0:05 Okay. So, praise God for the way he has sustained us in 2025 and how he helped us to enter into this new year. Uh, I want to begin my sharing with one verse. Um, this is from 0:22 Proverbs 4:18. Proverbs 4:18. >> [clears throat] >> It says, "But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines 0:41 brighter and brighter until the full day." So this verse indically explains what we see every day. uh when the sun comes up it's not as bright as it is at the time of noon. 0:59 Uh it is it grow the shines brighter and brighter. The brightness increases uh minute by minute, moment by moment and until the full day you see that progression. This is how God expects our path for the righteous people to grow 1:18 like that uh like the light of dawn. So I pray and I uh that this verse be true in all of our lives uh our Christian walk our walk with him uh become uh stronger deeper and brighter until the like just like we see the sun shines 1:36 brighter and brighter until the full day. um in this uh with this verse as a basis I was reflecting upon my own life and what I want to grow the areas I want to grow in this new year where it's much better than the previous year it's not 1:52 that we don't have those qualities but we want to grow brighter and brighter shine brighter and brighter in those areas so I want to just share three areas uh I believe these are three pillars in my individual walk with 2:09 uh we saw that three floors uh the skit on 31st first floor second floor and third floor I don't have to explain I think people who have been coming to this church know what the first floor is our own walk with God in our own walk 2:23 with God if that is strong then the second floor of which is a marriage will be stronger and the third floor which is church will be stronger uh the strength of the church depends on the second and third floor so I want to start with the 2:37 first floor and in within the first floor there are three areas I want to grow and I I I want to share as an encouragement with a responsibility as an elder I want to encourage and challenge all of us to grow in this area 2:50 in this new year uh which I believe these are fundamental and without which and they're all these three areas are not independent of each other but they are connected in some way but we see those qualities in any if you see any uh 3:05 life of a godly man we see these characterist districts and um I want to I want to just go through that. The first one is let me start my timer because I have it one second. Okay. The first one is our love for God, 3:32 our devotion to the Lord, devotion to Christ. uh this is uh fundamental for our Christian walk. Uh whatever we do in our Christian life is because of our love for God. Um the question I asked myself is is Jesus becoming more and 3:51 more precious in my life than the previous year. Is uh he become supreme? Is my devotion to him supreme above all the positions above every relationship that I have? Uh and then my own ambitions, my own 4:08 desires. Um which is u very very um like we need to constantly check. Yeah, Jesus is in my heart but he is still on the throne of your heart. Um one verse I want to show all of us is 2 Corinthians 11th chapter. This is one verse that 4:26 from the beginning I started listening to the new covenant teachings. This verse um that Paul wrote to uh Corinthians has been challenging. 2 Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly 4:43 jealousy for I betrod you to one husband so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that as a serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the 5:03 simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. So here Paul has such a burden for Corinthians. He is jealous for them with godly jealousy. There is a jealousy which is godly and he has betroda the church every member of the body to one 5:22 husband which is Christ so that he can present every member as pure virgin and the body of Christ as pure virgin betroal or engagement is like a half marriage marriage is almost done and um this ver so until the marriage is done um the he 5:40 wants to present the church as a pure virgin pure purity and but we have an enemy here. In this next verse, we see in verse three, the serpent is constantly deceiving. Just like the serpent deceived Eve by his own craftiness, our minds can be led astray. 6:00 So we have we are we are making progress in our devotion to Christ. But we can be deceived by the craftiness of Eve. If we ever think that, oh, I can't be deceived. um then you have to go and see um check in your own life and also in 6:16 the scripture how the deception comes so subtly. So our minds can be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Most of the times our Christian walk is supposed to be very simple. Uh but we do we have a 6:32 tendency to over complicate that. Um it is a pure and simple devotion that God is looking for and we need to grow in that area and remembering that there is an enemy who is constantly deceiving us and take and uh making making us deviate 6:49 from that purity and simplicity of our devotion to Lord Jesus Christ. Um let's not over complicate. I saw two examples um in in that pure devotion to Christ. Uh there there's one woman in Luke chapter 7. Uh one woman comes um she was 7:07 known as a sinner in that city. Uh we know right Luke chapter 7 [clears throat] uh verse 37. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner. And when she learned that he was reclining at the 7:27 table in the Pharisees house, she brought an alabaster while of perfume and standing behind him at his feet weeping. And she began to wet his feet with her tears and kept wiping them with the hair of her head and kissing his 7:41 feet and anointing them with the perfume. She was in tears, wiping the feet of Jesus with her tears and with then with the hair and anointing him with the perfume. uh she's one who was known in the city as a sinner. She 7:56 recognized the value of forgiveness. Uh she received u that's why the devotion is so simple, so pure and she comes and stands behind him and she does this act of pure devotion to him. Uh what an example and she recognized how much she 8:12 is forgiven because of that. Nobody told her it's coming purely from her heart. [snorts] He loved us first because of that we love him. And um Luke 7:37 is a great example for us in this incident uh to see how our pure and simple devotion 8:29 could be. And um the second example is Mary. Mary from Bethany. Mary uh the sister of Lazarus in John chapter 12. You see in John chapter 11 u we see Lazarus was raised from the dead and somehow um and then there realized that 8:48 we will not have Jesus for too long because he has pro he has he himself said um that you know about he prophesied about his own death. uh in later part of John chapter 11 and John chapter 12 we see that Mary's devotion 9:03 here uh I think Josh covered also in the previous messages um but it says how she has done that as a preparation for Jesus burial u [clears throat] she's in John 12:3 Mary then took a pound of very costly 9:23 perfume of pure nod and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet and with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. One was the first woman was because she recognized how much she's forgiven and 9:39 the second woman she did this in preparation for his death and burial. Um both are acts of um such a deep devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Um she did both did not value both the first woman did not value what others will think 9:54 about her. The second woman did not see this alabaster oil of perfume. It's the costliest one. She did not consider it as more worth than Lord Jesus himself. Um that's how I want to grow in my love for the Lord in this new year. Yeah. In 10:09 these areas we can grow. Each of us can examine and we can compared to the previous year. I want to grow in my devotion to the Lord. I want Jesus to become more supreme, more precious, more desirable in my life. uh more than 10:22 anything else I possess uh the relationships that I have Paul apostle Paul's life we see that he considered everything as rubbish compared to knowing Jesus if the world or anything in the world has any hold on me with all 10:36 its worth then I need to keep coming back Lord help me to see you more glorious more precious than all of this uh is rubbish even the richest of the richest uh Paul was very rich man he considered all of that to be rubbish 10:49 unless I see that as rubbish. I cannot see uh I cannot grow in my devotion to God or even any relationship. One of the conditions of the disciples we we know uh we must love Jesus more than our mother, father, wife and children and 11:05 any other relationship and loving uh Jesus more than our positions, loving Jesus more than our own life. Uh we need to watch out constantly for the things that will cool down our devotion. We see uh if you want to see how people are uh 11:21 devoted to one another or love one another you see observe some couples who are just engaged you see you if you see them you uh talk to them you see all all the time they're thinking about each other uh uh looking forward to the next 11:36 meeting or when they are going to talk and that was me I was I can talk about myself but you can see that everywhere when even in the early years of marriage how the cup the newly wedded couple's love each other, they want each other's 11:49 presence and they enjoy each other's company. Uh somehow that may cool off if they are not careful. Same thing could happen to our our relationship with Jesus. Uh things of this world, even our own ministry, even our things that we 12:02 consider are important can cool our devotion to the Lord. May it not be so in 2026, my dear brothers and sisters, that our fervent devotion may grow day by day. Uh but always remember that this enemy with its own craftiness will drift 12:18 us away, make us a go astray from that purity and simplicity of our devotion to the Lord Jesus. Um always come back to that first love we had for for the Lord. You know in one warning in Revelations Revelation 2:4, let's read that quickly. 12:35 Revelation 2:4. So this is a warning to church at Ephesus. 12:53 Jesus says, "But I have this against you and you have left your first love." If that happened to church at Ephesus, it can happen to us. So um Ephesians church was one of the most spiritual church. Why I say that? Because you don't see 13:09 any correction given in uh the letter written to Ephesians. But they themselves lost their first love. So this is most important in a human marriage. In in a marriage also what is the most important thing is love between 13:23 wife and husband. If the love is cooling off, if the love disappears, the marriage becomes um you know it's it just there is a relationship but there is no joy there's no life in that relationship. Uh same thing could happen 13:35 in our relationship with the Lord. We could do a lot of things for him uh in the name in the church as a as a religion but we could miss out this first law. We could fall away from that first law. Let us guard our ways and 13:50 always uh remember that our love for the Lord is the most important thing uh in our walk with him. The second one um [clears throat] second area I want to grow in this new year and I want to encourage all of us to grow is being conformed to the image 14:06 of Christ. U this is very very important because this is our destination. Uh in the beginning of my Christian walk I thought my destination is to go to heaven. I used to tell gospel to a lot of people you want to go to heaven yeah 14:21 come and believe in Jesus come and believe in Jesus and Jesus will take you to heaven he will forgive your sins and he will uh take you to heaven who doesn't want any reasonable sane person will say yes I will take it I don't have 14:33 to pay any price and I can go to heaven but until I I was challenged in Romans 8:29 through the teachings in the new covenant that is not my goal my goal as individual my goal as a church is Romans 8:29 Let's read that Romans 8:29. I 14:50 think all of us must have this in our hearts imprinted, right? Uh this is our goal as a church. We want to this is our destination. Uh [clears throat] for those whom he forneew, he also predestined us to become 15:07 conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. So here God has predestined us all of us to be conformed to the image of his son. The previous verse we all know uh very well all things work together for our good and 15:26 everything you know every situation every difficulty every circumstance in our lives are working together for our good. What is that good here? The good is we becoming Christlike. uh when we are disappointed in our relationships 15:39 when things don't go our way when we go through the trials and afflictions uh when trouble comes our way and we go through pain yes that's all because I love Jesus all things are working together for my good and he is God is 15:54 working making sure that I am growing into his image uh the this is has to be our goal and uh we we should never miss out this goal we do lot if we do a lot of things and miss this destination we missed thing because then yeah we end up 16:08 somewhere. So even the the problem with suppose you get into your bus uh or in into your car and you just start taking some deviations slowly we end up in a different destination than what you want intended to and uh when we go to uh this 16:24 is one illustration I was challenged with when you join a church which church you want to join I was when I was considering joining the first new covenant church I was challenged this way. Yeah, you go to an airport and you 16:36 want to go to say Bentonville, very small town in Arkansas. Uh you don't look for big Airbus 380. It won't there is no flight like that from Austin. You there may be a small flight and but that's the one you want to take because 16:49 that's the that's the flight that will take you to the destination. It's not the size of the flight that matters. It is whether this flight will take me to this destination. So first of all we all need to be very very clear about what is 17:03 my destination in my Christian walk. Is it going to heaven? Is it just serving the Lord in certain capacity and uh raising godly children uh building godly home? Is that all or is that more? Yeah. This is what through all of that my 17:18 destination is to become Christlike. If I miss this destination I will end up somewhere. If I'm coming to the church, yeah, in this church I Yeah, people will tell me about Jesus. I can go to heaven. I'll get some earthly benefit. My 17:32 children will have good Sunday school teacher uh teaching or my children will have uh godly children to play with. And this is the place that's why I want to be in this church. Yeah. Then you are in this church for a wrong reason. If you 17:46 are taken up with one thing, this church um will help me to be Christlike. They will encourage me, exalt me and strengthen me and challenge me to be Christlike. Yes, this is the place we are here. We have only one goal to be 18:02 Christlike to grow in that image because that's what God has intended us. If there's anything else then that becomes secondary. Yes, we do enjoy each other's company. We do uh have a fellowship with godly families, godly children. We get 18:17 um the warmth of the fellowship we enjoy. But that's all secondary. The primary goal why I should be part of this church is this church will help me to become Christlike. And I hope uh the leaders here all of us with the guidance 18:31 uh uh with the oversight of brother Santos and Zach and of course with the help of the Lord we make progress towards this decision taking our church and I invite all of us to join this. If you are taken up with this goal in your 18:45 Christian walk join us. But if it is not aligned, if your goals are something else, I encourage you to find another church and uh this is that that would be the best thing for you because uh here you will not end up in the destination 18:59 you want to go. Uh here we are pressing forward. We are moving forward with the fastest pace we could to become Christlike. Everything, every area of our lives, we want to be Christlike. Uh Lord, please help us. And this is where 19:12 we come to the need. And today also we saw the memory verse the commandments those so many commandments in the Lord I cannot I want to but I cannot without your help I cannot that's where we come to Jesus again I'm thirsting for this 19:27 higher ground I'm thirsting for this life higher life fill me with your holy spirit the songs that we sang today also the last one higher ground are you do you desire to go to the higher ground or you want to just stay there or you want 19:40 to make progress if we are uh making progress to that mountain peak the mountain peak being completely confirmed to Christ like are we making progress like it's like hiking up in a mountain we should grow from one level to the 19:54 next level each year we must be making progress and um if we can make we can have some movement without progress you know how we can go around circles we can go around circles for years but we won't be making any progress are we going in 20:10 circles we yeah we have lot of activities we have we do a lot of things and even in our own walk with God we can go around in circles or are we making progress even if it is a little progress are we making are we becoming closer to 20:24 the final destination which is totally being conformed to Christlike image otherwise we are wasting our time and years and one of the u we just heard one of the verse the in the new year I want to be careful with the way I spend my 20:38 time uh the days are evil um the I must be careful Wonderful. Teach me Lord how to number my days. I cannot go I cannot afford to go in circles anymore. I want to make progress and I see the lack my I see the the standard at which I'm called 20:56 and I see my own life and I thirst for that life and I come with faith. Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit. Give me the grace every single time I go through temptations. Help me to cry out to you. And one couple of areas we can all grow 21:11 is uh in the area of when we are tempted. When we are tempted we can be Christlike where Jesus cried out with loud cries and tears uh so that uh he will be delivered from the death uh the spiritual death and Jesus was tempted in 21:27 all points just as you and I go through in there are two verses in Hebrews you can go and look it up. He was tempted in all points just as we are yet without sin. Yet without sin. We can be Christlike in this area. Lord help me to 21:42 resist the temptation just the way you resisted. Jesus um did not get married or anything but he experienced all the temptations we as married people go through. Or maybe he did not exactly go work do a job that you did but he 21:58 experienced every temptation you and I go through in that particular job. So he can be our example and he's calling us. He's a humblest man. He's the greatest example for humility, a god becoming human being. And that's why the grace of 22:12 God was so abounding to him. Lord, we can go to him and Lord teach me a true humility not fa false humility. Teach me true humility. When I'm humble, I will receive the grace of God. And other area we can grow in into his image is uh 22:27 doing the will of the father. uh and just having that zeal for the purity of the house of God. He was he died for our sins not because not if let me rephrase that Jesus died for our sin. Many people say why did Jesus come to 22:43 this uh world? Yeah, he came to this world to die for my sins. No, he came to do father's will and the father's will is for him to die for our sins. That's why he did the will of the father. Um I want to remind all of us two promises uh 23:00 in ma uh Matthew 3:1 about the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire and also 2 Peter 1:3 u let's read 2 Peter 1:3 seeing that his divine divine power has 23:26 granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. He has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Uh the next verse is says for 23:42 by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificient promises. Precious and magnificient promises. One of the promises the promise of the Holy Spirit. He will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. One of the promises he 23:55 will give us the grace when we humble ourselves through grace I can overcome sin through the power of the holy spirit I can be conformed to the image of his son so let's grab hold of these promises my dear brothers and sisters in this new 24:08 year and grow in this area I want to be conformed to the image of Christ this is my destination my father has predestined me to become like Jesus so this is u the second area I want to grow and I want all of us to grow The third one 24:25 again which is interlin with the first two or at least the second one uh waiting or listening on God. Uh waiting on God or listening to God. This is one thing that I want to grow a lot in this new year because we have Jesus as an 24:44 example. Jesus did nothing on his own initiative. He did not initiate anything. He was always listening. He was always listening. Waiting has become very painful for all of us because I tell you why one of the things I observed we became uh we have we are 25:01 going through this process of everything instant instant coffee Amazon oh same day deliver not even in the past it was one week then 2 days now same day within hours instacart everything is insta insta Instagram everything is insta 25:16 instantaneous uh but with god things won't work that way uh we have a wonderful promises and God teaches us some things very valuable things through waiting waiting waiting on him. Uh the reason is if we don't wait and if we don't listen we end up 25:34 doing something that that seems to be good to our own eyes. Uh I in my flesh I can think this is much this is um this is very reasonable thing to do this is a good thing to do let me go ahead and do it. I started realizing in my Christian 25:49 walk or even in serving the church or serving my family there's more listening than doing in the it was in the past in my own life it is like a lot of doing lot of doing that is that causes a lot of confusion or causes a lot of damage 26:05 if I can start with more listening even in my prayer these days I see I I become more silent and I pour up my heart and let God speak to me stay in silent it's okay God speaks to us. Listen and wait. Uh I want to have that laser sharp 26:20 focus. I was thinking uh about recently I flew uh just few days ago. I had to use this um noise cancellation headphones. Uh they are tremendously helpful when you're traveling in a jet because there's so much of uh sound from 26:37 the engine and you sometimes I feel very tired at the end of the flight. But once I started using this noise cancelling headphones, it cancels out the noise that is coming and you can listen to the music or the sermon or whatever you are 26:49 listening to very very clearly. And there's a lot of noise coming our way. Um, we need to have that take out the noise and have the laser sharp focus. What is God telling me to do? And just one thing that God wants me to do that I 27:04 would do. And just as I just mentioned that example Jesus came here to do father's will and we have uh let let's read those verses which talk about that um John 6:38 I want to show a few verses 27:22 um John 6:38 he says that I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the 27:39 will of him who sent me. I've come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. Jesus had his own will but he always sought father's will. Even in Gethsemane he that was his prayer not my will but 27:54 thine will um so constantly was listening to God's uh prompting what he saying father's will and he did that in 33 and a half years he accomplished so much we don't it's not the that's what it's not the quantity of our lives it's 28:11 the quality how we live within within the boundaries God has kept how many years God has kept us here um the other verse is John chapter 12. Let's read in the same book 28:26 12 12th chapter 49 and 50. 49 and 50. For I did not speak on my own initiative, but the father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to 28:44 what to say and what to speak. I did not speak on my own. Even what the words he is speaking, he's he's waiting on the father. He has given me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. Um this is a great area for 29:01 all of us to grow because we are given opportunities to share in the Friday Bible studies here or in our one-on-one conversations. Father, give me a word. I want to encourage my brothers and sisters. Give me that word. What to say? 29:14 What to speak? sometimes not saying anything may be a good thing. One word um the the incident that happened in Jesus' life when the adulterous woman who was caught in the very act was brought and he was tested. Should we 29:30 throw stones at her? Because that's what the Moses law says. And you know what happened, right? What did Jesus do? Jesus did not react immediately. Yes, this is what the law says. Let's do it. >> [snorts] >> He said if uh whoever among here is not 29:46 without any sin let him the let him be the first one to throw the stone. How did he get that word the perfect word for that situation? Um there is a verse in proverbs which says um the word that is fitly spoken a word that is fitly spoken is like apples of 30:04 gold in the settings of silver. Apples of gold in the settings of silver. In one word he waited on God. He did not react immediately. He took few moments. He prayed. He got the right word. When he said that, he not only convicted 30:19 those people who are about to throw stones at her and also comforted the woman caught in the adultery. One word is all that we need. Uh when we wait on the Lord, when we depend on God what to say, what not to say, he will give us 30:34 the right word to speak. We don't have to give lengthy discourses. We just need that one word in our relationship with our spouses, brothers and sisters, in work, whatever. We don't sometimes we don't know what to say. We go through a 30:48 lot of complex uh complicated situations. Lord, help me. Give me wisdom. You your word says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. I lack wisdom. Father, give me give me. And the picture also I want to um uh I want to 31:04 leave with you all is Mary. Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. What a I mean use your own imagination. Martha was busy with doing lots of things for God. She was distracted though. But Mary was sitting at God's feet, Jesus' feet and 31:18 listening intently what he's going to say. She dropped everything and she's just listening. And that's one thing that is needful that she did. One word we need to say, that's all we need to say. Um then for all of us as a members 31:32 of the body of Christ uh members of Austin CFC if we all have that listening attitude listening listening to father listening to Jesus and do exactly what he wants us to do uh share what he wants us to share we can build a godly church 31:47 and we can make tremendous spiritual progress in this new year because we don't we need that one word one word like that apples of gold with the settings of silk one word of encouragement that will lift uh our members um brothers and sisters that comes with 32:02 our constant listening and the members of the body connected to the head. What is the head telling me to do? And I will say that uh and just uh within the time given to me I will say that and then we can see this verse 1 Peter 3:7 says all 32:18 of us can be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted and humble. We can be I think the uh one other version says we can all be like one big happy family because the the body of Christ is the members which are different but we 32:34 are all connected to the head and we have not competition but cooperation because we are listening and we are getting the instructions from the head and again the examples of waiting on the day of Pentecost uh so Jesus said wait 32:49 until you are endured with power and they didn't know that it was going to be 10 days or anything. It was the days were not told but they were asked to wait and they just listened to his instruction. They were waiting and in 33:01 those 10 days there are a lot of people who did not know God there are a lot of a lot of things are waiting uh they could have done okay instead of waiting just doing nothing or not doing nothing doing nothing in the sight of the world 33:12 but they're praying oh a lot of people are perishing they could have done something but when they followed the instructions of the Lord when they waited on God when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit more was accomplished in one day than they what 33:27 they could have done if they had acted on their So waiting is not wasting my dear brothers and sisters. Waiting or listening to God and doing exactly is not wasting. It just sharpens our focus. We just need to do that one thing that 33:41 God wants us to do. Uh this quote I read recently I just I thought it would be relevant to what I'm sharing now. Christ [snorts] Church and the world suffer terribly today. Not only because many of its members are not working for God but 33:55 also because so much working of God for God is down without waiting on God [snorts] because so much working for God is done without waiting on God. Um the more work the more need of waiting upon God. So this is I think we also heard I 34:13 think Johnson was sharing when he was leading the singing you'll hear a voice this is the way taken it. So we we as we are constantly listening and paying attention to what Jesus what God is telling us we will hear that voice and 34:27 um and also let's read Isaiah 54. Oh we are almost at the end. Isaiah 54. [clears throat] The Lord God has given me the tongue of 34:48 the disciples that I may s sustain and that I may know how to sustain the very one with a word. He awakens me morning by morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. listen the ear of a disciple so that we 35:06 will have a word to sustain the very uh may the Lord help us to grow in this area of listening and sustaining others because uh that's that's what is going to make all the difference rather than coming up with something on our own Lord 35:20 what do you want me to say and I will just say that word Jesus said in John 10:27 my sheep hears my voice and I know them they follow me. If we are sheep, we consider our sheep. Sheep just follows a shepherd's leading, we must recognize 35:38 the voice of our shepherd. Is it coming from the Lord or is it coming from some human idea or human flesh? Then I recognize is a voice of my shepherd and I will follow. Um and finally even in revelation he says behold I stand at the 35:52 door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and I will dine with him and he with me. when we hear his voice and open the door and we don't know when he comes when we must be ready and open the door we have 36:07 the fellowship. So my dear brothers and sisters this third area is very critical because waiting and listening waiting on God or listening is important because that's how we can we can make this year count because then we can we will do 36:23 exactly what the Lord wants us to do. One last final verse is Isaiah 40:31 uh in the on the subject of waiting. Isaiah 40:31. Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up 36:42 with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. So those who wait on the Lord will constantly it's not like we're waiting for this problem to be solved. waiting for but we are while 36:55 waiting we are gaining new strength. We are knitting together with God and we our relationship with the Lord is growing and we will mount up with wings like eagles. We will be taken not just from the earthly perspective. We are now 37:09 mounting up. We will be more heavenly minded. We will do exactly things that God wants us to do and then we will run and not get tired because we are not going to be like nervous like trying to do a lot of things. We are not going to 37:22 get tired because we're not going to waste away our energy. We'll just listen and wait and just do what he wants us to do and we will walk and not become weary. May the Lord help us to grow in these three areas so that our walk with 37:33 God will grow brighter and brighter. Uh there's as it says in Proverbs 4:18 uh like the light of the dawn shines brighter and brighter until the midday. uh the de devotion to our lord Jesus being conformed to his image and waiting 37:49 on him and listening to him every single day of our lives. May the Lord help us. Thank you. Thank you, brother Surin, for sharing 38:16 your your heart and your burden for us as a church and this year 2026 and beyond uh a few reminders about 38:34 yeah our commitment as elders. You have heard recently even in 31st night three of us who are present you heard from us. Even brother son spoke um 38:51 last I think last month about as a goal we um walk as disciples of Jesus Christ and making disciples is our commitment um to all the committed members. If you 39:08 are coming to this church from last like you know a few weeks or few months ask a question is this the church the Lord wants me if you are a single if you are married 39:25 is this the as a my family can be part of this body because um we are very clear about where we are heading We want to walk um as individuals uh as the disciples of Jesus Christ 39:49 doing what he wants us to do. As brother Surin reminded about um those two women the one is a a sinful woman. whole town knows. Um last night me and my family we were 40:08 watching about Luke's gospel. We have seen that picture. I was the house of Simon Pharisee. And when this woman comes, everybody gives that that look. What are you doing here? We are righteous people, Pharisees, and 40:27 Jesus is here. You don't have a room. But she comes and touches Jesus' feet and and the people who are sitting next to Jesus, they were taken back. If he is 40:45 the Messiah, he should be known. She is a sinful woman and she's coming and touching his feet and rubbing and tears. and cleaning his feet, wiping his feet 41:07 with haron hair. We do not want to give a look of phariseic look. We are working towards perfection. We are not perfect. But this is the place for the people who individually acknowledges that I need Jesus. And this leadership can help us 41:26 to lift us up. Not to attach these individuals who enter through this gate attached to us in a fleshly way. But we are here to lift you up and to help you to become more and more like Jesus 41:43 in our speech, in our conduct, more of more like Christlikeness. This is the goal and destination we kept. It's from Romans chapter 8 29. And 42:01 if you have anyone more questions, go to our website. You can see clearly our objective of this church and you can read and process. If you have any questions, you can go to one of us. Um we are happy to help you the process. What is the commitment to this 42:19 church means? Or if you already committed again um uh you have a a chance again is this is the bus you want to be continued if you think that no my priorities got shifted 42:38 this is not the place where I'm going I repeat what brother Surin said I'm we are all in total commitment if you think that your destination is not this what you repeated about becoming like Jesus Christ and uh grow 42:54 in the pure and simple devotion to him and maturing in our speech also not being busy body and gossiping and uh yeah if you want please 43:10 check your commitment also um as we read once again 2 Peter chapter 1 verse4 4. Second Peter 43:27 chapter 1 verse 4. He has granted to us his precious and magnificient promises so that by them you may become partakers 43:45 of the divine nature. having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. The safest place is the church. Brothers and sisters, I want to repeat one of the 44:04 um sayings brother Zach has mentioned. I recently shared in our church group also. Noah and his family spent their energy, their time, their resources to build the ark. The Lord has 44:23 permitted all of us to live this time. Sometimes I get scared about my children. um the world is offering through this internet and AI coming in easy ways and what they 44:40 were taught. Um but the Lord has permitted them to be born around this time. So as you heard from the memory verse also the Lord has given commandments and he is also a loving heavenly father. He 44:57 provides he provides all the resources what is needed in India. Even young children were asked to go and get some sugar or a little bit of salt from a a general store. They don't need to drive a car to go and get it. But every 45:16 reasonable mother and father I was never sends they will never send their children to go get so and so groceries without giving the money. Right? We are talking about a loving heavenly father. He will not test us anything 45:31 beyond our ability. If he is calling us for something and he will equip us, he will give us the resources what is needed to accomplish what he wants us to be accomplished. Finally, I want to remind you what 45:55 brother Josh has requested also uh on 31st New Year's Eve. This is from Philippians, I'm sorry, Ephesians chapter 6. I'm reading in message Bible. 46:12 Ephesians chapter 6 verse 19 to 20. and don't forget to pray for me. We don't he said like you know he has a trust and confidence in this one of these brothers and he didn't give any details he called and said please pray 46:30 for us. So I do repeat any request the same pray for us. We are not standing here as perfect people but we want to work towards the perfection and then help you primarily for the committed members of this church to press you and lift you up 46:49 and guide you through the narrow path. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 19 to 20 from message Bible. Don't forget to pray for me. I would say pray for us. Pray for all our brothers and sisters. 47:06 Pray that I will know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time. telling the mystery to one and all. The message that I jailbird preacher that I 47:23 am I am responsible for getting out. We all have the responsibility of um to help each brothers and sisters who are committed and raising godly families. 47:41 Finally, Isaiah chapter 50 and verse 4. Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4. The Lord has given me the tongue of a 48:01 disciples that I may know how to sustain the weary one with your word. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. Let's ask the Lord to have this ear and 48:21 tongue of a disciple. He is faithful. He will help us. Amen. Let's pray. Our dear heavenly father, we thank you so much for the love and care you have for each one of us. Thank you as we sang the flooded 48:41 mercies, your grace and the plan you have for us. Lord, thank you Jesus for praying and interceding for each one of us. Help us to grow in your nature, in your 48:59 likeness, in your image, in everything we do. Choosing your choice over our own. Doing your will, saying the words only you want us to say. Help us Lord to please you throughout 49:19 this 2026. grow as a church as your body in this area in in your likeness in Jesus precious name we pray. Amen. Thank you.
