15:58 Yeah, I'm sure he's coming. Come unto Jesus all you who are weary. Come to the mercy sea fervently kneel. 16:15 here. Bring your wounded hearts broken and needy. Come unto Jesus mighty to heal. 16:36 >> Joy of the comfortless life for the string. over the peace in our sh. His face a comforter tenderly 16:55 saying my yoke is easy. My burden is light. Come unto Jesus. Come unto Jesus. Lay down your burdens. 17:17 He is enough. Come unto Jesus. Rest in his love. >> So in this one, if we go to the last one there, I made the change. Last time we didn't. Sorry. >> Okay. Am I supposed to sing that and 17:37 then that and that as well? Okay. >> No, we're okay. But is there a pause there? Like did I >> we pause or we pause? >> Yeah, >> there should be a pause here, right? >> Yeah. >> Look from the >> from the verse to chorus there's a 17:54 little pause. >> So from here when she say >> yeah we come in. >> Okay there is 18:10 >> it's the same verse. Right. >> And then >> but we had paused. So we're going to still pause. Are we coming? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Right. Correct. >> Okay. Was this like is that part of my 18:29 >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I think last Sunday I'm the last all the way. >> All the way. All the way. >> Okay. Yeah, this one. This 18:47 >> no testing. Yeah, it's working. >> Yeah, we still got to come from here. >> Come now. >> Come now and follow him. This life 19:06 forsaking all that was gained nothing but los for his kingom unfailing. Come unto Jesus 19:25 take up your cross. Come unto Jesus take up your cross. life everlasting he offers to us. Come unto Jesus. 19:48 Come unto Jesus. Lay down your burdens. He is enough. Come unto Jesus. Rest in his love. >> Come unto Jesus. 20:08 >> There's another. So it did it twice. >> So it went from life everlasting. Where is that at? >> Where's the life everlasting? >> Yep. So we did. We didn't do this. 20:26 >> We did life everlasting. He offers to us. Take this out. We did these two. So, we're just going to do it twice. So, that's not in there. >> Testing. Check. Check. 20:52 >> Stinky. Huh? I don't know how these songs come up like sequence. >> These are not easy songs. >> I don't know. I don't. So, it's all him. Okay. >> Yeah. >> I think just like what we did last time. 21:11 >> We just We'll just do it. >> I think we did last time. >> We just did it. >> We went to get a pin so he could take that part out. That wasn't in there. 21:41 You ready? Go back to come now and follow him. Get to ready. Come >> and follow him. This I forsaken all that was king as nothing but love 22:00 is worth for his kingom unfailing. Come unto Jesus take up your cross. Come unto Jesus take up your cross. 22:18 life everlasting he offers to us. Come unto Jesus. Come unto Jesus. Lay on your burdens. 22:38 He is enough. Come unto Jesus. Rest in his love. Come unto Jesus. Come unto Jesus. Lay down your burdens. 23:00 He is enough. Come unto Jesus. Rest in his love. Come unto Jesus. Rest in his love. So on this verse when we're doing 23:26 >> we Yeah, cuz we're like in and out. So we got to be strong. >> Okay. Yeah. I feel there's not much strong here. >> Yeah, we got to be strong. >> But they'll be there. >> Yeah. So it's there. So we just got to do it. >> Yeah. Life after the life everlasting. I 23:51 >> think we can all start together. >> Yeah, >> I cannot start the song. >> Yeah, >> you don't know it. >> Well, no, I listen to it. I It's It's a new song for me. Yes. 24:22 Oh, thirsty. >> Just like that. You going to come in on that note. >> Thirsty. 24:47 All who are thirsty. >> All who are weak, >> come to the fountain. Dip your heart in the stream 25:09 of life. Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away >> in the waves of his mercy. 25:29 As deep cries out to thee, we sing come Lord Jesus come. Come Lord Jesus 25:54 come. Oh, thirsty. You did it two times. You just had your eyes closed. You >> I thought it was three. Maybe in the last one is three. >> Okay. Okay. It's fine. >> Ready? 26:16 >> Now we're going back again. >> First time is first time. First time it's only two. >> I think it's three and two. 26:44 >> What are we doing? The second chorus. >> The second verse. >> Okay. Ready? Ready. Second time we're coming to the verse. >> Where we coming from? We're coming out 27:01 of here. Coming to here again. >> Ready? >> All who are thirsty? >> All who are we? >> Come to the fountain. 27:23 Dip your heart in the stream of life. Let the pain and the sorrow be our sto in the waves of his mercy. 27:46 As deep cries out to thee, we sing come Lord Jesus come. >> Come Lord Jesus. 28:16 Come. >> We missed it. Sorry. I was talking. So, it's easier if you go come Lord Jesus. >> So, it won't be like dead space. So, we did it three times and then we're going to go. 28:35 >> No, no. I want This is the This is the crazy part. >> Okay. Can we do it? >> So, this is what we're doing. So, three times this, two times and coming back to Holy Spirit. How we do as deep cries out the deep sound. >> How does that What does it sound like? 28:49 >> Same like the last line. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, it's fast again. Okay. >> Okay. >> Okay. 29:08 >> Yeah. Let's do it. Let's Let's do that. Say this. The third one. You ready? >> Okay. >> Okay. Let's do it. 3 2 3. Ready. We sing 29:28 Lord Jesus. Come. Come. No Jesus come. >> One more. 29:49 Come Lord Jesus. >> Christ. >> Oh, wait. How does it go? 30:10 >> As deep cries out to thee, we sing holy. So we just got to we just have them. It's deep. >> How to transition from this to this? Oh, 30:25 like as come Lord Jesus come. >> So you have to remember as deep cries out to >> it is but we just have to do it like 30:43 come Lord Jesus come. I'mma transition to this as deep to deep as deep to the we 31:02 holy spirit guide. Holy Spirit come 31:24 Holy Spirit. >> So you just have to remember the way that this is what I hear. >> A deep cry as deep cries out to a deep cry. It's the first one and we get it. 31:43 >> Yeah. >> I'm just going to say it. >> Okay. >> So, I'm just going to follow you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. One more time. 3 2 3. >> Yeah. >> Come Lord Jesus. 32:07 >> You want us to come straight in to say come. Come Lord Jesus. >> You want to come say come straight in. Right. >> Come. I write this. Come. You want to 32:26 say come Lord Jesus come. Or Jesus. >> Which one do you want? >> Okay. All say the same. >> Okay. Okay. 32:42 >> Come Lord Jesus. >> So look straight is the come part. >> Okay. I get it. >> Come Lord. >> Okay. One more time. Last hand. >> Yes. 33:00 >> It's three of them and then >> and then three Holy Spirit. This time I don't 33:31 Come Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus come. 33:51 As deep cries out to thee. I seek to deep listen. 34:15 Holy Spirit come. Holy Spirit come. 34:34 >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> All right. Yep. You need to >> got to go back. >> We lift your name. 34:52 >> We lift your name. established in our praises. Blessed be 35:14 God. So that that's better than >> blessed be God. Do you want to start this song? >> Okay. So, 35:32 >> are you starting this song? >> In heaven. 35:55 >> I need two. >> Okay. So, I'm going do one, two, do it again. >> Once we come in, we come in. >> Come in one time. So, I get you. So, 36:11 I'mma count. So glad to pretend. Father in heaven, I love you. 36:35 We lift your name in all the earth. May your kingdom be established in our faces as your people declare your mighty words. 36:55 Blessed be the Lord God Almighty and is to come. Blessed be the Lord 37:12 God Almighty who reigns forever. Lord we adore you. 37:30 >> We lay our holy before your throne. May the fragments of your presence be about us as we exalt you. the 37:49 blessed be the Lord God Almighty who has been sed 38:13 forever. We do that twice at the end and then who reigns for ever the whole time. 38:33 >> So I'm count you do it. I'm go one, two, three. >> Yeah. I'mma count three times. >> Whatever it is. If she said three, I'm singing. Whenever I come in, come in. Okay. Can I do this part? Cuz I'm not comfortable with this. I'm not going to 38:48 sing on this. But >> you're going to start this or no? >> Yes. >> I just have to keep them. >> Let me keep 39:37 You see what we Yeah, take that. 39:55 Maybe that'll be 40:20 Hey, hey, hey. 43:04 Hey. 49:59 Hey, good morning everybody. >> Can everybody Can everybody hear me? You in the back? Can you hear me? Give me a thumbs up if you can hear me. >> Awesome. So, what we're going to do, we're going to go ahead and start uh 50:09 we're going to start with prayer. And so, we invite you to come uh come grab a seat as close to the front as possible. We're going to still have people coming in. Uh but we want to start this uh this day with just a a spirit of prayer, 50:22 inviting the Lord to come into our hearts, come into our presence. And so uh we want to do that. So if you can come forward, it actually helps. You know, some people are still arriving, still coming in. Um uh we we want them 50:33 to be able to come in as as quietly as possible, but for us that are already here, we want to already be in prayer. And so we'll do this for about 10 15 minutes and then we'll we'll continue with the rest of the meeting. If you 50:43 have your phone with you, this would be a good time to go ahead and silence it or or turn it off um so that we can focus and give our attention fully uh to the Holy Spirit. We want him to be here in our presence and we want to invite 50:54 him. So, we want to start this uh this whole day just with prayer. And again, please come forward uh as close to the front as possible. It really helps us out trying to manage uh everybody that's coming. Uh we know everybody prefers to 51:06 be in the back. Uh but if you can come forward and we're just going to um again close our eyes, try to drown out all the distractions. You know, uh we live in a very busy world. Um including that phone that I just mentioned, there's so many 51:19 things competing for our attention. And one of the uh one of the goals I think is to give our attention completely to the to the Lord. You know, the theme of this conference is God's work done God's way. And to understand his way and to 51:33 understand how his work should be done, we have to hear from him. We have to hear his voice. And so I just invite you um as you sit there, you know, to to to open up your heart to him, to invite him in, to invite his light in, to invite 51:47 his uh nature in, to invite his character in to come in and and speak to you. And so let's let's pray for about 10 minutes just silently. We'll have some uh light music in the back. And that's really uh more just to keep the 52:00 noise to uh to a minimum level. But let's focus on him in prayer. Heat. Heat. 54:01 One, two, three. 58:22 What do you feel? 59:05 Wow. 1:00:08 Heat. Heat. 1:02:56 Thank you, Father, for being here. Lord, fill our hearts, Lord. The Holy Spirit, Lord, and open up and help us to pour out everything to you and you alone, Lord, not hold back anything, Lord. Be with us, Lord. We ask in your precious 1:03:15 name. Amen. Morning, brothers and sisters. If you're able, please stand as we sing a few praised songs to our father. Revelation 1:8 says, "I am the Alpha and 1:03:33 the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Let's sing our first song. Blessed be the Lord God Almighty. 1:04:03 Father in heaven, I beloved you build lift your name in all the earth. May your kingdom be established 1:04:21 in your praises as your people declare your mighty work. Blessed be the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. 1:04:47 Blessed be the Lord God Almighty who reigns forever. Oh God most holy, we adore you. 1:05:09 We lay before your throne. May the favor of your presence be above us to exalt the name above. 1:05:30 Blessed be the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Blessed be the Lord 1:05:49 God Almighty who reigns forever more. Blessed be the Lord God Almighty 1:06:09 who was and is and is to come. Blessed be the Lord God Almighty. Forever 1:06:29 more. Who reigns forever more. Colossians 3:1 and2 says, "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those 1:06:47 things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above and not on the things of the earth. Let us turn our eyes to Jesus. And may the things of the earth become slowly 1:07:01 dim in the light of his glory and grace. 1:07:24 Oh soul, are you weary and troubled, no light in the darkness, you see there's light for a look Let the Savior 1:07:49 and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look for in his wonderful 1:08:08 face. And the things of God will pro change in the light of his glory and grace. through death into life everlasting. 1:08:34 He passed and we follow him there for us and no more dominion for more than conquers the earth. 1:08:56 Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will go strange 1:09:15 dimmed in the light of his glory and grace. His word shall not fail you. He promise. Believe him and all will be well. 1:09:38 Then go to a world that is dying. His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 1:09:59 Look full in this wonderful phrase and the things of earth will grow strange 1:10:13 in the light of his glory and grace. Matthew 11:28 says, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 1:10:31 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Let us give our all our burdens to Jesus. 1:11:03 Come unto Jesus all you who are weary. Enter the mercy sea fervently new. Here bring your wounded hearts broken 1:11:21 and needy. Come unto Jesus mighty to him. Joy of the comfortless 1:11:38 light for the stream. Oh God, peace in our sty. My yoke is easy. the burden. 1:12:01 Come unto Jesus. Come unto Jesus. Lay down your burdens. He is enough. Come onto Jesus. 1:12:21 Rest in his love. Come taste the bread of life broken for 1:12:35 drink from the cup of his promise. He's got his table as sons and as daughters grace overflowing is yours Lord. 1:12:55 Come on to Jesus. Come on to Jesus. Lay down your burdens. He is enough. Come unto Jesus. 1:13:13 Rest in his love. Come now and follow him. This life forsoking. All that was gain of is nothing but 1:13:32 loss. Trade all this world for his kingdom and failing. Come unto Jesus. Take up your cross. to Jesus. 1:13:49 Take up your cross. Life everlasting he offers to us. Come unto Jesus. Come unto Jesus. Lay down your burdens. 1:14:12 He is enough. Come on to Jesus. Rest in his love. Come unto Jesus. Come unto Jesus. Lay down your burdens. 1:14:34 It is enough. Come on to Jesus. Rest in his love. unto Jesus resting his love. >> Jesus said in John 7:37, 1:14:55 "Now on that day on now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried cried out saying, if any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." Let us cry out to him. We sing our last song. 1:15:25 All who are thirsty. Oh, you are we come to the fountain. Dip your heart in the stream 1:15:46 of life. of the pain and the sorrow be washed away in the ways of his mercy. 1:16:07 Jes we sing come Lord Jesus come. Come Lord Jesus 1:16:30 come. All who were thirsty, >> all who are weak, come to the fountain. 1:16:51 Dip your heart in the stream of life. The pain and the sorrow be washed away in the waves of his mercy. 1:17:13 As a deep cries to thee, we sing Lord Jesus come. Come Lord Jesus 1:17:37 come. Praise the Lord Jesus. Let's take deep rise 1:17:55 to deep rise to deep holy spirit. Oh, 1:18:13 come Lord. Holy Spirit come. Have your way. Holy Spirit 1:18:31 come. Yes. Holy Spirit. Come and fill our hearts. Lord, you're needy. Lord, Lord, here are you know the cry of each and every one of our hearts. Lord, you know what we need. Lord, we need you, Lord. We ask for your presence here, 1:18:50 Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. 1:19:12 Good morning. We welcome you on behalf of uh Austin Christian Fellowship Church for this conference. So if you are visiting uh we want you to hear this few announcements like um you 1:19:31 are not just guests here this weekend and you are joining with us Austin CFC church serving uh along with one another. So, if you haven't already, please grab u one of these uh stickers 1:19:49 back at the table with your right with your name and where are you from. So it helps us to get to know each other and maybe if it's for me if I see the name uh it registers if if you think uh if not now maybe later when you get a 1:20:07 chance please have one of the stickers and you um our theme for this conference uh is only God's work done in God's way will remain. So we have a schedule given uh posted in 1:20:25 other places as well. So I'll quickly go through the schedule uh review. We're going to have a first teaching session at 10:30 uh to 12:30 and then we're going to have for the lunch fellowship and the afternoon at 2:30 we're going to 1:20:44 have a Q&A session and if you have some questions uh we encourage you to scan the QR code um and you you can find the QR code um and then You can submit your questions 1:21:03 and tomorrow we have uh uh one more session is in the evening at 6 p.m. uh teaching session and followed by dinner and then tomorrow we'll meet again the same time uh the teaching session is going to be 10:30 to 12:30 and then 1:21:21 we'll have a lunch and fellowship time. Uh children are welcome. We love them. Uh so uh if uh if your child may be making some noise, if they are making noise, you can take them out and bring them back in. But we don't have uh child 1:21:39 care provided. But please uh pay close attention. We ask that you keep the responsibility for your own children including in the parking lot area around the building as well. in this place I think it's a testimony 1:21:57 about over a decade uh as a church Sundays some Fridays for these conferences we are meeting here we are guests here so um so let's uh help to continue our testimony 1:22:16 um of leaving this place um better than when we arrived uh there is an offering box uh at the back at the door exit door. Um and again there is no zero there's no obligation. 1:22:32 So please take a um like a look we have those five conditions posted on that box if you are led to give um read those instructions and you can participate in the expenses. 1:22:49 Uh before we move forward, let's pray about let's bow our heads and ask the Lord. Continuing the same theme. Our uh team sang and prayed that his presence we'll ask his presence. Many of you prayed for months for this weekend and 1:23:07 Lord's presence to be continued. We praise God for he has given the wonderful weather and then he brought you all and uh we'll ask his holy spirit and his presence continue. Our dear heavenly father, we thank you 1:23:25 so much for giving us this weekend to um listen what you are plann to speak to our hearts to our church and to brothers and sisters who came from other places. Lord, 1:23:43 give us a listening heart and obedient spirit to pay attention to as you speak through your servant. We ask all these things in Jesus precious name. Amen. So brothers and sisters um thank you for 1:24:00 being here in person and also uh online uh for this weekend uh with prayer and hearts full of gratitude and the joy and an excitement what the Lord is going to speak um through his servant this 1:24:17 weekend. So we have a special guest. He's not new to us. I'm so excited to um it's called reintroduce or it's like that. It's uh our dear brother Santo Punil. Um um he is our church overseer voluntarily 1:24:34 the local elders. Three of us chose to submit and under his leadership and his guidance he oversees our church. So he's with us this weekend. He'll be speaking at every session of this conference, three teaching sessions and uh including 1:24:53 the Q&A session uh this afternoon. So again I would like to remind you if you have any questions to be addressed by brother Santosh please uh write them and he will be happy to address those questions. So this is his um 15th year 1:25:11 uh he comes here and serves our church. So we are glad to be part and brother has six children and sister Megan I have six children and he is a role model to me and to many of us here uh especially the little ways he pays 1:25:30 attention and then uh gives his time in midst of uh many busy things even though even they are hosting the conferences. One of such incidents uh the lord reminded me it happened in 2018. I would request uh present that for Yeah. 1:25:48 Kids, can you recognize who is that? That white shirt guy bending down, kneeling down and paying attention to a a child, little child. Can you guess who is that white shirt person in that picture? Anyone? Go ahead, cat. 1:26:06 Yeah, that's brother Santos. That was our first time meeting him uh as a family. Um I'm so blessed and thrilled to uh there were hundreds of people in a there was a gymnasium and there was a special event was happening and that 1:26:23 evening there were hundreds of people but still he has a a time uh to bend down and talk with the little child. He gave his full attention to hear from the little heart. So we don't see the difference. Uh even now even 1:26:42 yesterday evening or afternoon you might have seen firsthand talking to many children and young people. I saw the same heart. Thank you brother. You can pull it down. Uh I saw the same heart another time uh in 2022. He shared a 1:26:57 meal with us with our family right before he flew home after a conference. So we needed to leave for the airport right after the lunch and we were ready and rush. Uh I don't want brother and family to miss the flight. So 1:27:15 uh but Santo uh told the kids especially my kids like you know let's wait until mom comes to the table. uh my wife who had cooked the meal and uh he wanted her to be present at the table with us while he prays. So he didn't pretend like he 1:27:32 was too busy or uh to honor her or to appreciate her and I'm so thankful to have to submit to such a um a leader. I have seen his life up close and last few years especially after 1:27:51 moving here and it matches to his teachings what his life one of the in 2023 December when he visited here um the picture what he shared came to home and it continued to 1:28:08 speaking with me till till now so I would like brother Augustine to present that uh concentric circles this picture. So, how many of you remember this picture in 2023? See many hands raising up that yeah that changed me how I 1:28:26 prioritize the things. We all have children, family, wife, full-time jobs, juggling between many things but the priority, the order was so simple it looks and um it has so much value. It 1:28:43 started with that center um a little circle with a heart. You can see uh Jesus and me. It all starts from there. Yeah. And next family, children and then 1:29:01 work, church, you can Yeah. I want to keep the order in in the right way. Um I don't want to um flip the order uh especially uh after becoming an elder. I just want to still continue on 1:29:19 the same order of the priority. Um Santosh as I said he is our overseer of this church and brother Santos we want you to know that uh you have the full freedom to speak to us this weekend like the Paul 1:29:38 spoke to many churches with love and play that plainly how you have been speaking uh we we uh request you to share your heart what the Lord has uh kept Turn your heart with plainly what you want to share with us lovingly. So 1:29:56 our theme this weekend is only God's work done in God's way will remain. Sto you have lived that live that out in front of us in the big things and also in the small things. So we are ready to receive what God has given you for us. 1:30:13 Please church join me welcoming brother Santesh Bunin. 1:30:34 Thank you family for the opportunity to be with you all again. Can we pray again together? I have been praying probably as early as I can remember 1:30:53 as a child and perhaps the first prayer I prayed was when I was 2 years old maybe but prayer has become more precious to me over the last few years and I see the need of it. For many years, I prayed 1:31:12 and just I wonder how many of those prayers God actually heard. I believe that most prayers I honestly don't think God actually even hears because it's the prayer of faith that he hears when we actually mean it. When it's not 1:31:31 just a ritual, when it's not just, oh, somebody said, "Let's pray, so let's just close our eyes, bow our head, and somebody's going to say something, and I'm distracted, and I'm thinking about something else." Or if I'm the one praying, I'm thinking 1:31:48 about my words. Are people impressed by what I said? That's how I prayed for many years, and that's how I think many Christians sadly pray. But prayer is one of the most powerful weapons we have family available to us. Oh, that we would see 1:32:06 what tremendous things we can do in God's kingdom through prayer. Far more, I think, even than preaching perhaps because prayer moves the hand of God. And whatever your need is, whatever burden you're carrying, we sang about it 1:32:24 already, but I want to invite you today to pray to your father in heaven. I believe that you've come here with a real need, a real desire for God to do something in your life. 1:32:41 You really want to do a work that will remain. You don't want to just waste your time, sitting in a conference or going on a Sunday to some building and going to work on Monday and continuing this rat race that the rest of the world around 1:32:58 us is in. family were called to something far greater. Yes, you have to go to school and college and jobs and work in the home and clean the house and do laundry and make food and clean the dishes, but God 1:33:15 wants every minute of our lives to have to be of eternal value. He wants to infuse. That means to put into every moment of our lives etern eternity. 1:33:35 That's what it means to partake of the divine nature. That today in this moment something of eternity is going to be put into this minute, this hour, this day. And that's what is the work that will 1:33:55 remain. So we pray, we ask God to fill us with his Holy Spirit. We ask God to give us his presence, his power, the person of Jesus here in our midst. He is here, family. I believe it. I hope you weren't just singing into the air 1:34:15 when we sang earlier. I hope you sang to Jesus, the person who is in our midst. He is. And now let's pray and ask God to soften your heart to unplug your ears 1:34:32 so that distract to keep your mind focused not on me but on Christ himself, your savior, your bridegroom, the one who died to redeem you. Ask God to open your eyes and open your 1:34:49 ears to see and hear him. Heavenly Father, I come to you helpless completely of being able to be your mouthpiece as you want me to be. Thank you Lord that by your blood that cleanses and by your power that fills 1:35:09 and empowers we can speak and we can hear and we can be and live on this earth as Jesus lived. That's the deep cry of my heart, Lord, that at the end of this day, at the end of this session, even that people won't think about me or even what 1:35:25 was said, but that we will think about you, Lord Jesus, that in some way you will take my feeble words, you will take your word that's living and powerful, and that we will see Jesus as a result that Holy Spirit, you will come and do 1:35:42 what Jesus said you would do, and that is you would disclose to us the things of Jesus. We're tired of just reading the Bible and it being like a blank page for us spiritually. We're tired of hearing sermons that have seem to have 1:35:57 no impact on our actual spiritual life. Lord, we want a touch from you. We want an encounter with you today, this weekend, that will transform our lives, that will change us. Lord, thank you that you are a changing God. 1:36:13 You don't change in yourself, but you bring change into our lives. You take away that which is temporal, that which is earthly, that which is fading away, and you replace it with that which will last forever, that unshakable, indestructible life. Oh 1:36:30 Lord, I cry out to you for more of that life in all of us that from the youngest to the oldest, we will open our hearts. Open the vessels, the lids off of our vessels. Open open the shutters and the curtains so that your light can come in 1:36:45 and that your life can fill our hearts. Oh Lord, I cry out to you with desperate need. desperate need that we as branches would come and be integrated and abide in the vine that we might bear much fruit. Fruit that will remain. Lord, I need 1:37:02 you. I need your Holy Spirit. And we all do. Thank you, Father, that you're moving in our midst. You're moving in this church. You're moving in the churches that are represented here. and you're going through, your eyes are searching to and 1:37:19 fro across this room and those listening online to see if there's one person whose heart is fully yours. Maybe it's two, maybe it's 10. Hey, I I pray that it would be all of us, Lord, that even before we go one minute 1:37:38 further in this conference that we will begin by saying, "Lord, my heart is fully yours." That's what you're looking for. You're not looking for people who did it perfectly. You're not looking for people who are gifted. You're not looking for 1:37:52 people who have this ability or that ability. You're looking for those whose deep heart is completely yours. And I pray you'll find that here. so that you can strongly support us. Oh, thank you that you are strong and you're 1:38:10 going to come in the strength of your might and lift us up from the pit. Lift us up from the mire and the muck around us and lift us up and seat us there and show us that you've seated us in heavenly places and we're there in you. 1:38:25 Our life is hidden with you in Christ. Hidden with you, Christ in God. come and open our eyes, open our ears. And Lord, may the words that we hear produce faith in us. So I pray it won't be my words, my voice, but your voice 1:38:41 and your words that are able to produce faith, faith that overcomes the world. And Lord, when you find us tomorrow and day after and next week and the week after that and the month after that and next year and until you come, 1:38:58 wherever you find us, you're on this earth. And even at that moment when you come back and we meet you face to face. May you find faith. May you find in us a believing people. Oh Lord, will you give us a faith through your word today that 1:39:12 trusts you for greater things than we have trusted you yet? That we will grow from faith to faith. If we came here trusting you in the past for things that you've you've fulfilled, that there will be a greater faith in our hearts now for 1:39:26 even more that you want to do. There's mountains in front of us, Lord, whether we see it or not. And you said if we had faith as little as a mustard seed, we could say to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, and it would. And 1:39:40 will you give us this faith that remains steadfast even in the midst of trials around us, even in the midst of shaking around us, you promised that you would shake everything that could be shaken. And you're doing that in our lives. You're 1:39:56 doing that in our churches. We believe it, Lord, and we welcome it because it's a promise because you said at the end of it, only that which is unshakable will remain. And Lord, that's our cry. That's why we're here. So Lord, we commit 1:40:10 ourselves to you aresh. And we say you can shake. If there's more shaking that you want to do, go ahead, Lord, because we know that you will leave us with gold. You'll give leave us with a life that nothing can shake. That's what we 1:40:25 want. Pour out your spirit, Lord. Open the windows of heaven over us even now as we're gathered here. We're a needy people. Open the windows of heaven and pour out your spirit. If if we don't realize that we're needy, Lord, I pray 1:40:37 that you'll send that spirit with anointing and power to show us how needy we really are. That we can receive that which we are completely the power for that which we're completely unccapable of. Thank you, Lord. Thank you that 1:40:50 you're more eager to fill us with your spirit than even we are eager to be filled. We believe that. We believe you to be a God who is able and will empower us and strengthen us. Thank you. Thank you, Father. I pray you'll meet every one of our 1:41:08 needs, Lord, through this time that you might get the glory. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to First Corinthians chapter 3. Our 1:41:32 theme for this conference is only that which is from God. Only God's work done God's way will remain. 1:41:50 And I hope dear brothers, sisters, young people and children that your thinking and your desire is that everything you do will remain in eternity. 1:42:08 You think about the things you spend most of your time doing, it will seem mundane. Mundane means almost pointless. Like what's the point? I go to school and I study world history or I study literature and 1:42:26 something somebody wrote 200 years ago or you go to a job and you do a job and even if at times it seems exciting at other times it's not. And if you wonder and think what's the point of this? If as the Bible tells us, 1:42:43 this time on earth is short and eternity is to come and that is forever. Then what's the point of all these things that we do? What's the point of going to work and earning money and having a home and in the things that we do? 1:42:59 And I hope that as you thought about the theme of this conference and as you came here that there was deep within you a cry that says Lord I want my life to be meaningful. So you've probably heard this poem 1:43:17 only one life it will soon be passed. It's a poem by a man named CT Stud who had tremendous opportunity ahead of him. He was a a cricketer for the English team. At that time, England was one of the best teams in the world and he 1:43:36 represented England and had a a whole opportunity ahead of him, something he'd worked hard for and uh attending a top college in England and playing for the national team and it was only going to get better. And then he met Christ. 1:43:54 And then he spent the rest of his life traveled to China, traveled to India and then spent the last few years of his life in the heart of Africa and died of sickness and a body ravaged with disease towards the end of his 1:44:11 life. But he wrote this poem only one life. It will soon be passed. Only what Christ does through us will last. and he lived that life. I tell you this, if CT Stut had continued down the path and been the 1:44:29 cricketer of that people talk about today and you go on the website and look at his stats and you can see how many centuries he scored and whatever. If he had chosen that path, he would have had regrets today in eternity. 1:44:46 I don't believe citad has any regrets today from what I know of his life. And I pray that if that hasn't happened yet for even one of us, that today will be the day that you decide, Lord, whatever dream I've been pursuing, 1:45:01 whatever thing it is that I'm hung up over or I I wanted this and I don't have it or I have I want that other thing and I fixed my vision on that. I pray that today will be the day you lay it on the altar completely so that when your life is over and 1:45:19 you're in the presence of God and you will be with him for all eternity whether in heaven or in hell. I hope none of us will end up in hell. You'll have no regret. I believe with all my heart that there are people in heaven who have regret 1:45:35 because for them it was simply about Lord forgive my sins. Make sure I don't go to hell. I want a comfortable life in eternity. So hell sounds like a place I don't want to be. And I also want a comfortable life here on this earth. So 1:45:49 don't let me go through anything difficult. Give me a comfortable life now Lord and a comfortable life after that. That is sadly what most Christians want. And then there are men like CT Stud, women like Amy Carmichael and Glattis 1:46:03 Award and you can read others like that. Men and women who follow that foremost example of all Jesus Christ who say Lord I don't care what you take me through. I don't care what you call me to go through. I don't care what my life looks 1:46:17 like here on this earth. What you give me or you don't give me. I want to make sure that at the end of my life when there is no more opportunity to change I will have no regret. So if you have not made that decision 1:46:37 that's what it really means to follow Jesus to be a disciple to ask Jesus into your heart. These are the things we say to be born again. Unfortunately Christianom has corrupted it. It's again say a prayer, come and sit in a church now, but continue to 1:46:54 live for yourself. That's not Christianity. True Christianity is saying, Lord, from this day forward, I am yours fully. I want everything that I do to be of eternal value. And if you set that as your goal, dear brothers, sisters, and you young people 1:47:12 and children, I think of the potential represented here, especially by our young people and our children. or what God wants to do in your life and he will. So that's the theme of this conference that we want fruit that will remain. Jesus 1:47:29 said that in John 15. God I've sent you that you will bear fruit and fruit that will remain. And um so the only way that fruit will remain though is if we do God's work. If I do 1:47:47 something for God, that won't remain. That's still my work. I produced it. And there's a lot of people that think likewise that I'm going to do something for God. I'm going to do this, maybe even go as a missionary or I'm going to 1:48:03 come to this conference. I'm going to try to overcome sin and I'm going to give some money or volunteer in the church and I'm going to serve. I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. But if it was my work, even if I did it 1:48:17 for God, and this is really why we want to think about that this conference, if it was my work and I did it in the name of God, it is as useless, please listen carefully, as my doing it for myself or for the 1:48:35 world. If I do something, I think you would all agree with me that if I do something for my own benefit and my own glory to make do to do something that's temporal, I just just want this temporary pleasure. If I do that, I 1:48:53 think you would all agree, yes, that's a waste of time. Think about people who addicted to drugs or alcohol. that temporary pleasure they get out of that you you would tell them you would tell them you're wasting your time that 1:49:07 pleasure might feel good for a few seconds but it it will disappear it won't last every one of us would say yeah obviously that makes sense don't don't don't go and use those drugs don't go and get drunk because whatever that feeling 1:49:23 looks like it's going to die and then you'll feel worse now dear family do you believe that you could do something that the world thinks is good and even Christians think is good. I did it for I did it as a Christian. I went 1:49:37 as a missionary. I did this service in the church. But it wasn't God's work. That is as useless at the end of my life as that person who spent his time on earthly pleasure pleasing himself alone. 1:49:56 God's work done God's way is the only thing that will remain and I am constantly on a journey of saying Lord because I I do a lot of God's work. I I traveled from Colorado to do God's work. And you may say you many of you have 1:50:14 traveled whether you live locally or not. You've traveled here to do God's work. This is God's work right? But just God's work in itself is not going to remain unless it is done his way. And that's what we want to think 1:50:29 about. Something that not I don't know how many Christians actually think about that. We read in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, let's begin reading in verse 11, no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which builds uh 1:50:47 which which is Jesus Christ. So the foundation that the only building that will will remain is one that is built on the foundation that is Jesus Christ. So if you're building on a foundation that's something else, your own ability, 1:51:05 your desire for money, success in this world, none of that will remain. I think we are all probably in agreement on that. But here we're talking about people who are building on the foundation which is Jesus Christ. So the 1:51:17 first thing you must make sure of is that if you want your work to remain, whether it's your job, your marriage, your home, your children, your ministry in the church, your involvement in the church, all of that, if you want that to 1:51:32 remain, it must be on the foundation that is Jesus Christ. I think that's what we're here. We can all agree on that. But he goes on to say that it is possible to build on this foundation that is Jesus Christ and for that work to not remain still. So 1:51:49 condition number one is the foundation is Jesus Christ. There is a second condition. First of all make sure the foundation is right. Okay. Now the second condition but if any man builds on the foundation 1:52:06 on the good foundation with and here we see two options there's two options with a foundation. First of all there's not Jesus Christ loving yourself loving the world loving pleasure and then there's the foundation which is Jesus Christ. Okay we pick the 1:52:23 right choice the foundation which is Jesus Christ. Now on this foundation there are two ways to build. We're not talking about sitting in you know doing some worldly thing. We're sitting in the church in this church or in your local church 1:52:41 and two people sitting on that same foundation which is Jesus Christ calling themselves Christians can build one of two ways and only one of those will remain. That's what we're thinking about this weekend. I believe we're all here 1:52:55 having laid that foundation which is Jesus Christ. If any of you children or young people are here and you haven't laid your foundation down on Jesus Christ, do it today. Please don't wait any longer. Start your life today of 1:53:11 that foundation that is Jesus Christ because you're wasting your time on anything else. Come and give your life to Jesus. Lay that foundation now. You will you you you'll have you'll have trouble. You'll have difficulties in life. Yes, we're 1:53:25 not promised an easy life, but you can be sure that whatever you go through, God will turn it into good. It will remain. So build that foundation. Lay that foundation now. And if you have, now let's test our work to see how it is 1:53:42 that we're building on that foundation. Because there are two ways to build. That's what we read in verse 12. If anyone builds on this foundation with either wood, hay, and straw or gold, silver, and precious stones, there's the two options. On the 1:54:01 foundation that is Jesus Christ, you can either build with gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. Each man's work will become evident for the day that is the time when Jesus comes will show it. Now maybe it's a 1:54:20 question for some of you children or young people. If you have these two categories of people, two categories of things. Here is a pile of gold, silver, and precious stones. And here's a pile of wood, hay, and straw. You could make that wood, hay, and straw 1:54:40 look like gold. I've seen some uh wood that's painted to look like gold. Fake gold, some material. It could be plastic that's painted to look like gold. I've seen plastic earrings that look like precious stones, look like 1:54:55 diamonds, but it's just plastic or glass. Silver is probably just aluminum or stainless steel made to look like silver. So, how are we going to test? If you had a pile here of a mixture of wood, hay, 1:55:14 straw, gold, silver, and precious stones, and it all looks the same. I'm talking about a church where everybody outwardly looks the same. We're all singing the same songs. We all dress and maybe we all agree on the same things. 1:55:28 How do I know whether I am gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hands, straw? How can we test? What do you think? Anybody want to take a guess? Fire is the only thing that will prove it because you could counterfeit gold so 1:55:48 thoroughly that you could hold it and look at it and say, "Wow, that's gold." Somebody on the street sells you this gold necklace. Say, "Man, it's real gold. I'm telling you." And you test it and you look at it and and they've 1:56:00 counterfeited it so well. Now, if you just waste and they sell it to you for $500, let's say, and you bought this cheap plastic or some cheap metal necklace and somebody told you it was gold and you spent $500 on it, at 1:56:17 least you've only wasted $500. Imagine if your whole soul was what you exchanged for this fake thing that won't last. And that's what that's why this is so important. We can't afford to make this mistake when it comes to our eternal 1:56:35 destiny. Even if you paid $10,000 for a fake gold chain, okay, that's $10,000. That's a lot of money, more than any of us wants to waste, for sure, but that's still nothing compared to your soul that in eternity you could have invested 1:56:54 in something that didn't last. And you're exactly right. Fire is what will prove it. For the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire. This is verse 13. 1 Corinthians 3:13. And the fire itself will test the 1:57:13 quality of each man's work. Now, as I said, and I've tried to explain it multiple times, we're talking about two categories of people who are building on the foundation that is Jesus Christ. And you may say, "Well, I I'm I'm I'm a 1:57:30 believer. I'm I'm a Christian. I read the Bible. I'm not praying to some other false god. I come to church. I spent money to come to this conference. My foundation is Jesus Christ." Yes. But how are you building on that foundation? 1:57:46 The fire itself will test the quality of the work built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss. 1:58:06 But he himself will be saved yet so as through fire. Have you seen that? Here's somebody who built their foundation on Jesus Christ and they built a house on it and because their foundation was on Jesus Christ, they themselves will be 1:58:22 saved. We're not talking about that other category of people whose foundation is not on Jesus Christ, who will not be saved, who will spend their eternity away from the presence of God in hell. Okay? None of us wants that. 1:58:36 We're talking about those who have built their foundation on Jesus Christ. They are saved, but their entire work is burned up. He will suffer loss. We're talking about the day when Jesus Christ comes. If it says if verse 15, please 1:58:54 read with me in your Bible carefully. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss. And then what? Jesus has come. There's no more time to regain that loss. Do you think in heaven will be like somehow I suffered the loss and 1:59:10 so give me another chance Lord to earn that loss back? No. Our life on earth is over. And that loss that I have suffered in verse 15, that burning up that I have experienced in verse 15, there's no more chance to undo it. 1:59:29 It is appointed a man once to die. And after this, the judgment. Hebrews 9 tells us, you live once, you'll die once, and then it's that's it. If verse 15 is true about you that your work is burned up and you've suffered loss, that is the 1:59:47 reality of your condition forever. As much as it is the condition, the reality of the condition of those whose foundation was not Jesus Christ, forever they will suffer away from the presence of God in hell, which is the only place 2:00:05 that is forsaken by God. And forever these people who have built on this foundation with wood hand straw because their work was burned up, they will suffer loss. You if you've ever traveled by plane in an airport, you know there's a 2:00:24 conveyor belt. And some years ago when I read this verse, that's the picture I got. If you go to the airport and you you you have a conveyor belt, you you're supposed to put your suitcases on there. And I mean, it's a very nervous place. I 2:00:38 can't think of a more nerve-wracking place. Well, maybe there are a few, but than the airport security lines, cuz you never know what they're going to find out that you're stashed away. You forgot about it. And and you you you know, we 2:00:48 were coming here and we had some stew that Megan had packed for one of the kids. They took that out. You're not allowed to bring stew apparently because it's too pasty. So, it's a nervous place. People are just like, "Oh." and 2:01:01 you watch your bag and you know, at least in Denver airport, it's like you can watch it. And if the rollers go this way, your bag is safe. If the rollers go that way, you're going to be stuck for another 10 minutes. You might miss your 2:01:13 flight. Okay, it's one thing. If you miss your flight, maybe you can drive there. Maybe you can catch the next flight. Maybe you can cancel your trip altogether. Not the end of the world. But if the rollers go that way on the 2:01:27 judgment day when Christ comes, there's no more option left. That's it. If your bag was identified as disqualified, it's that's it. There's no, okay, you can dump it out and take the bag and go through the line again. No, there's no 2:01:42 going through the line again when Jesus Christ comes back. And I got this picture of this conveyor belt and and of course, you check your pockets and you realize, "Oh, wow. I forgot my pen was there or the watch and the phone. I 2:01:55 forgot about it. Okay, take it out. You dump it all out. Take the belt off. It's all got to go through that and then you have to go through that. Just this is it's like this is where they got the idea for the conveyor belt. 2:02:08 You put everything in it and then you yourself have to go through it and you stand like that. You believe family that that's what's going to happen when Jesus Christ comes. You'll stand there and we'll realize that this isn't just a 2:02:23 flight. This isn't just a pocketk knife that I forgot about or some other little thing. This is my soul that's being searched right now. And everything that I invested my life in, I'm watching it go in that conveyor belt. In the 2:02:39 airport, it's just an X-ray machine. At the judgment seat of Christ, it's a fire. And imagine if everything just pause for a moment right now and picture everything that you've been investing your life in now going on this conveyor 2:02:53 belt and there's a fire at the end of it. And now you're about to go through the fire as well. And you say, "Lord, thank you that I put my trust in you, Lord Jesus Christ. You are my savior. You've cleansed my sins completely. I have a 2:03:07 clear conscience and I know I'll make it through the fire. that that thing I spent my time on last week that's going to burn up. I know it is. And and what I've been thinking about for the last month, all these ideas and plans and 2:03:22 selfcentered way of thinking that's going to burn up and and I'm watching and I'm I'm thinking through my mind, what else, Lord? How much is actually going to come out on the other side? Is anything going to come out? I'm going 2:03:37 to come through that and realize all I have is myself. And then I'll stand there with Jesus who gave everything for me. And he I'll stand there with Paul who spent his whole life for Jesus Christ poured out as a drink offering. 2:03:56 And I'll stand there with CT Stud whom I talked about and and Hudson Taylor and thousands if not millions of others that I've never even heard of who may have done greater things than these men that I've read about. And they'll say, "Well, 2:04:09 Lord, you know, I'm sorry. I I kind of I was really I just I I was more interested in making money and having a good life and buying that new car and and I was taken up with the things of this world and I spent my time just 2:04:22 looking at what other people were living their lives on social media and and I enjoyed that and I I I I couldn't give up this desire to please myself in that situation. But I'm glad I'm here. Can you stand there with a with joy on your face and 2:04:39 say at least I made it. I know nothing else of my life really made it through. I don't believe I could. And so you watch this this this conveyor belt going into the fire and everything being burned up. Now, thank 2:04:58 God it is not the judgment day. Thank God that he's given us his word. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 is in our Bible. Thank God that God inspired Paul through the Holy Spirit to write this so that today what is it October 23rd right 23rd 2:05:17 2026 I can send things through the fire now. So imagine if at home you had your own little private X-ray machine like their airport TSA has at home before you walk out the door, dad and mom say, "Okay, kids come. Let's send 2:05:34 everything through the conveyor belt." Now that way when we get to the airport, we are we are free. I'm I'm relaxed. Everybody else is nervous, but I've already sent my stuff through the practice X-ray machine that I have at 2:05:47 home. And I know Yeah. I've already checked my bags. I know there's nothing in there. You're not going to find anything. And that's why he's given us his word so that every day through the Holy Spirit, we can be sending 2:06:01 everything about our lives through it. Say, Lord, one day there is going to be that real fire. But thank you that you've given me the fire today, the fire of your Holy Spirit that can purge me and examine me, search me, oh Lord, and 2:06:14 show me. That's what David's cry was. Psalm 139. Is there anything in me that will that grieves you that's going to be burned up? The way I spoke to my wife this morning, the way I looked at that person, the way I thought about that 2:06:28 person, the unforgiving attitude I have there, Lord, will that be burned up? Thank you that you've given me the fire. Now, God's word is described as a fire. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is described as a fire. This is why he's 2:06:44 given us the Holy Spirit and his word that we might examine our lives to see that what we build, what we're spending our time on will remain. Let's turn to Romans chapter 11. 2:07:22 Romans chapter 11. Let's begin in reading in verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the 2:07:39 wisdom and knowledge of God. How uncarchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways? For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who became his counselor? Or who has first given to him that it might be given back to him again? 2:07:58 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. And here we see what is this gold, silver, and precious stones. Now, let's not just think about theory. 2:08:17 Let's not just think about picture. Let's make it real. If if you if if the Holy Spirit has tugged on your heart that you perhaps have been wasting your time on things that are going to be burned up, even though you'll be there 2:08:28 in heaven, your sins are forgiven. Christ is your savior. Okay, that's great. You're going you you're cleans your sins are all going to be cleansed. That's great. But if you if you think that some even even one part of your 2:08:40 life is going to be burned up. I hope there's a urgency a sense of Lord, I want to be rid of it now. Burn it up now. And if that's the desire of your heart and you say, "Lord, show me what is gold, silver, and precious stones in my 2:08:52 job. Show me what that actually is. Lord, show me what gold, silver, and precious stones way of thinking is, way of speaking, way of doing. What kind of attitude is gold, silver, and precious stones? What kind of motive is gold, 2:09:09 silver, and precious stones?" That's what we want to know. And here it is. That which is from him, through him and to him. Think of it like a circle. From him, it begins with him. Through him, by his power and to him for his glory 2:09:28 alone. This is gold, silver, and precious stones. And God wants us, God is invites us, I would say, to a life where everything we do, even in what seems ordinary, mundane, boring, because it's from him, through him, and to him, 2:09:47 it will be gold, silver, and precious stones. See, most of us may never travel abroad and be a missionary like CT Stud was. Most of us will not get up and preach sermons. Most of us will not get up and lead the singing or be elders in 2:10:00 churches or have some public ministry. No, that's not gold, silver, and precious stones because there are much of that work that's going on including missionary work and preaching and singing that is also going to be burned 2:10:12 up. Let me show you a verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I want to I want you to picture I want 2:10:33 to give you a picture of the life of somebody or some group of people. Let me let me tell you let's say I told you that so and so speaks in tongues and eloquent in his natural tongue or 2:10:49 her natural tongue. excellent preacher. Really preaches wonderfully. You sit there and you're like, "Wow, man, that guy. I love listening to him and YouTube sermons and this and that." Speaks wonderfully. And then he can speak in 2:11:05 tongues also. And he has the gift of prophecy. 1 Corinthians 13:2. It's really prophetic word. And he knows mysteries. You ask him, "What does this verse mean?" And he explains it to you the mystery of that teaching and he can 2:11:23 explain it and he has all knowledge. He knows exactly what the verse is and knows exactly what this means is what this means. He has all faith or she has all faith to move mountains as this person prayed and the prayer was 2:11:42 of such faith that a mountain was moved. Um this person not only I mean that's quite a list already but on top of that this person gave all their possessions to feed the poor and then after all of that they were burned as a martyr. 2:12:01 What would you say about if you read about this person that they spoke well, they could spo speak in tongues, they had gift of prophecy, they knew all mysteries, they knew no they had knowledge, they had faith to move and you read about all these things they 2:12:18 did in faith. They did this in faith. They did that on and that mountain was actually moved in faith. And then um they gave away all their possessions to the poor and they lived simple lives because they gave away everything they 2:12:31 had and on top of that they were burned alive as a martyr. You would say that's a book you got to read. That's a great biography. But you know what the Holy Spirit says about that? What you didn't realize was that that wasn't God's work done God's 2:12:46 way. and you you thought this was such an impressive thing they did and maybe that was you and you're like Lord look at all this I've done and here I am in the flames burning up as a martyr and you get to heaven and realize that 2:13:03 was a waste. All that giving away to the poor and even the act of being burned as a martyr and having knowledge and faith all those miracles you did in faith was burned up. It was a waste. I feel sorry for this person, whoever it 2:13:20 is that is being described here in 1 Corinthians 13. I am nothing. It profits me nothing. And it brings fear into my heart. You don't read those verses read. You know, 1 Corinthians 13 is a popular chapter in weddings. Not those first f four verses though. I 2:13:40 don't think I've ever read those first three verses at a wedding or heard it. But think about your marriage. I hope somebody will have the courage to read 1 Corinthians 13:es 1 2 and 3 at a wedding and say you groom and and bride. You're 2:13:55 about to start on a journey. Make sure that that love you have is from God and through God by the power of his Holy Spirit and for his glory. Make sure that your marriage that you're looking to start now is for his glory, not for some 2:14:07 selfentered reason you have. You are about to go and start a church. You're building a church. Okay. Make sure it's for his glory. then it will remain otherwise it will be burned up. So from him through him and 2:14:22 to him let's turn to Acts chapter 17. See when Jesus came and inaugurated the new covenant and on 2:14:41 the day of Pentecost when the new covenant was the new the church was birthed as as it were God God's goal for us Jesus's goal for us wasn't just that we would now start to go to church as most Christians say oh where are you 2:14:56 going today I'm going to church my dad used to say well you better hurry up and get there how long you've been going to church it's time to be in church and be integrated into a local body. And uh but that's I'm going to church 2:15:10 because church is this thing I do. I give God an hour or I'm really spiritual. I gave him an hour and a half. Oh, we're a special church. We spend two hours together. It's not the amount of time. God is not looking for two hours on a Sunday and one weekend 2:15:27 once a year and we're like, Lord, I did my part. He wants all of us. He wants us to be integrated into the body and and functioning where that's my that that's all I do. That's everything that I do is for God's glory and for his kingdom. So 2:15:42 he didn't call us disciples to go to church. When he called the disciples, he saw Peter and John, sorry, Peter and Andrew there with mending their nets and he said, "Come follow me." What does this mean, Lord? Can I I'll 2:15:57 You mean show up on Sunday morning 10:00? Okay, I'll be there. No, that wasn't it. Drop your nets. Come follow me right now. But your whole life now. James and John, they walked by. They're with their dad. Jesus Jesus said, "Come 2:16:13 follow me." What, Lord? Sunday morning? Yeah. Oh, Wednesday Bible study also or Friday Bible study. I I'll come, Lord. No, no, no. Leave your dad. Leave your nets. Come follow me right now. This is how the church was built. 2:16:26 And today what Christianity offers is, hey, come to a crusade, invite you to a crusade. And some evangelists, and I'm not trying to mock this, please understand. I believe there are evangelists doing good work. But what's 2:16:40 sadly being offered is a cheap counterfeit of the reality of what Jesus has called us to. Here's a crusade. You get you get a moving message about hell or Christ's love and he died on the cross and you move to tears. You say, 2:16:53 "Okay, fine. You did so much for me. I guess I should give you something in return. So, I'll come forward and I'll kneel down and sign some card and pray with some counselor. And now, instead of spending my uh uh 10:00 to 11:30 in 2:17:08 front of the TV watching a football game that I don't really care about, I'll go to some building and put some money in a box, listen to some songs, listen to a bit of a pep talk, and then go back to watch the football game that I'm really 2:17:18 most interested in. This is Christianity today. Look at how it's degenerated to the call that Jesus gave Peter and Paul and James and John and Andrew and Matthew and says, "Leave your accounting table. Leave your family. Leave that old life 2:17:33 and come give me everything." This is Christianity. So he didn't call us just to go to church. He wants us to be a part of the body that he is building. And that's what Paul says here to it says here when he was on Mars Hill 2:17:49 in Athens that he was around a group of people who loved to listen to a lot of philosophies they'd gathered together and oh who's going to speak today oh yeah this is like a TED talk you know this was the the previous version of TED 2:18:04 talk you show up at Mars Hill Mars Hill talk and you hear okay today's speaker is so and so he's going to give us this philosophy the somebody's traveled from Greece speak and he knew um Plato or you know he he was taught by Plato and 2:18:19 Socrates school of thought he's going to speak today and then oh this some guy named Paul is over here he's going to give some new idea and they invite Paul to speak and listen what he says now all these people are seeking to know God or or 2:18:36 what understand this universe and who are we and then he says in Acts 17:4 more the God who made the world and all things in it. He says, first of all, I know you guys have been chasing all these gods and philosophies and all that, but let 2:18:52 me tell you the God who made there's a God who made this world and all the things in it. He does not dwell in temples made with hands. Now, you think about that in terms of us building the church. Lord, I want to I want I want my life to be the temple of 2:19:09 the Holy Spirit and my marriage to be a dwelling place for you. My home with our children to be a dwelling place for you. This church gathering the way I have, I wanted to be a dwelling place for you. And God starts by saying, "Listen, you 2:19:21 if you want to build me a house, you can't do it with human hands. You can't make your marriage good enough so that I'll feel finally I'll come there. You can't make your church meeting good enough so that I'll come there." 2:19:32 the God who made the world and all things in it. Since he is the Lord of heaven and earth, he does not dwell in temples made with hands. So if it's your work, he's not going to come and live in it. Nor is he served by human hands. Well, 2:19:47 say, "Lord, I did this for you." He says, "No, I don't want it. You did it. It's not I it's worthless to me." Because God who is eternal sees that if Santos produced it, it's not going to last. is going to die in a few hours or days, 2:20:04 maybe a few years at most. And that is just passing for God. He says, "I'm interested. If you want to give me something, make sure it will remain. Make sure that a million years from now, a billion years from now, that thing 2:20:16 which you did will still be there. It will be gold, silver, and precious stones. I could send it through a million fires, and it will only get purer." God says, "I want that. If you give me that, then I'll accept it. But 2:20:28 you give me something else. I can see through all the gold plate and the artificial uh gold coloring you've put on that piece of wood, but I can see what the fire is going to do to it. He is not served by human hands as though 2:20:44 he needed anything since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their 2:20:59 habitation, that they would seek God. You say, "Okay, Lord, you said I can't serve you. I can't give you anything because you're God. What do you need? What do you want me to do then?" He says, "Just seek me." That they would seek God if perhaps they 2:21:16 might grope for him. To grope means you're you can't see it. your eyes are closed. You're in the dark and you're like, "I just want to find you, Lord. I don't want to think so highly of myself to think that I could offer you a 2:21:28 church, a CFC church where the doctrine is right." Or, uh, preaching a sermon where it's it's a it's a good sermon and everything was laid out well or sing the lead the music so well that you're it was an offering I gave to you, Lord. Did 2:21:42 you like how I led the singing today? Did you like that sermon I preached? Did you like how I served at the conference? He says, "It was your hands. I'm not going to accept it. You can't serve me with your hands." Lord, I I I I loved my 2:21:55 wife. I finally figured out how to make her happy, and we've been getting along so well. And God says, "Listen, husband, it was your work. You figured it out. I'm not going to dwell in that marriage." Oh, sure. You can you can 2:22:10 live together all you want, like people in the world do. But you want God to be in your marriage. You want God to be in your home. You want God to be in your church. It must be, "Lord, I'm groping for you. Where are you?" 2:22:26 Some I' I've used this before and somebody asked me again yesterday about, "Hey, do you have any advice for me as a parent? I see you have six children and you've had children for some years. You have any advice for me as a parent?" I 2:22:37 said, "You should have come to me when I only had one or two children." I had lots of advice then. Now, after I've had six, I'm groping in the dark. Lord, where are you? Help me. Lord, I need you. Because I've seen the fruitlessness of trying to 2:22:54 offer him something. I say, Lord, I figured out. See what a good boy I am. And the same with being an elder or speaking God's word or whatever it is that you do. Are you are you satisfied because you finally figured out how to 2:23:09 do it and feel good about yourself thinking God will also feel good about it and he says no wives maybe you finally figured out how to submit. Submission is something that the world doesn't understand but you finally figured it out. Yep. Okay. I've been a 2:23:23 good submissive wife. Lord look at it. I used to always talk back and fight with my husband and all that but look Lord I'm I'm submitting. He says no you wasted your time. Why? because it didn't come from Lord I'm leaning on you. I'm 2:23:36 groping for you. If perhaps they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us. He is nearby. For listen to this in him we live and move and have our being. 2:24:02 as even some of your own powers have said, for we also are his children. You see that? You see the difference between me serving God or me um uh building a temple for him. Like that's that's one category. This is again the foundation 2:24:16 on Jesus Christ. Here's two people doing two two kinds of work. One says, "Lord, I'm building a house for you. Lord, I'm I'm uh I've done this service for you." And it's impressive. The world sees this big structure that looks like gold. And 2:24:34 here's somebody else says, "Lord, I just groped for you. I I didn't have the first clue about how to raise my children. I didn't have the first clue about how to be uh how to have a godly marriage or what to do in the church. 2:24:44 Lord, you've called me to be an elder, but I I don't know, but I'm just groping for you and I I just want to find you." And God says, "That's gold. You found me. That's gold." There's no marriage seminar, and I'm nothing wrong with that. Or books. read 2:24:57 them if it will. But let all of that thrust you to a groping for him. Not a strengthening of your own hands. You see the difference where I'm I'm I'm like this. I'm like, Lord, where are you? I'm I'm I'm trying to learn how to love my 2:25:11 wife as you love the church. Where are you, Lord? Jesus, who is my example. You as a wife, you're saying, Lord, I want to know what it means to submit to my husband as you submitted to your father. Where are you, Lord? I want to find you. 2:25:25 And you as a child, you're there and you're 12 years old or 9 years old or 18. You say, "Lord Jesus, I don't know how to overcome in this situation. I I don't know how to overcome my temperament and my bad moves, but I want 2:25:36 to find you." And then when you find him, you have gold, silver, and precious stones. Are you building your life that way, dear family, young people? Is that the way you're looking at what's ahead of you? Some of you may consider 2:25:52 marriage. I hope you are. If you're of marriageable age, are you doing it that way? Lord, it's not about, oh, she looks like that or he looks like that or I like this about him. I like that or he's got a good job or she's she's kind of 2:26:04 cute. No, Lord. I want to find you. I want to find you. And when I find you, I know you will. I I I get a hold of you first and then you'll you'll lead me step by step into what you have for me. This is this is the way the Lord wants 2:26:20 us to go. If you turn with me to 1 Chronicles chapter 17, we see here the example of David. David was a man after God's own heart. Yes, he 2:26:38 was a flawed man, but there was something about David that sets him up above almost all the others in the Old Testament. Moses, Elijah, think of the the the patri the the stalwarts of the Old Testament, Abraham, Noah that we read 2:26:58 about and David is up there, Moses, Elijah. Here's this man, David, and he's the only one who's actually called a man after God's own heart. Interestingly, we don't read that about, you know, it says Moses was the humblest man, the wisest 2:27:15 was Daniel. Uh but there's one name given to David which is a really precious one. A man after God's own heart and it came about chapter 17 1st Chronicles 17:1 when David this man who was a man after God's own heart who had struggled for years he 2:27:34 had been chased by Saul. Saul knew that David was going to be the next king and he was jealous and so he chased him for no fault of David. And anytime David had the opportunity to do something back to Saul, he repayed him with kindness. He 2:27:49 could have killed Saul and said, "Lord, you've given him into my hand. You promised me the kingdom. This must be it. I'm going to go ahead and do it." He said, "No, I'm going to wait on your time." And then he gets anointed as 2:28:01 king. And he continues his battle. And finally, at the age of 30, he's king over all of Israel and Judah. And now he's getting towards the end of his life. He's in his 60s now. and he's enjoyed success. It's kind of like in 2:28:13 retirement mode. He doesn't know how soon. He knows that he probably doesn't have much longer to live. And he says, "Listen, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, behold, I'm dwelling in a house of 2:28:28 cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under curtains." He says, "I sit in my house in my palace and I decided that that bed wasn't the right kind of bed. So, I've got another kind of bed and wow, I'm I sleep well now. And that 2:28:42 chair that I sat in, yeah, a little stiff for my back now that I'm 65, I'll get another back with some cushion." I imagine that David's got he has the money to do whatever he wants. But he looks out the window and he sees 2:28:54 the tabernacle and he sees, man, that's kind of old looking. those curtains that we've we've had and it's just it's a tent and it's it's just ragged looking and I love you Lord. You're you're you're such a good God. You've been so 2:29:10 good to me. All this money I see it it's sitting in my bank account. I think I could do something for you Lord. Look at the house I built for myself. I can build a nice one for you. It sounds good, doesn't it? But this is God's work 2:29:23 done David's way. So he calls David So he calls Nathan and then Nathan Nathan is a little bit undern. He says, "Hey, that's a great idea, man. Oh, I mean, I think about all the other people. They're just thinking about themselves, but you, David, you're 2:29:38 thinking about God. Good for you." Nathan said to David, verse two, "Do all that is in your heart. God is with you." And then Nathan goes home that night and he can't sleep. See, he's in touch with God. And God said, "Nathan, how dare you 2:29:53 credit David for what he thought he could do? Don't you know everything that will matter must begin with me. If I didn't come up with the idea, you're wasting your time. David came up with the idea. It's not good for me. So, it 2:30:07 came about the same night that the word of God came to Nathan saying, "Go and tell David, my servant, thus says the Lord, you're not going to build a house. Who are you to think that you can build a house for me? You shall not build a 2:30:18 house for me to dwell in because I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day." Are you feeling sorry for me, David? You feel like you want to do me a good deed, so look at me, God. I know you blessed 2:30:32 me and all that, but I have a lot of money and I can do this for you, Lord. I can do it. I can make you a nice house. Have you ever had that attitude, Lord, I can I can help in the church. You've given me some gifts. Yes, Lord. I'll 2:30:44 give you all the glory, but it's I'm going to do it for you. I'm going to lead the singing. I'm going to preach that sermon. I'm going to I'm going to serve. I'm going to do this and feel good about myself. And if there were 2:30:55 undescerning prophets, if Nathan hadn't been hearing from the Lord, David would have built a house because Nathan said, "Go, go do it." And David would have built a house. And God would have said, "I'm going to stay as far away from that 2:31:08 as possible. I don't want to have anything to do with that. I know you built it, but and yeah, go ahead, have your sacrifices, have your conferences, do all your things over there, but I won't be anywhere near it." Does that 2:31:19 strike fear into your heart that you could do something that you sacrifice and you pour your heart out and you say, "It's for you, Lord, and I sacrificed it and I gave up this and I gave up that." And at the end of it, you realize it 2:31:30 burned up. Thank God that Nathan was a prophet who heard from God and go and tell David, I have gone, verse 5, I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up Israel to this day. I've gone from tent 2:31:48 to tent and from one dwelling place to another. In all places where I have walked with all Israel, have I spoken a word with any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, "Why have you not built for me a 2:32:01 house of cedar?" David, I know you came up with this great idea and you feel pretty good about yourself for the fact that you successful king are going to build a house for God. And everybody will say, "Yeah, David built that 2:32:12 house." And God says, "Listen, David, I I don't want your good ideas of how you're going to build my church, how you going to build my house." If I wanted it, I would have spoken it first. I would have said to one of the judges, 2:32:25 "Hey, how come you haven't built me a house?" And you would have built me a house. Today, we have churches that are sprouting up almost every week. I hear about a new church just in my area of Colorado alone. New church? Yeah. We 2:32:38 rented the house, rented the gym from that school that doesn't have anything to do on Sunday. We've got the place. We've got a few instruments. We've got the wires and the cable. Somebody gave us some money. Please give us a little 2:32:48 bit more money. We've got somebody that can speak. Here we go. We've got a church. And God said, "Go ahead, have your church. I won't be there." Because it wasn't my idea. I didn't start the work. Now, therefore, verse 7, thus shall you 2:33:03 say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, "Listen, David, I know you're living a good life now, and you're you're very thankful. I know you're not maybe there's a bit of pride in you, but at least you're thankful and 2:33:14 you recognize that I'm the one that blessed you. But listen, don't forget I took you from the pasture. What you were about 50 years ago was a sheep follower. You picked up the poop after them and then you you you came home smelling like 2:33:30 sheep because that's what you spent all your day around and you were filthy and just among all of them. That's who you were. I know you you you look nice and you feel like you're so qualified and talented to be able to do something for 2:33:43 me, but don't forget who you were when I first picked you up. Don't forget that you were there and I started the work by calling you. I picked you when you were following sheep to be the leader of over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever 2:33:59 you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I've done all of that and I will make you a name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them so 2:34:13 that they may dwell in their own place and not be moved again and the wicked will not waste them anymore. So as formally even from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I tell you that the 2:34:27 Lord will build a house for you. Look at the difference. God turns it on his head and said, "David, I know you thought you were going to do all of this." And he says, "I'm going to do it." And look at David's response. See, this is 2:34:42 why he was a man after God's own heart. Did David got offended? You know, there are sometimes people who do all this and say, and they they're corrected or the Lord rebukes him. They're like, "Man, I I sacrificed so much. I did all that." 2:34:54 What do you mean? Don't you misunderstood me. Don't you think David felt misunderstood? He's like, "Lord, all I was trying to do was some good for you. Why do you have to rebuke me like that? I was I was sincere. Thank God Nathan was a prophet who loved 2:35:07 David and knew God and could tell him, "Man, I there's something I don't want you to waste even another day on something that will be burned up at the judgment seat of Christ." And that's I love you too much that I'm going to 2:35:21 speak strongly to you right now about that thing that I know you think you were sincere about, but I have to correct it because I love you. Because there's one thing I care about that when Jesus Christ comes back, you will have 2:35:31 no regret. I thank God for prophets that I've had in my life, beginning with my dad, who spoke strongly to me, things that I didn't always understand. Like, I'm sure David didn't understand. And he's like, Nathan, hold on. Hold on. I wasn't 2:35:44 thinking like that, man. You misunderstand me. Thank God that Nathan spoke the truth to David. Look at David's response. This is the response of a man after God's own heart. Who am I, oh Lord? Verse 16, you're right. I'm sorry that I got so taken up 2:36:01 with what gift I thought I could have and what how I could serve you through that and all of that. Forgive me, Lord. Who am I, oh Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? And you could keep reading that. Um, 2:36:16 verse 18, what more can David still say to you concerning the honor bestowed on your servant? For you know your servant, oh Lord, your for your servant's sake and according to your own heart, you have wrought all the greatness to make 2:36:29 known all these great things. There is none like you, nor is there any god besides you. According to all that we have heard with our ears um uh for verse 22, your people Israel, you made your own people forever 2:36:47 and you, oh Lord, became their God. And uh in the middle of that, God says in verse 12, listen, I skipped over that. We should read that. We read to through verse 10. And then in verse 11, it says, "When your days are fulfilled, 2:37:02 1 Chronicles 17:1, "You must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build for me a house, and I will establish his throne 2:37:16 forever." Imagine if David came up with this idea. This is what exactly happened. David came up with this idea and say, "Lord, I'm going to build this nice house for you. I've got these great plans and all that. It's going to be 2:37:27 wonderful." And God says, "No thanks, David, but I'm going to use that other person. I know you came up with the idea, but I will only do that which I begin with, and my my thought is to use soand so instead." What would you say? 2:37:41 But I came up with the idea first. You know, these days everything is about who came up with the idea first. You file a patent for it and you get a copyright on it so nobody else can steal it from you. Here's God saying, "David, nice idea. No 2:37:52 thanks. But I'm that that idea you thought you had about building me a house. I actually had it way before you and I picked somebody else to do it for me." Yes, Lord. I'm not here to do to do anything for my own sake. I want to do your work, Lord, 2:38:08 but I want to do it your way. And if you say that you would rather use somebody else, then I say, "Amen, Lord. Use them." and I will do everything I can to support it. And you read about it. David wrote out the plans knowing that Solomon 2:38:19 would have his name attached to it. It's called Solomon's Temple. David relinquished it. Said, "Lord, I don't want to waste one minute doing anything of my work. Where is Solomon today? I'm absolutely sure he's in hell. 2:38:34 And where's David today?" Jesus was called the son of David. God called David. And David grew got a little bit of it. I don't think he saw it perfectly, but he saw, Lord, if you say it, you're right. You started it. You called me when I was a sheep chaser 2:38:52 and you placed me here on this temple and these gifts that I think I'm I'm able to use for you and that service I can do for you. It's all from you, Lord. And I'm I'm glad you want me to make all the plans and give it to somebody else 2:39:04 and they get the credit for it. That's fine, Lord. It's your name. It's your glory that I'm seeking. This is how we build a church. And how different that is from the Christendom around us where it's the, you know, first church of this 2:39:18 and the second first church of that and and this is the pastor and he's the the the the superstar and all that. The hiding mentality that says, Lord, do your work your way. Some of you s you know in what's what's common in the world today is to wonder 2:39:35 why can't women be in ministry? Oh, women preachers and and all that. Even though the word of God has clearly forbidden it, God word says that he does not allow women to teach or exercise authority over men in the church. And 2:39:50 yet many almost all denominations, even the ones that used to be quite conservative, have loosened their stance on it because we're in 2026. This is a little outdated now. God's work done God's way is a little old-fashioned. 2:40:07 It's become oldfashioned to do God's work, God's way. Lord, I've got a better idea. Let's do it this way. Let's, you know, why not? A woman can speak, give her perspective of things and preach and and we can add more diversity to our 2:40:21 church that way and invite more people in. God's work done our way. God said, "Go ahead." Yeah. And you might wonder why these churches still flourish and continue. Just because God doesn't destroy it right away doesn't mean it's not going 2:40:38 to burn up one day. And that's the thing. God is patient. When you see all the heresy that's going on in Christ today and the deception, you think, "Lord, why aren't you exposing all of it?" He says, "Well, I I did. It's 2:40:51 there. If you want to read my word carefully, you'll see the hypocrisy of it all. You'll see the emptiness of all. If you read 1 Corinthians 3, you would have seen that my work done my way is the only thing that will remain." 2:41:03 And if we know God and know his word, we'll be able to discern that as well. And we're not here to cast judgment on anybody else. But I say, Lord, I don't want to waste even one minute on something that will not remain. And if you've if if that's 2:41:17 been there, if there's been a desire to latch on to something in some way, my ministry or my reputation or something like that, Lord, I relinquish it completely. It's all yours. I give it up completely. I want nothing of that 2:41:31 except your name and whoever you choose Lord whoever you appoint. Sometimes people have issues with elders in churches like oh I I don't I don't like him as an elder. I don't have you know confidence is something that could be 2:41:44 built over time but when God appoints elders in churches I would have picked him. Yeah. Go ahead, do your work your way where you pick who you think is the best elder to have and let's see what will happen when Christ comes. 2:41:59 God's work done God's way is the only thing that will remain. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 16. You know the story where Jesus asked 2:42:21 them, the disciples, who do you say that I am? And you know, all the other scholars who studied the scriptures and analyzed it and all that, they say, "Well, yeah, he's John the Baptist or he's Elijah reincarnated. Elijah's 2:42:39 come back or Jeremiah or it must be some other new prophet because he seems to be these were the patriarchs that they looked up to and said, "Oh yeah, this Jesus he's he's a good guy, man." Yeah, he probably one of the prophets. We're going to be reading 2:42:52 about him like we read about Jeremiah and Elijah and um John the Baptist. We heard about him and then he asked him, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter got a revelation from God. You are the Christ, the son of the living 2:43:10 God. Now, it's a small statement, but there's a lot of power there. See, for for you and I, first, sorry, Matthew 16:16 is a verse in the Bible. If if I was to ask you or you to ask me who who do you say that Christ is, I 2:43:27 would quote Matthew 16:16 say, "Yeah, he's the Christ, the son of the living God." For Peter, he wasn't quoting anything. There wasn't anything to go off of. And so, how did he know? How did Peter know this is the Christ, the son of the 2:43:43 living God. He's God himself in the flesh. I mean, all the others missed it. Jesus's own brothers lived with him at least for 18 years, if not more, maybe up to 30 years or something less than that. They watched him. They watched, 2:43:58 they slept next to him in the same room. They missed it. This is God in the flesh. Here's a fisherman uneducated at the age of what maybe in his late 20s meets a man and he's like that's God in the flesh. How would you know where the body of 2:44:19 Christ is today? Is it oh I like this church I have some friends same community or we have activities and all that. Is that how you will discern where the body of Christ is? Oh, dear family is so important that you know where the 2:44:32 presence of God is. If you choose this to be your church that you're committed to or wherever you're gathered in a local place, you ought to know why. And that comes only like Jesus told Peter. Blessed are you, Simon. You're not just 2:44:46 going, you're not just saying that because it's popular. You're not just saying that I'm the Christ, the son of the living God because somebody else told you that you this you didn't get this from flesh and blood, but my father 2:44:57 who is in heaven. And that's often what I tell people in in our churches as well. If you want to be a part of the church there in Colorado, I say, "Don't come here. You won't hear me say, "Hey, come and be a part of our church." I'll invite you to 2:45:11 come and see come and attend and see if this is you like if this is where the Lord's calling you. But if you decide to be a part of this church, it must be because God has said so. This is your home. This is where I planted you. And I 2:45:28 want to encourage you, dear brothers, sisters, uh, and if whichever local church you're a part of, are you absolutely certain God is the one who's planted you there? Seek for that. Ask God to give you discernment. Talk to godly men and seek their counsel 2:45:45 so that you're absolutely certain. Recently the local church here has gone through a period of where they've asked you to recommmit. What are they asking you? Essentially he says decide is this are you sure that God is the one who's 2:45:55 placed you here. If it is well I guess I've been coming here for some time and yeah I like the doctrine. Yeah I have some problems with this and that. I I I you know I guess I can't think of anything better. So yeah, this is it. 2:46:08 No, not that. God. I mean, did Peter have any doubt? I think uh yeah, yeah, possibly. Let's see. Let me evaluate for a little while longer. No, this was God had spoken to Peter. This is the Christ, the son of the living God. Peter said, "Yes, I've 2:46:24 heard it." Have you heard it, family? Have you heard it that God wants you to be committed to wherever it is? If it's not here, please find where it is. I I don't think any of us elders will say you have to be here, but find exactly 2:46:38 where it is and know that God is the one who's called you and planted you. And then and then Peter Jesus goes on to say, "Listen, Peter, this is amazing. You've got this revelation from God and I say to you that you're Peter and upon this 2:46:56 confession, I will build my church." This is the church that Jesus is building. This is gold, silver, and precious stones. There is only one church, the body of Christ, that Christ is building. All the others are counterfeit. All the others are going to 2:47:09 burn up. If you're not a part of this church that Jesus Christ is building, you're wasting your time. I don't care what you think you're doing and how many people you pulled in from wherever you think you pull them, that's going to 2:47:19 burn up. It might last for 10 years. It might last for a 100red years. I'm not looking for that something will last for 100 years. You know, some church they have established 1890 or 1902. Wow, that's great. Wow, church been around 2:47:34 for 100 years. What good is that if it's still going to burn up? I want the church that is established in heaven by Jesus Christ himself whose architect and builder is God. Like we read, that's the church I'm building. Established when? 2:47:46 Before time. Established. That's the only church I'm building. And this is a small expression of that. I want to I want to do it God's way. And Jesus says, "Upon this church I will upon this confession I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not 2:48:03 overpower it." In another place he said about revelation. Let me show you that. Matthew chapter 11. Why is it then that so many scholars, so many people who have good intentions, they go to seminary and they get trained 2:48:16 and they get assigned to a church and they start out as the youth pastor, then they work their way up to the assistant pastor or the uh family pastor. then they're the assistant pastor and then they become the pastor and then they 2:48:29 become the senior pastor, a consulting pastor or all that stuff. This this is working your way up the corporate ladder like they're copying the world to do like they're copying the world. Why is it they missed it? And again, I I think 2:48:42 many of them are sincere and they think they're doing God's work. Jesus said in Matthew 11:25, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them 2:48:57 to babes." Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in your sight. All these things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to 2:49:10 whom the Son wills to reveal him. And then he says, "Listen, come to me. If you're like a babe and you you're you're you cast as you're not one of those intellectuals and or even if you are you set that aside and you come to Jesus you 2:49:24 who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I'll just close with this. The the body 2:49:44 of Christ today is formed in the same way that the first body of Christ, the physical body of Christ was formed. Let's turn to Luke or Matthew chapter 1. Imagine if if u the angel had come to 2:50:03 Mary and said, "Listen, hey, we're going to have uh the son of God come through you. son of God is going to come through you, the Messiah. And Mary says, "Okay, good. Yeah, I I'll figure something out, Lord. We'll do it. 2:50:23 You You call me." Oh, yes. And Mary, pure as she was, had tried to go and find some other pure man to have a marriage with and produce a child. Would that have been the son of God? Think about it for a moment. Joseph was pure. 2:50:38 He was a righteous man. Mary was pure. or she was a virgin. And these two pure people come together and say, "Let's form the body of Christ. Let's form God in the flesh." This is how a lot of people are trying to build a church 2:50:49 today. I've got Yep. Yep. Yeah. We have a sincere desire. We come together. Let's, you know, put our heads together. We'll come up with a plan. We'll do some research. We'll find a building. We'll get we'll get this person that. Okay. 2:50:59 Let's do it. We'll form a church, Lord, and we'll preach the truth. And we'll we'll sing to you and we'll call the lost in. And we'll go do evangelism on the streets. We'll go to the prisons and do that. will go to the bring the drug 2:51:10 addicts in and we'll gather a masses of people and we'll say look at us what we have done. Do you think Mary and Joseph in a million years could have ever formed the God himself in the flesh? Impossible. It was their work. 2:51:25 What does the angel actually come to Mary and say? Listen. You'll read we'll read that in Luke 1. I'll go there. But this phrase I want you to see. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. Let's say the birth of the church, this local church 2:51:40 that we're trying to build was as follows. When his mother Mary had been betrod to Joseph, yes, they they came together, they committed themselves to to it. They agreed the Jesus says when two or three are gathered, I am there in my midst. 2:51:57 Gathered in my name. So Mary and Joseph did come together, but that in itself didn't she was betrod. She hadn't had relations with him. She was they they' agreed yes you're calling us together. I'm using that as a picture of how God 2:52:10 builds the church. And before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit did something in Mary that Joseph and Mary could never have done between them because that would have been their work. 2:52:23 They could have produced a wonderful child that's well behaved and obedient and obeys daddy and mommy and does pretty good most of the time, but that would not have been the perfect son of God, fully God and fully man. And this 2:52:36 is how the Lord is building his church today. The Holy Spirit, that which was in her was of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit producing that in us. This is from God. Jesus came from God. It wasn't Joseph and Mary saying, "Let's produce a 2:52:54 nice child who's well behaved, who can be a prophet." Yeah, that's fine for John the Baptist. That's fine for Jeremiah. That's fine for I mean, you know, John the Baptist, who was the greatest of the Old Testament people, 2:53:03 was produced by Zachariah and Elizabeth. Yes, it was a miracle. They were old in age, but it was still flesh and flesh. The difference between John the Baptist and Jesus is that the Holy Spirit produced Jesus. This is a picture of the 2:53:19 church. the Holy Spirit birthing in us, the church, us simply yielding to him. Learn, turn to Luke chapter 1. Luke 1, 2:53:45 uh, the angel comes in verse 28 says, "Greetings, favored one." And Mary's a little bit confused. Verse 30, the angel says, "Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have been found. You have found favor with God. And listen, you're going to 2:53:56 have a baby in your womb. You're going to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name his name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give him the throne of the father, 2:54:08 David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his house and his kingdom will have no end." And then Mary said, "Listen, how is this going to happen? Do you want me? Is this going to be Joseph and me? How is this going to 2:54:19 happen? I'm a virgin. And then the angel says, "No, no, no. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God. This is the 2:54:34 church today. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. You say, "Lord, I'm I'm available. I want to be a part of this local church that you're building where you've placed me. Thank God that I found this church." And it's not just, "Oh, I 2:54:45 like the doctrine. I like the teaching. I I I I I like the people there. No, Lord. And I if if you're being a part of the local church has been for any other reason, family, I want you to encourage you now to examine your heart that your 2:54:59 reason for being at this conference and your reason for being at the local church that you've committed to is not some something else that will burn up wood, hay, and straw, but this Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit. I cry out 2:55:13 to you, Lord. Will you pour out your Holy Spirit? because I want the work that I invest in, that I spend my life in here on this earth to remain. And will you come upon me? The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the 2:55:25 most high will overshadow you, will come over all of me and take over my whole life. And the result of that will be the child, which is the son of God, the body of Christ, the church. This is how Christ is building his church. He's 2:55:39 looking for those who say, "Lord, I I know you've given me some gifts and some talents and I could do this and I could do that, but I'm just simply letting all of that go." Oh, family, if you've been holding on to any baggage from the past, 2:55:53 any baggage from the past over how you think it should be done or how you would do it differently or any of that, I encourage you to burn it up now because it is going to be burned up in a matter of time. burn it up today and say, 2:56:05 "Lord, I cry out to you that you will pour out your spirit upon me and send an overshadowing power over me and produce in me and in my wife and my husband, my children, and the families that you've gathered into this local church, the 2:56:21 body of Christ. This is what will remain. Everything else will be burned up." Heavenly Father, I pray that you will do what I've asked, Lord. what you've said you would do, not what I've asked, but what you said you would do. 2:56:34 Pour out your spirit. Let let it begin there so that the work that we spend our life, the remainder of our lives here on this earth will be that which is from you and you alone in Jesus name. Amen. 2:57:00 Thank you, brother Sanentosh, for the word. Um, I was thinking I was thinking this this morning about the parable of the sewer and the seeds. And I'm pretty sure if you've read your Bible, you're familiar with this because it's unique. 2:57:13 Um, it's one of two parables where the interpretation is is given in the first three gospels of the Bible. And it's almost like remember when Jesus spoke in parables, he spoke so that people would not understand. And yet in in our Bible, 2:57:31 we have a parable that Jesus has interpreted three different times, three different gospels. And so it's like, yeah, sometimes I'm going to do that, but for people that read my word, I want them to understand this. And there's 2:57:44 four different types of seed, right? And so the one that I think I'm always most in danger of is the one where uh the thorns grow up around it and the cares of the world choke out that seed. And you know, just thinking about what we 2:58:01 heard this morning. Um, I think of my time as a parent and as a school teacher and as an elder that sometimes when we say something, we get a response like this. And if you're a parent, uh, you can nod your head if you agree with me 2:58:14 where you tell your child, you tell them something and they say, "I know." Okay, I'm getting a few nods. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Probably maybe those with older kids. Parents, have you ever had your kid, you tell them something that 2:58:27 you really want them to know and understand? and they say, "I know." And then that you're frustrated. You're like, "You don't know. You don't get what I'm trying to tell you. You think you get it." But then I see that same 2:58:37 attitude in me, right? Where tell me if I mean, just be honest. You don't have to tell me, but tell the Lord. You know, where you hear about the wood, hay, and straw and the gold, silver, and precious stones. You're like, "Yeah, I know that 2:58:50 verse. I heard that years ago." and you hear about the from him and through him and to him, you're like, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I've heard that verse many years ago." And you're like, "I know. I know." And the Lord is saying, maybe he's saying like he's 2:59:08 frustrated like you, you know, cuz he's a father. Maybe he's a little frustrated with you. He's like, "You you think you know, but you don't know because I want to do things my way in you. And you already think you know. You've got it 2:59:22 figured out. You're you're kind of like David. You think you know. You want to build something great for me. You want to do something fantastic. It's all in you. And I'm wanting to show you what what you don't know, but that I 2:59:35 want to do. And the difference between, you know, there's a difference between hearing and doing, right? We know that from another parable. And so, you know, brothers and sisters, you know, we don't want this to get choked out. 2:59:49 And so I think of a seed, you know, we don't want to just hold up a seed and say,"I, you know, I got the seed." We want it to to grow and to bear fruit. And you know, those of most of you are from Texas. And if you're not from 3:00:01 Texas, I'll tell you what Texas looks like. If you go to the east is green. East Texas is nice and green. If you go to the west is not green, is brown. What is the difference between this half of Texas and this half of the Texas? Water. 3:00:19 is the difference. It's green because they get lots of rain. And so we want to take that seed and not maybe not right now, but we want to be reminded to take that seed and say, "Holy Spirit, water it. Not only do I not want thorns to grow 3:00:34 around it, but I want it to grow and produce fruit in me. I want God's work done God's way and his anointing, his spirit pouring out." It's not my analogy. It's the scripture that uses water as a picture. I want that seed to 3:00:49 be watered and to grow, Lord. I don't I don't want to just go, "Yeah, I know. I heard these things. I've heard these verses. I heard these references. I've heard the verses in Matthew that the brother shared. I heard it many times, 3:01:00 brothers and sisters. We want something different. We want it to grow." And I believe the secret is the Holy Spirit watering the seed to produce life and to produce fruit. So, we're not going to be satisfied with just I know. 3:01:13 We're not going to be satisfied until we see the reality of the life of Christ in us bearing fruit. So, we're going to pray before we eat. And we're going to pray for that. I mean, that's that's one of the things that that I encourage you to do. I I'll 3:01:28 voice the prayer here in a little bit. But that is the prayer that the Lord will do his work, his way inside of us. Um, a few announcements. So, if something sparks, especially you children, brother Santos shared something. He's going to do a Q&A. We 3:01:43 kind of have the advantage of having a session followed by a Q&A later this afternoon noon after lunch. If there was something you didn't quite understand, I'm speaking to the kids and the adults as well. But the kids, if you didn't if 3:01:53 you didn't understand quite what he meant, this is a good time to ask that question, you know, tell your parents, hey, uh, mom, dad, can you can you put my question in your phone and and send it to that QR code uh link? Um, I didn't 3:02:07 understand this or I would like a little more explanation on that. we have that advantage today. So, I'd encourage you to to take advantage of that and ask a question, you know, uh maybe there's something that didn't quite connect. So, 3:02:19 we have the advantage of having a Q&A right after a teaching session. We don't always get that. Take advantage of that. And then we're going to have uh lunch together. Uh we'll set up lunch um here in a little bit. We're going to leave 3:02:30 the seats where they are so that we can uh easily transition to the Q&A session at at 2:30. We're going to be right back where we are. But if you want to grab your uh sandwich, feel free to turn the chairs so that you can have fellowship 3:02:43 with one another. You know, one of the best things you can do with something you heard is tell somebody else. It helps it it I don't know, there's just something about it sticking when you know, those of us that share the word, 3:02:53 when we share it with others, when we get when we have to express it, it actually helps it stick for us sometimes. And I would encourage you to do that to have fellowship with one another and share what you heard. So, when you have that chicken sandwich in 3:03:05 one hand and the potato chips, you know, use this time to to talk to somebody maybe you haven't met and discuss what we just heard and let it bear fruit uh in in each other's lives. And uh I I understand that some of you come from a 3:03:17 culture where you like your food to taste like fire, right? So, we actually have the spicy uh chicken sandwiches and so we think we got the ratio right, maybe, but we'll see. Um, we got like maybe a hundred of them that taste like 3:03:33 fire. And so, you know, if that's you prefer that, we have that, too. And then we have the regular uh Chick-fil-A sandwiches. So, there's an option uh when you get back there. So, um we'll give them a a minute to get that set up. 3:03:45 Um again, we have name tags. Again, fellowship with one another. again, you know, repeat what you've heard to somebody else and and let's uh build each other up and encourage each other uh in the reality uh that we want to see 3:04:00 in the Lord. Let's uh before we do anything else, I'm going to thank the Lord for our food and I'm going to do what we said earlier about praying that this would bear fruit and bear reality in our lives. So, please bow with me. 3:04:14 Our heavenly father, we come to you through the precious blood of Christ. And Lord, we thank you for the spiritual food that you've given us today, Lord. That we're not facing a famine. We're actually hearing your word being spoken. 3:04:26 And Lord, we want it to be reality. And so, Lord, I pray that you would bear fruit. That these seeds that you planted would not be uh snatched by the Satan. They would not be choked out by the cares of the world and the deceitfulness 3:04:40 of riches, but Lord, they would produce the work in us that you want to produce. And Lord, we want you to continue to speak to us this weekend and we want life to come. And Lord, we acknowledge that as we seek for your word done your 3:04:54 way and we seek for your kingdom and your righteousness and and for it to come into our lives that Lord, you take care of everything else. And Lord, one of the proofs of that is that we have food to eat. And Lord, it's easy when 3:05:06 you live a in a land like ours of abundant food to take things for granted. Lord, let let it not be. Thank you, Lord, for providing lunch for us. Thank you for taking care of our needs. You've done so much. Lord, you've given 3:05:19 us homes to live in. You've given us jobs. You've given us so many things, Lord. We've never gone physically hungry. But Lord, that's not our priority. We just want to acknowledge that, Lord. We want our priorities to be heavenly 3:05:34 minded that we focus on your your kingdom done your way. And Lord, help us to build. And Lord, let the Satan not steal anything that we've heard this morning. Lord, you're so good and we acknowledge that you're good and this 3:05:50 day is yours and we can rejoice. Lord, we don't have to be discouraged for all the years that we've wasted. But we can look forward to know that you want to do something wonderful in us. You don't give up on any of us. Lord, 3:06:03 this message we heard was for every one of us because it comes from you. And Lord, we love you. We praise you. We thank you for today in Jesus name. Amen.
