2:01 Honor and all thanks and honor be to him. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we come before you, Lord, humbled and amazed. Lord, we thank you for all the things that you've done to us. Lord, we are here because you have planned this for us. We are needy. 2:20 We come before you. Give us a heart of thankfulness. Help us to remember the things that you've done for us. Lord, fill us with your spirit. to the king. What a wonderful savior is 2:51 Jesus. What a wonderful friend is he for he left all the glories of heaven who and came to die. Sing. What a wonderful savior is 3:11 Jesus. What a wonderful friend is he for he left all the glories of heaven. Came to earth to die on Calvary. Come on and sing. Come on and sing 3:30 hosana. Sing hosana. Sing hosana to the king of king. Come on and sing hosana. Say hosana. Sing hosana to the 3:47 king. What a wonderful savior is Jesus. What a wonderful friend is he. Hallelujah. For he left all the glories of heaven. Came to earth to die on 4:05 calary. Sing hosana. Say hosana. Sing hosana. Sing hosana to the king of kings. Come and say hosana. Sing 4:22 hosana. Say hosana to the king. Please be seated. Oh savior, precious savior whom yet unseen we love. Oh name of mind and 4:39 favor, all other names of comfort our holy lord and king. Oh savior, precious 4:54 savior whom yet unseen we love. Oh name of might and favor all other names above we worship thee. We bless thee to 5:13 thee oh Lord we sing. We praise thee and confess thee our holy Lord and king. Oh bringer of 5:31 salvation. Who wondrously has brought thyself the [Music] revelation of love beyond a throne. We worship thee. We bless thee. 5:49 To thee alone we sing. We praise thee and confess thee our gracious Lord and King. Holy brothers sing verse three. In thee all fullness 6:07 dwellth all grace and part divine. The glory that excel. Oh son of God is now. All together sing. We worship thee. We bless 6:25 thee. To thee alone we sing. We praise thee and confess thee our glorious Lord and King. Sisters go first. Oh, the 6:44 consolation of this all the world in endless adoration everlasting. All together sing. Then shall we praise 6:59 and bless thee where perfect praises reign and ever more confess thee. Our savior and our king. We worship thee. We bless thee. To 7:23 thee alone we say we praise thee and confess thee our holy Lord and King. [Music] Praise awaits you Lord our God in Zion. 7:53 To you who hears our prayers, all men will come. When we were overwhelmed by sin, you saved us and filled us with the good things of your heart. Praise the ways you Lord our God 8:17 in Zion. Praise awaits you, Lord. Here in this place, a crown of praise awaits you, Lord, in Zion. Praise awaits you, Lord, here in 8:37 this place. Please join with us and sing. Brothers and sisters, you answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness. For you are the hope of all the [Music] earth. From this place where morning 8:56 dawns and evening faith, you all for the mighty shouts of joy. Praise awaits you Lord our God in [Music] 9:13 Zion. Praise awaits you Lord here in this place. A crown of praise awaits you Lord in Zion. Praise awaits you, Lord. You're in display. Be praised. 9:36 Praise you. We praise you. We praise you, oh Lord. Praise awaits you, Lord our God in 10:01 Zion. A praise awaits you to Lord here in this place. A crown of praise awaits you to Lord in Zion. Praise away to Lord in this day. 10:23 [Music] Shout for joy and sing your praises to the King. Lift your voice and let your hallelujah ring. Come before his throne 10:40 to worship and adore. Enter joyfully now the presence of the from the top again. Sing together. Shout for joy and sing your praises to the king. Lift your voice and let your hallelujah ring. Come 10:59 before his throne to worship and adore. Enter joyfully now the presence of the Lord. You are my creator. You are my deliverer. You are our redeemer. You are Lord and you are my 11:18 healer. You are my provider. You are now my shepherd and my guide. Jesus Lord and King I worship you. Jesus Lord and King I worship you. [Music] 12:05 Worthy is the lamb who was made. [Music] Worthy is the lamb who was 12:22 slain. Holy, holy is [Music] he. Sing a new song to him who sits 12:37 on the heaven's mercy. See, worthy is the lamb who was 12:53 slain. Holy, holy is he. Sing a new song to him who sings. 13:09 Heaven's mercy sing. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God 13:22 Almighty who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings. You are my 13:40 everything and I will adore you. [Music] 14:01 Clothed in rainbows of living color, flashes of lightning, rose, thunder, blessing and honor, strength 14:19 and glory and power be to you the only Christ came. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God 14:38 Almighty who was and is and is to [Music] come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings. You are my 14:56 everything and I will adore you. [Music] Holy voices sing. 15:17 Filled with wonder. All struck wonder at the mention of your name. Jesus, your name is 15:35 power, breath, and living water. Such a marvelous mystery. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God 15:55 Almighty who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings. You are my 16:13 everything and I will adore you. [Music] [Music] Lord we come before your throne humble 16:48 and amazed. Your greatness overshadows. Every idol of this saint for all the treasures of this world Lord cannot 17:05 replace. The greatest joy of knowing you and walking in your praise. We will worship you. There is none beside you. We will worship you. 17:24 There is none beside you. We will worship you. There is none beside you, Lord. Lord, we come with thankful hearts to 17:44 your courts with praise, rejoicing in your favor, delighting in your ways. For all we lost cannot compare, Lord, toward me 18:01 today. There is none like you, oh God. name above all names. We will worship you. There is none beside you. We will worship you. There is 18:21 none beside you. We will worship you. There is none beside you, Lord. We will worship you. We will worship 18:42 you. There is none beside you. We will worship you. There is none beside you. We will worship you. There is 18:59 none beside you, Lord. There is none, there is nothing beside you, oh Lord. Spirit of the 19:20 living God for the fresh on [Music] us of the 19:40 living God. full of fresh. Shall we all stand and sing? [Music] Break 19:57 [Music] us mold us and fill us. Spit of the 20:18 living God for the ar repeat. Spirit of the living God fall aresh on me. Spirit of the 20:42 living God, fall aresh on me. Spirit of the 21:01 livinging [Music] God. Fall aresh on me. Break me. 21:19 Melt me. Mold me and fill me. Spirit of the 21:38 living God, fall on me. Dear brothers and sisters, let's bow our 22:23 heads in prayer. We continue in the same spirit of thanks and praise and hunger and thirst for him. He is in our midst. We are his people. He has 22:43 gathered us. One from a city and one from a town. He brought us from different places. By his mercy, he called us. By his loving kindness, he chose us and he clothed us with his 23:01 righteousness and gave us a hope. I'd like to read a few words from Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah 61:10, I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will 23:18 exalt in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride 23:35 adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as garden causes the things sown in into it, spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise 23:52 to spring up before all the nations. Lift up your hearts and lift up your voices this morning and thank him and praise him for who he is and what he has done. Lord, we praise you. Lord, we praise you. Thank you, my lord, my king, 24:09 for all that which you have done for us. Lord, with your mighty hand, you redeemed us, Lord. You're the Lord of the host. You're the blessed controller of all things. Lord, you're seated on the throne. And Lord, every precious 24:22 gift, it is from you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for your immense mercy and loving kindness, Lord Jesus. It is your hand which protects us, Lord. We look back and remember from where you picked us up, Lord. We want to give you praise and 24:36 thanks and all glory and honor to you Lord. Let you alone be glorified. Let your name and own be lifted up Lord in our midst Lord. You are the King of Kings. You are the Lord of Lord. We praise you, bless you, Lord. Mighty God, 24:47 Lord. Lord Jesus, there is nothing impossible for you Lord. There is great power with you Lord to deliver your people and strengthen us Lord. Even this morning has come before you Lord. I pray that Lord you will touch many hearts 24:59 this morning especially those who are enc discouraged for some reason Lord I pray that Lord you will encourage them Lord encourage the vainhearted Lord revive the lowly Lord Jesus we praise you and bless you anoint your servant as 25:13 you bring forth your word Lord Jesus we thank you and praise you Lord thank you father for hearing us in Jesus precious and mighty name we pray amen please take your seat brothers and sisters let's take a look at our memory 25:27 verses. We had a command last week. Matthew chapter 6:34. Please repeat after me. Matthew chapter 6:34. Do not worry about tomorrow. 25:43 For tomorrow will care for itself. And for this week, we have a promise. Matthew chapter 10:39. He who has lost his life for my sake will find it. He has lost his life for 26:02 my sake. Matthew chapter 10:39. He who has lost his life for my sake will find it. But this morning we are privileged. I can we can hear God's word from our beloved brother Suresh. Brother Suresh 26:22 over to you. Please share what's in your heart. Good morning, brothers and sisters. Last week we heard about an unshakable 26:51 life, a steadfast unshakable life. No matter what happens, this is the way that Jesus lived through the power of the Holy Spirit. And even this morning we were singing, spirit of the living God, fall aresh on us, fall aresh on me. pray that 27:10 that cry can be in our hearts even as we hear because it's as we heard it's very possible we can sing and and talk about following Jesus but not actually follow him. Uh 2 Timothy 3 and verse 5 describes those who have a form of 27:30 godliness but deny its power. in turn to second Timothy. So in other words, I have something that looks like godliness externally. It has the form, it has the 27:47 shape, look and feel, but internally I am defeated by sin because I have denied the Holy Spirit his proper place. I've not acknowledged his lordship. I'm 28:04 not submitting myself to his voice. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 5. Yeah. So if I say I am a Christian, then I must walk as Jesus walked. And and we heard it said about 28:24 Jesus. This is a quotation from Psalm 16. I have set the Lord continually before me because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. And I wanted to look uh take a closer look at this uh unshakable life that Jesus lived and how I can grow 28:42 and progress to be like Jesus. And as we heard Jesus said follow me. It's not it's because I can follow him. It's not that he has resources uh that I do not have. Hebrews chapter 2:1 17 says he was made like his brothers in all things. 29:01 Brothers and sisters, we have to embrace this. Jesus walked on this earth. He was made like you and me in all things. And Jesus made a choice. He says, "I have set the Lord continually before me." Jesus saw things with his 29:20 eyes, heard things with his ears, and there would have been so many voices of influence of the world around him. just like you and me face. But he made a choice to set the Lord continually before him. He chose to shift his focus 29:39 to the Lord in every situation and it became natural, automatic how he lived. But there was always a struggle because we understand that Jesus was made like us in all things. And there was a fight, a battle of faith that Jesus had to fight to turn to the 29:58 Lord, to seek his will, his kingdom through his power, for his glory. And uh we've in Hebrews 5:15, it tells us about Jesus that in the days of his flesh, he offer offered up prayers and supplications with loud 30:16 crying and tears to the one who is able to save him. So we picture Jesus crying out with loud crying and tears to the one who is able to save him from death, from spiritual death, from 30:34 sin. And it says he was heard because of his godly fear. And uh the reason I I draw your attention to this is because when we think of this picture of Jesus crying out to his father 30:50 uh with with loud cries and with loud crying and tears it doesn't seem that picture doesn't give us a picture of an unshakable life. No seems like a weak man. But this is not the time of battle. 31:09 Now, Proverbs 24:10 says, "If you faint in the day of battle or in the day of adversary, your strength is limited or small." And Jesus was always strong in the day of battle. In every trial, in every circumstance, you know, there was a 31:24 storm. There were people wanted to stone him. So many things. But this is the preparation for the battle. And there's just him and his father. And he's crying out. He's saying, "Help me, daddy. I'm weak. Be with me. I need 31:42 you." And he was heard because of his godly fear. And he never fought in his own strength. He fully depended on the power of God. 2 Corinthians chapter 13:4 says, "He was crucified because of weakness, but he lives because of the power of 32:01 God." He did not resist or fight. He was crucified because of weakness, but the power of God raised him back to life again. And he said in John 18:36, "My kingdom, if my kingdom was of this 32:21 world, my disciples would be fighting. If my kingdom were of this world, my disciples would be fighting. But my kingdom is not of this world." It's good for us to think about our own kingdoms and whether we are fighting. Yeah. Paul when he's talking 32:43 to Timothy in chapter 6 and verse uh 13 and verse 12, he draws Timothy's attention to this. He says in verse 12, you made the good confession. He's telling Timothy 33:01 that you made the good confession. And what is this good confession in verse 13? He says, "Christ Jesus who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate." So just like Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." You also 33:16 said that. So take that seriously. Take that to heart. Brothers and sisters, if we have made that confession that our kingdom is not of this world, we must take it to heart. That is how we can fight the fight of faith and 33:35 uh yeah I I don't want to you know fight in my own strength. We know the first memory verse of this of this year that says the Lord will fight for you if you keep silent. Exodus 14:14 the Lord will fight for you if you keep 33:53 silent. Why do I keep silent? because my kingdom is not of this world and uh you know the Lord is on my side. I'm doing his will and he is fighting for me. So we we understand that there was a preparation for this battle where Jesus was in secret crying 34:10 out to God and and and he was heard because of his godly fear. And the apostle Paul also tells us that this is how he lived. Uh he says he he heard from the Lord. He heard the Lord speaking when he cried out in his weakness. Uh you know he had this 34:30 sickness and he went to the Lord and he said Lord help me father help me. And and Jesus the Lord spoke to him saying my grace is sufficient for you. It's enough for you to live an unshakable life. Even though you have 34:49 this sickness, this weakness, my grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in your weakness. And and Paul says, I will boast about my weakness for when I am weak, then I am strong. And uh we can see this in the 35:09 life of Timothy as well. He was also someone who had frequent illness uh ailments and weakness. And uh Paul had to exhort him. Timothy be a bold brother. God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power of love and 35:26 discipline. The power of the Holy Spirit is the answer. And we know that in the day of battle he was not weak. Paul was able to testify about Timothy. Uh we can look at Philippians chapter 2 and verse 22 the verses around that. 35:47 He says about Timothy, you know of his proven worth. Tim Timothy was tested in various trials, battles and his worth was proven. Paul Paul was able to say there 36:05 is nobody like him. There's nobody like him. Everybody seeks after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But Timothy is not like that. And uh yeah, so we think of Timothy. I I I want to put him before my eyes as an 36:24 example as not an extraordinary brother. A brother with tempted to timidity with sicknesses, but who took the word that he received and continued in it and was strengthened by it. and he grew and he learned to put 36:43 aside his own desires and seek the interest of Jesus Christ. Yeah. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14, Paul tells Timothy and and he's drawing a 37:03 distinction over here. So we can look at the verses before that. He says, "Evil men," verse 13, 2 Timothy 3:13, "Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." So this world will be full of 37:18 evil men and impostors and the Christian world will be full of evil men and impostors because no, that is the world that we turn our hearts and our minds to. And the Christian world will be full of evil men and 37:37 imposters. But you continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them. Brothers and sisters, this is this is very important. He says you should know from whom you have learned them. 37:51 This is how we can prevent ourselves from being deceived. We must think about from whom we have learned. See in in verse 10, 2 Timothy verse 10, it's just a few verses before that. Paul says, "Now you 38:09 have followed my teaching." And he doesn't stop there. He doesn't say, "I had a wonderful teaching. I have the best teaching of all. You followed my teaching. That's the end of the story." No, he says, "No, look at my conduct. 38:21 Look at the way I lived my life. Look at my purpose or my motive. Was I seeking after honor? Was I seeking after money? Was I running after my own pleasures? Then he says, um, look at my 38:41 faith. Whose strength was I depending on? Look at my patience. Was I like a, you know, one one hit wonder? No. This is how I lived my life year after year. Look at my perseverance. Look at the love that I showed, the 39:01 persecutions that I suffered for the sake of the gospel and then you decide and he says follow me as I follow Christ knowing Jesus's eternal life. He's not drawing somebody to to himself. He's teaching us how to discern how to 39:18 discern properly. Yeah. And and in contrast, we see that Paul gives a warning in second Timothy that, you know, we can take to heart for ourselves. Paul says, "The time will come where people will not endure sound doctrine." Sound doctrine 39:34 or healthy doctrine that helps us to live strong, fruitful, healthy lives for Jesus, saved from sin. But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires and 39:48 will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4 and:e 3. Most people will be like this and we have to examine our own hearts and our own conditions. Do I want my ears 40:09 tickled or do I want to hear and obey the truth of God? And uh am I willing to humble myself under the truth of God's word and turn away from my own kingdom? Seek the kingdom of God. Seek his interests, not my own interests. No. Repent from that 40:28 in response to the truth of God's word. Having discerned that the person who's speaking to me is truly speaking from the spirit of God. No. Do I want something that looks like holiness so that I'll pass inspection by people who don't have 40:47 discernment? Or do I have that cry that Jesus he had with loud crying and tears for the Holy Spirit to save me, to help me to speak in the confusion. So I I I was encouraged and I 41:09 shared about this in the youth camp and I thought I'd share it here as well. Uh and and this is a picture from 2 Chronicles. We can turn there 2 Chronicles where we see a clear illustration of of different attitudes that people had 41:28 uh in relation to the voice of God. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. We can start there. And 41:48 we we see the story of Jehosh Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20 and verse one. It says the sons of Moab and Ammon and Monites came together to make war against Jehoshaphat. So a great 42:06 multitude, a great mighty army is coming against him. And uh we see that God helped Jehoshaphat to demonstrate to show us a practical example of this unshakable life that we heard about and we just spoke about. 42:24 So 2 Chronicles 20:3 it says at first that he was afraid but the good part of it is in his weakness he turned his attention to seek the Lord. He turned his attention to seek 42:42 the Lord and he called all all the godly people together to fast and pray. And then we see this wonderful prayer that he prays in verse six. He 42:58 says, "You are God, O Lord, in the heavens. You're the ruler over all the kingdoms and the nations. Power and might are in your hand. Power belongs to God." This is the cry of the bride of 43:15 Jerusalem. Power belongs to God. I don't want the power in my own hands. I don't have any power of my own. It belongs to you. Yeah. Power and might belongs to you. No one can stand against you. And then in verse 12, he 43:35 says, "We are powerless before this great multitude. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you." Oh, what a wonderful place that is. Brothers and sisters, we must cherish these moments in our life. This is the 43:53 opportunity we have here on this earth to stand in helplessness before God and say, "I don't know what to do." And there is no strength or no power I have to face this situation. But our eyes are on you and power belongs to you and you will surely 44:09 do something. And so I can be unshakable in this trial. Yeah, if we if we just look at this cry of weakness and we listen to what the world and we're influenced by what the world 44:27 says, it doesn't seem like an unshakable life. But this is the foundation, the basis for the unshakable life that Jesus lived, that Paul lived. And they were all waiting. And uh it wonderful thing says in verse 13 with their infants, their wives and their 44:46 children, they were standing before the Lord. How long did they stand there? Till they heard an answer. And then the spirit of the Lord spoke through a young brother and the Lord said, "Do not be feared or dismayed because of this great 45:04 multitude because the battle is not yours but God's." Yeah, this is also a song that we sing that we must take to heart. The battle is not yours but the Lord's. You need not fight in this battle. The Lord will fight for you. 45:21 Station yourselves. The Lord is with you. Oh, that word is enough. That word is enough. I think of the thief on the cross and Jesus said, "Yeah, you will be with me." Oh, that was enough. He was on the cross. He was in agony. That was 45:36 enough. there's an army coming as against me but the Lord said he will be with me that is enough and uh yeah so Jehoshaphat humbly received the word of 45:54 God and he didn't use his intelligence or logic he didn't you know say okay but let's try to help God a little bit at least no Yeah. Verse verse 20. This is what Jehoshaphat told the people after the 46:12 Lord spoke. The spirit of the Lord spoke. He said, "Listen to me. Put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. You will be stable. You will be strong. You will be unshakable like Jesus. Put your trust in his 46:31 prophets and succeed. Yeah, as we heard from Timothy discerning that this man is really speaking from God and and and we know the story that Jehoshaphat trusted the Lord. He told the choir, "I'm going to put you in front of of the army." And 46:50 they were singing, "Give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness endures forever." You know, that's one of the songs and phrases that we commonly sing today in the church. And uh the challenge is to sing it, you know, in the trial. I was 47:06 thinking when brother Zach shared, you know, last week how God has um in every situation, you know, he's set up in advance so that it will not be too tough for us. And he was saying, I hope you clap when the trial comes. I 47:23 hope you give praise when the trial comes and trust in the Lord. And we know that that God gave Jehoshaphat and his army a mighty victory and and rest on all sides. It says, but what really encouraged me about this story is not, you know, just 47:43 that Jehoshaphat had faith uh but but really the story behind it and how Jehoshaphat came to this situation. How is it possible that Jehoshaphat you know he had his own army but when he came to a trial he said no we must hear from the Lord and he 48:02 acknowledged his helplessness he heard from the Lord and then he did exactly what the Lord said and the Lord gave him a victory. How is it? How did the Lord work this faith into his life? And the Lord shows us something about that. If 48:14 we look at the story before before that in 2 Chronicles chapter 18 and uh this this encourages me because you know it shows how the Lord can use our failures to speak to us, to 48:33 show mercy to us and to change our hearts. and to move us to repentance. So looking at the story in 2 Chronicles 18 and it starts with a big mistake that Jehoshaphat 48:52 made right in verse one. It says Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor and we if we read the verses before that we know that it's because Jehoshaphat turned to serve the Lord that the Lord helped him prospered him and he had 49:06 great riches and honor. It came from the hand of the Lord. But uh you know as we heard last week the difficulty for God is not to bless a man but to bless a man and continue to keep him humble. And as we you know partake of 49:24 God's goodness. We hear the undiluted word. We know that he's in our midst. We know that he's changing us. We must humble ourselves and recognize that all this goodness is from the hands of the Lord. And uh Jehoshaphat grew in riches and 49:41 honor and he foolishly allied himself with the with King Ahab of Israel. It's in one sentence. And uh he gave his son in marriage. You can read that elsewhere. He gave his son in marriage to Ahab's daughter and and you know thereby came under his 49:58 influence and definitely you know he did not seek the Lord before doing this. And uh King Ahab is is a picture of someone who has a form of godliness while he denies its power. He wants to impress King 50:18 Jehoshaphat. And it says in verse two, when Jehoshaphat visited Ahab, King Ahab slaughtered many sheep and oxen for him and the people who were with him and uh induced him to go up against Ramad Gilead. 50:36 Basically Ahab was thinking that this Jehoshaphat he has an army he's a strong person u I've given my daughter to his son in marriage so I can influence him and u you know the only problem is he's not thinking this expressly because he's 50:55 deceiving himself right he also thinks he has a form of godliness but he is very particular that he wants to do god's will So you know I have to influence him. I have to convince him. And uh you know Jehoshaphat came there and and uh Ahab was saying let's 51:15 let's go. Shall we not go back to this? Go out and conquer this place. It's been taken from us. Sounds like a good idea. Israel's enemies are occupying the the land. And uh Jehoshaphat he was, you know, a polite man. He said, "Yeah, I'm 51:31 at your service, but let's hear from the Lord first." Um, verse four, he said, "Let's hear from the Lord first." In verse five, it says, "King Ahab assembled the prophets, 400 men, and he asked them, shall we go up against Ramoth Gilead?" 51:50 Brothers and sisters, it's a good time for us to think about the multitude of voices that we have access to today. The multitude of voices, you know, at at at the click of a link, we can hear so many people saying so many 52:10 things and they all claim to be speaking by the spirit of the Lord. How did Ahab get 400 prophets? Why did our hub get 400 prophets? See, this is this is what what I believe we just heard 52:27 that people wanting to have their ears tickled will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. So, Ahab had received some correction from the Lord. We can read about that in verse earlier. and he tore 52:44 his clothes and you know there's some fear that he has but he doesn't have a heart to wholeheartedly listen wholeheartedly follow the lord so he has a form of godliness and he accumulates you know I was thinking he may have got five 53:04 prophets 10 prophets but he's listening to them and he's happy but he's not satisfied because he knows that the real voice of the lord is something So he gets more people, more people. He can afford it. He's a king. And he accumulates 400 53:22 men who tickle his ears and tell him things according to his own desires. And it was a good business for them. You know, they were making a living out of this. And from the story, these people didn't claim to be prophets of some 53:41 false god. They were not prophets of Bal or something like that, you know, but they were professional influencers, right? And uh what was their advice to the king? So if though if you just look up Ramoth Gilead, it means the heights of 54:00 Gilead. Okay, the high places or heights of Gilead, it's like uh Cargill or Cchn or something like that. You get some strategic advantage by taking a high place. And they all said you go up go up there and succeed. And just just think about it, 54:18 you know, if if we read the story, there's one person in verse 10, it says he made horns of iron for himself. And it says, "With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are consumed." See, I have to distinguish myself, you know. If I'm on YouTube, I 54:34 have to get eyeballs and likes and subscriptions. I have to occupy some distinct space, you know. So, either I have more noise or more attraction or more drama or I position myself as some strategic person. Some people said, 54:53 "Yeah, yeah, God will definitely help you, but why don't you follow this tactic?" And you know, 400 people all clamoring saying this, saying that. Yeah. I I was I was thinking about who we really listen to and live our 55:10 lives in accordance with. This was a challenge for me. You know there may be people with some sort of a Christian tag or otherwise you know or in other areas fitness sports entertainment motivational speakers investment 55:26 advisor or some you know movie clips worldly songs cals are terrible stuff perhaps because we want a form of godliness and these voices are crowding out the voice of the Holy Spirit in my 55:45 heart and my life and they feed the poison of pride. Jesus said many will come in my name saying I am he saying that Jesus is Lord and then they will deceive you. But the voice of truth the real voice of 56:03 Jesus was saying something different and it says something different to my heart even today. I was reminded of this verse second uh in Song of Solomon chapter 4. Song of Solomon, chapter 56:30 4, where Jesus is calling his bride. Verse seven says, "You are altogether beautiful, my darling. There is no blemish in you. 56:50 If anybody else said that, no, I would not believe it. But this is Jesus speaking to me. It's just me and him. And he says, "Come with me from Lebanon, from the summit of Amana. 57:09 Journey down. Come down from Sen Hermon." These are some mountains, high places. He says, "Come down from these high places, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards." It's a picture of these dangerous places where people are seeking to 57:25 devour, devour my time, my money, my body, and they're giving me these high thoughts. And Jesus is calling me as his bride, saying, "You come with me. Come down. Let's go down. Let's humble ourselves." And 57:42 uh you know Jehoshaphat could tell that something was wrong. He there were 400 people shouting in front of him. God had given him a sense of discernment. The spirit of the Lord inside him. In verse six he said is there not another prophet here someone 57:59 else that we can speak to. And King Ahab instantly knew, you know, that there was one man who would speak God's truth. And again, brothers and sisters, I encourage you to examine yourselves. Think about who has genuinely spoken the 58:18 truth of God into your lives and make a choice. And he didn't want to ask him. He said, you know, he always speaks bad things about me. And uh once again we can examine ourselves. I know that there are 58:36 definitely periods in my life when I have felt this way and I had to examine myself and the Lord gave me light you know where there's a prophet a godly man and uh I find myself feeling that oh he doesn't like me he's finding fault with me. He has 58:56 some some bias against me. He's not encouraging me. No. Why is it like that? Could it be that the fault is with you? Could it be that the fault is with you? This is a genuine man of God and he doesn't have the freedom to 59:13 tell you what he wants to tell you because you've shut out his voice and you think that he's biased against you. Yeah. and and uh you know the glorious thing uh in Micah's example we see that he's a true prophet of God. He 59:32 says verse 13 as the Lord lives what my God says I will speak. What he says I will do. Only his opinion counts. I'm not here to please the king. The king is here today. He's gone tomorrow. The Lord lives forever. I live before him. I will 59:50 say what he wants me to say. That is the man you must seek to listen to. And uh you know it it it challenged me uh I mean when I thought about it as to why Micah when he was called the 1:00:05 first thing he says in 2 Chronicles uh 18:14 he says the king asks him the question shall I go up you know or shall I refrain? And he says, "Go up and succeed. It will be given into your hands." And why does he say that? Why 1:00:24 does he say that at first, right? Uh and and and look at Ahab's reaction. He he does this full drama. 400 people have already said exactly the same thing. Go up and succeed. But he says, "Oh, how many times I must adjure you in 1:00:40 the name of the Lord that you have to speak the truth. Is it possible that Ahab is willing to listen to this man of God? Has he told him even once that that you must speak the truth? Does he want to listen to the truth? He's just, you know, play acting. 1:00:59 And when Micah speaks to him and brothers and sisters, I can't go over the whole story, you know, but just look at it. It's really as though a curtain is being pulled. A spiritual man is discerning what is happening in the 1:01:11 heavenly places. That's what a spiritual man can do for us. He's showing us this is what is happening. The Lord knows that your heart is not right and he has no know allowed deceiving spirits to come and deceive you. And I'm telling you exactly how it 1:01:29 is. I'm speaking with great great clarity and confidence and authority. And Ahab does not want to listen to him. And he puts him in jail. He says you you be there when I come back then we'll talk. Yeah. And even now when godly men 1:01:47 speak to you you can say you mind your business. I'll live my life. You won't say that but you'll act like that. And Aub did not escape the judgment of God. But what challenged me from this is not is not is not Aub but 1:02:07 uh Jehoshaphat. What is Jehovah Shafed doing? He said, "I want to hear the word of the Lord." The word of the Lord came. A prophet spoke. He pulled back the curtains. He made it very clear what was happening. But Jehoshaphat didn't say, 1:02:19 "Hey, nothing doing. You have to listen to the word of God. This is what the prophet has said. That's the end of the story. Sorry, I'm going home." That is what he should have said. But he didn't have the courage to do that. And he went into battle. And it 1:02:36 says, you know, that that he nearly lost his life. We can look at this in verse [Music] 31. He cried out because the armies, the captains of the chariots were attacking him. He cried 1:02:55 out. This was a failure. He was somebody who claimed to trust the Lord and he found himself in a situation where he was just crying out for mercy. But the Lord was merciful. And brothers and sisters, if I look back on my life, I I want to learn 1:03:13 from the situations in my life when I have come into this sort of a situation where I knew that what I was doing was not right and I didn't listen to the voice of God and I went ahead and it's only the Lord's mercy that pulled me out 1:03:26 of that situation. And the good thing is that Jehoshaphat repented. He understood that he had been in a wrong place that he had not listened to the voice of the 1:03:45 Lord. And it says in 2 Chronicles 19 when he came out a prophet came to meet him and said, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord and so bring wroth on yourself from the Lord?" But there is some good in you for you 1:04:03 have set your heart to seek God. 2 Chronicles 19 and:3. And it says, "So that's the reason Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, went out and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers." How did Jehoshaphat learn that 1:04:21 he was helpless? How did he learn to listen to the voice of God? How did he learn to drop everything and come to that unshakable faith? Because he learned from his mistakes. The mercy of the Lord led him to repentance. And that that was the 1:04:40 challenge for my life that I want the mercy of the Lord to lead me to this repentance so I can learn to shut out the voice of all other influences and learn to listen to the voice of Jesus Christ. learn to seek his interests, not my 1:04:57 own. Uh we'll we'll listen we'll sing a song and then we want to listen to brother John [Music] 1:05:53 [Music] Let's sing this song. Oh Jesus, I have promised to serve thee to the end. Be thou forever near me. my I shall not fear the battle if thou w by my side nor wander from the pathway 1:06:12 if thou will be my guide. We'll sing in the tune of I love I love my master. [Music] Oh 1:06:29 Jesus, I have promised to serve thee to the end. Be thou forever near me, my master and my 1:06:47 friend. I shall not fear the battle if thou art by my side nor wonder from the 1:07:04 pathway if thou will be my guide. Oh, let me feel the near me. The world is ever 1:07:22 near. I see the sights that dazzle, the temping sounds I hear. My foes are ever 1:07:38 near around me and within. But Jesus draw nearer and shield my soul from sin. [Music] 1:07:57 Oh, let me hear thee speaking in accent clear and still above the storms of 1:08:11 passion the mers of self will. Oh speak to reassure me to hasten our 1:08:26 control. Oh speak and make me listen. Thou guardian of my soul. Oh Jesus, thou hast 1:08:44 promised to all who follow thee, that with thou art in glory, there shall thy serant 1:08:59 be. And Jesus I have promised to serve thee to the end. Oh, give me grace to 1:09:15 follow my master and my [Music] friend. Oh, let me see thy 1:09:28 foot and in them plant my own. My hope to follow dury is in thy strength 1:09:44 alone. Oh guide me, call me, draw me up holy to the end. and then in 1:09:58 receive me. My Savior and my friend [Music] Yeah. It's such a privilege to hear 1:10:31 God's voice. When God speaks, God speaks from his heart. And God's word reveals our own hearts. Um we can identify our own heart with 1:10:54 the characters which we see in the scriptures and um God speaks principles. God wants to help us how to live on this earth. uh we can find fault with this world and 1:11:13 say this that that so many things are wrong but uh if we understand the principle of God and how God works with whom God works then we learn the principle and we don't blame the world and circumstances people around us we 1:11:33 judge ourselves and understand the principles of God then walk in his path where he can come into the picture and help us. That's what we see in Jehosapabat's 1:11:50 life. He realized something. It's not that Ahab was wrong, whatever it is, but he realized he himself was needy. That's what he confesses in his prayer when 2 Chronicles chapter 20. I 1:12:07 would like to read a verse uh in Luke chapter 1 which I was reading the other day. I have read many times but every time I read I see something amazing here Luke 1 verse 46 it is the 1:12:29 statement from Mary she says my soul exalts the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior and he has had regard for the humble state of his born slave See, she 1:12:48 understood. She she understood she she was uh she what she is saying is she's not saying she is humble. She's saying that it's a humble state, a pathetic condition of my own. I am so weak, 1:13:06 helpless. I don't know what befalls or what is in in future. I don't know. But uh but God has shown favor to me. I'm humble. I'm weak. Helpless. But 1:13:23 God has shown u favor to me. And then she says, "Behold, for from this time on all generation will count me blessed." See, she's realizing the principle of life from God. 1:13:42 For the mighty one has done great things for me and holy is his name and his mercy is upon generation after generation towards those who fear him. He has done mighty deeds with his arms. He has scattered those who are 1:13:59 proud in the thoughts at their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones and has exalted those who are humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich 1:14:17 empty-handed. You know, wonderful principle. If you understand this, I think we will fall in line with God's principles or or in other words where I think Isaiah chapter 57:E15 says God is 1:14:33 there to revive the lowly and contrite. God is there. God is committed to the humblehearted. That is what she is saying. God saw me weak and helpless and God chose me and blessed me. And wow, 1:14:52 it's amazing. That's what she is trying to say that God has opposed the proud and always helped the humble. He scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their heart. I would like to turn to another 1:15:10 verse um in John chapter 3 John chapter 3 where Jesus is speaking verse 18. He who believes in him is not judged. 1:15:29 He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. Here what I understand is that what Jesus is saying believing is 1:15:47 uh a character of a humble person. Humble person believes God. We heard in the beginning where Paul was writing Timotei Timotei see you just seek after God will 1:16:06 help you. You're timid I know but you have great advantage in your weakness. In fact 2 Corinthians um 2 Corinthians 12 also he says when I am weak I am strong. What is this? This is the these men of God understood the principle what Jesus was trying to say. 1:16:26 The one who believes in God, he believes out of his weakness. He he realizes that he is utterly uh proud. A snake has bitten. He is poisoned with 1:16:44 pride. A pride of poison has come in. You know the outcome of pride is religiosity like Ahab was trying to act as though he's okay. We know about Saul who was acting as though 1:17:02 before Samuel oh I'm okay I'm okay only this thing no this thing all these things all this acting acting acting these are all acting comes it's in the world I don't blame anyone see if before I was born again I was an actor I was 1:17:19 trying to get a good impression before people until I came to a point and realized oh poison of sin is so much soaked in me. I am religious. I want to uh my reputation. I I fight for my 1:17:38 reputation. Uh I am there to impress people. If people think good about me, that's enough because I didn't have any faith in God. In fact, I didn't believe that God exists. The one who believes God, the one who has faith can please God. The 1:17:54 one who comes to God must believe that God exists. I didn't have that faith. That's why I was pretending before people people's value what people value if people people respect me I value that the these were all strengths of my life 1:18:10 that's what we were all see most of us are born again why did we why why we received the salvation because we came in weakness we believed God exists one day I have to give an account of my life I'm so kind of corrupt So much corruption is 1:18:29 in me. Who can save me? In Acts two where the people cried out, what shall we do now? I'm so filthy. See that? That is where we met the Lord and we received faith. God helps the weak. God helps the 1:18:49 helpless. That is where we started. But we read here something what Jesus is saying. That is the one who received faith. Verse 19. For this is the judgment. The light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than 1:19:05 the light for their deeds were evil. This is what I was saying. See that is what we love darkness. We love darkness. What is darkness? Unbelief. That means oh I'm living before people. People are more important. What people say is very 1:19:20 important. And I want reputation. Even in church I want reputation. uh what people tell me will delight my heart. It's not what the Lord tells me. See, because we live in the surface. We don't have personal relationship with 1:19:38 the Lord. We love darkness. So for their deeds were evil. This pretense and acting and giving impression being religious talking all religious language. These are all pretends. Verse 20. For everyone who 1:19:55 does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. I I I believe most of us though born again because we came to light and said we we were honest and said, "Oh, I'm so 1:20:14 corrupt. Lord, will you please do something? I want to be pulled out of this pit of selfishness and pride. That's when we received that. And here was what Jesus is saying. Verse 21. But he who practices the truth that means 1:20:33 after coming into this uh way of weakness or way of uh honesty, way of truth. If I practice the truth and say I don't want to live before people Lord I want to live before you. I had enough of 1:20:50 it. I'm fed up with it and now I want to practice the truth. That is expose myself before God. See Ahab was acting. He was an actor. Why? He he didn't know God. He didn't have fear of God. What 1:21:07 Mary said God helps those who fear him. That means those who fear him will be honest with God. Lord, I know I can't help myself. I'm weak. I'm helpless. Will you please help me? See, that is what Jesus is trying to say. If you 1:21:23 practice the truth, just be honest. Will you be honest with me? But good that Jehoshaphat understood that. Oh, I he wanted to be honest. He understood from what happened in 2 Chronicles 18. He realized oh man this man has doesn't 1:21:40 have any fear of God and he's acting and then he seizes Micaiah the true prophet he didn't want to listen even ourselves are we willing to listen to the truth or we want to hang around with those who uh speak a language which I 1:22:00 like in in the olden days the kings in the palace they used to have certain people in Canada they call call them hogalu that means those who always keep praising the king I don't know what they call them in English see I used to when 1:22:18 when I used to read history the certain kind of people the king used to appoint they were always say praising him and he wanted to have them around are we like that we have this kind of aalu around 1:22:35 only those to speak nice about me. I want to be with them and doesn't speak something which I I don't like uncomfortable words they speak oh I want to avoid are we like that we are like that we are originally like that but are 1:22:52 we practicing the truth that means I like to be with those who speak the truth on my face which may be uncomfortable but uh that is the truth and uh uh something what I hear their the principle. Most of the godly 1:23:11 people will not tell us the truth on upfront. They they know that we are fragile. So they may not tell the truth. I I I remember one incident vividly many many years back. I remember something I asked brother Ian. He said okay okay he 1:23:29 said but uh I was not so convinced. Maybe later when he was free I went to him again and asked brother what did you what do you think about this then he gave me something uh some advices which uh he said it's not something is not 1:23:48 good about something uh uh yeah whatever see then he I got the truth because I went after him and asked him again I'm really thankful that uh then I said thank you brother Now I understood one principle. So 1:24:05 somebody like Micaaya don't tell us the truth and if you go after him anyway I was still acting but if you go in honesty they will tell the truth. Uh that is what we need. See we have come here not as a Sunday gathering 1:24:22 or nice songs and message message. No not message message. It's we want to hear God speaking to us. We want to practice the truth. I hope all of us have come here to practice the truth, the walk in humility and more humility 1:24:38 so that God will be close to us. When God is close to us, we get light on ourselves. Otherwise, how can we live this unshakable life? If we don't practice the truth, we cannot live an unshakable life because we always think 1:24:55 somebody else is wrong, something else is wrong. See like a husband can think my wife my wife she she is the problem he may not say it otherwise he won't get breakfast next day. So but wife also my husband is the problem but uh when we 1:25:13 recognize like jahushapad lord uh it's me it's me something is not okay with me but I can't win the battle. See like Paul also understood let let's read that it's something which u see Paul was a 1:25:29 very high level 2 Corinthians 12 verse 10 verse 10 therefore I am well content with weakness what a profound statement I am well content with weakness with insults 1:25:48 see when when he says weakness you think about this oh insults with distress with persecution with difficulties for for Christ's sake yeah see God may be testing you with your wife or with your husband 1:26:07 children in the office situation because you want to be righteous you want to be righteous that means you want to stand in in righteousness before God and because of that see like you don't want to shout at your 1:26:25 wife who's wrong that's not the question is Lord I'm weak I stand in weakness I don't want to justify before my wife and I don't want to shout at my wife I don't want to impress my wife or my husband no I don't want that Lord will you stand 1:26:42 with me in my weakness will you please stand with me I I don't want to justify I don't want to convince anyone Jesus never tried to convince anyone never he lived an unshakable life despite of his situations here Paul mentions insults 1:26:59 distress persecution difficulties and then he says when I'm weak I'm strong because verse 9 says the Lord told him my grace is sufficient for you my power is perfected in weakness see we need we need to really 1:27:17 if somebody's humble somebody is weak and they stand in faith. You know, that's what Jesus was saying. If you have faith, you you you win it because God will stand with you. If you have faith, you don't fight for yourself. You 1:27:33 don't try to justify. You don't try to act. You just live before God and wait for his redemption. That's what we heard. I think Exodus 14:14 where if you keep silent, I'll fight for you. If you keep silent in humility and honesty, 1:27:51 practice the truth, just keep quiet, I'll fight for you. That is unshakable life. Otherwise, we have to fight. I have to fight with my wife and children and husband, wife and boss. We have to keep fighting fighting our battles. No, 1:28:08 that's not the way. Paul understood. Mary understood. I mean, men of God, Abraham understood. In the Old Testament, you see that when they came to a weakest point, the God entered into their life. And even Moses, he was not 1:28:24 weak. At the age of 40, he was so excellent. He was a warrior. God said, "No, I cannot stand with a warrior. I cannot stand with a warrior." David, David was also once once once he was very weak. God was close to him. In 1:28:42 his strength he sinned. In his strength he went away. That is what happens with us also. In our own strength we got astray from God. And Daniel, Noah, Jacob. Many examples. Excellent example. Jesus who lived an unshakable life 1:28:58 because he lived in weakness. He never justified himself and he relied on the Lord and God fought for him. God fought for him. And that's what God is. God can do it for us. Whatever the circumstances, situation, let's not 1:29:15 fight. The one who fights doesn't have faith, doesn't have humility because faith and humility goes together because God is gathering in I think Jeeaniah 3 we read that maybe verse 12 where we read God is gathering. What is the 1:29:29 church Zion? What kind of church God is building a people who are humble, weak, helpless and he is scattering or rather chasing those who are proud and let's learn this principle and 1:29:47 may the Lord help us. Let's bow bow bow our heads in prayer. Dear father, thank you. Thank you for an excellent example of Jesus, example of Paul and many many godly ones 1:30:04 who understood these principles and and lived in humility. You lived in weakness despite of their circumstances and they received the power Lord power from you and they lived an unshakable life. Lord, we pray that the resurrection power will uh 1:30:23 enter into our life and we'll experience that power of resurrection so that we will be lifted in every circumstances. Lord, as much we die to self, we will be raised up by your resurrection power. Lord, please help us so that we will 1:30:38 experience that and we will live an unshakable life. Lord, help us. Lord, you are interested in us. That's why you speak to us. Thank you, Lord. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, we cannot do it. We ask you and plead you to help 1:30:51 us and we we trust you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Announcements. 1:31:16 Presenting the book of this month, the full gospel by brother Zach [Music] Pune. Many Christians claim to be proclaiming the full gospel 1:31:35 today. But how can we be sure that we have indeed heard the full gospel? Jesus said the truth would set us free from sin. John 8:32. The proof that we have really heard the truth is that we are freed from sin's power in our 1:31:54 lives. The Apostle Paul proclaimed the full purpose of God. Acts 20:27. This is what all believers desperately need to hear today also if they are to become truly spiritual and not just religious. If you want to have a firm 1:32:15 grip on the Christian life. If you want meat for your spirit to grow strong in the Lord. If you want to know how to have a daily spiritual checkup, if you want to know how to prove God's perfect will, read this book with an open heart 1:32:30 and mind and ask the Lord to speak to you through [Music] it. You can read this book free online at cfcindia.com/books/thegospel. 1:32:46 [Music]
