 16:26 He came after us. He ooed us and brought us to his fold. By his mercy, we are saved by grace through faith. The ransomed of the Lord will return and 16:47 come with joyful shouting to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing will flee away. I even I am he who comforts you, says 17:09 the Lord. Who are you that you are afraid of man that dies and of the son of man who is made like grass? That you have forgotten the Lord your maker 17:27 who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth that you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor. and he makes ready to destroy. But where is the fury of the oppressor? 17:45 Says the Lord. The exile will soon be set free and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his bread be lacking. For I am the Lord who stirs up the sea 18:04 and its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. This is the God that we serve. There's no match for him. 18:20 There's no other God besides him. He is the one and only true God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us enough to give his son 18:39 to die in our place so that we could be rescued. Let's come to his throne with thankful heart and praise him. Give him the glory that's due to his name. 18:57 >> Dear brothers and sisters, lift up your voices. >> Lift up your hearts. Praise the Lord for who he is and what he has done. Don't be ashamed. Don't be shy. 19:15 Praise the Lord. Father, we thank you for this beautiful morning that you have given us. Thank you that you have kept us in the land of the living. Thank you that you have [snorts] come after us, Lord, when we were running 19:30 away from you. You didn't let us fall off the cliff, but you snatched us. You bought us back and brought to the family of God and given us your spirit 19:49 of sunship that we can call up upon you as our daddy, our father. Thank you for this day. Thank you for all the brothers and sisters gathered here. Lord, we have come with thankfulness and with expectancy 20:07 that you will unfold your word, that you will give us light and understanding that you will encourage us, rebuke, challenge, comfort. We pray that you will stir us up to go forward. Father, we ask you to fill us with the 20:25 Holy Spirit. Especially pray for your word that you will anoint your servant. You'll give us the word that each one of us needs. Lord Jesus, be glorified, be honored, and exalted in our midst. 20:42 We pray in Jesus name with thanksgiving. Amen. Amen. Please take your seats. We will look at our memory verse. Last week we had a promise from 1 John 21:05 34. 3:1. Shall we all say it together? 1 John 3:1. See how great a love >> the father has bestowed upon us 21:19 that we would be called children of God. This was a promise and this week we have a command from James 1:19. James 19. 21:37 Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Very good word for us to think about this week. Three things we need to do. Be quick to 21:56 hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Let's say that again. James 1:19. Be quick to hear. Slow to speak to slow to anger. 22:14 James 1:19. We are glad that we have our brother uh Santo Punan and his family with us today and they'll be here a couple of Sundays 22:33 and uh we welcome them. They are very much part of India as much as you and I are. Shall we welcome them with a [applause] good time? So 22:57 thank you brother Santos and over to you. Yes, brother Charles is right. We very 23:19 much feel at home here. This will always be home. And I I feel that every time I come back here and I'm around you all. And obviously that has nothing to do 23:36 with the building because uh we've been three different buildings since CFC started 50 years ago. Uh but I think you could take the spirit that is here which is the spirit of Christ and put it anywhere even in a prison cell 23:55 and we would feel at home there. I think about that often that a time will come when many of us will be sitting in different prison cells, jail cells locked up for the gospel. 24:13 And uh I think I was reading once in the story of William Wormbbrand, Richard Wormbbrand um of how the different Romanian Christians were locked up in different cells. They had gone from meeting in a place 24:33 together to being scattered in different jail cells, but you couldn't stop the meeting. They were singing and encouraging each other from jail cell to jail cell with the word of God. And I believe with all my heart that day 24:49 is coming. And perhaps some of us alive now will live to see that and live to see Christ returning. There is going to be a great testing and a great tribulation before Christ's return. And if you are as excited about seeing 25:07 Jesus come in the clouds as I am, uh then we know that before that is going to come a time of testing. And what will it be like? Can we sing how great is your love? 25:25 Your loving kindness is higher than the heavens while I'm locked up in a jail cell. And if it so happens that we're in close uh near ourselves are near to each other, I hope you'll hear me singing and I hope I'll hear you singing 25:43 as loudly if not louder than we did this morning. [clears throat] That's why we gather together. We're told in Hebrews chapter 10. And thank you, dear family, for welcoming us so open armed with open hearts. 26:02 Uh God has done a tremendous work for me in placing me in a church like this in Colorado. And it's always been my prayer that the Lord would give us that spirit that when people walked in the doors at RLCF, they would taste of the same spirit, the 26:19 spirit of heaven, the spirit of Jesus as I do when I walk in here. And I see him doing it in some measure there. I give him the glory and honor for that. In Hebrews 10, we are told in verse 26:35 23, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." [snorts] And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. That's why we're 26:55 here today. Let us stimulate one another in our time together, in the conversations you have with somebody or a group with people, in games you might do or whatever you're doing. This is why we're here to stimulate whoever I talk 27:14 to to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some already in the first century. Some have said, "Well, do I really have to go to the church meeting today? 27:32 I'm little tired. I went to bed late last night, stayed up watching a movie, so don't feel like getting up. I have a I think I have a slight headache. So, let me just stay home. And the devil will give us all kinds of excuses to not assemble together 27:52 as is the habit of some and but instead encouraging one another. So, the option is not you see on one side forsaking the assembling of the saints. The other option is not showing up for the meeting. The other option is encouraging one another. So you have two 28:10 options according to this verse. Stay home and don't come to the meeting or encourage somebody today. That's your only option. There's no option to just show up and sit here and not encourage somebody. So 28:28 brother, sister, child, every one of us has a responsibility to encourage somebody today. If you came here, I hope you came here to encourage somebody. And all the more as you see the day drawing near the day. 28:46 And I think about that often, my dear brothers, dear sisters, dear children, the day for some of you, maybe today was that day you're excited. The children heard we get it's a it's a picnic day or uh I used to look forward to Sunday. uh 29:04 whether we had picnic or not being around God's people in that building on 14 square was something I looked forward to. Um, but there is a day coming, the day that's drawing near. And I thought about 29:23 it like this that 10 seconds after I die or after Jesus comes, think about it. Jesus comes or I die, one or the other. 10 seconds after that, my whole 29:41 perspective will be what it's going to be forever after that. Just imagine that moment that you die or Jesus comes. Hopefully Jesus comes. That's how I hope to be alive and Jesus comes. But whatever that is, either Jesus comes or 29:59 I die. That's the only options. 10 seconds after that or even 5 seconds after that I will have a perspective of eternity that will never change after that that's it whatever I I'll see that perspective everything will be as it is 30:16 going to be and to encourage one another and to stir up each other to love and good deeds is I've seen it like this to live Now, at this very moment, what's it 30:33 about 10:00 on Sunday, December 14th, to live now with the same perspective I'm going to have after I die or after Jesus comes, I hope you're understanding what I'm saying. After Jesus comes or I die, immediately after that, literally 30:51 seconds after that, I will see everything as it's going to be. I'll see God. I'll see Jesus. I'll see all he did for me. Until then, it was just I I I I believed in faith and I sang about his loving kindness. His love is to the 31:05 heavens and blessing and honor and crown him with many crowns. But 10 seconds after I die or I see Jesus, it will all be a reality. If this was that moment, dear brothers, dear sisters, dear children, if this was 31:24 that moment 10 seconds after you've died, let's say this is that moment 10 seconds after you die, would you live any differently today? Are you do you have a hunger and a thirst? Lord, I want to be ready. 31:41 I want to have that perspective of life and who I am and who you are. Now, that's what it means to encourage each other. That's why we gather. And it's a sobering thought. Sobering 32:00 means it brings seriousness. I love to have fun. I think many of you seen me playing football or volleyball or whatever. I enjoy singing. I enjoy being around people and thankful for the health and strength God has given me. 32:16 But deep down in the midst of happiness, in the midst of enjoying the things of this earth, deep down, I'll tell you honestly, there's a soberness that God could take away all of this in a moment. And will will that perspective 32:34 be any different? I want to live today in the light of eternity, holding the same perspective as I will have 10 seconds after I die. But thank God that he's given us a home in the church where we can assemble 32:52 together. Psalm 68, I think it's verse 6 says, he has made a home for the lonely. A home for the lonely. That's what this church has been for me. Now, as he has placed me there at RLCF, he's made a home for me and 33:11 he's made a a wonderful place. But you'll know, and I say this often to people in our church also, you'll know that you found a home in the church if you are at home in the church. 33:28 You know that phrase in English, being at home, it comes from this idea that when you're in your own house, just you, if you're single, it's just you or maybe your roommates. Um, or if you're married, you and your wife, you and your husband, if 33:47 you have children, just your family unit. When you come back home, you can just be yourself. [snorts] You can wear clothes that you may not wear outside. Uh something more comfortable. You can take off your shoes 34:05 and put your feet up on the table or um you can talk a certain way. You can say certain things that you wouldn't do outside because you're at home. That's your home. You're at home. You say somebody is at home somewhere, 34:23 that means they feel comfortable. And I believe with all of my heart that often we miss out what it means to find a home in the church. Almost every church that I've been to, visited many churches over the years, I I look around and I I see that most 34:43 people are acting a certain way and talking a certain way like you would anywhere else in public. It's just another public place that you get used to. You know, many of you who work, go to offices, you go there every day, 5 days a week, maybe 6 35:02 days a week, and you can get comfortable, a little bit comfortable there, but you're still a little bit on guard. You still got a a way of conducting yourself that you do in the office, even if you you probably go to the office more often 35:18 than you'd come here. Um, but you have a way of conducting yourself. [snorts] It's not at home. And God's purpose for us in bringing us together into a family, even if it's a big family like this, bigger than it was 35:36 when I was part of CFC. The goal is not just that you come and you listen to messages and have good time and you consider yourself a part of CFC in that sense but that increasingly this is the place where you are actually 35:53 at home where you can let down your guard you can start to be yourself because 10 seconds after you die you'll have to be yourself. what you are on the inside and who you are on the outside will immediately 36:13 become the same. You know that after you die or Jesus comes instantly the inside and the outside become the same. And if you are not growing if you and I are not growing in saying Lord I want the inside and the outside to be one 36:32 now. That's what it means to be ready. Otherwise, if I continue, let's say I was going to another church and there everybody sings a certain way, acts a certain way, acts holy in the inside, they're not. And you learned to become 36:48 an expert at this double life. Many of you have come from other churches that you used to attend or maybe you came from a different religion. If you've been here for a year, has it become more the case that the inside and 37:05 the outside are becoming more like each other? That that that's the real proof that CFC is a home for you. Otherwise, you've just transferred from one location to another location or one religion to another religion. Sadly, for many Christians, Christianity 37:24 is just another religion with some tweaks compared to other religions. And for many who come to CFC from other churches, it's just another church. And that's why they can go from this to yet another church. Is there something different about this 37:42 church? I believe there is. And that is this that here we are encouraged to say Lord within you know in in in in companies even at the company that I work at after when when new employees come in they have one month plan 37:58 two-month plan 3 month plan six month plan within that period of time you're evaluated to see are you being a useful member of this company I want to encourage you dear brothers dear sisters and even you dear children to set up a plan you've been here for 6 38:15 months. Assess it by this. Is it the case that who I am on the inside and who I am on the outside is getting a little bit closer? Who am I I am on the outside is becoming a little bit more like who I am actually on the inside. That's a wonderful 38:32 evaluation. We read in Luke chapter 12, as you often hear, nothing in this church is to discourage us. It's always to encourage us. Even if it's a very 38:52 strong message, very convicting message, it's to help us because you're trying to live for that moment 10 seconds after you die. That's why it's an encouragement. See, if if the preaching was happening 10 39:10 seconds after you die, then it's discouraging. If we were hearing this message or any message 10 seconds after you actually died, then it's discouraging. Then it's condemnation. Then you ought to say, "Stosh, you should have told me this 39:25 before. Why tell me now after I'm dead? Why preach to me when I'm already in hell?" So that's why everything you hear in the church, even if it is stern, conviction, rebuke, whatever it might be, it's encouraging because you have time left 39:45 while it is called today. It's called today, which means you have time left to really take it seriously. You still have time that now at least even if up to this point in time you haven't really been living with that 40:04 perspective for 10 seconds after you die at least now you can that's the encouragement and you have time Luke 12 we read verse two there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden 40:22 that will not be known Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark or I would expand, whoever you are in the dark, whether you say it or think it or attitude, motive, goal, do it. What whoever you are in the dark 40:42 will be who you are in the light. And what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops. The inside and the outside will be made one. Now your outside will be who you are on the inside. And the church, 40:59 God has building his church and placed his holy spirit in us and in the church to bring this outer person to be one with the inner person by changing the inside. That's why we hear in the new covenant that God is 41:18 cleansing the inside of the cup. If the inside of your cup is really being cleansed and cleaned, if who you are on the inside is actually changing, then you can be yourself. If if you're really being transformed on 41:34 the inside, then CFC is a home. But if it's not and you're just continuing this be a certain way, who you are at home with your family and who you are in front of the church brothers and sisters is still different. 41:53 In fact, I think personally my opinion that in a church like CFC, it can become wider that some people become more hypocrites after they come to CFC because they're really not changing. And the standard that we are preaching in the church is 42:11 actually being raised. We're seeing Jesus as more holy than I thought he was from a year ago. I'm seeing little thoughts as more serious than I did a year ago. I'm seeing motives and attitudes and areas of unforgiveness and 42:31 uh ways of speaking to my wife or to your husband as more serious than I did a year ago. which means that bar is moving and if I'm not being changed then I'm actually becoming a bigger hypocrite when it should be that I'm being drawn 42:47 closer by contrast and he says before that before in verse two I read verse 2 and three before that he says beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy beware of hypocrisy you probably seen signs on the gates of 43:06 some homes. Beware of dog. And uh this is that means if you come into that gate, you better be aware that this is there's something here that can hurt you. An animal that been known to bite. And that's what I see the Holy 43:23 Spirit telling us. There is an animal that will hurt you and its name is hypocrisy. Beware. Beware of hypocrisy. I think it's a good sign. I'm not saying we should do it, but as you walk in the doors of CFC, 43:41 think about it. Walking in the gates, beware of hypocrisy. And that hypocrisy is not outward. It's inward. There may be hypocrisy in this church, but it's not something you can see on the outside. It's it's inside us. Beware of hypocrisy. By contrast, if you 44:00 turn with me to the book of First Corinthians, [clears throat] wonderful chapter, 1 Corinthians 14, where we're told what the new covenant church is like. When you actually come 44:19 into the church and you find that you're at home in the church, the church is a home. Here's a little bit of what that looks like. 1 Corinthians 14. You can read the whole chapter starts by saying the gift of prophecy, encouragement, exhortation, edification. 44:36 Verse three, consolation. And he speaks about the meetings of the church where we're being reminded. Live the day is coming. Your perspective is going to change. Live with that perspective. And in the light of all of these things, for example, he talks 44:52 about women covering their head when they pray and prophesy and and all such. That's why we we have those principles that we follow. And then in verse 23, he talks about actually warns us about being a church where we only speak in tongues. Have you 45:11 seen that the Bible actually warns people, don't be a church where you only speak in tonesues. It's quite the opposite of what you hear in many churches today. Why aren't you speaking in tonesues is what you hear. What I read in the Bible is be careful 45:28 that you're not a church where you're only speaking in tonesues. If the whole church, this is 1 Corinthians 14 23, if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tonesues, he's saying that's not a good thing because an 45:43 ungifted man or unbeliever will enter and they'll say you're mad. But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all. He's called to account by all, we're talking about hypocrisy. And what we see in this home, how the 46:01 church is a home, is that hypocrisy finds no room there as it were. Instead, this unbeliever walks into this home or a person who's even if he's not an unbeliever, if he thinks he's a believer, but he's not really living in 46:19 the light of that moment 10 seconds after you die, when such a person is sitting there and his uh he is convicted and he realizes, man, this whole last week, I know everybody else around here thinks I'm a good brother, good sister, 46:35 been in this church for 10 years and they think that but I'm convicted. This whole week went by and I was not ready for that moment. He's convicted by all and called to account by all. And I believe that when that person is called 46:55 to account the person, we don't even know. You could hear I've been there and I'm sure you know that that you listen to a convicting message and the preacher doesn't even know how you're being convicted. Doesn't need to know. 47:09 But that conviction is happening and you're hearing the word of God piercing you and convicting you and showing you the day is coming when you cannot pretend anymore. And the secrets of his heart are disclosed. Verse 25. And what's the 47:28 result? He fall on his face and say, "God is here." This is what we pray for in our church. I'm sure we pray for it this church as well. Lord, we want people to know that you're here. Almost every praise leader will start, 47:47 Lord, let your presence be here. We pray that often. Let me I'm sure you're praying that Lord let your presence be here. If I was to lead a prayer and say Lord let your presence be here. I'm quite certain 100% of us would 48:00 say amen Lord let your presence be here. But this is what it means for the presence of the Lord to be here. Dear brothers, dear sisters, dear children, if the presence of the Lord was really here as it will be on that day, 48:18 the secrets of my thoughts are going to my heart are going to be exposed. Do I really want the presence of the Lord? Are you ready for the presence of the Lord? That means he's going to come with such clarity, such light, such 48:36 brightness of light that it rips open all my pretense. And you see me for who I really am, how I've been thinking, how I've been speaking in secret. This is the presence of the Lord. God is here. The unbeliever sees it. 48:51 And I tell you on again I said this is not a condemnation. This is encouragement. Lord, one day the presence of the Lord will actually be here across the whole earth. That day, thank God for the church, the home where the presence of the Lord can be here now 49:10 on December 14th, 2025. So that on the day which is coming, I won't get any surprise. I say, "Yeah, I've been living in the presence of the Lord all my life since that day when God opened my eyes to see the seriousness of his return. So 49:27 now, Lord, come. I'm ready. You can you can expose my inner side because you've placed me in a home where the light shone brighter and brighter and brighter and the presence of the Lord was actually there instead of just something 49:43 we said,"Lord, let your presence fall. We took him at his word and said, "Yes, Lord, let your presence come." And he came and the secrets of my hearts were exposed and I could be changed and I fall on my face. That's worship. 50:00 It says worship. How will we get unbelievers to come to a place of worship? How will we get our children to the place where they worship? This is the only way, brothers and sisters and children, is the secrets of my heart are exposed. You cannot 50:17 worship God if you're pretending. If there's a little bit of pretense in your life today, it's hindering your ability to worship God. And I'm convicted about I'm not preaching at anybody here. Please understand, I'm I'm sharing 50:35 what the Holy Spirit is convicting me of. areas of pretense and hypocrisy. We talk about love in the church. You know, one verse often I think about, we say, "I love you, brother. Love you, sister." I don't know if you use that 50:52 word as often in in this country, which is probably a good thing. In in the US, we say, "Love you, brother. Love you." It's just it flows off your tongue. Oh, I love you, brother. You even husbands and wives say I love you so easily. 51:06 And uh maybe we don't do that as much in the Indian culture, but that's some somewhat a good thing. Now, please say to I love you to your children and to your husband and your wife. It's a good thing to express that love. But don't 51:20 let it be the fake love. If you don't actually love, if if the secrets of your heart are exposed and you realize you don't really love, then don't say it. Romans 12:9 says, "Let love be without hypocrisy." 51:38 Before you tell a brother in the church or a sister in the church that you love them, let it make sure there's no hypocrisy in it. That in the secrets of your heart, there is no hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is something that we inherited 51:56 from our ancestor Adam. at least our human ancestor Adam. Our ancestor now is Christ because we've been taken out of that tree of Adam and put in the tree of Christ. So our ancestor begins with Jesus Christ. But in the flesh, our 52:12 ancestry is Adam. And part of the human nature, part of the fact that you're a human being is that you inherited this hypocrisy. Now I don't think that's true about any of the others of creation. I don't see dogs being hypocrite or um cats being 52:31 hypocrites. It's just human human beings who are hypocrites. A dog will tell you what it wants. It wants food and you know wants its earthly pleasures. Human beings pretend. That's our nature, human nature. And interestingly that right 52:47 after the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 5, you read that the very one of the very next things you read after this the the baby is born, this little baby, the church on the day of Pentecost and that that crippled man is healed and in Acts 53:06 three and then the the disciples are persecuted and the very first sin you see is the sin of hypocrisy. cy. It wasn't murder. It wasn't adultery. It wasn't uh cheating of people and all 53:23 that. It was hypocrisy. Something that you just think, well, what's the big deal? Uh Ananas and Safh came and pretended. They they did something. They gave something. I don't know what the exact 53:42 percentage was but let's say it was actually 75%. I don't think it was 10%. I think it was quite a bit more than that. Today churches say give 10% 10% meticulously carefully calculate 10% 10%. I think ananas and safire actually gave more 53:59 than 10%. But it wasn't 100%. And when they gave 75% and everybody else was giving 100% they acted. Nobody knew, right? This was secret. How much you actually sold the land for 54:16 was secret that only an Sapphire knew. That's a in their hearts the secret. What's the actual amount? Then they came and everybody else is giving exactly what they sold it. There it is. But Ananas and Safire kept back some. 54:33 the beginnings of hypocrisy in the church and they came and gave some amount and Peter and all the other disciples physically humanly speaking couldn't know they they didn't have access to their bank accounts. Ananas and Safar's bank account. They didn't 54:50 know, but the presence of the Lord was there. God was there in their midst through the the Holy Spirit had come. And because the Holy Spirit was there, you could get away with hypocrisy for all these years. In fact, the Pharisees who were the ones 55:06 preaching on the pulpit were themselves hypocrites. That was the greatest proof that God was not in those synagogues because hypocrisy could continue. The people preaching were the hypocrites themselves. Woe to you blind guides, 55:18 hypocrites, Pharisees. Jesus said. But now that the presence of the Lord is actually in the church on the day of Pentecost and after that now hypocrisy cannot sit there a few seconds. I mean Ananas came finished the words from his mouth and 55:38 the hypocrisy was immediately exposed. Now since then hypocrisy has become slowly seeped its way into churches proving that the presence of the Lord is not actually there in the same measure as it was on uh after the day of 55:55 Pentecost. And so we've inherited this this tendency this nature from Adam because you know the story in Acts sorry in Genesis 3 that right after sin happened just read that let's turn with 56:12 there to Genesis chapter 3. One of the marks of sin, one of the marks of sin being in us, if you have sin in you, is even before God comes and exposes it, God has so designed our our 56:31 flesh as it were, the flesh, the characteristic of that flesh. I won't say God has designed that. I'll take that back. But that's just the characteristic of the flesh. When it's corrupted by sin, its instinctive response, the immediate response to sin 56:45 is covered up. Even before God came, because God comes in verse 8, Genesis 3:8, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden. They've already sinned. It's happened already in verse 6. 57:02 And in verse 8, God's going to come. Sin is in verse six. The appearance of God, which who will judge them for their sin is in verse eight. In between something happens, verse 7. And that is hypocrisy. They covered up from each other. 57:21 Immediately there was the sense of, "Oh, I'm a filthy person. Let me cover it up." Rather than deal with the problem between verse 6 and verse 8, what should they have done? What they did was they covered it up. Now you and I are living in that verse 7 57:41 uh test. Now what are you going to do? Will you follow the Adam and Eve example and cover up your sin? Hypocrisy, pretend, ah, yeah, nothing wrong with me. See, I'm all covered up with fig leaves. You think you're covering up, but you don't realize that 57:59 it's not really covering up anything. That's verse 7. You and I are living in verse 7. Verse 8 is the day that is coming when God will come and say, "What is this fig leaves? Rip away that. You are who you are. I can see through it 58:14 all. And you and I in this verse seven state are here today. That's why he's given us the church to say, Lord, let me not choose that way that Adam and Eve chose. Let me choose the way of walking in the light. And I say, I come to you. What should 58:33 they have done after verse six? Run to God and say, Lord, we messed up. I'M SORRY. I DON'T want to pretend anymore. I'm I'm sorry, Lord. I you gave me one command and I don't know what happened but will you forgive me? Oh what a 58:46 different story it could have been and that's the place we are living in today. Thank God for the blood of Jesus Christ. Dear brothers, dear sisters, the reason you don't have to be a hypocrite for even a second is because of the blood of Jesus. 59:05 If you've been living as a hypocrite, I want to tell you in love what the Holy Spirit has told me. Santos, you haven't seen the power of the blood of Jesus. If you've really seen the blood of Jesus, you say, "Lord, I did that, but you're 59:17 cleansing me. You can cleanse me." If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1 verse 7 and verse 9. Verse 9 was the one I just quoted. It cleanses. 59:36 Which means you can today in this very moment if you have been the biggest hypocrite sitting in CFC up to this moment today you can be made one. The blood of Jesus Christ can so thoroughly cleanse you and the power of the Holy 59:51 Spirit and the grace of God can free you from being a prisoner of people's opinions of you. This is what it means to walk in the light. There's a phrase in 1 Timothy um chapter 6 that says that God is 1:00:10 unapproachable light. Thought about what that means. 1 Timothy 6:16, he dwells in unapproachable light. This is the light that's going to come on the day. You Let's turn there real quick. I'll show you that little phrase. 1:00:29 I think about it often. It runs through my mind. 1 Timothy 6 verse 13. 1 Timothy 6:13. I charge you 1:00:48 in the presence of God. They're talking about the presence of God. Paul is telling Timothy, Timothy, when you go to these churches, pray for the presence of God. He says, "I'm going to charge you in the presence of this God whose 1:01:03 presence you want in your church meetings, in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus who testify the good confession before Pontius Pilate. That you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the day 1:01:21 until the approaching of our Lord Jesus Christ." How often Paul reminds even Timothy, his most faithful, wholehearted coworker, saying, "Timothy, remember, I'm giving you all of these things because the day is coming. It's 1:01:36 approaching, which he will bring about at the proper time. He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light whom 1:01:54 no man has seen or can see. Perhaps meditate on that phrase, Lord, open my eyes to see what is this unapproachable light. I talk often about coming and sitting in the lap of my father and leaning my head on his bosom, which I believe in, but that's 1:02:09 unapproachable light. The father who invites me and says come boldly into the presence of the lord is a god of unapproachable light which means if and it says god is light. 1 John [snorts] uh 3 I think or four in and in him is no 1:02:27 darkness at all. 1 John 1. Yeah that same let's turn there. 1 John chapter 1 verse 5. This is the message we have 1:02:47 heard from him and announced to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Unapproachable light. Such light. Imagine if there was Yeah. All light that we see has some element of darkness in it. The closest thing 1:03:04 that I can think of to unapproachable light is the sun itself. All the other bright lights, even these spotlights, there's some aspect of darkness in it. It's not unapproachable light. You can get close to it. The closest thing I can think of to 1:03:19 unapproachable light is the sun itself, the the planet, the the star, the sun. That's unapproachable. I mean they say in an eclipse when the sun is most uh uh plainly seen in some sense the sun is 1:03:36 still a little bit obscured uh hidden like this clouds and the layers of the atmosphere that protect that unapproachable light from burning me up and blinding me. But they say on an eclipse if you look at the sun you could 1:03:51 go blind. I've heard stories of people who actually went blind because they disobeyed the rule and looked in the light of the sun which is still millions of miles away. And then there's God, unapproachable light. And I say, "Ah Lord, let me come 1:04:07 into your presence. Let's sing and dance about who you are while this hypocrisy is still there inside." And he says he's unapproachable light in him is no. This is the message. This is the message. God is light and there's no darkness in him at all. And 1:04:25 if you say that you have fellowship, verse six, with him, but you're walking in darkness, there's hypocrisy. I come to the meeting and sing as if I have fellowship with the Lord, but I have darkness. Then you lie and you do not practice the 1:04:42 truth. Thank God for verse n. If we confess our sins, I was talking about how Genesis 3:7 is that choice you and I have to make. And perhaps all these years you've been making that choice of pretense, pretense, pretense, pretense just so you 1:05:02 can fit in, so you can be accepted in CFC because you speak the language and you show up and you're a help even in many ways. But the hypocrisy is continuing. I hope today you will choose verse 9. If we confess our sins, say, 1:05:17 "Lord, no more pretense." He is faithful and just, righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Verse 7, the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Jesus said, I'll close with one more verse. 1:05:34 Revelation 14, Jesus said, "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." in John chapter 9. And then he also said in Matthew 5, now you are the light of the world. When he was on this earth, he was the light of 1:05:50 the world. The unapproachable light in him was no darkness at all. The darkness could not comprehend it. It couldn't overcome it. Darkness couldn't come into Jesus at all. Not even a little bit. He says, "While I was in the world, he 1:06:05 was unapproachable light." By unapproachable means that the darkness couldn't come in at all. And now he says, "Now you are the light of the world, church, body of Christ." And it ought to be that there is no darkness at all. In the body of Christ, 1:06:22 there is no darkness. That's the goal. And that must be the characteristic of the church, the true church. Revelation 14 talks about the church, the bride of Christ, the pure bride of Christ. These are the ones, verse four, who have not 1:06:40 been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chased. They are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. What does that mean? One way in which we follow the lamb wherever he goes is the last part of verse five. There was no lie found in 1:06:58 them. Dear family, dear church family, brothers, sisters, and even you children, this week, God is going to the lamb is going to lead you into some area of darkness where you've been pretending 1:07:16 today or tomorrow, this week. He's going to want to lead you there. You have a choice. continue to remain in that pretense and that hypocrisy with a good reputation and everybody thinking that you're such a wonderful brother because 1:07:30 whatever you say seems to bless them and all that or you could follow the lamb and he could show you pretense and some lie some hypocrisy that's there and you say Lord cleanse me and he'll cleanse you and then after that he lead you to 1:07:46 another area he says you you're pretending there inside doesn't match the outside it And the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse you from that area as well. Come and be cleansed, dear brothers, dear sisters. Come and be cleansed from all hypocrisy. This is a 1:08:03 life of freedom. Then you will be at home in the church. Amen. Omniverse. 1:09:30 Brother says, "Let's sing by and by." When I look on his face, it's okay. by and by. When [music and singing] I 1:09:49 look on his face, [music and singing] beautiful face, for [singing and music] shadowed face by and by. [singing] 1:10:07 When I look on his face, I [singing] wish I had given him more. More. [singing] So 1:10:27 much more. more [singing] of my life than I ever gave before. [music] [singing] By and by 1:10:44 when I look on his [singing and music] face, I wish [singing] I had given him [music] more. By and by [singing] 1:11:02 when I lose on his hands. [music] Wellcoming [singing] hands, nail piercing [music] hands by and by [singing] when he holds 1:11:21 out his hand. [music] I [singing] wish I had given him [music] more. More. [music and singing] So 1:11:39 much more. More [singing] of my [music] life than I ever gave [singing] before. [music] by and by [singing] 1:11:56 when he holds out his [music] hand. >> I [singing] wish I had given him more in [singing] the light of that heavenly 1:12:16 place. [music] hide [singing] from his face. Beautiful [music] face in the light [singing] of that heavenly [music] place. I [singing] wish I had [music] given him 1:12:41 more. More. [singing] So much more. more [singing] of my life than I ever came before. 1:13:01 [singing] In the light of that heavenly [singing] place, [music] I wish I had given him more. [music] Thank you, brother Santos. 1:13:39 What a what a wonderful word. Brothers and sisters, let's bow our heads. Let's 1:14:03 come to the Lord with this longing that the words that we've heard that have pierced our heart will transform us. [snorts] Even this morning as we sang, crowned 1:14:20 him with many crowns, these lines came aresh to me that no angel in the sigh can bear the sight of those wounds that are glorified in beauty. And they bend their burning eye 1:14:37 downwards at mysteries so bright. By and by when we look on his face, we'll wish we had given him more. Not more service, 1:15:00 but more of what is inside to bring it to the outside, to bring it to the light. Loving father, Lord, we praise you and thank 1:15:17 you for your great great love for us. How much you love us, Lord, to speak to us, to call us, to revive us, to stir us up even today. We thank you. We praise you. We don't trust in our words. We don't 1:15:37 trust in our feelings, but we trust in you, Lord. We can safely come and put all those dark and hidden things in our life into your hands, Lord, and trust you that you will continually burn them up and transform us, Lord. Thank you, 1:15:53 Lord, for the words of your power. Thank you for your presence. We commit the rest of this day into your hands. We pray in your mighty name, Jesus name. Amen.
