0:00 Thank you. 0:30 Let's find our seats, brothers and sisters. And let's go ahead and stand, those of us who are able. You know, we sing a song called 10,000 Reasons, which encourages us to think of 10,000 reasons to praise the Lord. 0:53 And if you're like me, we struggle to think of 10,000 reasons at one point. But each one of us, even the children in our midst, can look back at the past week, even since the start of this morning. And think of one or two or three reasons that we want to praise the Lord for. 1:15 And we want to come here and give thanks to Him among His people. And we're going to sing a new song this morning. Some of us might be familiar with it, some of us not really. But here's two reasons that the song gives us to praise the Lord. 1:30 In Psalm 40, verse 2, it says, He brought me out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud, and He set my feet on a rock to stay. And He made my footsteps firm. And because of that, there is a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. 1:49 Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord. And then the second verse says, He's the same unchanging Jesus, the same unchanging Jesus as He was when He walked on this earth. So is He today. So this morning, the invitation is to come to Him with a song of praise. 2:06 And if you need to come to the Lord for some need, some burden, some trial that you're going through, you can come to Him this morning. He's the same Jesus to whom the woman caught in adultery came, to whom Jesus said, Go and sin no more. 2:21 He's the same Jesus that looked at Peter after he had failed. And He's the same Jesus that can lift us up out of the miry clay this morning, out of the pit, and make our footsteps firm. So as we sing, if we come with a need in our hearts, 2:36 some void, some vacuum, we can come to our Lord and Savior. He is the same unchanging Jesus. Let's sing. Oh, glory to God. He has lifted me up. He has lifted me up, I know. 2:57 He reached out His hand and He lifted me up. And that's why I love Him so. I love Him more and more. I love Him more and more. And when I stand upon the other shore, 3:21 I'll praise Him evermore. Oh, glory to God. Oh, glory to God. He has lifted me up. He has lifted me up, I know. He reached out His hand and He lifted me up. And that's why I love Him so. 3:43 I love Him more and more. I love Him more and more. And when I stand upon the other shore, I'll praise Him evermore. He is the same unchanging Jesus. 4:23 He is the same unchanging Jesus. He is the same unchanging Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, through eternity. He is the same unchanging Jesus. Unchanging Jesus. 4:43 Unchanging Jesus. He is the same unchanging Jesus. Unchanging Jesus, through eternity. I love Him more and more. I love Him more and more. And when I stand upon the other shore, 5:07 I'll praise Him evermore. Okay, we've had our chance to learn the song. So, how many of us have been redeemed? How many of us have been lifted from the miry clay? We raise our hands. Kids, any of us have been lifted from the miry clay? 5:26 Yeah? Okay, so, let's sing the song again. We've all learned it now. So, let's go from the top. Oh, glory to God, He has lifted me up. And if He has lifted you up, let's sing with a smile on our faces. Let's sing because He's put a new song on our hearts. 5:41 Song of praise to our God. Oh, glory to God, He has lifted me up. He has lifted me up, I know. He reached out His hand and He lifted me up. And that's why I love Him so. I love Him more and more. 6:05 I love Him more and more. And when I stand upon the other shore, I'll praise Him evermore. He is the same unchanging Jesus. Unchanging Jesus. Unchanging Jesus. 6:25 He is the same unchanging Jesus. Jesus through eternity. He is the same unchanging Jesus. Unchanging Jesus. Unchanging Jesus. He is the same unchanging Jesus. 6:45 Jesus through eternity. I love Him more and more. I love Him more and more. And when I stand upon the other shore, I'll praise Him evermore. 7:07 And when I stand upon the other shore, I'll praise Him evermore. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you picked us up, Lord, from the miry clay. And you set our feet on the rock to stay, Lord. You made our footsteps firm, Lord. 7:27 Thank you, Lord Jesus, that we were headed for hell and destruction. And you redeemed us, Lord. And you put a new song of praise on our mouth, Lord. A song that never gets stale, Lord. A song that we'll never get tired of singing. 7:38 And as we sang, Lord, even through eternity, we'll praise you evermore. You are the same unchanging Jesus, Lord. And because of what you've done, Lord, because you've lifted us up, because you've shown us the Father, and because you've given us the Spirit, Lord, 7:52 we'll go singing along life's road, Lord. Through the trials, through the pain, even though there's so many of us here, Lord, going through trials, going through sickness. Lord, we'll go through life singing, because we know that you are ours, Lord Jesus. 8:05 We have you for our possession, our portion forever. And nothing will take that away from us, Lord. We'll praise you along life's road. The trusting heart to Jesus clings, nor any ill forebosed, but at the cross of Calvary sings, 8:27 praise God for lifted loads. Singing I go along life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I go along life's road, for Jesus has lifted my Lord. 8:49 The passing days bring many cares, fear not, I hear Him say, and when my fears are turned to bread, the burdens slip away. Singing I go along life's road, 9:09 praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I go along life's road, for Jesus has lifted my Lord. He tells me of my Father's love, and never stopped renounced, 9:30 my everlasting King of all. Heal all my needs of heart. Singing I go along life's road, praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I go along life's road, for Jesus has lifted my Lord. 9:55 When to the throne of grace I flee, I find the promise true, the mighty arms are holding me, they'll bear my burdens too. Singing I go along life's road, praising the Lord, 10:16 praising the Lord. Singing I go along life's road, for Jesus has lifted my Lord. Singing I go along life's road, for Jesus has lifted my Lord. 10:36 O to see the dawn of the darkest day, Christ on the road to Calvary, To see the dawn of the darkest day, 10:57 Christ on the road to Calvary, Tried by sin for men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, 11:12 Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, 11:25 Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn and beaten men, Torn to a cross of love, Took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross. 11:47 Oh, to see the pain written on your face, bearing the awesome weight of sin. Every bitter thought, every mercy, crowned your blood, sing high. 12:16 This the power of the cross, Christ became, sing for us. Took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross. 12:44 Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath, quakes as its lake, her bow says end. Virgin joined in two, dead are raised to life, finish the victory crown. 13:12 This the power of the cross, Christ became, sing for us. Took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross. 13:40 Oh, to see my name written and known, for through your suffering I am free. Death is crushed to death, life is mine to live. 14:04 One through your selfless love. Is the power of the cross, son of God, slain for us. 14:25 What a love, what a love, what a cause we stand forgiven at the cross. This the power of the cross, this the power of the cross. 14:47 We just sang about burdens lifted and our load lifted so that we can go through life singing his praises, but it was a, it came at a great cost. We just sang about burdens lifted and our load lifted and our load lifted so that we can go through life singing his praises, but it was a, it came at a great cost. 15:16 We just sang, what a love, what a cost it took for the maker's head, for the creator's head to be bowed down in death. It took for Christ to become sin for us, the blameless lamb of God to become sin. It was a great cost that Jesus paid to bridge that gap, to close that chasm, so that we can pass through and get to the other side. 15:42 And now to see the father and now come boldly to the throne of grace and be seated at his table, even this morning, if you're still bearing a load, know what sacrifice Jesus paid for you. What a cost, what a love, know what father smiles upon you and because of that, because he humbled himself, his name is exalted above all names, highly exalted. 16:09 And this morning we look up at him, we behold the lamb of God who was slain for us, he sets in blood no more, he's risen and exalted, the name above all names, high above all thrones and all power and all authorities, our sovereign Lord. 16:27 And we look to him, our risen Savior, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises this morning and sing. And we look to him, our risen Savior, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 16:40 And we look to him, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 16:47 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 17:01 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 17:20 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 17:41 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 18:11 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 18:41 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 19:11 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 19:41 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 20:11 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 20:41 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 21:11 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 21:41 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 22:11 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 22:41 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 23:11 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 23:41 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 24:11 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 24:41 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 25:11 Give me one, give me one, give me one magnificent obsession. 25:41 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 26:11 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 26:41 May the world see, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 27:11 For those of you, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 27:41 But we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 28:11 So we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises. 28:13 And we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing his praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises. 28:15 And we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises, our risen Savior, and we sing His praises. 28:17 Excited to be together. I'm certainly excited to be here. We sang, He is the glory and the lifter of our heads. That means that if there's any burden you're carrying, anything that causes your head to hang down, let's look to Jesus, and He is the glory and the lifter of our heads. 28:35 He's done that for me already this morning. I hope you experienced that during the time of singing. If you were singing to Christ, and you recognized His presence here, I believe He has lifted your head. May that be so. 28:48 Welcome to all of you and to our visitors online as well. We're thankful that many of you choose to join us quite regularly. Most of you we have never gotten to meet in person, but we're aware that there are God's people who love Him, first of all, are part of His family, 29:06 but also are seeking to go this narrow way as we are and emphasize the things that we emphasize in this church. Not because we own it or anything like that, but because we take every single word in God's commandments and every promises of His seriously. 29:24 So we're glad you can join us as well today. As far as meetings this week, we will have a family prayer meeting on Wednesday. And we'll go back to having that on Zoom since school is back in session, since it will be hard for travel. 29:38 But we'll send more details about that in the next day or so. So stay tuned, church family. This is just a prayer meeting for the local church. So stay tuned for that. Some of your children are back in school. Almost all of you are. 29:52 Some are off to college and other things, new avenues, new chapters. And the only thing that can preserve us is prayer. And parents, I hope there is a sense of helplessness in you all as I feel that we need to lean on the Lord. 30:13 As we were praying this morning before the meeting, this is the word the Lord comforted me and encouraged me with. The secret to not growing weary. The secret to running and not fainting. The secret to rising up with wings over your trials, whatever it might be. 30:32 Is simply this, to wait upon the Lord. Isaiah 40 says, they that wait upon the Lord. And this is why the world misses it. They think it's, get some counseling or do this or shake it off and buckle down and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. 30:52 And that might work in the world. But the secret to running and not growing weary. Walking and not fainting. Rising up with wings of eagles above our trials is very simply waiting upon the Lord. Wait on Him. That's what prayer is. 31:10 Wait on Him. Prayer is more about, is less about what you say and more about what your, the attitude of your heart is. So, remember that. That's what our prayer meetings are for. We'll have that on Wednesday. I think that's as far as announcements go. 31:29 But let's pray together. Let's wait on the Lord together. If you will, all of you, children as well. And adults, those watching online. Let's pray together and commit this time to the Lord. Heavenly Father, we are gathered here as your people. 31:44 We're here sitting at your table. That you've prepared for us. And for some of us, it could be the valley of the shadow of death. There are enemies all around us. But you are good all the time. And you have a table spread before us, no matter what the circumstances around us look like. 32:04 And so, Lord, I pray that you will allow every single one of us, from the youngest to the eldest, to get a glimpse of you and the table that you have spread before us. Not looking at the circumstances. Not looking at the enemies around us. 32:17 Not looking at the past, the present, or even the future. But looking to you. So, fixing our gaze on you that our own faces become radiant, like you promised that it would be. So, Lord, we turn our eyes to you. We wait on you. 32:34 We lean on you. We put our hope and our trust only in you, believing that you, Lord, will meet all our needs. You've never failed even one person who put their trust fully in you. And may we be such people that continue to prove that in the world that you've placed us in. 32:52 In the circumstances, the circles in which you've placed us. So, Lord, be exalted. Be glorified. Be lifted up, Lord, by our faith in you. Faith exalts you. Because it proves that you are who you say you are. The eternal, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing, impossible-working God. 33:12 So, Lord, when you come here in this meeting and go through the rows of this building. And go through the hearts of those that are watching online with us now. May you find faith. Faith. That's what you're looking for when you come back on this earth. 33:24 Not a bunch of people that have done everything perfectly. Thank you that we're not. We are sinful, redeemed people. We are saints now because you died to make us whole. Thank you, Lord. But I pray that you will find faith in us. 33:39 Faith for even the most impossible-seeming circumstance. Faith for things that we have carried with us all up to this day even, perhaps. Give us faith, Lord. God said that even if we had mustard seed-sized faith, that would be enough to move a mountain. 33:54 And whatever the mountain that's facing anybody today, young or old, child, toddler, teenager, young person, young adult, married couple, parents with children, homes, families, single people, single brothers, single sisters, whatever stage of life they might be. 34:11 It might be gray hair, black hair, brown hair, blonde hair, red hair. It doesn't matter, Lord. If you're an impossible working God and there are circumstances you've placed in front of us, there are mountains in front of us that you want to move, I pray that you will move them by faith. 34:27 Lord Jesus, may we be a people of faith, I pray. It comes from hearing your words, so I pray, Lord, that you will speak to us, that we'll tune out all the other distractions, that we'll put away our phones and not be distracted by that. 34:39 We'll put away our thoughts from, put away all those other distracting thoughts, Lord, and we will focus and listen to the still, small voice that will speak faith into our heart. Do that, O Lord Jesus, come and write your law on our hearts like you said you would. 34:55 Give us a changed heart, Lord. Take away the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh so that your law can be written on us. And as you did, as your finger did on those stones, those tablets of stone, will you come and through your Holy Spirit write your law on our hearts this morning. 35:10 Write it in such a way, Lord, that it becomes a part of our very fabric. That it's not just knowledge we gain, some other nice sermon we heard, but it'll become a part of our life. You, Lord Jesus, were the word that became life, that became flesh. 35:25 And you've come to do that in us as well. Lord, I believe you will do that. That the words we hear will become flesh. And it begins with us adults, Lord. May we be godly examples to our children. But I pray especially this morning that you will do it for our young people, our teenagers. 35:40 Lord, will you get a hold of their hearts? Lord, I pray through your Holy Spirit, grab a hold of them. Open their eyes to see the reality of who you are. And let them have a life-changing experience by being a part of this church. 35:52 That they will never turn back to the things of this world. They will never chase after the empty things of this world, even earthly success. But they will be gripped by the kingdom of heaven because your coming is very soon. 36:04 Perhaps even today you may call one of us home to be with you. Help us to be ready. Help us not to think about tomorrow or next week or next month or next year. But to live today in the light of eternity. Yes, we make plans for the future, Lord. 36:17 But help us to do it. Help us to live today by the grace that you give us today and in the light of eternity. And may it be so for our young people. I pray, Lord, that especially this morning you'll grip our young people. 36:28 Our teenagers get a hold of their hearts and stir them up. Lord Jesus, I pray. Thank you. I pray for our children and the others who come up to speak their memory verses even now. Will you anoint their tongues, Lord? Even though they may be saying it from memory. 36:41 Even though they may be reading it from a phone or a piece of paper, Lord. Will you anoint their tongues with the gift of prophecy? Fill them with your Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus. Let the tongues of fire rest upon our children as they did. 36:52 Even children in the first century will believe. And those 120, you said this promises for us and for our children. And so we claim it in your name. Anoint their tongues, Lord. Let their speaking of the word not just be a ritual. 37:07 But let it be a sword that defeats the enemy. You said that the evil one is defeated by the word of our testimony. So let the devil in all of his work be defeated today, Lord. By the word of prophecy that comes from these young people as they testify. 37:21 And may the words that they speak bear fruit in their lives, Lord. In their schools, in their colleges, in their workplaces, wherever you send them, Lord. Now or in the future. Let the prophetic words they speak this morning bear fruit, Lord. 37:36 We claim your word. The word that you send now will not return void. It will accomplish that for which you sent it. You will fulfill the promise and the command, Lord, that you've given us. That you wrote in your word. That we've chosen this day to memorize. 37:52 You will fulfill it. Thank you, Heavenly Father. We believe it shall be so. So watch every part of this meeting. Take control, Holy Spirit. I pray for any who are sick and need a touch from you. Lay your hands on them and heal them. 38:04 In the name of Jesus, we ask. Pray for our earthly needs. Any who are in a financial difficulty or other material need. Will you provide for them? You are our provider. You own the cattle on a thousand hills. Your arm is not too short to supply. 38:17 You said, seek first my kingdom and my righteousness in you and I will provide all your needs. We claim that promise, Lord. Thank you, Lord, that our God is rich in Jesus Christ and shall supply all our needs. Thank you. 38:31 Thank you, Lord. Knit our hearts together in deeper unity. We're not satisfied with how close you brought us, Lord. We don't want to settle for an earthly commonality or liking each other or building a club, Lord. We want your church. 38:44 We want to be knit together by bonds of unity that nothing, no power in hell or on earth can separate. Knit our hearts together with that kind of love, Lord, we pray. Thank you. Thank you you'll do that through your Holy Spirit. 38:57 For any who are willing to walk in the light and give themselves to be wholehearted disciples of yours, Lord, we believe that as you call those to walk in this church, you will knit our hearts together in unity, deeper than we've experienced. 39:08 Knit our hearts in marriage. I pray for every marriage, husband and wife. We know the devil's out to destroy those marriages. Knit our hearts together in deeper unity in our marriages, Lord, I pray. Knit the hearts of parents to their children. 39:21 I pray you'll give us grace as parents to win the hearts of our children and that our children will know that the safest place for them to open up is with their parents, not with any other friend or some other worldly place, Lord, but that in our homes. 39:35 Our homes will be places of safety where Jesus is there. You yourself are our peace. You'll make our homes homes of peace. Thank you, Lord. You're doing that and you'll do it even more in the days to come. We're helpless, Lord. 39:48 We have no ability, but you simply ask us to be branches in the vine. And so as individuals, as married couples, as parents, as children, as young people, and as a church, we simply come to you, the vine, for strength and for sustenance. 40:03 We abide in you. Thank you, Lord. You will be glorified. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, if you'd like to say your memory verse, come on up. 40:28 Romans 8:34b. Jesus is at the right hand of God and also intercedes for us. Romans 8:34b. Romans 8:34b. 40:49 Jesus is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us. Romans 8:34b. Romans 8:34b. Jesus is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us. Romans 8:34b. 41:10 Romans 8:34b. Jesus is at the right hand of God who rather intercedes for us. Romans 8:34b. Romans 8:34b. Every callous word our people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the world. 41:44 in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:36. Acts 13:39, "Through Him, everyone that believes is free from all things from which they could not be free." Acts 13:39. 42:12 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you could not be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 42:32 "Through Him, everyone who believes will be freed from all things in which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 42:58 "Jesus is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us." Romans 8:34. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 43:21 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 43:59 "Jesus is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us." Romans 8:34. "Jesus is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us." Romans 8:34. 44:27 "Jesus is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us." Romans 8:34. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 44:48 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 45:07 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 45:26 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 45:35 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 45:52 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, Jesus is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 46:01 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, Jesus is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 46:02 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 46:04 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 46:24 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 46:35 "Every careless word that people speak, they will give an accounting for it in the day of judgment." Matthew 12:32. "Every careless word that people speak, they will give an accounting for it during the day of judgment." Matthew 12:36. 46:56 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 47:17 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 47:39 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 47:54 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. 48:21 "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. "Through Him, everyone who believes is free from all things from which you cannot be freed." Acts 13:39. Every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 48:53 Matthew 12, 36. Acts 13, 39. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed. 49:14 Acts 13, 39. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed. Acts 13, 39. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed. 49:42 Acts 13, 39. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed. Acts 13, 39. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed. 50:03 Acts 13, 39. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed. Acts 13, 39. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed. 50:26 Acts 13, 39. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed. 50:47 Acts 13, 39. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed. I can still remember the first time some of these kids said their memory verse. 51:11 I don't know. We started doing it maybe eight years ago or so, and Zave was about the shortest one, and now he's taller than me. All these kids have grown up, and may you continue to preach God's, speak God's word clearly. 51:29 Yes, when he said all things, he meant all things through him, and you will never be able to be freed from it through any other power except Jesus Christ. No meditation, no yoga, no self-discipline. 51:49 There may be some benefit in those things, not yoga, by the way, but self-discipline is good, but only Jesus Christ can bring freedom. Only Jesus Christ can bring freedom. Let's say next week's memory verse, if we could. 52:11 Yeah. Let's say together, we'll say the reference, the verse, and then the reference again. Philippians 3, verses 18 and 19. They are enemies of the cross of Christ who set their minds on earthly things. Philippians 3, verses 18 and 19. 52:31 Wow, that's a serious word. You set your mind on earthly things, a little bit more money, another job, or a bigger house, or a bigger car, this success, that success. The Bible says you're an enemy of the cross of Christ. 52:47 It's a serious word. Let's meditate on that as we memorize that this week. Are we online, by the way? Yeah, okay. This Sunday, I thought we would do something a little bit different. You're in for a treat, I tell you that. 53:03 But especially, us elders have had a burden for the young people in our church, in a good way, not anything bad. But, and especially for you teenagers, you're at a very crucial moment, time in your life. It's a period of crucial decision. 53:22 And the decisions you make at this stage in your life could significantly impact the rest of your life. And not just your life on this earth, but eternity. For many people growing up in a church like this, it's easy for us to come to a place where we learn how to fit in, in this church. 53:43 How to be a good person, generally. How to be a relatively good person. But unless the Holy Spirit has come in, and through the power of the Holy Spirit brought a work deep in our heart, those cracks will start to show later on. 53:58 And some of you are already in that next phase of life, where you have more freedoms than you had before. For others of you, that's coming soon. Where it'll no longer be dad and mom there to correct you, or guide you, to speak to you in love. 54:17 You can do whatever you want with your life. And that's part of God's, God's allowed it that way. That there's an age of recognition, age of knowing what's right and wrong. Once you reach that, once you get to that point of maturity, you can't live in daddy and mommy's home all your life. 54:40 That's, God wants you to go on, set up your own home. But our goal in this church, and your goal for all of your parents, I believe, has been to prepare you for that moment. That when you do have the freedoms and the liberties and the privileges that others your age have now, 54:58 but in love we have protected you from having, when you have that, what will you do with that? When now you have the freedom to do whatever you want with your time, you can get your own phone if you want. And you can go on whatever site you want. 55:12 You can text whoever you want. You can write emails to whoever you want. Dad and mom are not there anymore to supervise you. What will you do with your time? I think of Jesus as the perfect teenager. He gives teenagers a good name. 55:31 Let's follow Jesus. Teenager should be a good word, not a bad word, like it is in the world. Now, we're not told much about Jesus' teenage years. In fact, there's no single event recorded in the Gospels or anywhere in the Scriptures about Jesus' teenage years. 55:47 We know about when he was 12. We know about when he was a baby. And then we know after that when he was 30. But if you want to know what Jesus was really like as a teenager, he will show it to you through the Holy Spirit. 56:03 But what we see in the good examples of teenagers elsewhere in Scripture are exemplified perfectly in Christ. So, for example, when Joseph, at the age of 16, 17 years old, was sent off into a far-off country, much further than where some of you may go even, far-off country, 56:29 and was alone by himself as a young boy with all those sexual passions raging within him, and a beautiful woman locks the door and says, We're by ourselves now. Let's have some fun. He says, God is here. I can't do this. 56:46 Daddy and Mommy are not here, but God is here. And the fear of God preserved Joseph as a teenage boy from destroying his life. Oh, his life would have been completely destroyed if in that moment he had thought, Yeah, the doors are closed. 57:01 The lights are off. Let's have some fun. Nobody's going to see it. And the entire course of his life would have been changed as a result of that. I think of three other teenage, four other teenage boys, Daniel, Hananiah, Meshach, and Azariah. 57:18 You know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They're Babylonian names. But they also were about 16 years old when they were taken as prisoners to a far-off country into Babylon, where they could do whatever they want now. 57:36 Babylon was the richest country in the world, the most powerful country in the world at that time. And dad was not there. Mom was not there. What were they going to do? Now, it wasn't just the four of them. There were thousands of other young people their age, also teenagers, 57:53 brilliant, attractive, handsome, boys and girls, capable. But there were four who said, we're not going to move from the convictions that our parents have taught us, that our teachers have taught us. And those four men stood unashamedly, alone. 58:18 And our burden in this church, and I believe the burden of all of the parents represented here, is that you children will grow up to be those bold witnesses. That you won't just fit into the crowd. That you will get that picture of the entire nation of Babylon, 58:34 and all the other young people, and everybody, all the Jews, bowing down in front of that idol, and three men standing tall saying, we will not bow. How did they do that? They didn't have the Holy Spirit. They didn't have a Bible in their hands. 58:51 They didn't have church meetings like this. But they had the fear of God. And our prayer for you, dear teenagers, is that you will be like that. In the world that's drawing you and inviting you. Now, you may stay at home, 59:07 but the world is drawing you spiritually. Through what you see with your eyes, and what you hear with your ears. The way you see other people around you dress. We're not living in a bubble. We're not going to isolate in some little compound, 59:19 and lock out the world from us. That's never, ever succeeded. People have tried it. The only thing that overcomes the world is our faith. And Jesus Christ, the greatest power living within us, is the only way to overcome. 59:36 And this is a moment of crucial decision for you, dear teenagers, that you test yourself, and you examine your heart to be sure that the power of Christ is in you. And if you've failed in the past, repent of it, confess it, 59:55 forsake it, and turn. And let the power of Christ come within you. Let this day, if it hasn't been yet, if there's still deep within, if you've been able to successfully hide from all of us in the church, and even your own parents, 1:00:09 what's really inside of you, don't be ashamed of it. We're not here to condemn you, or to make you feel guilty about it. We're here to encourage you. We're here to warn you also, that you can't play games with God. And you don't want to. 1:00:23 It won't end well. But today, if you'll make a decision to put your trust in the Lord completely, He will give you grace for every circumstance. He will help you. And He will free you. You will be like a bird that's released from its cage 1:00:37 to be yourself. Walk in the light. Where you can mess up, and just confess and say, I messed up. But Jesus Christ's blood has set me free. This is the life all of us are living. The parents you have, and the adults you see in this church, 1:00:51 are by far, far, far, far from perfect people. We make mistakes. We may not publicize them. We may not glorify the devil by announcing all our sins. But, we're broken people too. We're fallen people too. And we're here to help you. 1:01:08 And so I pray that this meeting will be a turning point for some of you, and for any of you adults. Who are living in that balance between, do I choose the world, or do I choose the kingdom of heaven? That for you also, 1:01:23 it will be this moment of crucial decision. I want to play a 13 minute clip right now. If you can pull that up, please. And then after that, I ask Dad specifically if he could speak to you teenagers. I believe the Lord will. 1:01:39 It's his last Sunday. Last Sunday, Dad and Mom are with us. They leave tomorrow back for California. We want to bless them later on in this meeting. But, so we'll listen to this 13 minutes. Just part of a, it's the first, 1:01:53 the introduction to a longer play that they did, a drama that they did in CFC Bangalore, almost 30 years ago. But the message is very clear and very powerful. so listen carefully. And then after that, Dad will come up and speak. 1:02:12 This is a drama that we in CFC produced at one of our conferences in December 1998. It refers to the time of Jeremiah and Daniel, but has a very powerful message for us today. We produced it primarily to challenge young people 1:02:36 to be uncompromising in their stand for the Lord against Babylonian Christianity. And we want to challenge older people like Jeremiah to encourage the younger people to stand true to the Lord. 1:02:58 And further, this was also a message to show how four young people standing for the Lord could influence a whole nation, the most powerful nation of that time, a heathen country, a small group of people 1:03:19 who could stand up for God and be a witness for Him, which is a great message for us in our time. This drama has not been professionally made. We did not have the money or the resources to provide all the props 1:03:40 to make it a professional production. But our aim was to convey a message. And as you watch it, we pray that you also will be gripped by the necessity to stand true to God in these days of compromise where Christianity has become Babylonian 1:04:00 just like in the days of Daniel when the Jews went into Babylon. God bless you as you watch this drama. We'll be right back. 1:04:38 We'll be right back. 1:05:08 We'll be right back. 1:05:38 Well, brothers, it's been 22 years since I've been prophesying to this nation, and they have not had ears to hear. They've listened to the false prophets who tickle their ears, preach peace when there 1:06:00 is no peace. They've gone astray after their idols, worshiped false gods. But I'm so thankful that the four of you have ears to hear. It's rare to find people like you. I'm so thankful to God that you have ears to hear what God is saying in this time. 1:06:27 Well, what's going to happen real soon? Some foreign army going to come? And if they're going to come, how long are we going to be there? Well, we've heard rumors of that. You know that Babylon has become a great power. 1:06:39 And God has shown me that that is the instrument God is going to use to judge Judah, just like her sister Israel was judged by the Assyrians over 100 years ago. They did not listen to the prophets, and now Judah doesn't listen to the prophets. 1:06:58 And now the kingdom of Babylon is going to come and take the people of Judah captive. They won't take me, because I'm an old man. I'm no use to them. But you young people, they will take you into that land. Brother Jeremiah, we haven't seen a lot of idolatry here in our land of Judah, 1:07:21 but I hear there's a lot of idolatry going on in Babylon. What should our attitude be towards that? Well, Hamanaya, you should be thankful that you haven't seen idolatry here. But I'll tell you something, the Lord shown it to me. 1:07:36 There's a lot of idolatry going on in secret. Right inside the temple, the priests and the leaders are worshiping idols. The women are burning cakes to the Queen of Heaven. And out at night, under every green tree in the high places, they are worshiping their idols. 1:07:57 This is a day of compromise in Judah. And that is why God has called you young people to strand through to God in this day of compromise. Stay clear of idolatry. Remember the second commandment, all you learn on your mother's knee. 1:08:16 You shall not bow down to idols. Don't even nod your head. Even if you have to lose your life. Don't ever bow down to idols. Out there in Babylon, they worship idols unashamedly. I haven't been there, but I know how it is in these heathen nations. 1:08:35 They have idols in every nook and corner. Stand through to God. And we take for witnesses to God over there. Brother Jeremiah, during the time that we are in Babylon, do you think we should remain single? Well, in my case, the Lord gave me a special calling when I was young. 1:08:55 The Lord told me I was not to have a wife or sons or daughters in this place. But that was only for me. But do you know God wants another generation to come back and repopulate Judah? He's going to bring his people back to this land. 1:09:16 After 70 years, the Lord showed me that. And there must be a generation. I don't know whether all of you will live. Till then, you may die, but be true to God. And if the Lord leads you to marriage, marry a wholehearted Jewish girl. 1:09:35 Don't marry one of these compromising Jewish girls who, once they get to Babylon, dress up like the Babylonians, behave like the Babylonians. And watch out for these young girls in Babylon. All with their seductive ways, their painted eyelids, and their immodest dresses. 1:09:58 Keep your passions under control. If you want to be a witness for God in Babylon, be like Joseph was in Egypt. Brother Jeremiah, so far we've been very careful in matters of food. But now we are going to a different land. 1:10:14 And those people cannot design their right hand from their left. Can you kindly advise me? Yeah, we should be thankful to God that we've got the law and the prophets in our land. I feel that we as a nation have not appreciated the law and the prophets sufficiently. 1:10:33 God's word is given to us like David said, to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. I have proclaimed it for 22 years. I have wept in secret for these people. But they have not had years to hear. We really need to appreciate that we've got the law and the prophets. 1:10:51 And when it comes to what God has commanded in his word, we must implicitly obey. We must steer clear of food offered miles. And remember what the law of Moses said? There are certain animals, God has said, that are unclean. 1:11:10 Like the hare, the camel, the pig, and birds. Like the eagle, the osprey, and the falcon. These are birds and animals that we must not touch. Now you may, you're all clever people, young people, and you may use your reason and say, well, what's wrong with that? 1:11:27 That's how they do it in Babylon. But when it comes to God's word, we don't use our reason. If God says no to something, we say no to it. If the book of wisdom says, don't look at the wine when it is red, when it stirs itself and gives its color in the cup, just do as God's word says. 1:11:48 And you won't regret it. Let all these other clever fellows use their reason. For us, God's word is enough. So steer clear of food over to idols. Steer clear of all these unclean foods. Brother Jeremiah, Ananiah, Michelle, Azariah, and myself are deeply thankful for all the years that you've sat down with us and exhorted us and encouraged us to be true to him. 1:12:16 But now, Brother Jeremiah, my heart and our hearts, we were talking all the way there. We're really sorrowful. Because the time is coming when we're going to leave Judah, this relatively safe land of Judah, where we could hear your advice. 1:12:32 And we're going to the heathen land of Babylon. Brother Jeremiah, please pray for us, brother, that we may stand true to God in Babylon, just as you were able to stand true to God all these years. Well, Daniel, and all of you, there's sorrow in my heart too, and for two reasons. 1:12:53 One, because God's people are going to be judged. One, because God's people are going to be judged. The Lord has been patient and kind. He's long-suffering. And he's waited a long time. But his people have worshipped idols. 1:13:06 The leaders have gone astray. They commit adultery. They seek their own gain. They love money. They live for themselves. The leaders, the priests, the prophets, they've all gone astray. And now God is going to judge this nation. 1:13:21 There's no doubt about it. That time, I believe, I sense in my heart, that time of judgment has already come. And that's the main reason why I feel sorrowful in my heart. I feel that this king, Nebuchadnezzar, whom we have heard of in Babylon, will come very soon and capture Jerusalem. 1:13:45 He will destroy this temple. He will bring his armies in. He will defile the sacred place. I'm sooner than I expected. We've never heard music like that in Israel. Those are the armies of Babylon. 1:14:07 My brothers, that's the second reason why I'm sorrowful. I won't see you brothers again. On the face of this earth. One day the Lord will raise up his people. And I want to charge you brothers. When you go to Babylon, remember what I've said. 1:14:27 Be true to God there. Carry this torch of a testimony when you go there. And keep it burning for the Lord. Keep it burning for the Lord. Never give up. Stand true to God. Daniel, let me say goodbye to you. You are the leader. 1:14:47 God's given you a special calling. Be true to God and meet these young brothers. And I am so thankful for you. Stand true to God. Obey his word. And don't ever give up. Stand true to the end. Israel, stand united with the brothers. 1:15:08 Don't let any disunity come between you. Stand true. Ezra, I'm thankful I am for your fellowship and all of you. I'm really thankful. I won't see you again. But again, the Lord raises up his people. I have no regret for the way you have lived in Babylon. 1:15:28 God bless you, my brothers. Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Thank you. 1:16:02 You know, these Old Testament examples of young men 1:16:25 who are not even 20 years old. Maybe 17, 16, 17, 18 years old who did not have a printed Bible that they could carry with them. Who did not have the Holy Spirit to dwell within them. 1:16:47 They only had the powerful messages they heard particularly in this case from the prophet Jeremiah. And they had to remember what they heard. It wasn't written down anywhere they could carry it. And at that age, see many of you here are 1:17:06 between the age of 16 and 20 or 16 and 21 or so. That was the age of these men. And there were many hundreds of others of the same age who also went to Babylon along with them. In the New Testament, 1:17:27 Babylon is also called in Revelation a harlot. That means one who claimed to be the bride of Christ but was unfaithful. A harlot or a prostitute is, in Revelation, it is the bride 1:17:48 claiming to be the bride of Christ but unfaithful. That means having all the outward evidences of Christianity and today's day, carry a Bible, sing hymns and all that in so many of our churches but who are not living the life 1:18:06 in their daily life at home or in their values, their attitude to the opposite sex, their attitude to money and their attitude to God is all just like people in the world. But yet they've got religion. Religion means a lot of songs 1:18:22 and things that give people an impression. So you go to these churches and it's amazing. You go to some of these churches with 10,000 people. They're all raising their hands and they're all praising the Lord and the music is so stirring 1:18:39 and you come away after one hour there or two hours there and you say, boy, those are really wholehearted Christians. They're not. It's only for those two hours on a Sunday. I have heard true stories of people who have come out 1:19:00 of these emotional, highly emotional meetings. Young boys and girls stirred in their emotions by all this singing and all but with no personal inward connection with Christ who go away from those church meetings and go and sleep 1:19:19 and commit adultery with each other. It has not made any difference to their life. It's just an emotional stirring. So that is called Babylon today and the story of Daniel and his three friends in Babylon is a warning as we are surrounded by Babylon. 1:19:40 It's interesting that the Holy Spirit is called backslidden Christianity also Babylon and there's where Daniel and his three friends are a great example for us. How they feared God and stood for him and even if they were going 1:19:55 to be thrown to the lions they said, that's okay. We'll be true to God. You can throw us to the lions you can put us in the fire and when they were thrown in the fire Jesus was with them in the fire. Amazing. So that's something 1:20:08 that you young people must remember. How did they have that exciting experience of Jesus Christ before he came to earth in a supernatural way standing with them in the fire? What an experience. Wouldn't you like to have that? 1:20:29 that's because they stood true to God and did not compromise. It doesn't always happen like that. We read in the early first 300 years of Christianity when Christians who said we will not bow down 1:20:49 to any idol we will not bow down to Caesar we will only bow down to Jesus Christ they were thrown into the fire and Christ did not come and stand with them. they did not escape the fire they were burnt to death unlike Daniel's three friends 1:21:08 but they went up straight into God's presence. In the New Testament God has allowed us to face things that in the Old Testament they could not stand. you see you see today we have the Holy Spirit within us and so I can 1:21:29 be thrown into the fire and I don't want to escape. I can be burnt to death in that fire and I will not come out. In the Old Testament they didn't have the Holy Spirit within. So God did not allow them to be tempted to the same 1:21:47 extent as we are. To use an illustration we can say that the Old Testament saints were like in the kindergarten. What sort of tests do you give to children in the kindergarten? But then they go to a higher school or to college. 1:22:03 We are like people who are in college and when you see the examination paper you get in college it's really tough. But the examination paper for a six year old studying in the kindergarten is very easy. And that's how it was in the Old Testament. 1:22:18 Remember the Old Testament people were in kindergarten and so they were thrown into the fire Jesus had to be there to protect them because they were like spiritual babies. But in the New Testament we were like grown up adults 1:22:31 and when they were thrown into the fire in the first three hundred years Jesus didn't come there. They died they were perished and they stood true to the Lord and there was so much a tremendous testimony and they were thrown 1:22:44 to the lions and while these things were happening there'd be people watching them who'd get converted. They said this must be the true God and they would forsake their idols. So even in their persecution they became witnesses 1:23:01 that brought other people to Christ. Those are tremendous examples for us and you young people I remember in my young days I used to read a lot of these biographies of missionaries who suffered for the Lord in different places 1:23:14 who were killed and took the gospel to different places and I really admired them. I said boy they lived a worthwhile life. what am I doing just enjoying life on this earth I want to make my life count for eternity. Now you can't 1:23:33 go and become a missionary unless God calls you. See the Christian life is a warfare and Christians are supposed to be soldiers in the army of the Lord and when you're a soldier you can't go where you like. I remember when I was 1:23:50 in the military I couldn't go to which place I like. I would be posted by the authorities you go here and you go here and I just got to obey. So the Lord may call some people say you go as a missionary there and he may tell you 1:24:06 you go and work in an office or you go and teach in a college or you work in a store or different things. There are very very few people who are called to full time Christian work. I think maybe one in a thousand believers are called. 1:24:26 It's not because they are better. It's because of calling. Just like different parts of the body have a different calling. The hands and the ears in the same way each of you have a calling. But every part of this body must be healthy 1:24:41 and strong. Whatever they're calling. The hand is to hold things the eye is to see the ear is to hear and the tongue is to speak. So in the same way the Bible calls us the body of Jesus Christ. Each of us we're not the same 1:24:58 but we're the body of Jesus Christ. The one thing common about hand, eye, everything is they are all connected to the brain. They obey the brain of what we call the head. They obey the head implicitly. If the head tells the hand 1:25:14 to lift up it lifts up. Put it down put it down. If the head tells the eyes to look another direction it looks another direction. If the head tells the tongue to say something it says something. So the head is in control 1:25:27 of every part of the body but the functions of each part of the body is different. That's why the church is called the body of Jesus Christ. you may have you may have a completely different function. In fact you do have 1:25:39 a different function from me and you have a different function from each other. And as you grow up but you must remember one thing every one of you if you've given your life to Christ I'm speaking now to the teenagers especially 1:25:51 because you leave home and you go to college to another world and you have to be a light for the Lord over there. here it's very easy because everyone around you believes in the Lord and there's no opposition or persecution 1:26:10 but when you go into a college you go into another world where everybody is especially today's world they believe all types of strange things. They believe a man can become a woman and a woman can become a man. Crazy things 1:26:23 which even they don't even believe it in Muslim countries but they believe it here. How is that? It shows the tremendous work that Satan has done in confusing people and immorality is rampant. Young men and women live together 1:26:43 as if they're married when they're not married and then men will go with another girl and girls will go with another man. This is the world you live in and in the midst of such an evil corrupt world which the Bible calls 1:26:56 Babylon he wants you because he knows Jesus Christ to be a true lamb light for him whatever the cost today people are not being burnt at the stake and burnt in the fire that is happening in some countries even today people are 1:27:17 being killed for being Christians it's not happening here it's not going to nobody's going to kill you in the college but they'll isolate you they'll treat you like oh you're a peculiar person we're not going to be your 1:27:30 friends you dress modestly we believe in a little more fancy dress and there you're going to stand out as different and it'll be a tremendous pressure when out of you have ten friends and nine of them are like that or sometimes 1:27:46 all ten are like that and you're the only one standing out as different you dress in a different way you don't laugh at their dirty jokes and you don't have boyfriends like they have and go around walking together and sleeping 1:28:00 with them you don't have girlfriends like they have you're different what a tremendous opportunity to be different it's a great honor I remember when I was in the navy I was nineteen and a half and I was converted and I 1:28:15 was already in the navy and the navy is a very corrupt place because people have a lot of money when they are nineteen years old they become officers and they earn a huge amount of money and they can do whatever they like 1:28:27 and I'm very thankful I got converted at that age so that God protected me from all that evil and of course a lot of people made fun of me and all my fellow officers made fun of me but that's okay it just made me stronger 1:28:41 and there I decided that I'm going to be a witness for Christ and I'll give you one example one day I was working in the naval base and I had a scooter and the Lord told me why don't you be a witness for me through your 1:29:01 scooter write two verses on your scooter big three inch letters on one side prepare to meet your God we had those scooters with big panels they could write prepare to meet your God on the other side Christ died for our sins 1:29:16 and I went with that to the office where I was working and my commander who's a three striped man I had two stripes as a lieutenant he said what's this lieutenant I said sir it's the word of God he says I give you 24 hours to 1:29:36 remove it that means you know in the navy if you're given a command and you don't obey it in an office if you don't obey it they'll just say okay you're dismissed don't come back to work tomorrow in the navy it's not like 1:29:51 that discipline is so strict that if a senior officer tells you to do something whatever it is and you don't do it you know this is how they train people to obey in war time in war time you can't argue with your senior officer 1:30:04 you have to do if he says fire in this direction you've got to fire if you turn the ship in this direction you've got to turn and to teach you that they say disobedience is punished by imprisonment not dismissed from your 1:30:20 job because that's the way they enforce discipline in the military if you disobey you go to prison and here this chap gave me 24 hours to wipe it out from my scooter and I was not going to do that the Lord had told me to put 1:30:37 that verse so next day I came with the scooter and he saw it again and says Lieutenant Punan what did I tell you I said sir I cannot remove it because God told me to put it so he took me to the senior commanding officer 1:30:52 who's got four stripes he was a Roman Catholic so he probably had a little fear of God in him and I stood there before him at attention he said Lieutenant Punan why can't you remove those verses those words I said sir God has 1:31:12 told me to put them out so I can't wipe them out so he thought I was afraid of wiping it out myself so he said I'll get one of my sailors to come and wipe it out I said no sir that's not the point God has told me to put 1:31:27 it so I can't put it there and this is just about a couple of days after I put it on the scooter just two days after I got it painted it happened and he said well Lieutenant Punan I'm the captain of this base and I cannot 1:31:44 permit you to ride that scooter in the naval base take it out of this base if you ride it here remove those words thank you sir I'll obey you so I'm not going to remove the words so I kept the scooter outside in a brother's 1:32:02 house and I bought a bicycle and I began to ride a bicycle through that whole naval base now naval officers earn so much money even as a young naval officer that nobody rides a bicycle everybody has either a scooter or a 1:32:21 car and here I was the only officer riding a bicycle so the news went around I was so disappointed I said Lord I tried to be a witness to you with this verses and the devil has succeeded in getting put outside the base how will 1:32:37 people see what I wrote the Lord's ways are different so what happened when people I was riding the bicycle all over the place and people who knew me people in the base knew me because I was working in an office where people 1:32:49 had connections with me and the question went around why is Lifton and Poonin riding a bicycle they said that's because he wrote some words on his scooter oh what words did he write and that way the news went around much 1:33:04 faster than if I had ridden the scooter on the base see how God's ways are absolutely amazing 40 years later when I was living in Bangalore I was at a bank and a senior retired naval officer met me it's just a few years 1:33:23 ago I said sir I remember you from the navy you were a senior to me he said what's your name I said my name is Poonin oh you're the one who had those verses on your scooter right see how the word went around and a few years later 1:33:40 my brother who was also retired from the navy in a retired officers meeting he went there and the chief of the naval staff the admiral met him and he said what's your name he said I'm Lefman Poonin oh are you the brother of 1:33:56 the man who had those verses on his scooter this is the admiral the chief of the navy I was absolutely amazed when I heard all this how God turned the tables on the devil and I want to say that for your encouragement my dear 1:34:10 brothers and sisters you stand up for God and you will have something to be really thankful to God for how he helped you to stand true to him don't ever compromise don't ever seek to please men you will not regret not only 1:34:29 here on earth you won't regret it when you meet Jesus in heaven when you meet Jesus face to face think of this and your whole life is going to be displayed in a video screen I believe that I believe the day of judgment is going to 1:34:45 be something like this one by one because we got all eternity to do this it doesn't matter if one man's life takes three four days to display but I believe that the day of judgment will be like this everything that I did in 1:35:03 my life whether I know it or not has been recorded in my memory because we are weak we can't recollect everything so easily but the memory is all recorded perfectly I've heard of people when they're having a brain surgery 1:35:19 somebody touches one part of the brain and suddenly he remembers something which he could not remember otherwise teaching us that everything is stored there even the things you can't remember are stored there and one day 1:35:32 it's like a tape it's all recorded there in our memory and one day when we stand before the Lord the Lord is just going to press the rewind button and the tape goes back and it's going to play back your entire life what all 1:35:49 will come back on the video screen your words your actions your thoughts which nobody knew that will be there on the screen your thoughts will come out as words and your attitudes to people which you can conceal throughout your 1:36:08 earthly life will come on that screen clear for everyone to see but anything you confess to the Lord as sin you ask the Lord to forgive you and cleanse in his blood will not be on that screen there will be a blank spot that isn't 1:36:24 there but everything else thoughts words the actions you did in secret private life where things you did when people were not watching you things you thought nobody saw you so you could do something it will all come out there 1:36:39 unless you repented of it not confessed it repented and confessed there is a difference between confession and repentance if you only confessed it means nothing but if you said Lord I'm really sorry for what I did there 1:36:54 please forgive me I slipped up and I failed you I admit that is my mistake please forgive me that will be blotted cleanse me in the blood of Jesus that will be blotted out that will never come up in all eternity nobody will 1:37:07 know what you did wonderful the power of the blood of Jesus to blot it out but you know you can take that lightly and say oh well the blood of Jesus can blot it out then I'm just going to take life easy I can sin and be forgiven 1:37:23 get forgiven easily there's a verse in the Bible that says let me show you that verse in Hebrews in chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10 please turn to verse 29 it says in the 1:37:45 Old Testament when a man disobeyed the law of Moses verse 28 he died without mercy then how much greater punishment will come in the New Testament for those who have trampled the Son of God underfoot how do you trample the 1:38:03 Son of God underfoot God says something the Lord Jesus said something and you disregard it it's like putting that under your feet Lord I don't care for that it's under my feet yeah telling a lie hating people 1:38:23 indulging in sexual sin and you ignore it it's like trampling the Lord's words under foot it's trampling the Son of God under your feet and it says here you regarded the blood of Jesus the blood of the covenant but you were sanctified 1:38:44 as something the word unclean means common or to paraphrase it you treated the blood of Christ like tap water that's a legitimate paraphrase of that verse tap water is the most common thing available in the world it doesn't 1:38:59 cost anything and you treated the blood of Christ like tap water that's what it means how do you treat the blood of Christ like tap water why is it you're not afraid to get your hands dirty because tap water is so cheap 1:39:13 you got your hands dirty in the morning you can go and wash it two hours later you were working and your hands got dirty again you can wash it another three hours later your hands are dirty you can wash it again what did 1:39:25 it cost you zero but supposing tap water cost a thousand dollars for a cup boy you'd be very careful to keep your hands clean all the time because every time you go and clean your hands you have to spend a thousand dollars 1:39:41 then you'll be really careful that your hands don't get dirty so when we treat the blood of christ like tap water what does that mean something common oh i slipped up it's okay lord please forgive me your blood cleanse me 1:39:57 two hours later you go and slip up in some other way you get angry with somebody and upset and you say oh lord please i'm sorry i got a bit upset there please forgive me tap water you know the blood of christ like tap water 1:40:10 and i use the blood of christ many times throughout the day to confess this to confess that some of you married people the way you speak to each other you take it so lightly you know well you confess lord forgive me the way i 1:40:26 spoke to my husband and wife it's tap water for you just tap water and it says here how much greater will be the punishment for a person who treated this sacred blood of jesus christ as tap water if the people who obeyed the 1:40:44 law of moses were skilled how much greater will be your punishment so we must take sin seriously when you are going out you are protected in a church like this you are protected everybody is there to encourage you and the 1:41:02 atmosphere itself is such protects you from committing serious sin god doesn't want us to be here why do we want to have a lamp in a building that's already lit think if all of you are born again it's like a hundred lamps burning 1:41:20 here but it's out there in the darkness that god wants a lamp to burn and that's why he's kept you in a college or in some other place of work where it's all dark and that's why you got to burn and so burning here in the 1:41:37 midst is not a great thing because everybody else is burning but out there it means a lot because you stand out as different everybody is dark and you stand there standing up for something that you stood for and I'll tell 1:41:53 you you won't regret it I always think of this that one day when I stand before Jesus Christ and my entire life from birth to the end is going to be displayed there I don't want the Lord to look at me and at some situation I 1:42:11 was ashamed to confess that I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ somewhere in my life everybody you know I was in the midst of the Navy where everybody would be laughing and joking and talking about all types of things and I'm 1:42:26 ashamed to admit that I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ that'll come on the screen where I was ashamed of the Savior and in the light of heaven how will I feel I feel so terrible Lord I'm so sorry I let you down there do you 1:42:44 want to have any regret when Christ comes back be faithful live for him now and say Lord whatever the price I'm going to be true to you and I'll tell you something you will not regret it not only that you'll be a boy or 1:43:02 a girl or a young man or young woman of conviction that means one who stands for the truth whatever the price and that is a tremendous testimony in our age that's the story of Daniel and his three friends whether they were 1:43:19 going to be thrown to the lions or put into the fire they said we're going to be true and even Daniel right up to his old age he was about 85 when he was thrown into the lion's den and he was true till then what a wonderful 1:43:35 thing to be true when he was 16 or 17 and true when he's 85 years old 70 years later it's just the same so you can be like that and every time you stand up for the Lord it'll make you stronger for the next time if you compromise 1:43:50 in some place you young people later on you'll find it very difficult to stand up but if you stand for once and people make fun of you and you stand through it next time it'll be easier and again you stand for the Lord next time 1:44:04 it'll be easier and after a few times it'll just all their insults and making fun of you will roll off you like water on a duck's back it won't even affect you that's what happened to me in the early days it was a bit of a 1:44:17 struggle but I said Lord I'm going to be true to you at any cost and God will stand by you I'll tell you one example in my life a few days after I had accepted Christ I was 19 and a half I was in the naval base I had many 1:44:34 friends my fellow naval officers and one day two of them came to me and said Zach let's go there's a movie there's a movie playing inside the naval base we had a movie theater and they would hire movies to be played there 1:44:54 and there's a wonderful movie there today why don't you come and see and you know I was the one who took them to the movies in the early days I was the one who would go and call them and now they're calling me and I decided 1:45:05 I don't want to go to a movie again but I did not have the courage to say no I become a Christian and so out of fear to publicly confess Christ I 1:45:25 walked with them towards the movie theater inside the naval base but as I walked there was a cry in my heart all the time Lord deliver me I don't want to see this please help me in some way and we came to the movie theater 1:45:40 and there was a big notice kept there for some reason the reel was not delivered here so the movie is cancelled I said hallelujah those people were so disappointed they were wondering why I was so happy and I came back to 1:45:58 my room the Lord said to me in my heart this time I saved you next time you have to say it yourself otherwise you'll never be strong I realized that if every time the Lord delivers me like that I'll be a weakling but next 1:46:15 time when he came if I stood up and said I'm sorry I'm a Christian I don't go for that I'll become strong so that's what happened after that I was so encouraged by that one incident that I decided next time I'm going to 1:46:29 say it myself I'll tell you this if you try to stand up for the Lord in some awkward situation you pray God will deliver you from that situation you young people please remember this when you find yourself in so awkward 1:46:42 situation remember how the Lord delivered me he'll deliver you I was just 19 years old and the Lord helped me he'll help you and you have a few experiences like this and you get to know Jesus intimately as a friend but if 1:46:57 you don't stand for the Lord you won't have these experiences with the Lord see through the years the very strong even if it meant you know losing my job or something like that I'll give you another example when I was in 1:47:17 charge of the all the boats in the naval base that's one of the jobs called boat officer and you know people officers could hire the boat for a picnic they pay for it pay for the diesel and they could hire the boat for a 1:47:35 picnic to go anywhere down the lake or to an island or something like that and but I was told that if the captain the commanding officer hires a boat for a picnic don't charge him so I said what shall I write in the record 1:47:55 say captain has gone for a harbor inspection so one day the captain said I want to get the boat today for a picnic so he took it and went and I was not going to tell a lie that he went for harbor inspection I wrote out a 1:48:15 bill for him that he's got to pay and he was shocked for the first time in his life he gets a bill and he called I'm too junior for him to talk to me directly he calls the second in command and says why has this boat officer 1:48:29 sent me a bill so sent the captain a bill I said sir he took the boat and went for a picnic didn't the previous boat officer tell you to call it harbor inspection I said sir I'm a Christian I can't do that in half an hour 1:48:49 I lost my job they transferred me to some other place I said fine I'm happy they put me in some more difficult place fine you know this is not persecution like the Christians being thrown into prison it is a little difficult 1:49:05 they put me into some difficult job just to punish me but I tell you those are precious experiences I get to know Jesus so intimately and I say this to you young people that if you in such situations you compromise and seek 1:49:21 to please man you will not get to know the Lord but if you stand up for the Lord in the midst of your friends and all that you'll have such a tremendous experience of Jesus Christ I could tell you so many stories like this 1:49:36 and little by little that's how God later led me to after I left the Navy led me step by step to casting out demons and so many things if you stand true to the Lord he lead you you know you go from first grade to second 1:49:48 grade to tenth grade to college and to post graduate it's like that in the Christian life so when you see a person being used by the Lord in some way he didn't just jump there he came 1:50:10 can get there too and every such person you see around you man or woman who's been faithful like that you remember this he did not get there overnight it was through many many steps they took that the Lord led him there 1:50:25 so when my boys four of them came to the age of 18 and they had to go to college college in India was very expensive and Annie and I were trusting the Lord for our needs we 1:50:46 just did not have the money but they I said okay you apply to colleges in the US which is more expensive but they have scholarships which Indian schools did not give scholarships colleges so I see you apply if you get there 1:51:01 then that takes care of the problem so all four of them applied for scholarships in the US and that made it so much easier they got admitted there for scholarships but then we had to pray a lot for them Annie and I because 1:51:18 America was different from India and knew they'd be tempted in so many ways so I would in the early days it was only by phone but later on I could correspond with them by sending them texts by email so I kept all those emails 1:51:36 that I wrote to my children in all the years they were four into four 16 years in the US I wrote emails and I kept a copy of all of them and some years ago I put all those emails together and published it in this book called 1:51:56 Hear O My Sons I did not write this I just compiled all the emails I had written through the years just put it all together and made it a book and so and it is for young people you know like you who are growing up in so 1:52:15 many topics here for example devotion to Jesus the Holy Spirit has come into your heart not to give you experiences but to glorify Jesus so allow the Holy Spirit to draw you into a greater devotion to the Lord to show you 1:52:31 the glory of Jesus more and more when when when when you are devoted to Jesus you will be devoted to the members of his body in the local church then conscience and faith the fruit of righteousness is always sown in peace 1:52:48 if you don't have peace and rest in your heart concerning anything don't do it and this is why unrest comes into the heart when that it is an indication when unrest in your heart that something is wrong so listen to that 1:53:02 voice grow in humility and wisdom and we are so glad the Lord has opened your eyes to see the way that Jesus walked and if you go that way of death to self it will hold you on hold on to that vision till the end of your 1:53:18 life be perfect in mercy there are many things that we see that Jesus did at the cross the bread that we break symbolizes a fellowship with Jesus Jesus bowed his head and died on the cross and you must be willing to go that 1:53:36 way all your life sometimes we think we can get God's gifts by being worthy enough no you'll never be worthy enough you must know this that even in a million years you will never be worthy to get even the least of God's 1:53:53 gifts that's why we approach Jesus on the basis of Jesus name and his worthiness I'm just picking up some random chapters here and there here are some important points to remember the Lord says we must be enthusiastic about 1:54:11 the things of God God wants us to be always on fire for him against sin God has a plan for every believer you must never forget in the midst of all your work in your college and your studies that the Lord is training you 1:54:25 through all that you go through for future service in his kingdom and his vineyard somewhere here this is one of the greatest realizations that a young person of your age needs to have I was about your age when I realized 1:54:39 God had a plan for my life that in spite of my failures and backsliding prior to that God could still make something out of my life so don't ever get discouraged many things like that you know I would encourage you to read 1:54:51 it because in the Bible also we have some wonderful examples we heard about Joseph in Genesis you read that what 1:55:11 was it that made Joseph such an outstanding witness for Christ in the biggest palace in the world in those days Pharaoh's palace where did it all start let me turn to Genesis and Genesis chapter 39 1:55:31 I think oh not 39 Genesis chapter 37 we read here that Joseph's brothers had gone out to take care of the flock and then his father Genesis 37 verse 1:55:51 13 said to Joseph your brothers are taking care of the flock I'll send you to them and immediately he said I will go just in that little verse you see the secret of Joseph's life he was 17 years old and he obeyed 1:56:12 his father obedience to parents is what made Joseph the man of God he became started with a simple thing at age age 17 not saying oh dad why should I go there now they want to look 1:56:32 after the flock let them look out of the flock and come it's a long way I've got to walk all that way over that you know how many miles it is no argument it wasn't just around the corner they had walked many miles with their 1:56:44 flock and when Jacob told his son Joseph a little thing like that and then we read later on you know the story how his brothers they were jealous of him because he 1:57:04 was the one who had dreams from heaven and they were jealous of God blessing Joseph and Jacob chose Joseph as favorite one because of course it was Rachel's son but also because he was getting visions from heaven he was 1:57:21 close to God and his brothers his ten brothers were absolutely jealous of him and when they saw him coming down they said let's kill him and let's plot his death we read in verse 18 and they wanted to make it look as if 1:57:37 some animal caught him and killed him but then Reuben said no no let's not kill his blood let's just put him in a pit here if you need be and then leave him there he would have died there but at that time 1:57:58 a caravan of slave traders people who buy slaves and sell them to others came by there in camels now the question when you read something like this is how is it those people landed up at exactly the time when Joseph was 1:58:16 in the pit they were coming from so many miles away and here at this particular time when Joseph was being thrown to the pit these people land up at the same place that is the timing of God you know like with Google maps 1:58:34 you can time exactly how you can be at a particular place at a particular time God timed it when these people were many miles away maybe early in the morning God pushed them to move and move in this direction and to arrive 1:58:50 at that pit where Joseph was put into the pit to arrive at that time and then God made one of the brothers Judah to say hey listen why should we put our brother in this pit here are these Ishmaelites they've come so let's 1:59:09 not kill our brother let let him go off we want to get rid of him right these traders will take him off to some far country we'll never see him again for the rest of our life that was God who allowed that to happen you know 1:59:23 when you honor God like Joseph did he will make everything around the Bible says God makes everything work together for your good it's a tremendous experience 1:59:43 to have that and sure enough the Mishvalites came and they took him to Egypt and when he went to Egypt there's you know the story there was this evil woman who Joseph was a young man less than 20 years old good looking handsome 2:00:01 strong man and there was this evil woman who wanted to tempt him and you know the devil knew that Joseph was the descendant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that seed and God hated that and the devil hated that the seed of Abraham 2:00:20 and he was determined to destroy this young man in some way and he got this woman somebody's wife his master's wife his master was Potiphar and Potiphar's wife saw this handsome young man and said come let's have sex together 2:00:37 that was the devil and I'll tell you when he sees that you are a person chosen by God to be his witness he'll have many things lined up for you to tempt you through friends through enemies and there was nobody there to help 2:00:57 Jacob at that time to Joseph at that time to encourage him no don't fall for that but what he had received in his mind through the years from his father's advice if you have a God fearing father or mother don't despise the advice 2:01:14 they gave you so many times from the time you were young to be true to be true whatever the temptation be true remember those words of your parents you teenagers I'm speaking particularly to teenagers all the words your 2:01:30 loving parents have warned you about warned you about don't ever forget them in the moment of temptation the Holy Spirit will bring them all to your mind obey that you won't have any regret like Joseph had no regret he listened 2:01:46 to that voice his father had told him be careful of young women or older women be careful of them don't go near them be true to the Lord and he remembered it the Holy Spirit reminded him and he said sorry you may be my master's 2:02:02 wife but I'm not going to listen to you and she sometimes temptation comes with you get a lot of benefits if you do this like tell a little lie it may not be sexual temptation it may be tell a little lie or do something 2:02:19 to make some money illegally in a wrong way or cheat in an examination you can get through so many ways the devil would like to trip you up so that you will not be a useful servant of 2:02:40 will not yield to it I will be true to God no matter what the cost is and if I I'd rather speak the truth and not copy somebody else's paper in an examination time I'd rather fail in the examination than pass by cheating 2:02:54 you know how God will honor such a young person who says I would rather fail in examination rather than copy and cheat and pass boy it's you should be like that you 2:03:14 have grown up in RLCF you should be like that stand true to the Lord and God will have wonderful things for you in the future I mean if I had known what all God had planned for me what I have seen in the last 50 years of 2:03:28 CFC being planted in so many countries so many churches and so much eternal work it would have been easy for me to stand true but I did not know what God had for me no idea absolutely no idea I never even dreamed that God 2:03:44 would have a ministry to me to go around preaching the gospel and encouraging churches I only knew that I'm a Christian I must be true to Jesus Christ He died for me He gave his life for me I had no idea what God had for 2:04:00 me and you young people you don't have any idea either what God has planned for you and I'll tell you something it may be a far more wonderful plan than he had for me than he has for you but it will not be fulfilled if you 2:04:17 compromise I asked the Lord once I said Lord in India there are some 2 billion or 3 billion people in the country hundreds of millions of people in our country where are the prophets Israel is such a small nation they had 2:04:34 so many prophets India has got 2-3 billion people where are the prophets and the Lord said to me there are many young people I called to be prophets but somewhere along the way when they were young they got sidetracked they 2:04:55 married the wrong girl they went after some attractive offer for a job somewhere and compromised they told a little lie here and there and I could not use them case after case after case after case that's why there are so 2:05:10 few prophets there are very few prophets in the United States prophets need good wives where are the women who can be the wives of such prophets and support them God needs young men and women to be faithful now so that 2:05:32 together if you're a girl to marry a man with whom you can do a work that will last for all eternity or if you're a young man to stand true for the Lord in the midst of a corrupt Christendom which I call Babylon to stand true 2:05:49 and to plant churches perhaps God will take you somewhere you may be going there for a job but God's got a greater plan than just a job it's amazing what all God will do for you it's amazing how he'll provide for you financially 2:06:05 it's an absolute miracle you probably won't know it one day when Jesus comes back and the videotape of my whole life you'll see my whole life videotape one day and then you'll believe what I'm saying that it's an absolute miracle 2:06:21 how God has provided for Annie and me financially in all these years we never asked anybody for money we never took a salary but God provided for us absolute miracle just like he provided for Jesus and Paul and the other 2:06:34 apostles who never took a salary and trusted the Lord so these are stories in the Bible but it's a wonderful thing when you experience them in your life what's written in the Bible and that can be your experience too you may not be 2:06:45 called to full-time Christian work like me God may call some of you I don't know but you may not be but you can have other amazing experiences of miraculous work of God in healing you I remember once when God felt I was in a place 2:07:00 called Velour and I felt God wanted Annie and me to move to Bangalore I did not know what was there in Bangalore I was just very young and as soon as I came to Bangalore Bangalore is a place where in the month of August 2:07:17 after the rainy season the rains fall there in June and July there's all the pollen in the air that comes from the plants there and I developed asthma now asthma is a terrible sickness and I'd never experienced it in my life 2:07:35 and they told me that Bangalore is one of the worst places in India for asthma sufferers and all this pollen came up and I had just moved there two three months earlier and I couldn't breathe I couldn't lie down in bed I had to sit 2:07:51 in a chair and have those little pumps to pump into my mouth so that I could breathe and I sat there all night and the next night and the next night the same thing and I thought Lord did you lead us here or did I make a mistake 2:08:06 coming here here I am suffering night after night and pumping this into my mouth to breathe when God healed me not immediately quite I suffered quite a bit but finally God healed me I said I felt clear that God wanted me in 2:08:22 Bangalore now I see the result God had wanted to start CFC there that was two three years after we moved there but I said Lord I believe you have let me here so asthma or no asthma I will be here but God healed me so completely 2:08:39 that I have never had asthma again for the rest of my life the last 50 years it disappeared God will do miracles for you even in physically healing you from ailments there is nothing he cannot do God says one verse that I have 2:08:55 lived by I'll share that in closing you know my famous verse you know that one two three zero you remember the verse I told you one two three zero one Samuel chapter two verse thirty that's the verse I've lived by for all my 2:09:15 life from the time I got to know the Lord one Samuel chapter two verse thirty one two three zero in the latter part of that verse just one little phrase the Lord says those who honor me I will honor but those who despise 2:09:33 me will be lightly esteemed just that little phrase in the end of one Samuel two verse thirty those who honor me I will honor and the way I would build up faith for me I say Lord in this particular situation I'm going to 2:09:50 honor you I'd experienced a few cases like that in the military I told you that I sought to honor God and God honored me in different different situations I remember when I put in my application for resigning from the Navy 2:10:04 the Navy rejected it sorry you've done well in your career we cannot reject we cannot accept it again I applied a second time what did I write in my application the Lord Jesus Christ has called me to serve him so I would like 2:10:17 to leave the Navy they laughed at it and rejected it so I said Lord what's this and the Lord said how many times did Moses go to Pharaoh when I called him to serve me I said do I have to go ten times anyway Moses went back 2:10:32 again so I had to apply again but I didn't have to go to ten times the third time they released me and I saw God will do miracles if you stand up for him everything is under his control what happened was the top admiral 2:10:49 who had rejected my applicant he resigned or he retired another person came in and he let me go what all God will do for me he'll change somebody at the top of the office because he wants me released to serve him I have 2:11:05 experienced some amazing and you will experience them too you'll have a testimony one day so remember this honor him and he'll honor you so the way I used to strengthen my faith in that promise is by saying Lord I believe 2:11:22 this is true many people have experienced it Joseph experienced it Daniel and his friends experienced it I want to experience it in my generation and I would strengthen my faith by saying this Lord if I honor you and I'm 2:11:37 going to honor you and you don't honor me this will be the first time in 6,000 years from the time of Adam that you did not keep your promise that I strengthened my faith it was just to strengthen my own faith I would say 2:11:53 that Lord if I honor you here and you don't honor me it will be the first time from the time of Adam 6,000 years that you did not keep your word and I said that I knew that's impossible he will keep his word you say that 2:12:09 you try to honor God in some situation and that you broke your promise that will strengthen your faith he will not break his promise I'll tell you that dear young people be true to the Lord it's 2:12:30 worth it all I can say today when I look at the tremendous things God has done I'm very weak I'm not as clever as people think I am I'm not God gives me wisdom God gives me guidance to deal with all the and 2:12:50 to solve their problems I don't have the wisdom God gives it and I tell you your calling may not be to plant churches but whatever it is God has a plan for your life which is as important as my ministry your ministry may 2:13:07 not be so visible see in the human body I told you we are all members of the body of Christ a lot of people give a lot of importance to the tongue oh the tongue can speak so many wonderful things how many people think of 2:13:23 the blood vessels in our body there are miles of blood vessels inside this body and if one of those blood vessels gets blocked this tongue will start speaking but who gives honor to the blood vessels who gives honor to the 2:13:43 stomach that digesting food and giving me strength to speak so many internal organs that are never seen many people in the church are like that some of you are like those hidden internal members of the body of Christ that 2:14:01 nobody sees you you never come to the pulpit don't think you don't have a ministry you're like the heart the liver the kidneys the blood vessels be faithful in what you're one day God will reward you for being a blood vessel 2:14:14 in the body of Christ just allowing the blood to flow or purifying in your own way like the kidneys do so every part of the body has a function very few parts of the body are visible most parts of the body which do a tremendous 2:14:31 function are inside the body completely unseen it's like that in a church but those unseen parts you know if I lose my hand I can continue but if I lose my kidneys I can't continue those unseen parts of the body are more 2:14:45 important than the visible ones do you know in your whole life and yet you could be one of the most important members of this church or the most important members of the body of Christ don't always look for visibility there's 2:15:02 great danger in being visible many people who are in the platform and the pulpit have fallen away in sin but people who are doing a hidden ministry almost they never fall because they don't get any honor 2:15:22 coming of the Lord is near don't have any regret when the videotape of your life is played on the screen one day that you will be to say thank you Lord Jesus for helping me to be true to you Amen let's bow our heads in prayer 2:15:38 when your heads about in prayer please think of something you heard today that challenged you and helped you young or old whoever you are I want to say to you in Jesus name I say that to everyone here if you are born again 2:15:53 God has got a plan for your life and if you can follow it from a young age you are really blessed may God help you Heavenly Father I think of these lovely young people here what a tremendous plan you have for each of them 2:16:11 I pray that none of them will Amen thank you for listening patiently yeah thanks 2:16:31 dad this is as I mentioned dad and mom's last Sunday with us they've been with us for this year we don't know if you'll see them again we do want to appreciate them as a church for their labor of love at their age to dad 2:16:48 to speak week after week multiple times during the week and then at the park to spend time in fellowship with us faithfully I think it's only right for us to say thanks to dad and mom if you can come up here on stage and 2:17:03 we'd like to all stand and give them thanks appreciation give God the glory for their lives dear brothers and sisters 2:17:38 I'm so thankful to the lord that he gave us this opportunity to come here one more time and thank you for your love and fellowship and we can see that how much you love us whenever we meet you and 2:17:59 I praise and thank God for all that he's doing in this church you know some years back most of these seats were empty after the split and there were very few people and I thought I felt very sad when we came here but now I look here 2:18:16 and I think God has done such a wonderful work and brought people from different places and united us made us one body may the lord bless each one of you and thank you for everything that you done for us and that you mean 2:18:32 to us God bless you one of the tremendous privileges God has given me I really call it a great honor and privilege is to see the birth of new churches not after they have 2:18:54 grown up two or three years but when they were actually born like a delivery in the delivery room where a mother is giving birth to a baby I've actually seen I've never seen a delivery of a human baby but I've seen the birth of a church 2:19:12 and this is one of the churches I saw the birth of I was here in the delivery room eight years ago when the lord brought this baby to birth RLCF the real RLCF the church and I'm very thankful when I look back to that time 2:19:31 where most people who were there had left there were a few people left and with that we began and Santosh and Ajay and Olu and all were there and we started and we said okay we'll move on if you are just you know 2:19:52 Jesus had a church of 11 people he had 12 people one was a crook so the church was just 11 people so we were something like that small number it's okay Jesus is here it's a church and then from there the lord we decided 2:20:11 we're never going to compromise that's for sure we're going to lead people to God's highest those who want to be with us here and live for God's highest can stay those who want to go can go we won't stop anyone those who value 2:20:26 the purposes of God in their life will be here we knew that God will bring to us those whom he has called with a purpose to fulfill for eternity and through the years God has brought so many here we are very very thankful 2:20:44 be faithful dear brothers and sisters amen thank you amen we want to pray for them maybe Ajay Dave and Olu can come up and we'll just gather around on behalf of the church pray for them let's all pray together 2:21:04 brothers and sisters and children also the three of you brothers can pray join us in praying Heavenly Father we want to say thank you for us it's a tremendous privilege that we could live in times Lord to hear the words 2:21:24 that we've heard blessed are our eyes and our ears to see the things that we've seen and heard the things that we've heard Lord as we heard even today Lord help us to be faithful to the things that we've heard Lord I pray Lord 2:21:38 for brothers Zach and sister Annie Lord as they've watered many Lord we pray that you would water them Lord we pray that you fill them Lord with your Holy Spirit Lord the anointing of the Lord richly Lord a fresh anointing 2:21:51 upon both of them Lord I pray Lord as it says Lord as well just let we pray for their health Lord may their health prosper just as their souls prospers as well we pray for them and we want to bless them as a church we want to 2:22:06 bless them for the labor of love they've had and poured out into our lives we ask in Jesus name Amen Thank you Father indeed for this day thank you you planned this very day before any of us here were born thank you Lord Jesus 2:22:23 for the work you've started through brother Zach and I pray that the joy that you've planted in their hearts from seeing what they've seen would not diminish Lord and that the glory of the latter day as we've said all along 2:22:37 will be greater than the former Lord Jesus we want you to be honored thank you for the work you've done through them I pray that we would honor you and honor them also by being faithful to the calling you've given us Lord 2:22:51 Jesus we want to honor you give us wisdom fill us with your spirit may your joy be in every heart in this church and bless them also in the days to come in Jesus name father we thank you lord for these two lives for brother 2:23:07 zach and sister annie we thank you lord for their intense labor that they've provided to this local body lord we thank you for their testimonies we thank you for their encouragement and their excitement to see this body 2:23:20 grow closer to you lord father i pray that you would give them great health lord as they travel back and father i pray that you would continue to use them as a blessing we know that you have already lord but we pray that it 2:23:31 would be even greater in the days to come in your name we pray amen okay children you can go to your sunday school classes brother david you come you 2:24:17 you 2:24:47 thank god 2:25:15 thank the lord for what we've heard very convicting and encouraging to stand true to the lord especially in a time this world is swiftly 2:25:35 passing away and so much compromise but to be that shining light that the lord jesus want us to be and as he was on this earth so shall we be the light of the world i wanted to 2:25:55 share something that has encouraged me and continues to give me strength in a world that is quickly passing away and living in a time where there's so much distress and so much despair and how 2:26:16 not to allow it to cause me to stumble or affect me in any way and and that is that we have a hope that anchors our soul in 2:26:36 hebrews six we have 2:26:58 the unchanging word of god to sustain us especially in these last days and and one of the things i see that the devil is trying his best to blind our eyes from looking to the lord and looking to his word in 2:27:20 hebrews six starting at verse seventeen it says thus god determining the show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability or the unchangeableness of his 2:27:40 counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things or two things that can't change in which it is impossible for god to lie we might have strong consolations or strong encouragement who have 2:28:00 fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us verse nineteen this hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast and which enters the presence behind the veil where the forerunner has entered for us 2:28:20 even jesus having become high priest forever according to the elder order of melchizedek this scripture has really been something that has really been a blessing to me every time sometimes that there 2:28:40 can be a discouragement or there can be a times of fear or times of difficult circumstances and how things are quickly to change how things can change within an instant but it always encourages me to go back to the 2:29:00 word of God that doesn't change that the bible says in this particular scripture that the lord made us heirs of the promise that by two things that cannot change he made promises one is his word and 2:29:21 the power of his word his word never changes it says that the word of God is forever settled in heaven that means that the word of God was settled already in heaven before there was anything that came on this earth the word 2:29:37 of God was already true and that's where the word of God is settled a place that doesn't change and then when we come to a place that can change we have to find something that anchors us and if we anchor our soul in the 2:29:56 word of God if we consistently look to the word of God consistently go to God and what he says that can anchor our souls that by two things that can't change his word and then on top of his word that is already powerful 2:30:11 that it doesn't change he confirmed it with an oath or he promised that it would be so that his word never changes and then on top of that he gave us a promise that it will not change and then when I read that it automatically 2:30:30 gives me a strong consolation a strong encouragement even just reading the word of God that never changes and then whatever he says concerning myself concerning this world concerning sin concerning victory concerning whatever 2:30:47 the situation may be if the word of God says something concerning that that it cannot change despite the circumstances that I see that changes or try to change my mind and change my attitude towards certain things but I have 2:31:05 to go back to the word of God and to back to God who doesn't change and it is impossible for him to lie and in Romans 15 in 2:31:26 verse 4 it says now may the God of patience I'm sorry for whatever things were written verse 4 for whatever things were written before were written for our 2:31:46 learning that we through the patience and comfort or the encouragement of the scriptures might have hope and in verse 5 talks about now that may the God of patience and encouragement or the God of comfort grant you to be 2:32:03 like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus and I see that a lot of times even in the world there is hopelessness but I feel like even in the church there are people that and even can happen 2:32:23 to me that there are times over the years have happened to me in a very good church that can silently lose hope for whatever reason things seem like they're not changing or the circumstances you see are not lining up to what 2:32:40 you believe the promises of God says and you can silently lose hope and for whatever reason people don't want to share it because as a faithful believer as a Christian you should have faith but because of that and don't 2:32:56 want to lose that particular testimony they silently lose hope and the Lord sees it like he did for me that verse five say may the God of patience and comfort and in 2:33:18 verse number four he says if you go to the scriptures so the comfort of the scriptures you might have hope and in verse 13 is what has been near and dear to me for many years now in verse 13 of Romans verse 13 of Romans 2:33:36 15 so Romans 15 verse 13 says now may the God of hope verse five now the God of patience and perseverance and then in verse 13 he's the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound 2:33:56 in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit that I can't produce this hope on my own I have to go to the Lord as we were hearing today that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God that if we consistently go to 2:34:11 the word of God and continue to trust in the Lord the unchanging Lord who doesn't change and also his word that doesn't change his word is forever settled in heaven and that can anchor us and that has always been my safety 2:34:28 is that when things are shaky or things seem like they're not the way I think they should be or I'm not seeing what the promises of the Lord or whatever the thing may be there's a shakiness or there's a lack of peace in 2:34:47 my heart we as the children of God I as a child of God have something that the world doesn't have that I can go to the Lord I can go to this word of God that doesn't change and go to a God that is impossible for him to lie 2:35:04 and if I go to him I can have and that's why that scripture says that because we have these two things we have a strong consolation we have a strong encouragement that even just reading those scriptures there's an upsurge 2:35:22 in my heart of that hope that I have that will never go away and it can be done by the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit can give us this hope the God of hope through the Holy Spirit can make us abound in hope and not have and 2:35:40 it won't be a life of dread but as we believe in the Lord for his promises we can abound in hope we can abound in peace in believing and may the Lord and may we continue to trust the Father and 2:36:01 his word that will not change 2:36:23 we know that we are in a battle a spiritual battle and the devil you read in revelation 12 he wages war first with 2:36:43 the woman woman's a picture of Israel or you can say really the faith that lineage of faith he waged war against Jesus sometime you can read that chapter the male child and then at the end of the chapter none of those succeeded 2:37:01 you see how the earth helped the land helped so that they wouldn't be drowned and all of that goes on in revelation 12 at the end of it he says he comes down to wage war against the other children one of the verses in revelation 2:37:16 12 that's us he's enraged he's extremely angry that all his attempts to prevent Jesus way of salvation from coming to fruition came to nothing and God thwarted the father thwarted all of those attempts so 2:37:37 that Jesus life was and the way of salvation was perfectly finished for us and now he's trying to get the other children that's you and I he's after our children and I thought instead of the sharing time we could spend some 2:37:55 time in prayer for our children I know we pray for them often we pray in faith that not a single one of them will be lost but it's good for us to spend some time in extended prayer for especially for our children perhaps 2:38:10 we can do it even more freely when they're not here I just briefly want to have you turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11 an encouragement for us parents and that includes any of you that don't have children of your own because 2:38:26 we have a responsibility in in this church to be a godly example for the young people and the children in this church Hebrews chapter 11 you see something very interesting here about how God preserved Moses as you can imagine 2:38:45 Moses was that initial picture of Christ as it were who from the young from the even before he was born the devil tried to prevent that leader that savior if you will in the old testament that person who would lead God's 2:39:04 people out of Egypt even before he was born do we believe dear brothers and sisters that the devil's plans for our children to destroy their lives started even before they were born he was thinking how can I get this child 2:39:23 to be part of my kingdom and prevent this child from being a part of Christ's kingdom started with Moses but look at the how God used his parents in this chapter we're not even told their names Amram and Jochebed we know 2:39:41 from the book of Exodus but here they're just mentioned in passing by faith Moses it's actually by faith Amram and Jochebed you can say when Moses was born they hid him for three months because they saw he was a beautiful 2:40:00 child and they were not afraid I thought of this three month period of hiding as the period of time that we get to have our children in our homes it was only three months and then he was discovered he was in the hands of 2:40:18 Pharaoh's daughter and then of course they got him back for a period of time until he was maybe 12 or I don't know how old but this three months was a very short time they hid him like we hide our children preserve them 2:40:37 watch over what they do with their time whether they have access to technology and what they do with this and with that and who they talk to and how their lives a little bit that's Moses's parents hiding him thank God that we 2:40:57 have a place of safety in RLCF where we can hide our children and our teenagers where they can grow up and be in a place of safety but it's not forever it's a bubble that they have to go out from but they weren't afraid 2:41:13 that's the key part there didn't matter what the king was saying how powerful Pharaoh was we will not be afraid and dear brothers dear sisters it is so important especially if you are parents if we are parents we don't live in 2:41:27 fear that we don't allow the fear of what's going to happen and what we see happening in the world around us or fear even if we discover things in our children we realize oh there's some issue there that never allow fear 2:41:40 to control our lives think about what it must have been for Amram and Jochebed when the edict came but they were not afraid Lord you've given us this child he's beautiful I'm sure all of you parents think your children are 2:41:54 beautiful as did Amram and Jochebed but for us beauty is not outward it's a heavenly beauty Lord you have a purpose for this boy this girl that you put into my home there's a spiritual beauty that you have for them and we're 2:42:07 not going to be afraid no matter what it looks like so as a result of that when Moses verse 24 had grown up he had boldness as well he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to endure 2:42:27 ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin this is a verse that has been my guidepost as it were for how are my children going to make the right choice when they leave the home how are 2:42:44 our children at RLCF going to make the right choice when they leave this place and go out into whatever calling God has for their lives Amram and Jochebed without the Holy Spirit without the Bible did something right anything 2:43:03 else and so they trained Moses I imagine Jochebed especially as a mother but Amram too after he comes back from work he's telling Moses you've got a calling beyond this things are going to change you're going to go out and have 2:43:18 opportunities in front of you but you must remember you're a different race you're not like the others around you and you much rather be ill treated with God's people than have pleasures in Egypt and it paid off Moses was a 2:43:37 teenager when he went into the Pharaoh's palace I don't know if I could do that for my teenage children send them to Pharaoh's palace let them go but he did they did something right and then you see in verse 27 when it came 2:43:54 time for Moses also to make that decision he was not afraid by faith verse 27 he left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king you see how the fearlessness of Moses parents bore fruit decades later 40 years later 80 years 2:44:13 later when he was a man and he was all alone his parents had long died by then and that they had instilled in him don't fear anything on this earth fear God fear him fear God have reverence for God and decades later when 2:44:30 he was an old man it paid off and God was able to use that so I'm encouraged brothers and sisters and no children here for the timely reminder the Lord has given us today given our children I believe stirred their hearts 2:44:46 but also given us parents a reminder let's take up the battle let's stand together let's stand in the gap you read in Ezekiel 22 I think God looked and said who will stand in the gap let's be those RLCF let's form a circle 2:45:06 around not physically let's form a circle around our children today as we pray we'll spend some time in prayer now if you want to sit or kneel maybe brother Ajay will pass the mic so we can hear you pray let's pray whether 2:45:21 you have children of your own biological children you have spiritual children in this church whom you can pray for and ask God to show you ways in which you can be an encouragement to them not a stumbling block to them Jesus 2:45:33 said if you stumble one of these children by what by living a worldly self-centered life if you cause one of these children to stumble you better go commit suicide than lead one of these children astray Matthew 18 but more 2:45:48 than just not stumbling them let's point them let's pray for them let's link arms around them spiritually let there be not even one gap at RLCF as we circle around our children and pray for them and intercede for them and 2:46:03 let's do so with hope like we heard from brother David already for our children we must have hope that he who started the good work in them is going to finish it and one day we'll come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves so 2:46:17 for those of you that are online we're going to end the live stream now if you would like to spend some time in prayer as we're going to do here I encourage you to do that pray for your own children pray for even if your 2:46:27 children are grown up and outside the home pray for them if they're alive there's hope for them no matter what condition they're in pray for your adult children pray for others that God has placed in your circle parents 2:46:39 relatives siblings whoever they might be God has stirred your heart today with a call for the kingdom of God it's our responsibility now to take up that and wage war against Satan hearts are turning towards God 2:46:59 he's going to step up the battle his time is short he's enraged he's angry but we're not afraid we have the captain of our salvation on our side who has already defeated Satan and the devil knows that so we don't operate 2:47:13 in fear we operate in confidence and hope and faith so let's spend some time in prayer thank you all for joining us today some Some of you stayed up late, may the Lord bless you.
