0:20 Let's uh sing our first song, "Rejoice, the Lord is King. Your Lord and King adore." Give thanks and sing and triumph evermore. Lift up your heart, lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say rejoice. Lift up your 0:43 Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say rejoice. Rejoice, the Lord is King. 1:00 Your Lord and King adore. Rejoice, give thanks and sing and triumph evermore. Lift up your heart. Lift up your heart. 1:18 Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say rejoice. Can we clap and sing, brothers and sisters? Jesus the Savior reigns. The God of truth and love. 1:37 When He had purged our stains, He took His seat above. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say 1:56 rejoice. rejoice. Just the sisters sing. His kingdom cannot fail. He rules over earth and heaven. The keys of death and hell are 2:15 to our Jesus hand. Join them and sing. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say rejoice. Brothers sing. 2:35 Rejoice in glorious hope. Our Lord the judge shall come and take his servants up to their eternal home. Lift Lift up your 2:54 Join them and sing. heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say rejoice. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say rejoice. 3:17 Please be seated, brothers and sisters. Let's continue to praise the Lord. We want to see Jesus lifted high. Shall we all learn how to clap for this song? We want to see We want to see 3:36 We want to see Jesus lifted high. We want to see We want to see We want to see Jesus lifted high. We want to see We We to see We want to see Jesus lifted high. One more time. 3:55 We want to see. We want to see. We want to see Jesus lifted high. We want to see Jesus lifted high. The banner that flies across the sky that all men might see the truth and know 4:14 that he is the way to heaven. We want to see Jesus lifted The banner that flies across the sky that all men might see the truth and know that he is the way to heaven. We want to see. 4:33 We want to see. We want to see Jesus lifted high. We want to see. We want to see. We want to see Jesus lifted high. Step by step we're moving forward. 4:50 Little by little we're gaining ground. Every prayer a powerful weapon. Strongholds come tumbling down and down and down and down. We want to see Jesus lifted high. The 5:09 banner that flies across the sky that all men might see the truth and know that he is the way to heaven. We want to see. We want to see. We want to see Jesus lifted We want to see. 5:29 We want to see. We want to see Jesus lifted high. Praise the Lord. Lord, I lift your name on high. I love to sing your praises. Lord, I lift your name on high. 6:06 Clap and sing. Lord, I love to sing your praises. I'm so glad you're in my life. I'm so glad you came to save us. You came from heaven to earth to show 6:26 the way. From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay. From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. Once again. 6:49 Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I love to sing your praises. I'm so glad you're in my life. And I'm so glad you came to save us. 7:09 You came from heaven to earth to show the way. From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay. From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I lift your name on high. 7:42 Sing the wondrous love of Jesus. Sing his mercy and his grace. In the mansions bright and blessed, he's prepared for us a place. When we all get to heaven, what a day of 7:58 rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing 8:34 his mercy and his grace. In the mansions bright and blessed, he'll prepare for us a place. When we all get to heaven, 8:52 what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. While we walk the pilgrim pathway, 9:14 clouds will overspread the sky. But when traveling days are over, not a shadow, not a sigh. When we all When we all When we all get to heaven, 9:33 what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. Let us then be true and faithful, 9:55 trusting, serving every day. Just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay. When we all get to heaven, 10:14 what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. Onward to the prize before us, soon His 10:37 beauty we'll behold. Soon the pearly gates will open, we shall tread the streets of gold. When we all get to heaven, 10:55 what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. Oh, there's no heart greater than the 11:20 Father's heart, and there's no love sweeter than the Son. I found a fortress. I have found a fortress in the living 11:39 I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge. And my voice will tell of all his saving though the depths of which no man can measure. 11:59 In the days of plenty, in the days of want, I will put my trust in you alone. For there's no heart greater than the Father's heart. 12:18 And there's no love sweeter than the Son's. That this love pursued us is a mystery. For the heart is base and you are holy. Yet the streams of mercy that flow 12:45 will afford me grace to stand in glory. Where with men and angels, where with saints and kings, I will sing my praise to you alone. For there's no heart greater than the 13:08 Father's heart. And there's no love sweeter than the Son's. Hallelujah to my king. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah to 13:28 my king. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus Christ, my everything. Let's sing that once again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah. 13:48 Hallelujah to my king. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus Christ, my 14:07 everything. Our God is 14:32 a consuming fire, a burning, holy flame with glory and freedom. Our God is the only righteous judge, ruling over us 14:52 with kindness and wisdom. We will keep our eyes on you. We will keep our eyes on you. Almighty fortress is our 15:15 God. Fortress is our God. A sacred refuge is your name. Refuge is Your kingdom is unshakeable. With you forever we will reign. 15:44 Our God is jealous for his own. None could comprehend his love and his mercy. Our God is exalted on his throne. 16:04 High above the heavens, forever he's worthy. We will keep We will keep our eyes on you. We will keep our eyes on you. 16:24 Mighty fortress is our God. Mighty fortress is our God. Our sacred refuge is your name. Your kingdom is unshakeable. 16:46 With you forever we will reign. Brothers and sisters, shall we stand and sing? We will keep our eyes on you. 17:05 We will keep our eyes on you. So we can set our hearts on you. We will set our hearts on you. 17:28 A mighty fortress is our God. A sacred refuge is your name. Your kingdom is unshakable. With you forever we will reign. 17:53 Just the voices. A mighty fortress is our God. A mighty fortress is our God. A sacred refuge is your name. Your kingdom is unshakable. 18:21 With you forever we will reign. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God, our maker. For he is our God. We are the people of his pasture. Come, let us worship and bow down. 18:51 Let us kneel before the Lord our God, our maker. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God, 19:13 our maker. For he is our God. And we are the people of his pasture. 19:34 And the sheep of his hand. Just the sheep of his hand. Sing that once again. 19:52 Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God, our maker. For he is our God. 20:16 And we are the people of his pasture. And the sheep of his hand. Just the sheep 20:38 of his hand. Um brothers and sisters, as we just 21:13 sang, let's bow our bow down and worship our Lord. Let's fix our eyes upon him. Let's set our heart upon him. Cast away all the distractions and fix our eyes completely upon his 21:33 grace, his love, his promises, his loving kindness. Loving heavenly Father, we we praise you. We bless you. You're on the throne. 21:53 Your mercy and loving kindness is new every morning. So, we draw near to you, Father, this morning. Lord Jesus, we thank you. Thank you for all that which you did for us. You were slain. You redeemed us. You poured out your precious blood upon the 22:11 cross to redeem us from sin. You have forgiven all our iniquities. You have cleansed us from all the sins. You have justified us. You led us to Father. We thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Father, for loving us. Thank you, Father, for 22:27 saving us from this world, from sin, and bringing us to home, the church, and giving us shepherds after your own heart. We want to thank you and praise you. We bless you, Lord Jesus. We unite our hearts. Brothers and sisters, lift up your 22:42 hearts and lift up your voice to praise the Lord. Lord, we praise you. Loving Father, we praise you and bless you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for all that which you did for us. You redeemed us, Lord. We praise you. We bless you. King 22:56 of kings, Lord of lords, we praise you. Bless you, Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your word. Thank you for the hope which you given us, Lord. Thank you for the joy of salvation. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. 23:10 Thank you, Lord. We praise you. Bless you even this morning, Lord, as we come together, Lord. We want to We long to hear from you, Lord. We want to see you exalted. We want to see you glorified in our midst, Lord. Lift up your name. Lift 23:22 up glorify your name, Lord Jesus, in our midst, Lord. We invite you to our midst, Lord. Lord, you are a God who enthrone on the praises of your people, Lord. We want to praise you. Bless you, king of kings, lord of lords. We praise you. Praise 23:34 you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Lord Jesus, we pray that you anoint your servants, those who are going to share your word. And prepare our hearts to receive your word, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you, Father, for hearing. In 23:47 Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. Please take your seat, brothers and sisters. Let's take a look at look at our memory verses. Last week we had a promise. Psalm 55:22. Please uh repeat after me. 24:05 Psalm 55:22. Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you. Amen. And for this week we have a command. Matthew chapter 23:26. First clean the inside of the cup 24:31 and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Matthew chapter 23:26. First clean the inside of the cup 24:51 and of the dish, so that the so that the outside of it may become clean also. And this morning we will hear first brother Charles and then followed by brother Suresh. Brother Charles over here. Would you turn your Bibles with me to 25:35 Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 29, the last verse. It reads here that behold 25:54 this is King Solomon writing towards the end of his life. He is writing like this. Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, 26:11 but they have sought out many devices. That means God created us as we read in Genesis 1, God created us in his own image, just like himself. In his own image he created 26:31 male and female. And here it says that he made them upright. That means he made them just like him. Like, you know, when you look at babies, newly born babies, 26:50 you see how tender they are. Their skin, their nature, how innocent, how beautiful, and their million-dollar smile. There's no guile in it, no hypocrisy. 27:08 And none of us send our children to school. None of us send our children to school or college to learn bad things, like how to lie, how to cheat, how to deceive, 27:27 how to lust. No, we we don't teach them at all, but they they do it naturally. How did it come? It came all as a result of the fall. 27:47 Disobedience to God's commands, and man listened to the devil rather than to the God who was in their midst, meeting them on a daily basis, and used to have fellowship with him. 28:05 With them. And such a relationship that they had with the Father that they lost it. God created them upright, but it says they have sought 28:22 out many devices. That means they have made ways and means by which they can sin and bring dishonor to the Lord. This is This has come in our nature after the fall. 28:42 And this we don't learn, but it is already there in us. So, that is why Jesus came to undo the works of the devil which the devil had done and tied people up in knots. 29:00 And one translation of that verse in 1 John it says, "For this reason the Son of God is manifest that he might undo or untie the knots that the devil has tied up tied us up with." See, God made us 29:18 men of integrity, men of uprightness, but we have made many sought many devices to dishonor him. When God created man, that's in Genesis 29:37 chapter 6, you see the there are only three chapters diff- differences there. When God created man and man sinned in chapter 3 and chapter 4, 5, and by the time we come to chapter 6, 29:57 it says the corruption of mankind. It says in Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, the Bible reads like this, the first book in the sixth chapter, fifth verse, "Then the Lord saw there is a There's a 30:15 gap of about 1,600 years after creation. In 1,600 years, you see the condition of man here. It says, "And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent 30:33 of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." You read that slowly. It says God had created man upright as we read earlier. And then when God looks 30:51 at mankind 1,600 years later, he sees that wickedness was rampant. It was great on earth. And that every intent of the thoughts of the heart 31:09 of man was only evil. Not once in a while, not occasionally, but it says continually. This was the place man came to. And 31:28 we see God speaking about the human heart right from Genesis. You go through the Bible till in the book of Revelation, God speaks about the human heart. The condition of the human heart and what 31:47 caused it and what is the remedy for it and what is the future of it. And God has made a way for us if only we listen to God's word with open heart and open mind and open ears. You read here in 32:05 Jeremiah Jeremiah chapter 17. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse verses 9 and 10. Jeremiah 17 It's a well-known verse. Most of us know 32:24 this. Jeremiah 17 verses 9 and 10. It says, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately wicked." Most of us know this verse. And God speaks again of the heart. He 32:44 says, "The heart of man is deceitful, more deceitful than all else, and is desperately wicked." See, there is no verse in the Bible where it says about something which is 33:02 desperately wicked except for the heart, human heart. And this is the worst. The human heart is desperately wicked or sick. Who can understand it? And verse 10 it says, "I the Lord search 33:20 the heart. I test the mind even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds." God says, "I know." You see, when Cain killed his brother 33:39 Abel, the Lord asked him, "Where is Abel?" And Cain was so audacious he had that audacity to talk back to God and say, "Am I my brother's keeper?" He could talk to God like that. 33:57 And you know what happened, the rest of the story. He was sent out and he became a vagabond, a wanderer, the rest of his life. He went away from the presence of the Lord. And because of that, he was cursed. 34:15 But when Adam and Eve sinned, the Lord didn't curse them. He cursed the serpent and he cursed the ground. But when Cain sinned, the Lord cursed him. And he had to live with that curse all his life. 34:33 And the Lord knew what was in his heart, and he says, "The blood of your brother Abel is crying out to me from the ground." And the Lord knows every thought and intent of our heart. And he knows that it is desperately 34:51 wicked. You see, the word of God is preached always. And in the um aisle and the a few people sitting, there can be two types of people. 35:10 The word of God comes and speaks. We can see that in Acts chapter 19. There are two types of people always when the word of God is being preached. Acts chapter 19 verse nine. Here it is the Apostle Paul himself, one 35:31 of the greatest speakers, anointed man of God in that century at that time. He is preaching in Ephesus now. And he is speaking to some people there. And verse eight, it says he entered the 35:50 synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God, but when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the way. 36:07 I want you to notice something here. Paul is speaking and the word of God is being proclaimed, and there are two types of people. One set of people, they are trying to catch him and his words. 36:25 These are those hardcore Orthodox Jews. And they are trying to catch him in something. And it says, "As they were listening, they were becoming hardened in heart and disobedient, speaking evil of the 36:44 way." You know, when Jesus began his ministry and apostles began his minis- their ministry in the first century, their teaching was called a sect. It is written here as the way, 37:02 which is a sect, which was a sect at that time. And even now today, if something new from the scripture somebody uh gets a revelation from God and gets light on it and he proclaims like Christ came in the flesh 37:18 and he lived like us as human being. And he had all the pulls of the flesh that we have, but he didn't sin. He lived and he overcame and we can overcome. That's why he said, "Follow me, not imitate me." 37:36 And we proclaim that. And anybody proclaiming the real truth of scripture are always considered by the Orthodox or traditional churches uh uh or they're always looked upon as sects or cults. 37:55 But here, the preaching that the Apostle Paul was preaching, his preaching was known as the way cult or the way sect. And the there is one group of people becoming hardened and disobedient. 38:14 And then they spoke evil of the way before the multitude. And they with- withdrew. Or rather, Paul withdrew from them, and then he Whoever wanted to follow Paul, they came aside. It is something like this, you know. The 38:33 uh the sunlight the sunlight is bright, and it can do two things. When the sunlight is bright, it can harden a clay. And when it is bright, it can melt butter. It's same thing happened here. One set 38:52 of people got hardened, and they left and went away. Another set of people, their hearts melted, and they came in repentance, and they became followers of Jesus. This is what happens in every preaching. There'll be some who get hardened and go 39:12 away offended. There'll be some who will be broken down before the Lord, before his word and his power, and they surrender their life to the Lord. You know, there is a word in medical science called atherosclerosis. That is hardening of the arteries. 39:32 And you know, it doesn't happen overnight. And even the hardening of the heart, human heart also doesn't happen overnight. It's a gradual process. It takes time from childhood, the lifestyle that people live. And um 39:52 the way they I mean, the food they eat, and lack of exercise, and uh and things like that, you know, that can build up fat in the blood vessels. And uh there may come It becomes narrower and narrower, and the blood 40:10 flows very slowly. And other parts of the human body gets affected because of that. And a day may come when there may be a clot or a blockage and then there'll be a heart attack and people die. 40:30 And that happens when they have not gone to the doctor before that. I have come across a few cases where I have checked after the heart attack was uh experienced and the person died. I asked one of uh my friend's brothers, 40:49 uh did he have cholesterol or did he ever go to the doctor and get himself checked? He said, "No." This is what happens finally. If the Bible says if we examine ourselves, then there is no need. Even God will not 41:08 examine us. If we judge ourselves rightly, we will not be judged on the judgment day. The Lord will say, "Pass by. Next he will call." That is scripture. You read that in 1 Corinthians 11. If we judge ourselves rightly, we will 41:27 not be judged. And here is a hardened heart. And hardened heart comes how? This also doesn't come just like that, suddenly. This is a gradual process like how it happens in our human body. 41:46 The fat gets accumulated and accumulated and accumulated and unless we take some treatment for that to dissolve that fat and we consult doctors and take their advice. 42:04 If we humble ourselves before the Lord and ask the Lord to take away our stony heart and give us a heart of flesh like he promised? And if we come to the Lord in humility and brokenness, you think the Lord will say, "No, I can't help you." 42:22 There is hope for every human being as long as there is breath in his nostril. Don't think it is too late. I've done too much too many sins and I cannot be I am beyond redemption or I can I cannot be forgiven. None of us can say that. God 42:42 gives time to each one of us until his last breath. As long as we have breath in our nostrils, the Bible says, "Do not harden your heart so long as it is called today." 43:00 What is today? Today is the only day that we live. We don't live in yesterday because it's already gone. It is history. We don't know about tomorrow. It is a mystery. Today is the only day that everybody lives. Somebody said there are two days 43:19 we do not live. That's yesterday and tomorrow. And every day is a gift from the Lord. And every day is a present. That's why it is called present. Today is 43:37 a present from the Lord. And if you hear his voice today, the Bible says, "Do not harden your hearts like those Israelites hardened in the wilderness for 40 days." And what what happened to those people? 600,000 soldiers 43:57 apart from their wives, children, parents. They must have been at least 2 million plus. These 600,000 soldiers, all of them the Lord vowed. He swore saying that because they have disbelieved me in spite of 10 miracles 44:17 that I did for them and delivered them. They hardened their hearts, disbelieved God and in his power. And the Lord says finally, "None of these fellows will enter into the promised land 44:37 except Joshua and Caleb." Imagine the proportion there. Two is to 600,000. Out of 600,000 plus, it is 6,300 something. Um I mean, out of that only two people were 44:57 able to enter the promised land. And even today it is true. The The Lord said, "The way is narrow." The gate is straight. It's a narrow way. Not many will make it. 45:16 Broad is the way of destruction. People will go on the broad way like how they drive on the highway, zooming, you know. People are zooming towards destruction, but God has made a way. And 45:33 we know that verse in Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3 verses Hebrews chapter 3 verse 12 and 13. 45:51 It says, "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God. What's the meaning of evil unbelieving heart? In spite of seeing God's greatness and 46:11 goodness and almighty power and miracles and wonders which none of us have experienced. They came out with such strong hand of the Lord over them and a protection. The Lord split open the Red Sea and made the 46:29 sea bed as dry land and they walked on it. And behind them were drowned their enemies, Egyptians, and their army, chariots, everything. And then God provided for them so many things. He gave them food from heaven for 40 46:49 days, gave water from the rock for 40 days. Their dresses, their clothes didn't wear out, their footwear didn't wear out. God kept them from sickness and so many things the Lord did and in spite of that it says, 47:08 "Don't be like them. Don't harden your heart by having a evil unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God. But verse 13 it says, "Encourage one another. 47:24 Encourage one another day after day as long as it is called today." Again that word comes. Day after day, that means if tomorrow comes, that'll be again today. Tomorrow will not be tomorrow. Today is the tomorrow that we worried 47:44 about yesterday and it has come today. It has come, that tomorrow has come and that has become today. And tomorrow also will come tomorrow and that will be today when you live tomorrow. So, today is the day the Lord says here. 48:02 As long as it is called today, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is deceitful. You know, it always deceives people. It is It deceives in such a way that you will not know that you are being deceived. 48:20 You think you're all right. You know, just like that Ananias and Sapphira, they thought, "You know, who will find out what is in our heart? We can go and just pretend like everybody is giving 100%. We will also go and give and lay it at 48:36 the apostles' feet. Who will know what we have given, how much we have kept back for ourselves?" But, Peter was a man who had discernment, who was filled with the Holy Spirit. He could see through Ananias and He told Ananias, "Ananias, why did you 48:56 tell Why did you lie to the Holy Spirit?" You read there in Acts 5, Ananias never opened his mouth. How can a person tell a lie without opening his mouth? There it is. Why did you tell a lie to the Holy 49:18 Spirit? Ananias never He could have said, "No, I didn't even open my mouth." But, when he asked, "I- I- Is that all that you saved you I mean, sold your property for?" He said, "Yes." 49:36 Then, the lie came out. And after a while, his wife comes. She also pretends like that, and she also falls dead, and both of them are buried in a span of 3 hours. Both of them. When Ananias died, they didn't even inform his wife 49:54 that this fellow died. They went and buried him without her knowledge. And after having waited for 3 hours, she comes back to see what happened to my husband. And Peter says, "See the feet of those who buried your husband just now 50:10 are still entering. They're just coming in and they will carry you, too." See, it is not a small thing to play the fool with God. If you're honest, be honest. If you're dishonest, say I'm dishonest. Don't pretend to be somebody when you're not. 50:29 That is what God requires in the church. He looks for truth in the inward being, it says in Psalm 51. God looks at our heart and he looks for truth in our inward being. 50:48 That means inside out, we should be truthful. Through and through, we should be truthful. Not one facade before people and another life at home, another life in the office or on the road. God wants us to be 51:06 yourself 24/7. That is God's will, dear brothers and sisters. And um the same book, it says in chapter 10:22, Hebrews chapter 10:22. It says, "Let us draw near with sincere 51:31 heart in full assurance of faith. With sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." It speaks of repentance. When we repent, 51:48 you know, by the operation of the Holy Spirit and by the word of God, our hearts are quickened and we come to come under conviction and we mourn over our failures, our sins, and we repent and confess them to the Lord. 52:06 You remember when Jesus and John the Baptist started their ministry, the first word both of them uttered word to word is repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Why was it necessary for both of them to preach repentance? 52:23 Because repentance is a missing jewel now in the church. You hardly hear about repentance being preached. Because the more you preach about repentance, the less people you'll have in your church and there'll be less revenue. 52:39 Jesus was not interested in that. John the Baptist was not interested in that. They spoke to people. They called by proper name. He called them you sons of vipers. A generation of vipers means 52:58 you children of snakes. There's something snaky about you. You are not transparent. You are one thing before men and another thing before um God. God is not happy about you. He rebuked them saying, "Bring forth 53:18 fruit in keeping with your repentance." And the Pharisees got offended. And John did baptize them. You read that in John, I mean, Luke 7. They got offended and they didn't get baptized. And if you harden your hearts, even the 53:34 Lord will leave us alone. And Lord will leave us um to go our way. He will not You see, we read that in uh uh Mark chapter 6. Even when Jesus was alive, 53:53 so many times Jesus spoke about various things to his disciples, about his suffering, about his death and burial, and resurrection, so on and so forth. But, you see so many times the hardness of 54:12 their heart and unbelief in the heart of the disciples, especially the 12 disciples. He had many other 70 and plus, thousands of others who used to throng around him. But, Jesus spoke to the inner core of 12. And he 54:32 told them about his sufferings and what all he was going to going to go through on the cross. All that, but they didn't seem to grasp it. I don't know why. If somebody tells us something, we we sort of I mean, most of we're all 54:51 clever people sitting here. We all know that what so-and-so said, maybe we can quote it verbatim, word by word. But, many a time Jesus had to rebuke his disciples for their unbelief and hardness of heart. You read that in 55:10 Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6. Here Jesus comes to his own hometown, Nazareth. And he goes to the synagogue and he preaches 55:28 and on the Sabbath day. And you know, there's a word in English called familiarity breeds contempt and because Jesus grew up there in Nazareth, they knew him as carpenter's son 55:47 or son of Mary. Like illegitimate child, we don't know who his father is. He grew up with that stigma. And they didn't care much about what he was speaking. And it says here Anyway, I'm not going to read all that. 56:11 Jesus himself said after he spoke, he took some of them took offense at him and Jesus said a prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown among his own relatives and his own in his own household and he could not do many 56:26 miracles there because of their unbelief. And in verse it says he wondered at their unbelief. Jesus was surprised that these people have so much of unbelief in them that because of that his hands were 56:45 tied, he could not do many miracles there. And Jesus left that place and went away from there to minister elsewhere. Then again in the same book in chapter 16 we read in uh verse 57:04 14. Af- This is after the resurrection. After the resurrection also, you read in other gospels when Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and other women went to the tomb and saw and heard the angels 57:23 speak to them testifying that he is not here, he is risen as he had told and they come back and report to the 12 apostles and 11 apostles. And the apostles seems like nonsense to them. 57:41 You read that I don't know. I don't have time to show all that. They didn't believe. And somehow they I mean Peter and John managed to go and see and yes, they found it was empty, but they didn't know whether it was really resurrection or 57:56 something. But here Jesus comes and appears to them when they're there in verse 14 of 16 of Mark's gospel. It says, "And afterwards he appeared to the 11 themselves as they were reclining at the table." And he reproached them for their 58:15 unbelief and hardness of heart. Again, these two words you see there. Even after the resurrection, Jesus had to rebuke them, reproach them, reprimand them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who 58:34 had seen him after he had risen. Even those Mary Mary Mary Magdalene saw saw Jesus, spoke to him. She comes and tells and they they didn't believe. 58:52 Even when another time in John's gospel, we see when Thomas was not there. Only 10 of them were there. Jesus came and appeared to them. Thomas said, "No, I'm not going to believe." When these 10 people are saying, "We saw 59:07 the Lord." He says, "No. I will not believe unless I see him, unless I touch him, unless I put my finger into his nail pierced hand and side, I will not believe." 59:24 Yeah, Jesus went even down to that level to reveal himself to Thomas. And And dear brothers and sisters, do not harden your heart. The Bible says, "If you hear his voice today, do not harden your heart." 59:42 What is his word today? His word today is the same as it was 2,000 years ago. Repent. Brothers and sisters, some of you sitting here thinking that you're Christian when you are not. Just because you are born in Christian 59:59 family, you think you are Christian. It is not true. Don't deceive yourselves. I thought I was a Christian because I was born in a Christian family. But when somebody asked me whether I was born again and I was "What will happen to you if you die 1:00:15 tonight? Where will your soul go?" I had no answer. Then the next day he asked me to come and he he gave me the gospel. He explained to me that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, not even one. 1:00:32 Before God, there is nobody born Christian. Nobody is righteous. Nobody is born a saint. Okay, everybody is born sinner. That is what the Bible says and I go with the Bible. Let God be true and all men liars. 1:00:51 I go with God. If God says all have sinned, I include myself there. And that includes John the Baptist and Mary the mother of Jesus also because Mary said, "My soul rejoices in God my savior." Who needs a savior? A sinner needs a savior. 1:01:10 Mary needed a savior. Mary was not sinless like the Catholics projected to be. Immaculate. And I know there is one very strong verse that 1:01:29 Bible says in Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23, most of us know that. Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 it says, "Watch over your heart." This is 1:01:48 King Solomon telling the young people young people listen to this. "Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life." From your heart 1:02:08 s- flow springs of life. Or rather from your thoughts, like another translation says "Be careful about what you think." Your thoughts will determine your destiny. That is the meaning of that. The 1:02:27 "Out of it flow springs of life" means what you put in is what you get. Give in and give out. What we Most of you computer science people know that GIGO. What you put in first is what you get. 1:02:45 When you program it, it'll come that way. So when you program your heart that way from childhood, you grow up in a different set of circumstances, neighborhood, and environment then you become the type of person that it has made you to be, society has made 1:03:04 you to be. And watch over it, it says. If you don't watch over it it's a very sad thing. It can be a hopeless case. You remember the story when the Israelites wanted I mean Moses came to 1:03:23 Egypt and met Pharaoh, the king, and asked them asked him 10 times to release the Israelites that they may go out. He said, "No." You read that in Exodus chapters 7 to 1:03:41 14, these eight chapters. You read that there that whenever some calamity God brought and then Pharaoh realized that it was because of my disobedience God sent this. And after that was lifted after he asked 1:04:01 Moses and Aaron to pray and remove this, they prayed and removed it. And after everything was fine, he again he keeps on hardening his heart. And the more he hardened his heart, as it's it's a very interesting thing, at the same time it is a very 1:04:18 uh sorry thing to know. You know what happened? 10 times God brought plagues on them. On six occasions Pharaoh, it says, he hardened his heart. 1:04:36 And when the Lord saw that he's bent upon hardening his heart and he was not there was no repentance found, then it looks like as the God decided to help him. 1:04:55 Then God himself started hardening his heart the next four times. You read that. I'm not telling you story. Go home and read chapter 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14, eight chapters in the book of Acts. Six times he hardened his heart. Four 1:05:12 times it says God started hardening his heart. And when God starts hardening your heart, brother, sister, you better wake up. It may be too late. You may be in the 11th, not even 11th hour, maybe 11.59 1:05:31 or something. You look at this verse. Many times brother Zach has said this is one of the scariest verses in the Bible. That is in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. Verses 10 and 1:05:55 11. I'll close with this. Now, this is the Apostle Paul speaking about the last days and about the man of lawlessness. And he's telling here in verse 10, he says, "And with all the deception of 1:06:15 wickedness for those who perish, this man of lawlessness will come. And he will be deceiving the world at the time because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. They didn't believe what God had told in 1:06:34 his word, rather they believed in some fake miracles that he's going to do in the last days. Signs and wonders. See, are you taken up with signs and wonders and fake miracles? Many are, even today. See, if there are two meetings, one is 1:06:54 healing meeting, another is holiness meeting, where do you think will be more attendance? You know the answer. You've been to such meetings. And what have you received? You heard of somebody getting healed here and there, 1:07:11 but you yourself, you went for healing, you never got healed. Why is that? These are fake miracles. I believe there are genuine miracles. God can heal even today. But most of these, what is being advertised on um the Christian TV, these are all fake. 1:07:31 That's what the Bible says here. They did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. Their soul to be saved, but rather they wanted their body to be healed. And how long you will live with your healed body? Has anybody lived for more than 150 1:07:49 years? Even after healing? Did Lazarus live more than um 150 years? Even after Jesus raised him from the dead, and even that young man, the widow's son, 1:08:05 or even some of those people whom Paul and Peter uh raised from the dead. It says because they don't believe in the truth of the word of God, for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence, 1:08:24 so that they might not believe that they may they might believe what is false. You read that. It's a scary verse. If you don't love the truth, it says God himself will allow you to be deceived. Like he allowed 1:08:41 Pharaoh to harden his heart. Okay. You want to go ahead, go ahead. I will not come your way. You reap what you sow. This is exactly what will happen to us if we harden our hearts today. 1:09:00 And then do not repent and say, "Okay, it's other day. I'm still young. I have to enjoy my life. You have seen so many young people die during COVID. Did they ever realize that they will not be here today? They thought they will they had so many 1:09:17 plans for their life. Do not harden your heart, brother and sister. Hardness comes slowly without notice, gradually, little by little, day by day. You 1:09:35 just ignore the warnings. And you just brush aside the thought that comes to your mind. Repent. Today is the day. Now is the time of salvation. I It's okay. I'll do some other time. 1:09:54 And you stop coming to the meetings, or you come late to the meetings. Do you go late to the office? Or to school, children? Parents, do you send late to school your children? But when it comes to Sunday school, 1:10:13 oh, Sunday school, I can go late. Oh, meeting, I'll go when the message starts. Who are you? Are you a contributor or a consumer? If your attitude is like this, God will also have the same attitude towards you. He 1:10:33 will treat you the way you treat him. Whatever you did to these, my brothers, you did it unto me, Jesus said. If you harden your heart, God himself cannot break it. You see, God's word says, "My word is 1:10:51 like a hammer which can which can shatter the rocks." God's word. If that can't shatter your hardened heart, then nothing else will. Do not harden your heart if you hear God's word. 1:11:09 Today, repent, those of you who think you are you're okay, everything is all right with you. You may even be baptized. We are going to baptize today. Some of them were baptized earlier. After they came to CFC, many 1:11:25 in the past 48 years of CFC's existence, many who have come and heard the gospel here in CFC have told, "I had not properly repented. I had taken baptism without knowing what repentance was, what rebirth was. I want to take it again." And some of 1:11:45 them are taking today. So, I I wish, hope, and pray that you'll wake up today. Do not harden your heart. Humble yourself before the Lord. Cry out to him for grace and mercy that he may be kind to you 1:12:04 and forgive your sins and cleanse your past and make you a new creation. If any man is in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation. All things passed away and behold, all things have become new. May you be a new creation from today 1:12:18 onwards. Amen. We will sing a song now, then afterwards we'll hear brother Suresh. Let's sing this song. 1:13:39 Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy praise. Come thou fount of every blessing, 1:13:57 tune my heart to sing thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Jesus sought me 1:14:15 when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. He rescued me from danger, interposed his precious blood. Oh, to grace 1:14:38 a greater debtor, daily I'm constrained to be. Let that grace Lord like a feather bind my wandering heart to thee. 1:14:57 Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it from 1:15:16 thy course above. Prone to wander. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. 1:15:35 Seal it from thy course above. Yeah. Brothers and sisters, 1:16:16 we must come to the Lord with faith that he's the great heart surgeon. He's able to give us a new heart. We can turn to Ezekiel chapter 11, verse 19. It says, "I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. I will 1:16:32 take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. I'll take that hard stony heart out and give them a heart of flesh. And it's good for us to just read this word in its context. 1:16:51 I'm reading from verse 17 onwards. The Lord says, "I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you." So let's just let's just think of us as a church. God has gathered us together. He's assembled us here. And uh 1:17:13 Verse 18 says, "When they come there, they will remove all the detestable things and abominations from it." And as a church, I believe we are here because we can see that there's no false teaching. There's no corruption as far as I'm 1:17:30 aware of. This is excellent church, excellent teaching, good examples, no fleshly indulgence, no honor seeking. And that's why we've come here. We've come together. And then the Lord says, "My desire is that I'll give you one heart, 1:17:46 one spirit, one desire that the Lord's name should be glorified. And I'll take out your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." That's the promise that the Lord has for us. But the next verse gives us a warning. Yeah, it says, "So that they may walk in 1:18:01 my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them." That's verse 20. "Then they will be my people and I shall be their God." That's God's desire for us. That we will be his people, he will be our God. That's why he's gathered us 1:18:14 together. And he wants to give us a new heart. But verse 21 says, "But as for those whose hearts go after their deceptive detest detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads." So it's possible that we can gather here 1:18:34 and we've removed the detestable things, we've removed the abominations from our midst. But, the Lord is saying there are some among us whose hearts are still going after those abominations and detestable things. The Lord is going to make a difference. 1:18:52 Even as we heard in the church in Acts, there were people who were disciples and were eagerly listening to the word of God and trying to obey it. And then there were others whose hearts were taken up with other things. And they had hardened their hearts. 1:19:11 Yeah, it's good for us to examine ourselves. The verse that we heard just now, Hebrews chapter 3. Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you 1:19:29 That's That's a call for me to examine myself. Is there in me an evil unbelieving heart? I know what my nature is. I know that from the word of God that the heart of man is sinful, deceitful above all things. 1:19:47 But, even now, today, in me there can be found an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 12. It says, "Therefore, encourage one another today. Today, if you hear his voice, don't 1:20:05 harden your heart." And I was encouraged to look at Psalm chapter 95. It's an Old Testament. It's a quote. You can I mean, you can see that in the NASB, most versions will show you that, you know, it's written in a certain 1:20:19 kind of font that tells you it's a quotation from the Old Testament. So, if you go there, Psalm 95. What we sang today, he is our God, we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Same verse, Psalm 95 verse 7. 1:20:37 Today, if you would hear his voice, don't harden your hearts. So, there's two verses. One is today, if you hear his voice, the other says, if you would hear his voice, if you want to hear his voice, don't harden your hearts. 1:20:54 It's possible that we can harden our hearts and I was looking at the margin on that verse, and it says, or Oh, that you would obey my voice. Today, oh, that you would obey my voice. And I see something of the heart of God 1:21:11 there. Oh, that you would obey my voice. Yeah, that that word that says, you know, take care. Take care that there be not found in you a heart, uh an evil heart of unbelief. 1:21:29 That that same verse that says, take care, you know, I I was thinking, it makes all the difference how we listen. And and I wanted to examine that uh parable that we've all heard many times. It's there in three gospels, the 1:21:48 parable of the sower, because over there Jesus says, take care how you listen. See, if we come here and we don't listen, we don't hear the words of God, then we can't be changed. We can't be transformed. And there's we sitting there and doing 1:22:05 something. It's just a religious activity. And I'm here, I've done it before, I do it again. Nothing happens. The word of God doesn't pierce my heart. It doesn't change me. The Lord said, take care how you listen. It says, those who receive the word with 1:22:22 a good and honest heart. That's the good soil. And hold it fast with perseverance and bring forth fruit. That's how the Lord wants us to be. And uh 1:22:39 Yeah, in in in Mark chapter 4 verse 13, it says, "If you don't understand this parable, how will you understand all of the other parables?" Brothers, if we don't listen, if we harden our hearts, then we can't understand anything. 1:22:58 What's the point of coming? Why are you here? It's a good question for us to ask yourselves. Why why are you here? You know, because uh See, I came here because my brother was here, right? My brother was coming to church. 1:23:13 That's how we start. Peter also came, you know, because his brother came. Your parents might be here, your relatives might be here, your friends might be here. That's why you come to church. But why am I still here? Why am I 1:23:25 staying here? I'm staying here because I want to hear the words of the living God. I want to hear the words of the living God that can change my life, that can transform me, that can shatter this hard heart of mine. That's That's the hope that I have. 1:23:44 Yeah, in in in Matthew 13, same same parable. You know, Jesus says, "Why do I speak in parables?" He says, and he's quoting from the prophet Isaiah, "You will keep on hearing, you will not understand. You will keep on seeing, you 1:24:01 will not perceive. For the heart of these people has become dull. And with their ears, they scarcely hear. They have closed their eyes. But he says to the disciples, "Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear." 1:24:21 And I I once again, you know, I was looking at where it says this in in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 6, we can turn there and look at it. He's quoting from Isaiah chapter 6. This is after Isaiah had a vision of the 1:24:39 holiness of the Lord and he said, "I am ruined." This is the prophet that God had chosen in that day. He said, "I am ruined. I'm a man of unclean lips." And then the Lord said, "Go and say this." Verse 9 to the people. Tell the people, "Keep on listening, do 1:24:57 not perceive. Keep on looking, do not understand. Render the hearts of these people insensitive." Insensitive, you look at it in the margin, it says covered with fat. My heart can be covered with fat. And their ears heavy. 1:25:16 Yeah, I've come here many years. I was born in the church. Every Sunday I come, something like this only they'll say again, "Repent." Again they'll say, same thing. May God save us. Help us to take it seriously. Examine 1:25:34 our lives. Yeah, some of us have come from, you know, other churches and we have baggage. We've heard everything we hear like, but this person says like that, that person says like this. The voice of the Lord is saying, "Oh, 1:25:48 that you would just obey my words. Today, don't harden your heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your understanding. Stick my words and obey them. Take them seriously. Take them to heart. The Lord is able to do this. 1:26:09 But we have to respond with with a soft heart. Yeah, uh I was thinking of Jeremiah, the word Jeremiah 13. Jeremiah 13:15, "Listen and give give 1:26:34 heed. Do not be haughty. Do not be proud, arrogant, haughty, for the Lord has spoken. The Lord has spoken, so listen and give heed. Give glory to God before he brings darkness and before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. While you were 1:26:50 hoping for light, he makes it into deep darkness." This can happen to us. We can fool ourselves. We can deceive ourselves. We think everything's fine. Everything's okay. It says, "Give glory to God and pay heed for the Lord has spoken." And then 1:27:05 Jeremiah says, "But if you will not listen to it, my soul will sob in secret for such pride, and my eyes will bitterly weep and look and flow down with tears." So, this is This is the way I was reading this for myself. Is there a godly man, somebody you know 1:27:25 is a godly man, a godly man or woman, who you are you are aware that he is not happy with the way things are spiritually in your life? If that is so, if that's true, if 1:27:43 there's a godly man, I know he's a godly man, and he doesn't approve of my spiritual life. Or if he knew about my spiritual life, if he knew about the way things were, would he approve of it? These are two questions we can ask ourselves. 1:28:01 Is there sorrow in his heart? And if there is sorrow in his heart, how much more there is sorrow in the heart of God? And am I am I going to like do nothing about it? Go Go listening, go on hearing. Want to take it seriously. 1:28:16 And do something about it. Maybe I don't understand. Then you come and ask. Come and talk about it. Yeah, it says it says, you know, in in Hebrews that verse that we were reading, take care that none of you in none of you is found an evil 1:28:34 unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. Says, "Encourage one another day after day as long as it is called today." That means today, what do I need to do? Encourage one another. I need to speak up to somebody else 1:28:51 and encourage them. Because if I don't do that, I may be deceiving myself. It says, "So that none of you will be hardened." So let's just look at this word, you. Take care. You take care. That none of you fall away. So that none of you will be hardened by 1:29:08 the deceitfulness of sin. Encourage one another. Who's he talking to? He's talking to me. See, I can come to a meeting and say, "Okay, now somebody must encourage me." And listening. I'm listening. But I'm not really listening. My heart is 1:29:22 covered with fat. I'm finding fault. I'm saying, "Oh, boring. Same thing." You encourage. You speak. I'm the one in danger here. I'm the one who needs to speak. Yeah, the Bible says, "I believed, therefore I spoke." 1:29:41 Having the same spirit of faith, you also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that he who raised up Christ Jesus will raise up also me also with him. Second Corinthians verses uh yeah, second Corinthians chapter 4 1:29:56 verses 13 and 14. I believed, therefore I spoke. Whatever I believe, I must speak. I must confess. Because if I don't do that, I might be fooling myself. And this you know, heart of unbelief has caused 1:30:13 me to go silent. Yeah. The mouth speaks, the heart believes uh unto righteousness and the mouth speaks unto salvation. That's what it says. So, let's take seriously. Let's do something today. While it is called today. 1:30:32 When the Lord is speaking to me, I don't want to harden my heart. I want to say, "It's my responsibility, Lord, to encourage the brothers and sisters daily." I want to do that. And if there's something stopping me, I want to deal with it. 1:30:44 And you are able to change my heart. You're able to change my heart of stone and give me a soft heart. You're able to do this. Yeah, we we don't want to have a religion of empty words. We sing these songs, "Create in me a clean heart, 1:30:59 renew a right spirit within me." "Change my heart, oh God, make it ever true." God is able to do this in me. He's able to change me. He's able to make me someone who pays heed to his voice 1:31:16 and walks accordingly. Yeah. May the Lord help us. Let's respond to what we heard. Let's 1:31:43 bow our heads in prayer. The Lord is gracious. He's not always angry. He longs to be gracious 1:32:03 and merciful. To all those who come to him, he says, "He who comes to me, I will in no wise cast him out." God is a God of mercy. God of love. 1:32:21 God of faithfulness. And he knows every thought and intent and motive of our heart. We cannot hide anything from him. 1:32:41 Everything is laid bare and naked in his sight with whom we have to do. Our Father, we thank you for this day and for your word and 1:32:59 for all those who have come here. Pray that your word will quicken us, strengthen us, and bring life to the dead spirits, dead souls. 1:33:18 Lord, we pray that you'll help each one of us, especially those who are strangers to your kingdom, those who are just namesake calling upon you. 1:33:38 Lord, we pray that you'll bring them into a real relationship with you by repentance and faith, that they may surrender their lives to you so that it can go better with them. That their life can be 1:33:56 glorious as your word says. You think thoughts of welfare to give us a future and a hope. And not thoughts of calamity. We pray Lord that you will help each one 1:34:15 of us to be broken before you. And to give our broken pieces into your hands so that you can reconstruct them. And redo our work that is going to be more blessed in 1:34:34 the days to come. Commit ourselves into your hands and pray for every family represented here. That you will be merciful to us. Take away the hardened heart, stony heart. Give us a heart of flesh. 1:34:52 A spirit that longs after you. As the deer pants for the water brooks. So shall our souls long after you, Lord. Thank you for this time. Pray that you will be glorified. 1:35:11 In and through our lives. For we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We will now have the book of the month video clip and then after that we will have some announcements. How I wish I had wholeheartedly followed 1:35:41 the Lord from the beginning of my Christian life. I have wasted many years loving the world. Is there hope for me? I grew up in the church hearing about victory over sin, but I have not sought for it until now. Can I still be an 1:35:59 overcomer? Presenting the book of this month, The Purpose of Failure by Brother Zac Poonen. There are many brothers and sisters who feel that because they have sinned and failed God at some time in their 1:36:18 past lives, therefore they cannot fulfill God's perfect plan for their lives now. No matter how much we may have failed or made a mess of our lives, God can still make something glorious out of our lives 1:36:36 through his spirit and his word. It is an amazing truth that God has a glorious purpose to fulfill even through the failures of his children. Whatever blunders you may have made in the past, 1:36:56 you can make a new beginning with God today. God can still fulfill his perfect plan for your life. If God does not do miracles for many of his children, it is not because they have failed him in the past, 1:37:12 but because they do not trust him now. If you have come to the end of your self and are thinking of giving up, then this book will have an encouraging word for you. You can read this book free online 1:37:30 at cfcindia.com/books/the purpose of failure. Mhm.
