3:40 Let's sing the first song. Praise is rising. Praise [singing and music] 4:02 is rising. eyes [singing] [music] are turning to you. We turn [music and singing] to you. Hope [music] is [singing] 4:20 stiring. Hearts [music] are yearning for you. We long [music and singing] for you. Cuz when we [singing and music] see you, we find strength to face the day. 4:39 [music] In your [singing] presence, all our fears are [music] washed away. Washed away. [singing] Hosana. [music and singing] Hosana. [music] 5:02 You are [singing] the God who saves us, worthy of [music and singing] all our praises. Hosana. [singing] Hosana. [music] Come have your way among [singing] 5:21 us. We welcome you here, Lord Jesus. [singing] [music] You're [singing] the [music] sound of hearts reing to you. [music] 5:41 Return to you in your [music and singing] kingom. Broken lives are made [music] new. You make us [singing] new. 6:01 Cuz when we [music] see [singing] you, we find strength to face the day. [music] In your [singing] presence, all our fears are washed away. [music] Washed [singing] away. [music] 6:21 Hosana. [singing] Hosana. You are the [singing and music] God who saves us. Worthy of all our praises. Hosana. [music and singing] Hosana. 6:44 [music] Come have your way [singing] among us. We welcome you here Lord Jesus. [music and singing] Cuz when we [music and singing] see you, we find strength to face the day [singing] 7:02 [music] in your presence. All our fears are [music] washed away when we see you. Cuz when we see [music and singing] you, we find strength to face the day. In [music and singing] your presence, 7:23 all of yours are washed away. [music] Washed away. [singing] Hosanana. Hosanana. [singing] [music] 7:40 You are the God who saves us. Worthy [singing] of all our praises. Hosana. [singing and music] Hosana. Come have your way among 7:58 [singing and music] us. We welcome you here Lord Jesus. [music] >> Please be seated. >> [music] 8:28 >> Praise [music and singing] my soul, the king of heaven. To [music] his [singing] feet thy tribute bring. Ransom heal restored, forgiven. [music] who like [singing] thee his praise 8:45 should sing. Praise [music] him, praise him, praise him, [singing] praise him, praise the [music] everlasting king. >> Sisters, let me sing the next verse. >> Praise him for his [singing] praise and [music] favor 9:04 to our fathers in distress. [music and singing] Praise him till the same forever. [music] Jo to jo. [singing] Praise him. [music] Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Glorious in 9:22 [music and singing] his faithfulness. Brothers, father like he [singing and music] tends and spares us. Well, our feeble frame he knows [music] in his hands [singing] he gently wears 9:41 us, rescues us [music] from all our foes. Praise and praise and praise [singing and music] and praise him while his mercy fall. Angels [singing and music] 9:58 help us to adore him. He beholds [singing and music] him face to face. Sun and moon bow down [music and singing] before him. Fwells all in time and space. Praise him. Praise him. 10:17 [singing and music] Praise him. Praise him. Praise with us the God of [music and singing] grace. Lord, I [music] bow 10:50 in all [singing] before your throne and I worship the [music and singing] lamb seated seated on the throne. Lord, [singing] I [music] stand and behold God's perfect son and the [music and singing] glory of 11:09 the Lord I see. >> Let's sing that again from the top. Lord, I bow [singing] in all [music] before your throne and I [singing] worship the lamb seated on 11:27 [singing] the [music] throne. Lord, I stand and behold God's [singing and music] perfect son and the glory of the Lord. I [music] see you are [singing] the king of glory. You 11:47 are seated [music] on the throne. High lifted up and [singing and music] God alone. Your city [singing and music] is majestic with endless streets of [music and singing] gold. And the city 12:05 is illumined by the glory [music and singing] of the Lord. Lord, [singing] I [music] bow in awe before your throne and [music and singing] I worship the lamb seated on the [music and singing] 12:24 throne. Lord, I stand and behold God's [music and singing] perfect son and the glory of the Lord. I see [music] you are the king [singing] 12:41 of glory. You are robed in majesty. [music] The elders [singing] fall before you on their knees. [music] The nations [singing] pure a tremble before [music] your holy face. You're the alpha [singing] 13:01 and omega who makes [music] all things new. Lord, [singing] I bow in all before your [music] throne and [singing] I worship the lamb seated 13:19 [music] on the throne. Lord, [singing] I stand and behold God's perfect son. And the [music and singing] glory of the Lord I see. [music] And the [singing] glory of the 13:38 Lord I see. [music] Yes. [singing] The glory of the Lord I see. before the [singing] throne [music] 14:08 of God above. I [singing] have a strong and perfect king, a great [singing and music] high priest whose name is love. Whoever [music and singing] lives and pleads for me. 14:27 My name is [singing and music] great on his hands. My [singing and music] name is written on his heart. I know that while [singing] in heaven he [music] stands. No tongue can bake me then. [music] 14:47 No tongue [singing] can make me then stay. [music] And Satan [singing] temps me to despair and tells [singing and music] me of the guilt within. 15:04 Upward [singing] I look [music] and see him there who made [singing] an end of all my [music] sin. Because [music and singing] the sinless 15:19 Savior died. My sinful soul is counted free. [music and singing] For God the justice satisfied to look [singing and music] on him and pardon me. To look on [singing and music] him and 15:37 pardon me. Behold in [singing and music] there the risen lamb, my perfect [music and singing] spotless righteousness, the great [music and singing] unchangeable. 15:55 I am the [singing and music] king of glory and of grace. [music] One with [singing] himself I cannot [music] die. My soul [singing] is purchased by his blood. My [music] life 16:15 is hid with Christ on high. With [singing and music] Christ my savior and my God. With Christ [music] my savior [singing] and my one [music] with himself. I cannot die. 16:33 My [singing] soul is washed by [music] his blood. My life is lit [singing] with Christ on high. [music] With Christ my savior and my God. With Christ [music and singing] my savior and 16:50 my God. Let's sing the next song. When I look into your holiness. When I look into [singing] your holyness, 17:09 [music] when [singing] I gaze upon your loveliness, [music] when all things that surround [singing] me [music] become shadows in the light 17:27 of you [music] when I [singing] found the joy of reaching your heart. When [singing and music] my will becomes 17:43 enthralled in your love. [singing] And [music] all things that surround me become shadows [singing] in the light [music] of you. I [music] 18:01 worship you. [singing] I [music] worship you. [singing] [music] The reason I live 18:20 is to [music] worship you. [music and singing] I worship you. I [music and singing] worship you. [music] 18:41 The [singing] reason I live. is to worship [singing and music] you. >> Let's do that again. All your voices. I worship you. >> I worship [singing] you. I worship [singing and music] you. 19:03 >> I worship you. The reason [singing] I live >> is to worship [singing] you. [music] I worship you. [singing] 19:27 I worship [singing] you. >> [music] >> The reason [singing] I live >> is to worship [singing] you. [music] 20:07 King of kings, [music] majesty, God of heaven, [singing and music] living in me, gentle [singing and music] savior, 20:26 closest friend, strong [singing] deliverer, beginning and end. All within [singing] [music] me falls at your throne, 20:44 your majesty, [music] I can but bow. [singing] I lay my [music] arms before you now in [singing] royal [music] robes. 21:02 I don't deserve I live [singing] to [music] serve your majesty. Earth [music and singing] and heaven 21:20 worship you. Love [singing] eternal, [music] faithful and true. Who brought [singing and music] the nations, ransom souls, brought [singing] the sinner [music] 21:40 near to your throne. All [singing] within [music] me cries out in praise. Your majesty [singing] I can't [music] but bow. I >> [singing] 21:58 >> lay my all before [music] you now. In royal [singing] ro [music] I don't deserve. I live to serve [singing] your [music] majesty. >> Let's all stand up and sing the chorus 22:18 again. >> Your majesty, [singing] I can but bow. [music] I lay my [singing] all before you now 22:37 in [singing] royal robes. I don't deserve. [singing] I live [music] to serve your majesty. [singing and music] Come, let us worship and [singing] bow 23:05 down. Let us kneel [music] before the Lord our God [singing] our maker. Come let us come let [music and singing] us worship and bow down. Let us kneel [music] 23:26 before [singing] the Lord our God our maker. For he [music and singing] is our God [music] and we are [singing] the people of his 23:45 pasture and the sheep [music] [singing] of his hands. just the [singing] sheep [music] of his hand. >> Let's consider that again from the top. [music] 24:05 >> Come [singing] let us worship and bow down. Let us [singing] kneel [music] before the Lord our God our maker. Come, [singing and music] let us worship 24:22 and bow down. [singing] Let us kneel [music] before the Lord our God our maker. [singing] For he [music] is our [singing] God and [music] we are the people of his 24:46 pasture [singing] and the [music] sheep of his [singing] hands. [music] Just the sheep of his [music and singing] hand. Let's bow our heads in prayer. 25:31 It's a privilege. Jesus has [clears throat] helped us to get this privilege. Because of sacrifice of Jesus, we are able to stand like this, 25:50 redeemed, cleansed. Otherwise, we would have been languishing or living in this world confused. Let's come with grateful heart. 26:12 and thankful heart. We don't deserve to stand before him. Because of his name, because of his righteousness, because of his sacrifice, he made a way for us out of compassion for for each one of 26:34 us. Let's come with boldness. God the father never want us to live in the fear of this world or fear of Satan. So he wants us to come before him with 26:52 boldness and without distraction. Let's keep away all the things which distract us. That's nothing. Our problems, our difficulties, 27:10 our life itself is nothing before the father. He can help us. But let's concentrate on concentrate on him and uh uh let's focus on him. 27:29 Give him our attention. It deserves our worship, our attention, our devotion. Colossians 3 says, 27:57 "Since you became alive again when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven. [clears throat] 28:18 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Our translation says, "Set your sights on the rich treasures 28:36 and the joys of heaven where he sits besides God in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Don't spend your time worrying about 28:52 things down here. Another song says, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim [clears throat] in the light of his 29:12 glory and grace. His word shall not fail you. He promised. Believe him and all will be well. Yes, he has done all things well. He 29:30 deserves all our praise and thanksgiving. Let's take time to give him thanks and praise. Brothers and sisters, dear Lord Jesus, thank you. Thank you, Father. Thank you for your immense love and care and concern and 29:48 the purpose and plan you have. Lord, we don't don't deserve any of that any of that. But Lord, thank you. You're so rich in mercy. Thank you. You've given us this opportunity or privilege, Lord, to live 30:07 for you. All praise and thanks to you. Glory and honor and worship belongs to you alone Lord. Lord you deserve all our life and breaths and strength Lord. Yes Lord be thou exalted. Be thou magnified Lord Jesus. Thank you. You are on the 30:26 right hand side to intercede for us. Thank you. Thank you Lord. You defeated enemy. Thank you Lord. You have given us the name above all other names. Lord thank you. Thank you. Oh praise you. Praise you, dear father. Thank you. 30:43 Thank you for your loving kindness and goodness. Lord, we praise you, Lord. We want to see you more clearer. Dear Holy Spirit, please help us. Help us, our eyes, our heart may be open to 31:01 see you more clearly. Thank you very much for your perfect and good plan for each one of us, Lord. None of us are um away from you. You're very close to us. Thank you for your presence today. And Lord, we pray 31:20 that you be glorified and magnified. Peer us our ears and open our eyes of our heart so that we'll be able to hear you and uh see you more clearly. Lord, anoint your servants and uh speak the 31:39 words of life to our hearts, Lord. Lord, we don't want to be uh deceived by uh deception of Satan, dece deception of the world and riches and worries and cares of the world. Lord, we want to see 31:58 you more clearly so that we will be able to follow you and be a better witness. Lord, Lord, you have called us today with a purpose. Lord, thank you. We are alive and we have breath. Thank you. You have a good purpose. Lord, give us 32:13 attentiveness. Lord, bless our time together. We commit ourselves, Father, and ask you and trust you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. And please be seated, brothers and sisters. We look into our [snorts] memory verse. 32:30 Last week, uh, we had a promise. So, [clears throat] please repeat after me. Mark 3:35. Whoever does the will of God 32:50 is my brother and sister and mother. It's a wonderful promise that uh Jesus has made a way that by doing the will of God that that's the pursuit of Jesus. 33:08 Jesus was eagerly living every day and yearning to do the will of his father so that he'll have a relationship with him and he has made a way for us by doing his will we can be his brother. We can 33:25 be brother of Jesus, sister of Jesus by doing the will of the father and no other way. That is the only way Jesus has laid out for us. It can be command also. If I don't do his will, I will not 33:42 be his brother or sister. May the Lord help us. The next memory verse this week, uh um [clears throat] we have a command from 2 Corinthians. Please repeat after me. 2 Corinthians chapter 2:1. We forgive 34:03 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan. Let's say it again. Um 2 Corinthians 2:1. We forgive 34:24 So that >> no advantage would be taken of us >> by Satan. I I have come across some brothers or some sisters they find very difficult to 34:42 forgive and the main reason is they don't realize if they don't forgive Satan will have control over them and because they don't forgive 35:01 whatever the reason would They suffer under Satan. They are [clears throat] they struggle with Satan. Very sad. Even I have met some here. They don't realize the seriousness of it. It's very important. Brothers and 35:20 sisters, brother Zach have emphasized this recently much more than before. Forgiving others is very very important. Jesus clearly said in Matthew 6, if you don't forgive, your father will not forgive you. May the Lord help us. Uh we 35:39 are privileged to hear God's word from brother Sur and brother Suresh over to you. Thank you. Thank you, brother John. Good morning, 35:57 brothers and sisters. So the the theme of my message today is God is my strength, my song and my salvation. God is my strength, my song, and my salvation. And this is from uh 36:17 the same phrase is repeated in three different places. Uh we'll get to each of them. It's in Isaiah 12, Psalm 118. If you have notebooks, you can write it down. Uh Isaiah 12, Psalm 118. In Exodus 15 as well, we want to think about what 36:33 is the proper place of singing and music in the church. We want to give everything its proper place. Uh the danger for us is that uh we put things in the place of God. And we we know we've heard money should 36:53 not become an idol. uh it should not take the place of of god in our lives or in the church and uh at the same time we want to learn how to use it faithfully for God's glory and in the same way music should not become an idol should 37:09 not take the place of the holy spirit but we should learn how to how to use it uh in in our lives and and in the church working of the church and give it its proper place so this is the burden on my heart I I want to talk about uh how not 37:25 to sing, uh who should sing, why we should sing, when to sing, what to sing, how to sing, all these questions, not necessarily in that order, but you know, with some overlap. Uh but uh before we begin, uh I want to play a message uh by 37:41 brother Zach that sort of hits the nail on the head uh in relation to music taking the place of the Holy Spirit. Let's listen to that and and then I'll share what's on my heart. Music is another thing that has replaced 38:03 the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the second thing that you see nowadays in great crusades and over television. Music, music, music, music, music. And people like to imitate the rock musicians and come in vests and all 38:16 and with some type of guitar and swing their hips. And where do they get these pictures from? From those rock musicians. From the godless servants of the devil. They're imitating them. Are they imitating Peter or Paul in that? 38:33 No. Can you imagine Paul coming with a black west and something like that here and trying to strum and impress people? No. Why not be dressed properly like Christians should be instead of following those godless examples you see 38:48 on the covers of CDs? No. I've seen that with all these metal buttons and all over that. You you can see that on Christian television. They say we're trying to reach the young people like this. What young people? What are you going to You're going to be 39:02 such a bad example to those young people. Do you think Jesus dressed like that to reach the young people in his day? Christianity has surrendered to the devil. The devil has become their example. And they have all these flashing lights, 39:18 red, blue, yellow, green, all types of things on the screen. I can't imagine Jesus doing all that to attract people. Anybody? This is all from the rock musicians. And they think they're reaching young people that way. And what type of young 39:32 people turn out as a result of this conversion? half-con converted, godless people who say, "I believe in Jesus with Jesus, another Jesus." Do they live holy lives? Do they overcome sin? Do they ever hear about victory over sin in these meetings? 39:50 No, they don't. I'd rather have 10 people who don't have all this. Jesus turned the world upside down with 11 young people under the age of 35. They didn't have all these gimmicks. Peter didn't have all these strobe lights and all on the day of Pentecost. 40:07 He didn't have some fellow with a vest and a guitar up there. And he didn't have money either. Do you know God who made Abraham rich? God who made David rich? God who made Solomon rich? God who made Job rich? Those are all Solomon initially and the others 40:24 were all men of God. He could have made Peter rich. He could have made Paul rich. He could have made Jesus rich. He could have made James rich. But he didn't. Because in the new covenant, money would be a snare. People will be drawn by money. God 40:40 didn't want that. Haven't you seen in India how many Christians are drawn? How many people are drawn to Christianity because of money? Look at the Bible schools and orphanages being run in this country. It's a racket to get money from America. You got to 40:57 send reports out there regularly and say, "What all is happening? what all is happening here. Revival here, revival here, thousands being converted. That's why we decided when we started building our churches 31 years ago, we'll never 41:08 send a report to anybody. We'll never send a photograph anywhere. We're not going to send any videos of our meetings anywhere. And sometimes I [clears throat] go abroad and people say, "Brother Zag, do you have any need 41:19 in our in your church?" I say, "No, we don't have any need. We are quite okay." I was introduced once in the United States. Here at last is one Indian pastor who never asked for money. We're not interested in that because we 41:32 believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our work may be small. Let it be small, but let it be pure. Tell me, would you rather have one healthy child or 10 sick children? You tell me. You mothers. I know. I'd rather have one healthy child than 10 sick 41:47 children or 100 sick children. I'd rather have one small church with people who are disciples of Jesus Christ than thousands of people who claim to be Christians who don't know God. To say we have so many workers. How do 42:03 you get so many workers? Because you pay them from America with all that money. We don't want that. We'd rather have a few workers who serve God paying for their own expenses. And that's how we've done it. Our work may not be very large 42:19 compared to the work of others. But show me another church or group of churches in India where they never take an offering anytime for 30 years where none of the workers are paid anytime where no reports are sent anywhere. If there is 42:34 some church like that, please tell me. I'd like to see it. We stand out as different because we want to proclaim there's something missing in today's Christianity in the area of money in the area of music too. I want to say a lot of what is called 42:50 praise and worship today is not worship at all. I have a whole message on that which is on our website called thanksgiving praise and worship. These are three different things. Thanksgiving is giving thanks to what he's done God 43:03 has done for us. Praise is praising him for who he is. And lot of what goes on in our songs is thanksgiving and praise. That's right. It's not worship. Worship is not something I can do in the presence of all of you. Most of my 43:21 worship of God is when I'm alone in silence. You can worship with words, then go a little higher and worship with song. And the highest form of worship is silence. 43:37 Speech, song, silence. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him. Worship is the surrender of our whole being before God. Putting our head down, not showing our feet to God like these people who say they are slain in the 43:56 spirit. I mean in India, you know, if I show you my feet, what do you think of that? If I fall down before you and bow down to you, that's respect. But if I show you my feet, hey, and I show you both my feet. I can't do that here, but 44:15 it's the biggest insult to you. And anybody in India knows that. And look at the devil making fools of these people who stand before God and show him at their feet. It's not how the Old Testament or New Testament. John fell at 44:26 his feet with his head down and worshiped. He didn't show his feet to God. Do you know what the Bible speaks about being slain in the spirit? Romans 8:13, by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body in the time of temptation. 44:42 That is the slaying in the spirit. I want to preach where you put temptation to death and your lust to death through the power of the Holy Spirit. Not this type of falling down and showing our feet to God and insulting Almighty God like that with all these 44:56 psychological gimmicks. It doesn't solve people's problems. You know, when in out in the world when people have a problem, they go to a bar to drink. They spend two hours there drinking, drinking, drinking, spending their money 45:12 and having a wonderful time with their friends and they are in what they call the seventh heaven. And uh they say they forget all their problems. They're having a wonderful time. When they go back home, the problems are still there. They're still 45:27 fighting with their wives and they still love money and they still get bitter and they still get jealous. What do they long for? Oh, I love to go back to the bar to drink with my friends. Many Sunday morning meetings are a 45:41 worshshiping bar where they a praising bar where they come and praise and sing and sway and clap and all their friends are also like that like a bunch of drunken people and they say, "Boy, this is wonderful. All my problems I can forget about. And 45:59 after 2 hours they go home. They still shout at their wives. The problems are still there. They still love money. They are bitter. And what do they long for? Oh, I want to go back next Sunday to my bar to praise God. It's a deception. 46:16 It's a total deception. If you meet with God for two hours, it should change your life so radically that your problem should be solved. You should behave in a completely different way to your wife. Every area of your life should be 46:29 changed. How is it not changed? Something is wrong. It's music has replaced the power of the Holy Spirit. Do you know that the devil had music? You read about it in Ezekiel 28. He had tremendous musical ability. Ezekiel 28 46:47 is a chapter that describes the devil. And it says here [clears throat] that uh there are many things described about Satan here in Ezekiel 28 starting from verse 112 last part. You had the seal of perfection full of wisdom. You were in 47:04 Eden. There was an Eden before Adam's Eden in Genesis 1 vers1. that Eden when God created it and he was covered with precious stones and and it says here on the day you were created there was 47:22 in in the uh I think it's in the um verse 13 it speaks about the flutes and tambourines in some translations if you have an NASP you see the margin of it the gold the workman manship of your tambourines and 47:42 flutes. It says in the margin which is set here as settings and sockets speaking about certain musical instruments. Tambourines and flutes. And do you know who were the first people who invented musical instruments? 47:59 The children of Cain. Genesis chapter 4. It says here in Genesis 4 that his his descendants Lamek took to himself two wives, one Adah and Zilla and Ada. Verse 20, 48:18 Genesis 4:20 gave birth to Jabbal. He was the father of those who dwell in livestock tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all the musicians in the world, those who play the liar and the 48:31 pipe. The sons of Cain were the first rock musicians. We have many descendants of them today. They went away from God and they became musicians. Music has a tremendous power. 48:49 The devil had it. The sons of Cain had it and the devil's followers have it today. We can have music in the church. But how is it that in the New Testament you don't find much emphasis on it? In the Psalms, you read a lot about it. But 49:03 the New Testament say the Holy Spirit is the main thing. If you have musical instruments, good. If you have money, good. But it's not essential. We don't need to have keyboards. You know, the early church, there were no keyboards 49:13 100 years ago. Many churches in the world, wonderful, spiritful churches had no pianos, no instruments, no guitar, nothing. How did they survive? Power of the Holy Spirit that has been replaced with music. It's almost as though you can't have a church 49:30 today without music. You can't have a church today without money. It is a deception. Yeah. 49:51 Brothers and sisters, we don't generally, you know, talk about music and singing all that much because there's only that much to say about it. But we want to make sure that we're not deceived and we're, you know, pressing 50:05 on to perfection in all things. And we give the Lord his proper place. Yeah. I want to start with that verse 2 Corinthians chapter 3 which talks about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I hope we know this verse. 50:27 It says, "With unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, which is the word of God, we behold the glory of the Lord, and we're transformed into his image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. We are transformed when we see the glory 50:44 of Jesus. And we want to see the glory of Jesus in in every area." Oh, and the Holy Spirit will change us and make us more like him. And when it comes to singing, I want to see the glory of Jesus. Couple of weeks ago, brother Paul was 51:07 saying that it's only a disciple who can be a good evangelist. It's only a disciple who can be a good member of the body of Christ in in every way. It's only a disciple who's looking at and seeking to follow the Lord who can, you 51:22 know, sing meaningfully. Uh yeah, let's let's look at this verse in numbers. This is something brother Paulo shared not long ago. Numbers chapter 21 and verse 17. It says 51:51 it [snorts] says Israel sang this song. So God had assem assembled the people so that he g he may give them water. [snorts] And Israel sang this song. It's a song that Israel sang. What was the song they sang? They said, "Spring up, O 52:05 well, sing to it." This is a picture of the Holy Spirit. This is the longing that all of us have that the well, the spirit of God should rise up in our hearts and quench our thirst. 52:24 And they say that this well which the leaders sank, which the nobles of the people dug, how did they dig this well? They dug the well with the scepter and with their staffs. Yeah. So, generally speaking, when we 52:44 want to dig a well, we use a spade. You know, nowadays water doesn't come easily. So, then they use machines and they go down. Sometimes you can go thousands of feet, you may not get water. Our longing is for that life where we're 52:59 not digging with the spade, but the the river of God is springing up in our lives. That's our longing. How does it happen? How is this well dug? You know, see the songs that are inspired by the 53:18 Holy Spirit contain truth that may be much more than is actually reflected in the lives of the people who made the song. Okay, I know that uh there is there is such an essential truth here. It says this river um this spring is dug with the scepter and with 53:38 the staff. The scepter is a symbol of God's authority. When God is on the throne, when we acknowledge that the Lord is the spirit and we look unto Jesus and we're transformed into his image, this river of life will spring up 53:55 and it's with the staff which is a symbol of God's discipline. Yeah. I I think of that woman at the well, you know, who who told Jesus. Jesus said, "If you knew who you were speaking to, and if you knew the gift of God, you would ask for living water and 54:12 I would give you that." And the woman said, "Uh, this well is really deep. You know, how are you going to draw the water?" Yeah. We may we may think that, you know, this is not going to happen. How do you how do you dig a well with a 54:27 scepter and a stuff? No. Yeah, God's word is like a hammer. It's like a fire. It's like dynamite. I I think of a situation, you know, where where Moses had to smite a rock and springs of living water, rivers of living water 54:45 came out of it, you know, because he was commanded by God to smite the rock and it split open and rivers of living water enough to feed, I mean, quench millions of people's thirst in Israel came out of that. Yeah, we have to see the enormity, the 55:03 power of God and how precious this gift is and what it can do in our lives. And and I see there that you know Moses lost his opportunity because the next time he was asked to speak to the rock you know the first time we don't have to 55:22 go there but I hope you know this story. The first time he smit the rock as commanded by the Lord and the rock split open. The next time he was asked to dig with the scepter, speak to the rock. But he was agitated. He didn't have 55:39 peace, you know. And he smit the rock and the Lord was merciful and the water flowed and it met the needs of the people. But that spring of water that could have flowed out of Moses's life, he lost. He lost the eternal reward. 55:53 And uh yeah this this is what we are seeking for that that the spring of life the river of God will spring out of our life. And when that happens what did the people of Israel do it automatically they sang a song you know God gave them 56:07 a song. Uh I want to turn to Isaiah 12. This is one of the places that I I mentioned. It talks about God is my strength and my salvation. He has become my song. Isaiah 12 and verse 2. [snorts] You will say on that day, I will give 56:32 thanks to you, oh Lord, for though you were angry with me. The Lord was angry with all of us. We were sinners. We were his enemies, but his anger is turned away. And you comfort me, the comforter. He's given us the comforter. He 56:46 strengthens us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Behold, the Lord God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. Therefore, what will I do? I will joyously draw water 57:03 from the springs of salvation. And in that day, you will call, give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the people, make them remember that his name is exalted. Praise the Lord in song, for he 57:17 has done excellent things. Let this be known throughout the earth. Cry aloud and shout for joy, oh inhabitant of Zion. Proate in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Well, sisters, there's there's a song that comes up. It's not 57:31 it's not the work of a spade. It's the work of the scepter and the staff. And when we have no strength of our own, the Lord is our strength. And the order is important. He becomes our song. And then we draw joyously of the streams of 57:48 salvation. Yeah. I I want to talk about Yeah, we can we can think about we don't have to go there. I think many of us know know this by heart. Psalm 23. It's one of the you know most famous and well-known song psalms turned into many 58:05 songs. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not lack anything. But how does this happen? His rod and his staff, they comfort me. I am under his discipline. I am under his authority. 58:22 And that is how I become strong. And my cup will overflow. The springs of living water will flow out of my life. There will be an abundance of strength. This is this is the way we want to give honor and glory to the Holy Spirit. And 58:40 we want to look at Jesus's example in terms of of how we sing and when we sing. Yeah. Oh, I I also want to point you to Ephesians 5:18. Ephesians 5:18 talks about the Holy Spirit being filled 58:59 being be being filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the commandment over there. And there's a contrast in in that verse. It says, "Don't be drunk with wine, which is dissipation. Don't be drunk with the worldliness, the attractions of this world." The world 59:19 has all sorts of wine. You know, if you if you spend time on your on your mobile phone, you get a a dopamine high apparently. Oh, the world has no no end of, you know, wines that it offers you, varieties, and says, "Don't be drunk 59:34 with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit." And what happens when we're filled with the Holy Spirit? We speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with our hearts to the Lord. 59:47 Brothers and sisters, I'm not just talking about the song that's on our lips that we sing or especially about the song that we sing in church. No, there's a song that comes up in our hearts uh and we make melody in our hearts because we're full of 1:00:01 thankfulness. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. This is what this is the well that is dug with the with the scepter and with the staff of God. And and I want to contrast this, you know, with with another well. We can look at 1:00:15 that in Jeremiah. Look at this verse. Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 18. And all of this is more or less the answer to the question how not to sing. Okay. Uh we're we're coming to that question. Jeremiah 2:18 it says, 1:00:33 "What are [clears throat] you doing now on the road to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What are you doing on the road to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?" So it it's giving you two alternatives, you know, to the Holy Spirit, to the 1:00:46 life that's in the Holy Spirit. It's talking about the waters of Egypt, which is a picture of this world. Oh, the waters of Egypt, you know, tell you that music is a way to enjoy yourselves, have fun, right? Have a good 1:01:01 time, get drunk. If I hope none of you have, but in your past life or if you're otherwise aware, you go to any place that serves you alcohol. I mean, there are some bars on the road where I mean some places on the road where they just 1:01:14 hand you the alcohol and you move out. Okay? But otherwise, if you go to a place where you sit and drink, they have music. They always have music, right? And depending on your mood, you can go for romantic stuff or like noise or 1:01:27 different stuff. It's it's a big part of the experience. Enjoy yourselves. Have a good time. And and you can like we heard, you know, come to church and say, "I love the music and you know, I'm having a good time." Brothers and sisters, we've got it 1:01:45 fundamentally wrong. We're drinking of the waters of Egypt. Worldliness has crept in. If that is my attitude, if that is why I come. No, we come to give glory and thanks and praise and surrender our lives as meaningfully as we can to the one who 1:02:01 deserves, the one who seated on the throne. Yeah. And and then there's this the the waters of the Euphrates, you know, the road to Assyria. Syria was the the picture I mean the in Ezekiel where it talks about Satan you know Satan is it's 1:02:20 the king of Syria who's who's you know it tells us that that Satan had uh I mean that passage is about the king of Syria so Syria is a picture of satanic influence what is the satanic influence that comes in it is the spirit of 1:02:36 self-exaltation it is the spirit of being somebody Satan said, "I will rise up and take the place of God. I will be a big person. I will be a rock star." And that is the spirit that creeps into the singing in the church. Brothers and sisters, 1:02:54 let us repent. If we if our minds have been polluted or if we you know have picked up some of that baggage where we feel that we want some no there is there is only one person who whose eyes uh we should all be we should all be fixed on 1:03:12 we all want to be fix our eyes on Jesus and look at him and worship him and the spirit in the church is one where we cover ourselves. May it never be that the singing or the music or the song leaders get in the way of your devotion 1:03:29 to Jesus where your eyes are not fixed on Jesus and you're you're not seeing him and you're not singing along with him to the father. Um yeah, maybe maybe we can go there in Yeah, let's go go go there to Hebrews, the book of 1:03:44 uh Hebrews chapter 2. It gives us a picture of how we sing in the New Testament. And Jesus is our example. Hebrews chapter 2. 1:04:10 Hebrews chapter 2:12. He who sanctifies verse 11 onwards. He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified that is Jesus and us are all from one father. for which reason he's not ashamed to call them brethren. So 1:04:30 Jesus calls us his brothers and he says I will proclaim your name. That is I will proclaim the name of the father. I will let you know my brethren know who you are and in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise. 1:04:47 Yes, Jesus is the one who's singing in our midst. And who are we singing to? Brother and sisters, if you imagine that you come here so that somebody can sing to you, the choir can sing to you, please may that never be. This praise and glory is unto him. Unto 1:05:05 him be glory in the church. And you are the ones who must sing and come with that heart and that attitude that I must give praise and thanks and and take this opportunity to surrender my life to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords who 1:05:20 deserves the glory. And Jesus is my song leader. Let my eyes be fixed on him. It's my privilege that he is singing along with me, his brother, to the father in heaven. There is opportunity for us to repent in this regard. I believe brothers and 1:05:38 sisters, we can take it to heart. Say, Lord, I've not seen things as I should. Who should sing? Not just those who can sing, those who have ability. 1:05:56 Every heart should sing. This this Bible is full of, you know, verses that tell you to sing. There is a relatively greater emphasis in the Old Testament. You can say in the New Testament, but in the New Testament also, we see that 1:06:11 Jesus is saying he sings in the midst of the congregation. He's the one leading us in in singing. So if if I think of this Bible, there's a like a big fat portion in the center of it which is basically a song book, right? It's it's 1:06:25 the book of Psalms. And the Lord in his wisdom chose to include that as as part in in our meetings, we have, you know, 15 to 20 minutes of singing. Why do we do that? Like shouldn't we just listen to more messages or or spend more time 1:06:39 in fellowship? No, no, no. This is the word of God. This is the command of God. And everything we do, we see Jesus's example and we want to do things the way he did it. Who should sing? Every heart should sing. I I want to turn uh to 1:06:55 Psalm 107. This is just an illustration or sort of just uh you know there are many verses or many places I could go to where it talks about singing singing praise but Psalm 107:E2 [clears throat] 1:07:13 give thanks to the Lord for he is good his loving kindness is everlasting that's why we sing let the redeemed of the Lord say so let them say so and Let them sing. Yeah. As as we go through this psalm, it talks about different situations where the 1:07:31 Lord delivers us, delivers us up, you know, and and it says, "Let them give thanks." And verse 21, "Let them give thanks. Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving. Tell of his works with joyful singing." Verse 21, verse 22. 1:07:48 Verse 32, "Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and praise him at the seat of the elders. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and his wonders to the sons of men. It talks about offering a 1:08:01 sacrifice of thanksgiving. See, there's another kind of person. I am one of them. We come to the church, we like to sing, okay? So, we come to the church, we sing, we sing loudly, we're having a good time, and there's nobody to say, 1:08:16 you know, don't sing, you know, you like and it's not a sacrifice, right? So it's not in the meeting that I'm primarily talking about brothers and sisters. In the meeting we have practice. Okay? We learn the songs. You learn the tunes. 1:08:31 You sing together. But the song that you have to sing is when you're alone. When you're facing the battle, that is when the song has to come up in your heart. And if you don't know the words and you don't know the at least you know the words, at least you 1:08:43 know this, you know something of it and you can look it up. But that spirit, that song in your heart is there. And as the Lord delivers you and helps you, you're able to give him praise and thanks that's due unto his name. And the 1:09:00 spring of the Holy Spirit is rising up in your heart. Yeah. Why should we sing? We should sing because we are commanded to sing. You know, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the book of James says when we are cheerful, we should sing 1:09:17 praises. Um, we also we also should sing because we see Jesus's example. I want to spend a little time on this looking at the example of of Jesus and the apostles. So, we know when the apostles sang. Okay. So, these questions of you know 1:09:35 why we should sing, when to sing are closely related, when to sing, why we should sing. We look at the apo the example of the apostles and and Jesus. um the apostles. We can look at the story. This is uh in Acts chapter 16. I 1:09:52 trust we know it. But let's look at it again. Acts chapter 16. The crowd rose up together against them. The magistrates tore their robes off them. Verse 22 onwards. Act 16:22 onwards. Proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 1:10:12 After they had been struck with many blows, he threw them into the prison commanding the jailer to guard them securely. And he having received such a command threw them into the inner prison, fastened their feet in the stalks. 1:10:26 Right? So these were political, you know, people, political prisoners in big trouble. They had been beaten and their feet were in stalks. And about midnight, what were they doing? They were praying and they were 1:10:43 singing hymns to God. Singing hymns of praise to the Lord. After they were beaten, after their clothes were torn off them, they were in prison. They were singing praise to God. That brothers and sisters is when we should we should sing. That is what the 1:11:00 Holy Spirit is is trying to teach us. And it says that the prisoners were listening to them you know and and and the wonderful thing is that there was an earthquake after that and uh you know and the doors were opened everyone's 1:11:16 chains were unfassened and all the prisoners I mean Paul and Silas we can understand right all the prisoners were also sitting there they listened to the songs and they sat there oh what a I I don't know if you've ever been in a public place when the lights 1:11:31 go out okay everybody starts starts hooting. It's just like nobody can see me. I I can do whatever I feel like. You know, these are prisoners. They're put in jail. They're lawless men. They heard the praise of God and they sat. 1:11:48 It's it's a wonderful thing. And this this is the example. And then we look at the example of Jesus. When did Jesus sing? I think many of us know the answer. When did Jesus sing? Somebody's whispering. Say, say loudly just so that I can hear. 1:12:08 Huh? Before the crucifixion, last supper. Okay. So, what had happened? He knew he was going to be betrayed. He washed the disciples feet and he spoke about, you know, going to the cross. And then they all sang a hymn 1:12:26 together, a hymn of praise. Yeah. I I can't imagine that Paul and Peter or uh no not Paul sorry Peter and James and John you know knew how to sing soprano alto tener bass must have been you know fairly basic from a musical 1:12:43 sense uh but I would imagine they sang with reverence and awe and Jesus was there leading the singing. Yeah. I I looked this up. a young brother pointed this out to me. He says 1:13:01 that, you know, most biblical scholars, I have no reason to disagree with them. They say that there's a there's a group of psalms that that people sing, you know, at at Passover. And it's very likely that Jesus also sang that. Uh 1:13:14 these are called the halal psalms. The idea is that, you know, Jesus was singing and the disciples were saying hallelujah or something like that. We we're not very sure if that's that's what happened, but we can imagine that 1:13:27 that might be the case. Psalm 118. So these hal psalms are the psalms 113 to psalm 118. [snorts] Psalm 118:14 contains this verse. Once 1:13:44 again, Jesus was about to be betrayed. He was about to go to the garden of Gethsemane where he shed tears and drops of sweat drops of blood for my sake. 1:14:01 And before that he sang this song, the Lord is my strength and song and he has become my salvation. The song of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tense of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord. Who is the right hand of the Lord? Jesus 1:14:16 is the right hand of the Lord. Jesus is the one who's seated on the right hand of the Lord. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. Yeah. This 1:14:32 and and it says in verse 22, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. When did Jesus sing this? Before just before he went to the cross. 1:14:47 Um, and and and then I it it occurred to me that, you know, and this is not something I'd really thought about this way before. When Jesus was on the cross, when Jesus was on the cross, 1:15:04 you you remember that that uh that place that I showed you in Hebrews, maybe we can go there once again. Hebrews chapter 2:14 uh that that I pointed out to you where Jesus says that I will sing in the midst of my brethren to the father. He's 1:15:20 actually quoting from an Old Testament psalm. He's quoting from an Old Testament psalm. Psalm 22. What is the title of Psalm 22? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 1:15:40 me? Right? See, suppose somebody's being, you know, martyed or tortured for Christ and he says, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. We know what he's doing. The words of that hymn are ringing in his 1:15:57 heart." And he may not be able to sing, but Psalm 22 is a song of praise. And Jesus was saying even while he was on the cross, my God, why have you forsaken me? And that psalm goes on to praise God and 1:16:17 talk about his triumph. [snorts] This is the example we have, brothers and sisters. We should take it to heart. I really want to take it to heart, you know, not to do things in the eyes of men, but to sing to my Lord. 1:16:35 Amy Carmichael has this poem. We sing it also sometimes as as a song. Before the winds that blow do seize. Before the winds that blow do seize, teach me to dwell within thy come. Brother Danish shared about this last 1:16:52 week. resting in God, dwelling in the rest of God before the pain has passed in peace. Teach me my God to sing a psalm. Let me not lose the chance to prove the fullness of enabling love. Oh love of 1:17:10 God, do this for me. Maintain a constant victory. This is a cry to the Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit who alone can do this in our lives that that Jesus said, "Let not my will but your 1:17:28 will be done." And the spirit of God sustained him and put a song in his heart even in his most lonely moment when he was in agony on the cross. Yeah. I want to close with how to sing. 1:17:46 [clears throat] We can look at 1 Corinthians chapter 14 first Corinthians chapter 14. [clears throat] 1:18:06 So the Bible says other things elsewhere. It says play skillfully. It says, "Sing joyfully." And all of these things are true. But in the New Testament, in the New Covenant, when we gather as a church, how should we sing? 1:18:22 It says verse 1 Corinthians chapter 14:15, "I pray with the spirit, I pray with the mind also. I will sing with the spirit, I will sing with the mind also." There's, you know, I want to slow down and unpack this a little bit. 1:18:42 It says, I sing with the spirit and I sing with the mind also. What is first? The spirit is first. The spirit of God leads us in our singing, helps us, enables us. Uh the spirit of God is how we can sing as we should unto the Lord. 1:19:01 And the spirit of my of of God goes first. But I will also sing with my mind. I don't put my mind aside. It doesn't say I will sing with my emotions uh you know or I'll jump up and down, I'll dance. No, no, no. I sing with my 1:19:15 mind. So what am I singing? I know what I'm singing. I'm singing words that make sense. I'm singing the truth of God about who he is and what he has done and I'm focused on him. So that rules out and and it also says I 1:19:33 will pray uh with the spirit and pray with the mind. So praying is talking to God. And and what this verse tells me is the same standards that we apply to talking, we should apply to singing as well, right? How do we pray? We pray with the spirit 1:19:50 and we pray with our mind. And the Bible is explicitly saying that when we gather together that we should be praying in such a way that other people can understand what we are saying. And when we gather together we should be singing 1:20:04 in such a way that other people can understand what we are saying. So we don't have idle words. We don't have meaningless repetition. The words that we sing, we sing because we mean them. We take them to heart. Yeah. That that is that is how we should 1:20:21 sing. and and it goes on to say you know what is the outcome then what happens if if we do this uh it's it's talking about prophesying but brothers I think we can apply it to our singing as well you know it says because this is how we speak to each 1:20:39 other in psalms hymn and spiritual songs that if an unbeliever or ungifted man enters he's convicted by all he's called to account by all the secrets of his heart are disclosed he will fall on his face and worship Worship God declaring 1:20:53 that God is certainly among you. If we sing with the spirit and with the mind and think about what we are singing and we join together then somebody who comes in and hears us will fall on his face and recognize that God is in our midst. This is something 1:21:12 brothers and sisters we're not there yet. I'll tell you what happens on you know Sunday mornings right? Somebody who comes in will see that the church is half empty and nobody is singing. That's that is where we are today. If we are 1:21:24 honest, I say this with a burden. I don't want to put like pressure on you. There are many more important things in life. If if you are living holy lives before the Lord during the week and and you don't sing, I mean, [gasps] but I'll 1:21:37 tell you what, if you are living holy lives before the Lord, you will sing. You know, it it it will come out. Uh maybe not on Sundays, but let's press towards that. It's good. It's good for us. You know, if if somebody says if 1:21:51 somebody says that I'm not a singer, I don't I I shouldn't sing. I don't want to sing or like I don't feel like singing. Let those who can sing sing. It's it's like it's like somebody saying I'm a poor person, you know, I I'm not 1:22:05 going to give, right? It's a privilege that we have to give whatever we can. And it's a commandment of God to give cheerfully according to our means. And I think about that widow with two mites. She could have said, "Hey, what 1:22:22 difference is this going to make, right? All all these rich people out there, let them give." Jesus looked at her and said, "She gave more than all of them put together. She gave more than all of them put together. So you come with your two mights and 1:22:40 bring a sacrifice of praise and not talk about the volume of your singing or the quality of your singing by talking about singing with your heart unto the Lord with thankfulness. Yeah. I I recently found out last verse brothers this is overflowing from my 1:22:57 heart. I'm sorry I'm going a little long but Colossians chapter 3:1 16. How should we sing? Colossians chapter 3:16. Let the word of Christ richly dwell 1:23:16 within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your heart. Now, if you look at the margin over there, it says, "Sing with grace in your hearts to God." 1:23:33 That is how we must sing with grace. We humble ourselves and ask God for grace and give him all that we have. Not just in our singing, in everything else that we do, but this is one of the things that the Lord has told us to do. May the Lord help us. 1:23:51 Amen. Yeah. Yeah. We'll we'll uh we can sing this song together. the song that I uh read through before the winds that blow doo seas. We'll sing that together. Then we want to hear from brother Shankar. >> [music] 1:24:57 >> before the winds that blow to [singing and music] sea. Teach me to dwell within thy cup before [singing and music] the pain is passing in peace. Give [music and singing] me my God to 1:25:15 sing a song. Let [music and singing] me not lose a chance to ru the [singing] fullness of enabling [music] love. Oh [singing] love of God, do this for me. Maintain [singing and music] 1:25:34 a constant victory. Oh [singing] love of God, do this for [music] me. Maintain a constant victory. Before [music] [singing] I leave the desert land, 1:25:54 [music] for me of immortal thoughts, lead where streams [singing and music] and by the am flow by the borders of the earth, [music and singing] 1:26:12 that when the thirsty come, I Show them [singing] the fountains [music] in the way. Oh love [singing] of God, do this for me. [music] Maintain 1:26:28 a constant victory. Oh [music and singing] love of God, do this for me. Maintain a constant victory. [singing] First [music] verse once more. Before [singing] the winds that blow to 1:26:48 seas, [music] teach me to dwell [singing] within thy cup [music] before the pain is fast [singing] in peace. Give [music] me my God to sing [singing] a song. 1:27:06 and [music] we not lose the chance to prove the [singing and music] fullness of enabling love. Oh love [singing] of God, do this for [music] me. 1:27:21 Maintain [singing] a constant victory. Oh [music] love of God, do this for [singing] me. Maintain a [music] constant victory. >> [music] >> I really want to be thankful for the 1:28:09 Lord for his wonderful word that God has given us. And I also want to be thankful for the choir team week after week helps us to sing for the Lord and thank the Lord. Um and they always helps us and uh 1:28:27 by singing that songs my heart will be prepared to listen to what the Lord wants to say and they never wanted to show up their skills or the musical abilities and all that but I want to be thankful for the Lord for the wonderful 1:28:45 team that the God has given us. And I want to read from this verse what brother Suresh just read um from Colossians 3:16-1 17. Let the word of the Christ richly dwell within you with 1:29:02 all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. So whatever you do in word or deed in all the in the name of the lord Jesus 1:29:19 Christ. So giving thanks and u you know most of us we are not songwriters. So we listen to the songs that are written by godly men and others and then we learn it and then we sing it. But um 1:29:39 especially if you don't listen to the right songs, we may sing them and then we that become part of our life and all these many songs that we sing has an effect in our lives in our personality sometimes those words shape us. So 1:29:58 that's why uh I remember this verse from uh Jesus. It said in Mark 4 verse 24 it says take care what you listen to especially brother young brothers and sisters you know we listen to the songs because it was composed with a good 1:30:15 music and it is coming along with my mood and my uh the personality and then the things that I'm going through and then we pick up that and then we go along that song and then throughout the week but u you know So if we don't 1:30:32 listen to the right songs uh that will influence us in a wrong direction. It will take us away from the Lord Jesus Christ. So yeah and and the songs singing it's a great way to communicate with the Lord and it's a good medium 1:30:49 that God has given it's a privilege. Um in uh one of the basic Christian teaching uh brother Zach mentioned like this you know praise is the wonderful key that God has given us. Um to drive away the devil out 1:31:07 and create a throne for God in our hearts and in our homes. You know if you want to drive away the devil from our homes and from our hearts you know praise is the key. You know this praise we sing it so that the devil will be out. 1:31:27 So that um you know we will not have a place for the devil and um you know the homes and our lives we can experience heaven on this earth. The our homes are supposed to many times we heard from this pulpit our homes can be um heaven 1:31:46 on the earth. So we can see the glimpse and we can experience that heavenly atmosphere in our homes. But you know uh that also depends how we what songs that we are singing uh in our personal time and all that that we go through. So we 1:32:04 can see the glimpse of heaven uh from revelation uh chapter 4. So God has given few glimpses of heaven 1:32:21 how it looks like. And then it says verse four, "And four living creatures, each one of them having six wings are full of eyes around and within. And day and night they do not cease to say, "Holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty 1:32:40 who was and who is and who is to come." So they're praising the Lord and they're thanking the Lord and uh these four creatures something that Lord pointed me out here um that have not noticed earlier like you know it says they are 1:32:56 full of eyes around and within. What are these eyes? No uh Apostle Paul says the eyes of the heart you know my eyes of the heart the conscience is it clear otherwise instead 1:33:14 of seeing the Lord and his throne I'll be looking at the people and the circumstances and trend to go in the direction of the world and people grumbling complaining and same old song that people are singing out in the world 1:33:29 so that really um spoke to my heart and also it says so these creatures have eyes around them and also within you know sometimes we either focus on the people air or within ourselves and try to condemn ourselves so this is I am 1:33:49 that is I am and I'm good for nothing you know uh it is there on the door do not enter no entry roads one of the road is we should not keep condemning ourselves elves and keep beating ourselves. You know the Lord is our 1:34:04 song. The Lord is the one who promised us to deliver us from every sin. So we should look onto the Lord Jesus Christ. And also it is mentioned here day and night. So when what in the heaven what is the night? You know this is how I 1:34:21 understand like in our lives we go through you know sometimes times of joys and times of rejoicing but at times of difficult times and tough path. So at that moment the Lord want to give us a song. You know it says in Job 1:34:39 uh 35:10 it's about the Lord who gives songs in the night when we go through a tough time and sometimes we feel lonely in the crowd or sometimes we feel that nobody is caring about. So at that moment if you focus on 1:34:57 the Lord instead of the circumstances and all that that is going around. So the Lord is going to give a song to you and me. So that is what happened to Apostle Paul. Just now we heard about Apostle Paul and Silas. They were 1:35:11 singing in that dungeon in that place where they were um bounded by the stalks. So the Lord want to give us the song in the day and night. And in further uh it says in chapter 5 and 1:35:26 verse 9 um revelation 5:9 5 and uh chapter 5 and verse 9 they sang a new song and uh in verse 8 when he had taken the book the four living creatures and 24 elders fell down before the lamb each 1:35:45 one holding harp and golden bows full of incense which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, a song about your blood. Men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. I mean the Lord had purchased. So it's about the 1:36:04 salvation. They are upholding and thanking the Lord for the salvation that the Lord has given. And how they are singing, they are falling down before them before the throne. And then they're surrendering fully. The this is the 1:36:17 picture that I get just now. We heard staff and the rod you know it's a complete surrender to the one who was purchased from us by his blood you know and they are not keeping quiet they are shouting and you 1:36:36 know it's it says in Romans 10:9 if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. saved. You know, we can open our mouths and confess that the Lord your 1:36:53 God and you are the one who um paid price and you know we see that this is the atmosphere of heaven that the Lord want to have in our homes and in our church. Um and another thing that I see what these elders and you know the 1:37:11 creatures are doing they are falling down before the lord that means it's a symbol of surrendering a complete surrender and complete submission to the authority that the lord has placed over us you know that's what I've been encouraged by you know um 1:37:29 so it's not about uh okay initially I came to the lord and I surrendered and all that but I I remember a picture example in our corporate offices uh yearly once they give us this mock drill fire drill. You know what they tell us? 1:37:46 So there is a alarm and when you hear that alarm you rush uh towards the fire exit uh uh steps staircase and then come down. But not just coming down from that building which is on the fire but you also have to gather near the safe 1:38:05 assembling point. So there is a safe assembling point. There is a zone that is kept so that you'll be safe. You know uh I come to the lord before the you know I accepted the lord Jesus Christ and all that I'm following. that if I'm 1:38:19 not completely surrendering to the Lord Jesus Christ, all my ambitions, all my earthly things, all my goals, you know, few weeks back we heard about Moses who uh who became a disciple, he surrendered and uh what the Lord offered, you know. 1:38:37 So when you come to that complete surrender of your life and of my life, you know, it is something like I'm not just barely escaping from that um the building which is on fire. This is world and then but I should also run to 1:38:56 that safe assembling zone that is the place of surrendering and surrendering all that I have and young people especially when you hear about the surrendering and submission don't agitated with these words but I take it as a you know safe for my soul and this 1:39:13 is what the proverbs 18:10 it says the name of the lord is a strong tar the righteous run into it and is safe. So it is safe for us brothers and sisters with a complete surrender of our lives. May 1:39:30 the Lord help us. Amen. Yeah. Brothers and sisters, let's just 1:40:06 bow our heads and submit ourselves to the word of God that we heard. Loving father, Lord, we thank you and praise you for showing us something of the glory of Jesus and uh of all the good gifts that you've 1:40:26 given us, Lord. The gift of the good gift of your Holy Spirit that can put a song in our hearts, Lord, that we can sing by faith in the battle and trust that the battle belongs to you and you will do all things well. Lord, 1:40:45 help us. Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus and sing. Take the privilege, take the opportunity. Lord, this is offered to each of us, each of your children. Thank you and praise you, Lord. We pray in your mighty name, Jesus. Amen. 1:41:07 Presenting [music] the book of this month, the new covenant servant by brother Zach Punan. God has made his work on earth to be 1:41:28 dependent on man. If the man God calls is not ready, God's work is delayed or hindered. However, if one man fails to respond to God's call, God will call another. It's a tremendous privilege to be called 1:41:49 by God to serve him, but it brings with it a great and awesome responsibility, too. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is the prime essential for being a new covenant servant of God. Such a servant of God 1:42:08 leads believers to have a [music] direct connection with Christ their head. It's a serious thing to be a new covenant servant of God. We cannot take such a responsibility lightly. God's servants have tremendous authority, 1:42:28 but they have to be extremely watchful that they're obedient to God in the smallest thing, especially in their speech. Some of the marks of a new covenant servant. 1:42:44 He's called and prepared by God. He's an example for others to follow. He lives and serves in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. He's a spiritual father to others. 1:43:03 He builds the church as the body of Christ. Such men are rare to find in every country. But God needs such men today. May this book help you [music] to be 1:43:23 such a man of God in these the closing days of this age. You can read this book free online at cfcindia.com/books/ the new covenant servant [music]
