3:03 check. This mic's on. This mic's also on. Turn it off. Now it's off. Ready to 3:57 go and sisters. Very warm welcome to all of you. Shall we all stand as we sing? Thine be the glory. Risen conquering son. Endless is the victory thou over death has won. [Laughter] 4:17 [Music] Sing it slow. Thine be the [Music] glory. Ris conquering 4:32 son. Endless is the victory. Our death has won from the top. Thine be the glory. Risen conquering son is the 4:51 victory and bless is the victory. Angels in bright rain roll the stone away. And when 5:14 I sing the glory rising sun and bless is the victory. Oh Jesus, 5:37 Jesus risen from the tomb. How we us tri the 6:08 glory praise. is a conquering son. Endless is the way as no more doubt thee. Glorious prince 6:29 of life. Life is not without thee. us in Christ. Make us more than [Music] thous conquering son. 7:03 End blessed is the victory now or death is one. May you be seated please. And everything that has breath praise the Lord. Let's clap and sing. Praise you in the morning. Praise you in the evening. 7:22 Praise you when I'm younger and when I'm old. Join with us. Clap with [Music] [Applause] us. Let's see. Let everything that everything that everything that has bread, praise the 7:41 Lord. One more time. Everything that Everything that Everything that has bread, praise the Lord. Praise you in the morning. Praise you in the evening. Praise you in the 7:59 morning. Praise you in the evening. Praise you when I'm young and when I'm praise you when I'm laughing. Praise you when I'm breathing. Praise you every season of the 8:14 soul. If we could see how much your work by your might, your endless love. Surely we would never cease to pray. Everything that ever seen everything 8:36 that everything that has praise the Lord is everything that everything that has breath. Praise the Lord. Praise you in the heavens. Praise 8:57 you in the heavens. Joining with the angels. Praise you forever and day. Praise you on the earth now. Joining the creation. Calling all the nations to your praise. If they could see how much your 9:17 work, your power, your might, your endless love. Surely they would never cease to break. Everything that everything 9:37 that praise the Lord. Everything that everything that everything that the voices everything that everything that everything that has breath everything 9:55 that is everything that everything that everything that has breath praise the Lord. Oh hallelujah. Hallelujah. 10:18 Hallelujah. The Lord reign. Hallelujah. Let's clap and sing. Hallelujah. Lord Almighty. Hallelujah. The Lord Almighty reigns. He has shown 10:39 his awesome presence. He has tri mightily. He's the victor all the darkness and the grave. He has broke the chains that 10:56 bound us. He has set the prisoner free. By his own great mercy we are singing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. 11:18 Hallelujah. The Lord reign. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The Lord Almighty has shown 11:36 his awesome presence. He has shown his awesome presence. He has triumphed mightily. He's the victory over the darkness and the rain. He has broke the chains that bound 11:56 us. He has set the prisoner free. By his own great mercy we are sing. Hallelu. Hallelujah. 12:19 Hallelu. Lord almighty reign. Lord almighty reigns. The Lord Almighty reigns. The Lord Almighty reigns. So lift him up. His name be 12:37 lifted higher. Lift him up. Exalt his holy name. We will lift him up. His name lifted higher. exalt his holy name. I'll come into your presence, Lord. I will 12:56 come into your presence, Lord, with a sacrifice of praise. With a song, I will exalt you, Lord. Blessed be your holy name. I will 13:15 give you all the glory. I will give you all the glory. You deliver me from shame. I created your rightousness. Blessed be your holy 13:37 name. Lift him up. His name we lift him higher. We lift him up. Exalt his holy name. Lift him up. His name be lifted 13:52 higher. Exalt his holy Exalt his holy name. Exalt his holy name. Exalt his holy name. Exalt his holy name. Shall we all stand as we sing? 14:13 There is a redeemer, Jesus, God's own son, precious lamb of God, 14:33 [Music] Messiah, one. Thank you, my father. Thank you my father for giving us your son and 14:56 leaving your spirit. The work on earth is done. [Music] Jesus my [Applause] 15:16 redeemer. [Music] Lord, precious lamb of God. Oh s. Thank you my father. 15:34 Thank you, oh my father, for giving us your son. Leave your spirit. The 15:56 word is done. When I stand in glory, I will see his face. And there I serve my king 16:19 forever in that holy place. Thank you, oh my father, for giving us your 16:38 son and leave your spirit till the work on earth is done. And we will 16:57 [Music] worship worship forever in your presence. We will sing. We will worship. [Music] 17:16 worship you and hallelujah to the king. When I stand before your throne. When I stand before your throne, 17:35 dressed in glory not my own. What a joy I'll sing of that day. [Music] No more tears or broken dreams for God 17:51 is the minor king. Everything as it was meant to be. And we will worship worship forever. In your presence we 18:13 will sing. We will worship worship you. Endless hallelujah to the king. I will see you as you 18:31 are. I will see you as you are. love you with sitting high and see how much you paid to bring me [Music] [Applause] 18:46 home. Not till then nor shall I know. until my child everything I am before you worship and we will [Music] 19:06 [Applause] [Music] worship forever in your presence we will sing we We worship worship you 19:27 hallelujah to the king. No more tears, no more shame, no more sins are away again. No more 19:48 fears and no more pain. For we will see you face to face. We see you face to face. We will 20:07 worship. Sing with us. Worship forever in your presence. Forever in your presence we will sing. We worship. We will worship. We worship 20:27 you. And endless hallelujah to the king. Endless hallelujah. Endless hallelujah to the king. [Music] Endless 20:45 hallelujah to the king. Oh hallelu hallelu hallelu hallelujah. 21:10 Worship Jesus our redeemer. He is worthy. King of glory. Hallelujah. Hallelu. 21:28 Sing. Hallelu. Hallelu. Hallelujah. We worship Jesus our 21:46 redeemer for he is worthy. King of glory. [Music] As we remain standing, I want to read a 22:12 scripture verse from Revelation chapter 19 vers 5 onwards. And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you, his bond servants, you who 22:29 fear him, the small and the great." Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peels of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the 22:47 Almighty reigns." That's what we sang this morning. And I believe that's what they're doing in heaven. And may we be in tune with heaven. And I want to encourage all of you brothers and sisters this morning to lift up your 23:01 voices and praise the Lord saying hallelujah for the Lord our God Almighty reigns. And in heaven they saying that the Lord is worthy. And let's all lift up our hearts and voices this morning and praise the Lord and magnify him. Yes 23:18 Lord, we praise you Lord and we worship you truly Lord your Lord God Almighty. Thank you Lord your reigning. We bow down Lordship and we worship you Lord. Oh Father in 23:34 heaven dear Lord Jesus we bow down Lord we give you glory honor praise and worship. Hallelujah. Heavenly Father, we just bow down this morning and worship you and honor you. 23:54 Yes, Lord, thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, Lord. Therefore, we join with the host of heaven this morning, saying, "Hallelujah, Lord. We praise you, Lord. Yes, our Lord Jesus. You're our savior 24:08 and redeemer, your example, and you are the good shepherd, Lord. And thank you, Lord Jesus. You are in our midst this morning. And we pray Lord that you will speak to our hearts and encourage us and strengthen us and comfort us Lord. Yes, 24:23 we want to have a revelation of yourself this morning. We pray that you will give us little wisdom and revelation Lord. Help us to see you clearly Lord. Be honored, be glorified. We worship you Lord Jesus this morning. In Jesus name 24:37 we pray. Amen. No one who sins has seen him knows him. 1 John 3 once again altogether. No one who abides in him sins and no one who sins has seen him knows. And the 24:57 memory verse for today is from 18 verse. It's a lovely verse and shall we all once say it together. As for God, his way is 25:15 blameless. The word of the Lord. He is a sheep to all who take refuge in him. It's a wonderful promise. Psalm 18:31 once again, as for God, his way is blameless. The word of the 25:34 Lord is a shield to all who take refuge him. Psalm 18 verse 30. Please be seated brothers and sisters. This morning we are very happy 25:55 to have with us Sanjay Pune and as most of us know he's the first son of brother Zach and for the benefit of those who don't know him I'll just give a brief introduction. I've known Sanjay Punan 26:15 from the time he was six Sanjay six or so am I right? And he has been diligent in his studies right from school and did very well academically. And he also did very well in his career and is still doing well. 26:33 Like it's written in 1 Kings 18:12, he feared God from his youth and has maintained a pure testimony and has been an outstanding example for the young people and other believers as well. Even though he left India at a 26:51 young age, he has valued CFC highly for the last four decades. He has had a heart for the children and young people and always sought fellowship with many brothers and sisters. For your kind information, he has planned a time of games today after 27:09 the meeting with all the children. He loves the Lord with all his heart, loves the word of God and also loves God's people. And I want to tell you something that maybe many of you don't know. Sanjay is a unique ministry in CFC and 27:27 that is the ministry of giving which not many cover it. He has given over the years abundantly, cheerfully, secretly. And may the Lord bless you and reward you for that Sanjay. God's given him a good voice and music, many musical 27:45 talents and gifts and he has used this to bless many of God's people and after the meeting he's going to sing for us. He's also he also has a cheerful and a joyful spirit and he's also got a million-doll 28:05 smile and he has grown up spiritually over the years. He's also an elder at Abundant Life Christian Fellowship, California, USA. We requested him to speak today and he did not want to be the main speaker. He said he would like to be 28:24 under submission to the elders and wanted one of the elders to begin the meeting. with much difficulty we pursued him to speak to us. And you know in the midst of many many pastors who have a lust to preach here we have a brother 28:44 who humble and does not want to begin the meeting. He just agreed to speak for a few minutes after the elders begin. But as I said again he's reluctantly agreed to speak to us this morning. And so it's my pleasure and privilege to introduce 29:02 brother Sanjay and he's going to minister God's word to us. And let's all welcome him this morning. Sanjay, thank you, brother Newton. Brother Newton was my first 29:22 Sunday school teacher. I have warm memories of him as also many of the brothers and sisters here. I also have a special guest with me that I wanted to acknowledge. Um this is my boss Pat Gellzinger. Pat, if you could stand up, 29:39 would we give him a warm CFC welcome? He is by daytime he's my boss but in the evenings and the time we fellowship he's my brother in Christ and he uh asked he was also in town this weekend um he asked um where's a good 29:58 place to worship on the weekend uh and I said I don't know any other better place than CFC of course I'm biased uh so I'm glad we can welcome him he's also a very committed believer um and you know I've always talked about being a Daniel in 30:13 the workplace place. Um I think if you you can Google him um he is to Daniel and I feel like a Shadrach and a Mishack and Abednego following his example. So I'm glad he could be here. I also want to just acknowledge I was not able to 30:29 come this year to the conference uh but I was able to watch many of the sessions and I just want to thank every one of you brothers and sisters who put together the conference uh two weeks ago. Um, I was amazed when I heard uh 30:44 there were 1,800 people here at the conference. Um, can you stand up if you were a brother or sister who was involved in helping um put together the conference? Just stand up if you were involved in doing any small effort for 30:58 the conference. Don't feel shy. Just stand up. If you did, even some small effort for the conference. There's a lot of people who are involved. It can't be nobody. Everybody. Can we give these brothers and sisters a hand? Thank you very 31:13 much. Thank you. Praise God. It's a a joy because you don't realize the impact that um the ministry here has in so many different parts of the world. Um there are now 100 churches that have been planted because of the 31:31 seed from CFC which we give glory to God. Um and collectively um my brothers and my dad and I and the elders were counting probably at five or 6 thousand people um across the various different churches. We don't we don't boast in 31:47 numbers but it's just amazing the Lord is able to use in this last day and age through the internet. Uh I know the CFC web team will forward around to several of us emails from different parts of the world uh really strange places like 32:01 Mongolia or Africa or distant parts of the world where somebody is listening to a message uh from some part of CFC. So I praise God for that. And I also want to acknowledge the roots. Part of the reason I feel so encouraged to be here 32:16 is many of you may not know this. Um the the the the CFC church started in our home when I was 6 years old and um many of the brothers now who are elders were young men. Some of them were unmarried at the time. Um and I still remember 32:35 four or five families that met in our home. Um now it feels a little bit more popular to be part of CFC, but we were thrown out of a church. We were rejected. Um there wasn't much to be popular about at that time. Uh but I 32:50 learned so much um about what it meant to not seek the honor of men. It didn't matter whether you were popular or not. Um I learned so much that the most important thing irrespective of what happened at school. Um I wasn't 33:05 necessarily the most popular at school. Many of you probably at school experienced bullying. I was bullied. What I found something that both my home and the church of God was a fortress was a security and I hope what I want to 33:19 speak today is primarily targeted towards the young people here. I have a passion and a burden for you because I know many of you who've now I saw as I grew up and I left um Bangalore when I was 18 and many of you were six years 33:33 old and now every year that I get to come back I see you you're 10 and 20 and 30 some of you are getting married um I hope that you will realize even as the church gets bigger and now it might be popular to be part of CFC um that you 33:48 will not forget the most important thing is pleasing uh the Lord And sometimes we might have a larger gathering, sometimes we might have a smaller gathering. The most important thing is what we do uh in secret and living for. So I want to acknowledge uh 34:04 the roots of this church. The tremendous blessing it's been to me over the years uh the elders and their ministry um and the encouragement many of you are you don't realize the prayers that you have uh have blessed many of us who may have 34:19 gone away from Bangalore. And I pray if you are somebody who has come back from from different other parts or if you have um you know folks you know encourage them uh I encourage many of the folks who've left Bangalore and come 34:33 back um here to to give honor to CFC. It's just like going back to your school and giving honor to your teachers. Uh it's really important that we give honor to those who have older in the Lord. Um and I think that's just extremely 34:46 fitting. What I want to talk today about is how we can live. One of the popular songs that I remember singing as a young Sunday school um student was heaven came out. He heaven came down and glory filled my soul. And it's a popular song. 35:03 How many of you children know that song? Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. All a lot of children know that song. And um some of us may think you know the the the key to knowing what is heaven is reading the book of revelation 35:17 and dreaming or imagining what it's going to be like. Uh but you know the the beauty of the New Testament and the beauty of what we can see even in revelation is the fact that heaven can come down and be part of what we live 35:32 today in our daily life on earth. And uh what I want to share with you uh for a little bit this morning is how we can live by heavenly values on this earth as opposed to um waiting till we get to heaven and then we're surprised by many 35:47 things. And for many as we've heard in CFC for many Christians so much of the experience is just being converted and they don't experience that deeper life uh that we see many of the saints will have in heaven. And we I believe we are 36:03 in the end times. You don't have to look no further than what's happening in the Middle East. Um we in our Bible study in my home uh are are studying the book of Revelation. And if you haven't, it's one of the toughest books to study because 36:17 so much but this book has been a tremendous blessing to me, the final triumph. Uh we're going through chapter by chapter. And when I see so much of what happens in revelation, a little bit of what I want to share and encourage 36:28 especially the young people today, u you can see that manifest today in the Middle East. Um you know, people talk about ISIS and so much that's happening around the river Euphrates. It's right modern-day Iraq is the is where the 36:43 Euphrates is. So when we see much of what's happening in the Middle East, it should be a reminder to us that we don't know when the Lord's timing is. Uh it might be this generation, it might be the next generation, but we have to 36:55 prepare ourselves and pray the Lord will allow us to live by those heavenly values now in an earth that is increasingly living by values that are headed towards hell. And we have an opportunity to stand as a different generation. In Revelation 4 verse 1-4, 37:12 if you turn in your Bibles uh to Revelation 4, uh it says in verse 1, "After these things, I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking me said, Come up 37:31 here, and I will show you what must take place after these things." Immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne was standing in heaven. And I think a good part of what we see in Revelation is the Lord saying, "Come up here and I 37:46 want to show you what heaven could be like." But then you have to go back down to earth and live your normal life. And God is constantly seeking to see to take our mind just like it says in Colossians 3, set your mind on the things above, 38:01 not on the things that are on this earth. um for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ. Where where uh when Christ who is our life is revealed and also you will be revealed with him in his glory. And God wants to 38:12 take us up from the things of this earth and show us a little bit of what heaven's going to be like. And there's four or five things that I want to just share with you today that have stood out for me in our own study of Revelation um 38:26 that have inspired and has stopped me to say, 'Lord, I want to live that type of life now on this earth so that I can be a witness for you and be prepared rather than completely shocked uh when we get to heaven. So the first thing that we 38:40 see in in heaven, there's many many things I just picked four or five that I think could be a blessing especially for the young people. Number one, you see for the the very few times the Bible does it talk about white robes. I think 38:53 it's just three or four times and three out of those four times are in in heaven. And all of us know that you know white robes. He reads in Revelation 7. If you turn ahead to Revelation 7 and verse 9 and it says, "After these 39:04 things, I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count from every nation, all tribes and people and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes. palm branches were in their hands crying 39:17 out loud with a loud voice, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne." And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders. And you go down a little further to verse 13. Then one of the elders answered me, "These 39:30 are these these who are clothed in the white robes. Who are they and where do they come from?" And I said to him, "Oh Lord, I don't know." when he said these are the ones who've come out of the great tribulation and they have washed 39:42 their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. So the first thing that stands out is that nothing that we can do on our own earns us a place there. Clearly uh the blood of the lamb gives us those white robes. But there is 39:58 an obligation after that as we know in 1 John 3. And this is something that for me has been one of the truths that has stood with me from my childhood. Here is here is um 1 John 3:3. Everyone who has this hope fixed on 40:14 him purifies himself just as he is pure. And most often so much of Christianity lives in just that state of knowing my sins are forgiven. I'm on my way to heaven. My robes are white. and they forget this part which is 1 John 3:3 40:32 that all of us know so well purifying our ropes. So what does that mean? It means I say Lord every day I'm going to judge myself and say Lord what can I do to walk more and more like you? There are parts of my life that need to 40:46 conform more and more into your image. Which is why Jesus emphasized so much the hidden life. And all of you young people, you know, it's so easy to have an external image that you may think you have white robes. But truly the 41:01 Pharisees had that the perception that they had white robes. But but Jesus said there was more hope for even the Samaritan woman. You know, as you know, she was divorced many times and the person she was living with was not even 41:15 a husband, but there was no hope for her if she repented than the Pharisees. And that's what it means even as a young person, man or woman, boy or girl, at a young age to understand, yes, my sins are forgiven, my my robes are white, but 41:30 now as I follow Jesus, I want to purify myself u just as he is pure every single day. and by through the power of the Holy Spirit, he can conform us into his image. Um, and that's a tremendous, tremendous promise that our life can 41:45 become more and more pure. And let's talk about that specifically for many of us men and women. There are things that we all struggle with as we know. And the opportunity just like we read in Matthew 5 to take some of these things seriously 41:59 in our life at a young age. For example, not a single person, probably almost everybody in the world struggles with losing their temper, um losing getting irritated, getting angry. And we all know Matthew 5:67, uh where it talks about, you know, even an 42:18 angry word to be cleansed completely from that so that your white robes could be white on this earth, not expecting just to be in a place where you fall and get up. Um, another example of an area where many many people I've seen people 42:32 even as they get older and older and older, they have an unforgiving spirit towards somebody in their life. Um, and it just the grudge has gotten deeper and deeper and deeper. And we all know that story about um the the the man who was 42:46 forgiven uh from his master, let's just say $1,000, a servant, and he turned around. He had a grudge against somebody else who owed him much less. Maybe it was a $100 or 100 rupees. And the he came in and you know held that person by 43:00 the neck. The masters as we know the story the anger boiled of the master against the servant and he sent him off to the torturers. That's the one place in the Bible we see where there was almost no forgiveness for someone who 43:13 had not. So in in cleansing our ourselves and ensuring that our robes are white. Just two examples as a young person, boy or girl, early on to and say, "Lord, I am going to allow my my temper to be completely under control. I'm going to allow every 43:33 aspect of my life that might have a grudge against somebody else. Don't carry it on with you." Because I see as people get older and older, they have grudges that they've carried on. Some of them are in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and 43:44 they have a grudge against somebody 30 or 40 years ago. And then there's other serious sin. Many of us men know what lust of the eyes is and and men who are struggling with it for decades and decades. Um struggling and and addicted 43:59 to pornography. The Lord can save us. It's not something that's even talked a lot about often in Christianity. Women may have other kinds of things. These are all the practical ways by which heaven can come down to earth on this 44:11 earth and our robes could become white even while we're here. and the people who probably know the most of ways in which we can judge ourselves. I've started to do this um this year. Um not that I shouldn't did do it before, but I 44:25 found this year the Lord just reminding me um that you know it's my 11th year uh in being married. My daughter is 10 years old and my twin boys are six. And how quickly the years fly by of our children. Before we know it, they're 44:42 gone. They may be 18. I still remember when my daughter was born and remember when my boys were born. And my prayer this year has been Lord help me before my daughter gets to 18, before my boys get into their teens to be the best dad 44:55 I can be to them. The best dad I can be so I don't have any regrets um that the years that they were with me at home uh that I did not invest not just in their education but in the spiritual things that matter the most. Um, and I think 45:11 back to many of the Sunday school teachers that invested in me, my parents and the many brothers and sisters here and I'd encourage every one of you who have children. Um, your years with your children are few and before they leave 45:24 the home and there's something that they will remember about the years that you were with them. Second thing I prayed, Lord, make me a better husband. Make my robes more white means what can I do to encourage my wife? be more of a um a 45:38 spiritual leader, which is laying down my life for her. Uh spending time in prayer with her. And if there's two people who probably know the most about you, it's usually your wife. If you're at home with and you're not yet married, 45:51 it's probably your parents. And it might be even your boss at work. Okay? They know the most about you. And it's a good thing for us to be in a spirit where we can ask our um folks. we spend a lot of time uh what can I do better um in our 46:08 Christian walk. So these are all ways in which practically we can um you know have our robes be ready for that day in heaven where there's no surprises and we get there we've judged ourselves and it's a happy happy place. Second thing 46:22 we see over and over again in Revelation is the spirit of praise and worship. In fact, um I love this verse in Revelation 5:9 where if you if you if you look there, it says, "And they sang a new song." Okay? And this is really really 46:39 we've heard this a number of different times. Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood with every tribe. And again, it says in Revelation 14:3, they sang a new 46:53 song. I was with the young people last night from CFC and we were singing a bunch of songs for a couple of hours. It's a wonderful time of celebration and I we talked about the new song and the fact that when we and you get to heaven 47:05 you think why why do you need to sing a new song? U it seems like you know this song what is this new song? Worthy art you. They have been singing the the saints have been singing this again and again and again for hundreds and 47:17 thousands of years. Yet when they get to heaven, it feels like a new song in a very special way. And if you look at, you know, just asking yourself, if this is the new song, the old song must be the exact opposite of those words, 47:29 right? If the new song is worthy art you, oh Lord, the old song must be what the earth sings. Worthy am I. Worthy amself glorifying yourself. And that's what we see in the world. The world is full of everything that puffs up the 47:43 individual and we see a different spirit in heaven where there's a constant worship of of of the Lord giving glory to God over and over again. More than just the praise, the praise is an indication of our lips. We can have that 47:58 type of praise like we had this morning. But the worship is the giving of our lives. And we know that very clearly in Romans 12:1. Every one of us know this verse very well. is probably a good verse to also commit to our memory. 48:10 Romans 12:1. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. So most people think praise and worship is 48:26 what we did this morning. Praise was the lip of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. But what God wants most from us is our bodies. That is the spiritual worship. We see example after example of that in the Old Testament too 48:39 when Abraham sacrificed Isaac worship. So the Lord wants to to enter us into that spirit of worship here on this earth where we've given our lives to God completely and then when we get to heaven it just is a very natural 48:54 exercise. It almost feels like what we did on earth continues in heaven and we feel just as home, just at home as opposed to feeling out of place with all of these other brothers and sisters who are worshiping God, giving all the glory 49:06 to him and we spent our life. Uh we're going to feel completely out of place. So why not get ready for that now on this earth? Uh number three. So we talked about our robes being white. Number two, uh a spirit of praise, but 49:21 more importantly, worship. Number three, um you see a number of different places in in Revelation where it talks about crowns. Um and again on this earth, the way in which crowns are celebrated are what people put on their heads, their 49:37 titles, their degrees, um the money they have, their bank account, all the things or the the the gold that they might have. Um and you think about all the different references to the crowns um that you see here. You see in Revelation 49:52 4:4, around the throne were 24 thrones. And on the thrones, I saw 24 elders clothed in white garments and golden crowns. On their head in 2 Timothy 4:6, we know this verse very well. In the future, there is laid up for me the 50:06 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on this day, not only to me, but also those who have loved. So what we seek for and we all know this very well is not any crown that this earth can give us. 50:21 That's all going to go away. It doesn't matter at all what I've accomplished on this earth. Whether it's a degree of my work, all of this means nothing. The more important thing is the crown of righteousness. And it's important as a 50:35 young um um man or a young girl while you're in your teenage years before you leave home, while you're in school to get that ingrained into you so that as you enter into college and then you get your first paycheck, you're going to 50:48 find the pressures of this world start to give you validation in other forms of crowns. But you can come back to saying Lord whether it happens or not whether I get that uh degree or not whether I rank first in the class whether I don't the 51:02 more important thing is the crown of righteousness. It doesn't matter if you come last in the class if you have a crown of righteousness. There are many people who've done exceedingly well in this world who will not be in he not 51:13 have that crown of righteousness. But then we see something that's amazing that to me was extra special when I read Revelation 4 about what the saints do with the crown of righteousness. So you would think that you know here are these 51:26 saints of God who have been following Jesus all their life. They've given their and they've now you know reached the point where they are recognized and they got a crown of righteousness. And you see what they do with the crown of 51:39 righteousness. It says in Revelation 4 uh 10 and 11, the 24 elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne will worship him and they cast their th their crowns before the throne. Again, in just the same way, 51:57 that new song, worthy are you, our Lord our God, to receive glory and honor, for you created all things. In other words, we don't deserve even this crown of righteousness, Lord. We want to put this at your feet. We are worthy. We just 52:10 going to be so happy to be in your presence. We don't even deserve the crown of righteousness. That is the ultimate state to be in where not just as we've given up on the crown of unrighteousness which is the thing of this earth but the crown of 52:22 righteousness when the Lord gives us that that day we say Lord even that we're not worthy. I'm just so happy that that you have bought me with a price and I'm happy to be here. And number four um you see a very um dis huge distinction 52:38 in the way in which heaven has the attitude towards money. Okay. So much of the way in which even unfortunate today among Christian circles with the advent of this thing called the prosperity doctrine. People feel and now you hear 52:55 churches you know preaching about the fact that if you give you will be blessed financially and you see the attitude that the heavenly saints had towards gold. Okay, there's plenty of references to gold in Revelation. I'll 53:09 read a few of them in Revelation 21. If you f look forward to Revelation 21, the one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its walls. 21:18, the material of the wall was jasper, and the 53:25 city was pure gold and like clear glass. And then 21:21, and the 12 gates were 12 part 12 pearls. Each one of the gates was a single pearl, and the streets of the city was pure gold. And therein, as we've heard many times at CFC, do you 53:43 see the difference of how the heavenly saints have treated gold? It's below their feet. When they had crowns of gold, they cast it down. The the gold was below their feet as opposed to the obsession of what was in their wallet or 53:57 what was on their head. So when we have begun to understand, Lord, I want to take whatever you've given me. If you've given me one rupee or 100 rupees or a,000 rupees or 10,000 rupees, uh I'm going to put that in submission 54:11 to you under my feet as opposed to something that I obsess about. Um again, build this into your um spiritual character, brother and sister, at an early age. uh especially those of you young people before you get your first 54:26 paycheck and then if the Lord gives you more or he takes it away you can have that spirit of job right the Lord is given the Lord has taken away blessed be the name of the Lord and the final um encouragement I want to share with you 54:40 to me this is the most the most exciting the fifth one is the way in which the saints of God obsess about servant servant a servant's heart serving God um uh 24/7. In other words, they obsess with serve. They're always looking to 54:59 serve. And I thought to myself, you know, what is the thing that we want the most for our families? If you're a parent, what do you want for your children? You want them to be healthy. You want them to be safe. Beyond beyond, 55:11 of course, them doing well. You want all of those basic you want protection around them. Um, if you are a young child growing up and you're about to leave home, you want protection around what you're doing at college or so on 55:23 and so forth. And the the essence of protection and and safety is probably the one all of us care the most. Right? Here is a good way in which you can guarantee if you wanted the protection of the Lord, the tabernacle of the Lord 55:38 on you 24/7 all the time. There's a simple recipe um in in Revelation that if we practice on this earth when we get to heaven will not be surprised. Let's read in Revelation 7 verse 15 to 17. And I hadn't seen this myself until I read 55:55 this scripture clearly and I um the Lord just showed this to me in a very special way that blessed my own heart. It says here in Revelation 7:15, "For this reason they are," this is talking about the saints, they are before the throne of God, and they serve 56:11 him day and night. That's 24/7, in his temple, "And he who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer. They will thirst no more. The sun will not beat down upon them, nor any heat. For the 56:30 lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them into the springs of water of life. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes. And this is a tremendous promise that we could wait to heaven if we want to, but 56:45 we could experience on this earth. And it has only one condition to it. It's in the middle of that verse, which is they serve him day and night. So I say, Lord, what do you want from me? You want me to just serve you? It's a simple, easy 56:59 thing to do. You want me to serve you in whatever way the Holy Spirit reminds me wants me to serve the saints. We'll talk about that in a second. And in return, this father of mine who owns the cattle on a thousand hills gives me all 57:13 of these things in return. Okay? He's going to spread a tabernacle over me. He's not necessarily going to give me all the money I need, but he's going to take care of my hunger, my thirst, uh the sun beating down on me, um and wipe 57:26 away every tear from my eye. Wouldn't we want that for our families, brothers and sisters? Who wants that for their families? Everybody here wants that for their families? And that's what we can do. We can practice serving the Lord and 57:38 serving the saints, which is why I wanted to acknowledge those of you who served the last two weeks. Um and this is something we can learn because the world is filled with a different spirit. The the world is filled with serve me. 57:53 It's a take type of culture. Uh and when we can learn as many of you have shown in CFC that to give is better than to receive um life can be so blessed and um um you know and this has got to happen not just in serving the Lord but also 58:10 serving the saints. Now I wanted to do a practical illustration of this because I remember many of us as children. Remember things that are illustrations that we see at an young age and it stays with us for decades and decades. And 58:26 when we were young here in the church um um you know just 20 30 40 50 we'd go on certain Sundays uh to Benergata and we'd have an outing and um and one of those outings um a couple of young brothers did this skit that I'm going to show you 58:42 now. Uh and it's stuck in my head for the last 20 30 40 years. Okay. So I've got two brothers who are going to volunteer. Where is brother um Reuben and Sudir? Are you here? Okay. Bring up your chairs. Where's the other brother? 58:57 Okay, come on up. Okay. And just put them up here as if you're facing each other. Do I have a Can I get a handheld microphone? Okay. Okay. These two brothers, what is 59:16 your name, brother? Everybody knows you. Reuben. Ruben. And you are. Have a seat here. Okay, the these folks are going to simulate a little bit of what heaven's going to be like. Okay. Uh but before that, we want to see a little bit of 59:28 what earth is like in terms of the selfishness that people have on this earth. Okay. So, they have two very long Can the children all see this? They have two very long spoons. Okay. And uh you can imagine that their spoons are now 59:45 tied to their hand. I didn't have the time to do all this, but you can imagine they're not supposed to play around with this. And assume also their arms are fairly stiff. They're not allowed to bend their arms. Okay. And now I'm going 59:57 to give them some think I've got some some candy here. I've got some M M&M's. And uh we're going to give them some M&M's. And uh we're going to ask them to feed themselves. Okay. Now, children, watch this very carefully. 1:00:14 So, we're going to give you two or three M&M's in each of your little spoons here. Okay. All right. Go ahead. Feed yourselves. What happened there, children? The M&M's all fell down. We'll 1:00:33 pick them up later. Okay. So, who's going to be the smart child below the age of 10 and tell me how should we solve this dilemma? These are selfish brothers on earth. They haven't as yet understood what it means to 1:00:50 serve God or serve each other. Who is a young child below the age of 10? How should we help them eat this food? Who can raise their hand and tell me what's the way we should help them eat food? Come on, somebody. If not, I'm 1:01:06 going to go to the 15year-olds or the adults. Who's going to raise their hand? How should they do it? Anybody know? Okay. Any of the adults? Feed each other. What a fancy concept. Okay. Let's do this. There you 1:01:32 go. All right. How are we going to do this? You can you can you can stretch forward a little bit. One at a time. Not a single Eminem is falling down on the ground. Can you give them a hand? [Applause] All right, since you are such good 1:01:51 brothers, I'll give you a few more. You're wonderful. Good. You can have them. You can take it with back with you. Let's give them a hand. Thank you very much. So, you see a very this picture. I remember a couple of young brothers uh doing this 1:02:09 um as when I was a seven or eight year old. I remember watching this u this illustration and it stuck with me for the last 40 years. Um for many of you children, I hope you will remember that that is what serving can can do. you 1:02:25 when you're selfish um you think you're actually satisfying yourself but you end up being very very disappointed generally because some point in time maybe of one or two of those M&M's you'll actually get in your mouth but you've missed out on so much 1:02:40 um uh that you can actually receive when you serve one another. So I want you to remember that picture in your head um and being an encouragement. Here's another and as you get older it's beyond just the food. Let me give you a small 1:02:53 piece as I close here of the ways in which every one of us can serve another person. This is something again the Lord has challenged me the last few years. I talked about my u the thing that I really wanted this year to be is be a 1:03:06 better dad and be a better husband. Here's one of the um area the Lord has really challenged me in my own life. Uh we heard we heard a lot growing up here at CFC about the most important gift um of all the gifts that talks about in 1 1:03:21 Corinthians 14 was the gift of prophecy. And again, it's one of those misunderstood terms. People think prophesying, you go to charismatic and Pentecostal circles, they think prophesying is foretelling the future. Let me give you a very simple scriptural 1:03:36 definition of prophecy that every one of you can do to serve the other. Okay, let's open the Bible to 1 Corinthians 14 verse 1 and verse three. And every one of you can do this at a young age, at a teenager, as an 18year-old, as a 1:03:53 25year-old, as a 47y old like I am. We can do this. 1 Corinthians 14 1 and3. uh and I'll give you three simple ways by which you can remember this going forward. It says, "Pursue love yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but 1:04:10 especially that you may prophesy." And I remember that verse growing up. That was one of my prophecy. That's the most important thing. It's the most important thing. But then if you read first verse three, it has a very simple definition 1:04:22 of what prophecy is. Has three E. Okay? For one who prophesies speaks to men for three e edification, exhortation and in one translation the word consolation is translated as as encouragement. So every brother and 1:04:41 sister can we repeat these three E together? Encouragement, encouragement, edification and exhortation. Once again encouragement, edification and exhortation. And these are all encouragement is the simplest form of 1:04:58 coming alongside a brother and uh they may say you know what what can I do better is a good constructive we have in the corporate world this thing called a 360 feedback where where you get feedback on yourself you might ask 1:05:14 another brother and before you come back with all the critique of what they can do better there's probably two or three things you can encourage them about what they do really well and then of course you may have some constructive of but 1:05:25 encouragement means you're coming alongside a brother and you don't even know that they may be feeling down but you give them a word that's exactly a word in season that they needed to hear and you didn't even know that because 1:05:36 the Holy Spirit prompted you edification takes that a little further okay brother now you know I want to challenge you encouragement was good but now you want to challenge that person to do better it's almost like a coach who's coming 1:05:49 alongside saying you ran that 100 m really well but you ran it in 12 seconds. You can shave off another second and maybe you can do it in 11 seconds if you do this. And then it gets even stronger. Exhortation is now you 1:06:02 have a relationship with that brother or sister and you can challenge them to the next level. That's what prophecy is. And serving one another. Every one of us can have that um that that earnestly seek the gift of prophecy. So I pray for 1:06:17 every one of you who are here especially those of you who are below the age of 25. Okay, that's I'm not saying that you are old at 25, but most often many of the things that you have established at practices in your life, you will keep 1:06:33 for a long time uh uh if you haven't before the age of 25 um said, "Lord, I want to be more like you." And I pray that every one of us can experience that spirit of heaven on this earth rather than just living like most 1:06:51 of what Christianity is, which is my sins are forgiven. I'm on my way to heaven. My robes are now clean in the blood of the lamp and there's nothing more I need to do. So I pray this is a blessing to every one of you brothers 1:07:03 and sisters. Thank you for the encouragement CFC is to many of us across the world. Um my uh brothers and I talk many many times when we're together about many of you and and ask about you and pray for you. Um and I'm praise God to see not just the current 1:07:22 generation um and the older generation getting older that the younger generation uh folks in their 20s now who are being raised up here uh to serve God. I pray that the Lord will continue to have uh CFC continue to be a light 1:07:37 not just in Bangalore but to the far corners of the earth. Amen. Thank you Sanjay for that lovely word. Now Sanji is going to sing a song with the young people who were there at 1:07:56 CFC square. Can some of the young people can you please come forward while we learn two songs? So, Brother Newton asked me to uh to 1:08:24 teach this one song. I think it's uh one of his favorite songs from his growing up years. That's why he liked it. Uh, but if the brothers want to sing with me, um, we have the words. It's called Joy Unspeakable. [Music] 1:09:15 His joy unspeakable and full of glory. Full of glory. Full of glory. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. On the heart has never yet been told. It's joy 1:09:32 unspeakable and full of glory full of glory, full of glory. It's a joy unspeakable and full of glory on the half has never yet been told. [Music] Okay. All right. We're going to try and sing it together. Can the brothers help 1:09:51 me? Uh trying to read the music and play. Okay. [Music] is present every [Music] 1:10:16 [Music] single glory of glory for glory to joy. Glory on the love has never yet been 1:10:33 [Music] told the pleasure I once [Applause] joining I am [Music] sing glory 1:11:00 [Music] Glory. [Music] I found that so bright [Music] 1:11:24 and [Music] presable and full of 1:11:45 glory has never yet. [Music] I found a joy no tongue can tell of glory and 1:12:08 great in my soul joy unspeakable glory of glory of glory the joy unspeakable 1:12:24 The glory of the heart has never end. [Music] 1:13:00 That song is based on the verse from 1 Peter 1 8. In case you didn't know, you can note on the reference. It is from 1 Peter 1 chapter 8. It says, "You greatly rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Now we'll request brother Zach 1:13:20 to minister God's word to us. So what we have heard we don't want this to be just some 1:13:40 points that remain in our mind but reality in our lives. One of the things we have stressed through all these 41 years of our existence is we want reality. So how can all that we have heard be actually real? Not once in a 1:13:59 while not something that we get stirred to think of when we are hear a message like this but every day of our life consistent Christianity that's the great need. And I'll tell you, I never knew this for 16 years 1:14:18 after I was born again. I knew the theory. I was defeated. But I'll tell you what finally made it real. One was the fullness of the Holy Spirit. But not just that, I'll show you what it says in 1:14:34 Ephesians in chapter 2. It says in verse 6, he raised us up with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places in Christ. Now, this is 1:14:53 not something that's going to happen in the future. You know, I'm going to heaven when I die. That's physically. But here, God's word says, "And according to your faith, be it unto you." Jesus. When Jesus died, we died with 1:15:12 him. There are two truths about the cross and only one of them is mostly proclaimed in Christianity. Christ died for our sins. The other truth which we are called to proclaim is that we died with Christ. And if we die with him, it says 1:15:28 the Bible says we shall certainly live with him. So the contrast to that is if you don't die with him, you'll never live with him. And that's the reason why many Christians are not able to live the Christ life because they are not willing to die 1:15:43 with him in the different situations where people crucify us and we don't want to be crucified okay then you won't live with him but it says when we die with him we live with him and he not only died when he was raised up in Christ we were 1:15:59 raised up and as he went and sat in heaven I'm in Christ he's put me there spiritually even though my body is here on earth in heavenly places in Christ and so I look at everything on earth from a heavenly 1:16:18 viewpoint it makes a tremendous difference so you ask yourself is this true in your life spiritually physically it'll be true much later but spiritually it says he's already seated us in the heavenly places in Christ this is not 1:16:34 imagination It's actually real. And if you allow, you know, like we sang, heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Do you know that the Holy Spirit has come down to bring heaven into our hearts, there's only one way by which you can have 1:16:49 heaven in your heart. If the spirit of God, you allow the Holy Spirit to fill your heart and then heaven comes down into your heart and you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places and you look at people from heaven. You look at circumstances, 1:17:07 things from heaven's standpoint. You look at everything from God's viewpoint. There's a world of difference when you look at things on earth from God's viewpoint than from the earthly viewpoint or Adam's viewpoint that we have been seeing 1:17:25 things all our life. So Colossians 2, how to get to this heavenly position. Colossians 3, sorry, Colossians 3. If you have been raised up with Christ, now I thought we have been 1:17:46 raised up with Christ. We died with Christ. Why does Paul write to the Colossians, if if you accept the fact, that's the point. If you accept the fact that you've been raised up with Christ, then seek those things that are 1:18:03 above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. If you don't accept the fact that you've been raised up with Christ, then keep seeking the things that are below. And whenever I see a Christian who's more occupied with the 1:18:17 things that are below, you can say there is a person who does not accept the fact that he was raised up with Christ. He says, "Sorry, I've not been raised up with Christ, so I'm going to look at everything from an earthly 1:18:29 viewpoint." And then if you're seeking the things above, set your mind on the things above and not the things that are on the earth. And you've heard the illustration I've used many times. I used to take a rubber band and 1:18:45 tie it up here. This is heaven and this is earth. We have to live on the earth. So but my mind is in heaven. So this rubber band I stretch it down all the way down to earth for the 8 hours I have 1:19:04 to work and for the 3 4 hours maybe I have to do things at home. Your mothers are probably 12 hours do a lot of things at home. This rubber band is stretched down to earthly things. But the moment you finished your earthly 1:19:16 responsibilities the rubber band gets released and you go back up. your mind is back again on heavenly things. That's the way to know whether your mind is set on heaven or not. That means uh like I said, the rubber band is stretched. When 1:19:29 it's released, it comes back. That means when I'm finished with my earthly work or responsibilities at work or in my home, maybe 12 hours a day, maybe 15 hours. But once it's over, where does my mind spring back to? If at the end of my earthly work, my 1:19:49 mind is still set on that guy who didn't who treated me badly today or the other guy who cheated me one year ago or some other earthly thing. Then you know your mind is not set on the things above. That's you know we must be honest and say Lord I'm sorry 1:20:05 my mind is not set on the things above. It's set on the things of earth. The rubber band is actually tied to the things of earth and I stretch it on Sunday morning for two hours to praise the Lord or to um listen to a message 1:20:19 and then when the meeting is over springs back to earth that rubber band is stretched is tied up to the things of earth and that's the change that has to come whether the rubber band is stretched set to the things above and 1:20:33 stretched to the things of earth for 8 or 15 hours a day but whenever it's raised in other words When my mind is free, where does it go? What do you think about when your mind is free? For example, when you lie down in bed, I'm 1:20:44 talking about practical terms. Whenever for many years after being born again, when I didn't take this seriously, when I lay down in bed, I was thinking of a lot of earthly things most of the time. I'll be honest. And I realized over a period of time 1:20:59 that my mind is not set on the things above. Of course, we need to think about earthly things. If there's a responsibility, what I have to prepare for tomorrow or something like that, you've got an exam tomorrow, you got to 1:21:09 prepare for it. All that is okay. But I'm saying when it is released from all our earthly responsibilities, where does my mind naturally go to? Is it to seek honor or more money or sex or something like that? So, how to get 1:21:28 there? You have to understand Romans Colossians 3:3. You have died and your life is hid with Christ and God. This is the secret of New Testament Christianity to recognize that I have died with Christ. The message that is almost not 1:21:47 preached in most Christian today churches today. You died with Christ. Your old man was crucified. Like Paul says, "I have been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to 1:22:04 me." He lived on earth, Paul, as a dead man as far as the world was concerned. He lived, he did his earthly jobs. He stitched tents in order to earn his living. But his interest was not on this earth. His mind, he had died and he was 1:22:22 in heaven. this rubber band in Paul's life was stretched to do his stitching and to do his earning his living and all that. But once once that was over, it sprung back to heaven. And I want to say, my brothers and sisters, that's how every 1:22:35 one of us can live. I believe this is a great revelation. Romans 6:6, your old man was crucified with Christ. Just like there are millions of people who call themselves Christians. If you ask them, "Did Christ die for 1:22:52 your sins?" They'll all say yes. But 90% of those Christians are not born again. They know in their mind, "Christ died for their sins." Every Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons say, "Christ died for us." And so what? But they're not 1:23:10 born again. But a day, we were like that once. All of us here. One day we got revelation. Christ died for me. That's the day you were born again. In the same way, here is another 1:23:27 revelation. You died with Christ. Like Paul says in Galatians 2:20, I am crucified with Christ. This is a second revelation. You can quote that verse. It has to come as a revelation. Just like the first revelation you got 1:23:41 in the day you were born again. Oh, Christ died for my sins. You need a second revelation. I died with Christ. God placed me in Christ on that cross and I died and he raised me 1:24:00 up. And now Romans 6:11 says, "Reckon yourself to be dead to sin." So when a temptation comes, I say, "How does a dead man react to that?" That's to be reckoned yourself to be dead to sin. If somebody spoke evil 1:24:19 about you, how does a dead man react to that? If somebody got angry with you and upset, how does a dead man react to that? If somebody praises you, how does a dead man react to that? Romans 6:11, "Reckon yourself to be dead to sin." And Paul says in 1:24:38 Galatians 6:14, "I am debt to the world as well and its opinion about me. I have in the Living Bible, it says,"I have as little interest in this world as a dead man has." Boy, what a way to live. Living on the earth like 1:24:57 Jesus, earning your living as a carpenter. Think of how Jesus was a carpenter for at least 12 years from the age of 18 to 30. What was he concentrating on? He wasn't reading the Bible the whole time. He was making stools and benches. His 1:25:14 mind was set on doing his work perfectly. I believe the stools and benches Jesus made were perfect. But always his mind was in heaven. And he wanted to do everything on earth from that heavenly perspective. He didn't want to become the richest carpenter in 1:25:29 Nazareth. That was not his goal. It was a means of earning his living, supporting his younger brothers and his widowed mother. But that wasn't everything for him. It was a means of earning a living. And that's how it must 1:25:43 be for all of us. And in that job that we do, God trains us to be heavenly. And I say, Lord, I'm going to die to the things of earth. For example, to use an 1:26:02 illustration, you know, when you go up an airplane, those of you who have gone up, you see how that huge skyscraper looks so small, looks like a toy building, that MercedesBenz car that you 1:26:21 wish you could have becomes like a little toy car. The higher you go, the smaller these things of earth become. That is the proof that we have ascended into the 1:26:39 heavenlies. Like we sing, the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. So that's how it is to have heaven. To live on earth with heavenly values means, think of the illustration of a plane going up and up and up and 1:26:58 the things of earth becoming less and less important for me. Did somebody cheat you something? What's that going to be valuable? Uh how much value is that going to have in heaven? So many things that we fight about. Husbands and wife 1:27:13 fight about. Ask yourself 2,000 years from now, are you going to fight about it? No. Why fight about it now? Many things 2,000 years from now. Is it going to matter? That is to view things from 1:27:31 heaven. Things of earth become strangely dim. Money, property, this is such a big thing in the eyes of people. The other big thing that is in the eyes of people is sex. You know, they're going to be believers who are still occupied with 1:27:45 that are going to be terribly disappointed because there's no sex in heaven. You know, Jesus said, "You're going to be like the angels. There's no marriage." So, if you're crazy about sex, you're going to be terribly disappointed in heaven. There's no sex 1:27:57 in heaven. No marriage in heaven. It's only for this short time on earth. God gives us these things. And I'll tell you why he gives us these things. To test us. A lot of people in the earth don't know 1:28:15 that. He tests us with money. He tests us in marriage whether sex is going to be everything for us or when you're single and the pressure is so strong whether that's going to be everything to you or whether Jesus will be 1:28:30 everything. See the other thing that people it's usually money, sex, and honor. Those are the three things that people seek on earth. Honor means position, power. You're not going to have anything of that in heaven. Do you know in heaven 1:28:43 they only sing worthy is the lamb. There are many things God will give us. His love, his power, many things. But there's one thing it says in Isaiah 42:8, "I will not share my glory with another." We are God will never share 1:29:03 his glory with another. On earth people are taking so much glory for themselves. Even preachers take glory for themselves. So many people are proud of their ministry or how much they have traveled and so many things like that. They don't 1:29:21 realize they are touching the glory of God. God says, "I will not give my glory to another." It's like stealing. It's like taking money out of somebody's wallet. Would you do that? To take the glory that belongs to God is 1:29:38 stealing. It's very clear. Isaiah 42:8 I will not give my glory to another you can ask him for heaven anything love the gifts of the Holy Spirit you can ask him for your material necessities but one thing God will never 1:29:53 give is his glory that's why we got to be very very careful that we never take any credit to ourselves for anything we have done you come first in your class don't talk about it because it doesn't m it's not going to matter in heaven. 1:30:13 Don't take or touch glory that belongs to God. Always be quick to acknowledge. I'm not saying that you have to make a big show of it. You know, somebody comes and says, "Oh, thank you so much for that wonderful sermon." And you say, "No, no, no. It 1:30:28 was all God." You don't have to do all that. That's to get some more honor that you're a humble man. Forget it. Go alone before God and say, "Lord, I will not touch that glory. It's yours. It's yours. I don't know how to act humble 1:30:42 before men. Give that glory to God. And don't ever touch. Have you accomplished something in life? Go fall on your face before God and give him the glory for it. So all the things that people value on earth so much, property, sex, glory, if I can be 1:31:00 freed from it, use it, have it, but it doesn't mean anything because I've I see things from heaven's standpoint. And for myself, I have found that this comes easily if I make 1:31:18 devotion to Jesus Christ the central goal of my life and to please him. If I'm always seeking to live in the presence of God, like it says in Psalm 16, I've set the Lord always before me. Think if we can live like that. I've 1:31:35 set the Lord always before me. I've sought to in the last few years now sought to live like that. that when I speak to people, I say, "Jesus is here between me and him." And I'm not going to speak in any way that will hurt him 1:31:49 because he's there between me. I've set the Lord always before me. Or if that person speaks to me in a certain way. I've set the Lord always before me. I'm going to respond to him knowing that Jesus is here, maybe the Lord will say, 1:32:03 "Keep your mouth shut." or maybe maybe if he feels hurt, apologize to him. Even if you feel you haven't done anything wrong, I've set the Lord always before me. That's how it is in heaven. In heaven, the lamb is the center. And to 1:32:17 have a heavenly value on earth is right here on earth. The Lord is always in front of me. Says that in Psalm 16, I have set the Lord always before me. And when I set the Lord always before me, it says in that same verse, he's at my right 1:32:32 hand that I shall not be shaken. That's a beautiful verse. Psalm 16:1. He's at my right hand that I will not be shaken. So if you don't know that verse, let me read it to you. Psalm 16. It's a wonderful word. 1:32:50 Verse 8. Psalm 168. I have set the Lord continually before me. and when he's continually before me, he's at my right hand that I will not be shaken by temptation. I want to encourage you, my 1:33:07 brothers and sisters, if you want to practically apply what you heard this morning to live with heavenly values on earth, remember in heaven the lamb is the center. Jesus is the center. And by the Holy Spirit's power, we can have a 1:33:24 sense of the presence of the Lord always before us wherever we go. Do I have to sign a statement in my office and you know it is false and you're signing it to make some more money or to please somebody? I've set the Lord always before 1:33:42 me. You say, "I'm sorry. I can't do it." I mean, you you don't have to be old for that. I remember when I was a young naval officer and my senior officers would ask me to do something which is wrong. I would salute them and 1:33:55 say sir I'm sorry sir I'm a Christian I can't do that I said the Lord always before me I'm sorry sir my conscience doesn't permit me they would be very upset they would give me some problems because of that that's okay that's where 1:34:10 I learned to get backbone when I was 23 years old develop that backbone you young brothers and sisters that even if you're even if you're going to lose your up. You say, "I'm sorry, sir." Respectfully, I can't do that. It's against my 1:34:29 conscience. I've set the Lord always me. Do you think the Lord will let you down? Never. He'll be at your right hand so that you cannot be moved. That's how heaven is. The Lord is always there in front. And that's why Paul says in 2 1:34:46 Corinthians in chapter 5, he says, "This is our ambition. Verse 9, 2 Corinthians 5:9. Whether we are at home in heaven or absent here on earth from heaven. We have only one 1:35:03 ambition to be pleasing to him. In heaven, everybody wants to please God. And Paul says, "I'm already in heaven. On earth, I only want to please God here. I don't want to please any 1:35:21 man. You know, this has become more and more real to me as in our times of praise and worship and thanksgiving, praise and thanksgiving that should lead to worship as well. I remember for years and years and 1:35:37 years when I used to sing, I was more conscious of the words or the tune. Now I seek to be more conscious of Jesus in the meeting even this morning. I said Lord you're 1:35:57 here. But when I say thou art worthy or hallelujah to the Lord in a sense I shut other people out and I say Lord I'm talking to you. you're here and this has become more and 1:36:15 more the way I sing on Sunday morning makes a lot of difference. It makes a lot of difference. I've set the Lord always before me. It doesn't matter if I don't sing the tune right or miss some of the words is the Lord. I want to encourage 1:36:33 you when you sing, think of Jesus. You know, Jesus said, "When you pray, shut the door and get alone." And that's what I do in my mind. I shut a certain door and I say, "Lord, I'm singing to you 1:36:52 now." And more and more as I preach, I say, "Lord, you're here. You're listening to what I'm saying. I hope you're happy. I don't want any honor. But I want to speak the truth that'll change people's 1:37:10 lives. Dear brothers and sisters, it'll change your home life. It'll change your work life. It'll change everything if you say, "Lord, I want to die to this earth while I'm alive in this body and be seated in the heavenly 1:37:27 places and look at everything from God's viewpoint. Try it. Try it for one day with a little bit of effort to look at things from God's viewpoint and see how different it looks. And I believe God wants us to 1:37:45 live like that every day. The godly man's life is exciting. Praise the Lord. This morning we want to welcome all 1:38:04 those who are visiting us for the
