0:13 Sometimes people those who have repented and are baptized ask us as to how um we can grow or am I growing in the Lord? Or how do I know that I'm making progress in the 0:31 Christian life? And uh one of the things is that the psalmist says by this I know Lord that you are pleased with me 0:51 that my enemies do not rejoice over me. If that is your that uh that's your experience and if that's how it's been going with you that the enemy is losing more and more ground 1:11 in your life then you know that's one of the indications that you are growing. And we see in the book of Acts on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached the gospel 1:29 a simple gospel, you can read that in chapter 2 of Acts. He preached a gospel maybe just for about 10-15 minutes and it was so power-packed and filled with power of the Holy Spirit that that day 1:49 about 3,000 hardcore Jews just a few days back they had crucified Jesus, the ones who got convicted convicted that day and got saved. And Peter told them, 2:07 "Repent, believe and be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit." That was how it was in the early church. And as we come down from verse 38 to 42 in the same chapter in chap- in Acts 2:24 chapter 2, verse 42, there it gives us a picture as to how they grew spiritually. And it is very important for us to take note of this because this is how we too can grow spiritually. 2:43 It says here in verse 42, "And these people who were converted that day, these 3,000 plus people, they they did four things. It says they were continually devoting themselves 3:03 to the apostles' teaching. That's number one. And to fellowship. That's number two. And to the breaking of bread. That's number three. And the num- number four is to prayer. These four things they continued to do. 3:22 Continually devoting themselves to these four things. And this is how the church early church grew. And those believers became stronger and stronger. And then the gospel started spreading from Jerusalem 3:39 to Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the world. Went to Europe and then other places. You read the book of Acts. Paul took the gospel to Europe. And the first convert in Europe was Lydia. And 3:58 it gives us a bird's eye view of how these apostles operated. And it says here that they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching. You know, the apostles 4:15 they went about from place to place preaching the gospel. And they were not traveling preachers. They were not itinerant preachers preaching one Sunday in one church, another Sunday in another church like that like some preachers do. 4:35 But they were faithful to what the Lord had told them. The Lord had commissioned them saying, "Go and preach the gospel and make disciples of every nation baptizing them in the name of the 4:52 Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit." And that is what they were doing. And they went about place to place. They were not hopping from place to place. They went to a place, they stayed there for a few weeks 5:09 or months or years. You can see that in chapter 11 of um Acts chapter 11 verse 26. You see here in 5:31 26, "And when he had found him that is it's speaking about Barnabas uh when he found uh Paul that is Saul of Tarsus. 5:50 He took Saul in verse 25, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for an entire year he met with the church. And taught considerable numbers, and the 6:09 disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. That is the place they stayed for one full year. And in word uh chapter 19 verse eight, chapter 19 verse eight, it says, 6:33 um there they uh eight onwards, it says, they entered the synagogue and continued speaking boldly for three months. They spoke in um Ephesus 6:51 for three months. And then down in verse 10, it says, "And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." They stayed for two years in Ephesus. Then further down we read in 7:11 the next chapter verse 20 verse 31, um here Paul is giving his farewell address to the church at Ephesus. And he says, "Therefore, be on the alert." He's speaking to the elders of the Ephesian church. And he says, "Be on the alert, 7:31 remembering that night and day for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears." Totally for three solid years, the Apostle Paul preached the gospel 7:50 at Ephesus day and night. Just multiply that 365 days in a year into two messages per day, morning and evening, into three years. How many messages he must have preached? Roughly about 2,000 something. 8:13 So, he preached day and night and established them and built a church. And then he moved on from there to different other places. Uh Lystra, Derby, Macedonia, and Greece, and Athens, Corinth, Thessalonica, and 8:32 and some of the gist of what they preached has already been given to us in the form of their letters, what we call the epistles of the apostles. Paul wrote to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Galatians, 8:52 the Ephesians, and the Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, and uh personal letters to young boys like Timothy and Titus, and then to Philemon. 9:11 Then after that, uh other apostles also wrote, James, Peter, and John. So, we have all those epistles written down for us for our edification, so that we know what these apostles went about preaching. And 9:29 they're given to us. He spoke about church, um the administration of the church, and the church and discipline and building up of the church and various other things and your personal life how 9:47 you can make progress in your personal life and your hidden life so that you know your hidden life is the same as external life. There is no difference between the two that the Lord can see through you and 10:04 he can not only see external person that you are but also the inward person that you are your thoughts, your intentions, your motives your actions, your reactions and all those things 10:23 and this is a gospel that you know cleanses us from within and it cleanses us from inside out not that we do some reformation and you know touch up with few things here and there and 10:42 um try to guard our external testimony. Jesus said first cleanse the inside of the cup. He lambasted the Pharisees in 23rd chapter of Matthew. You do read that. How How many times? Nearly seven times he brought woe unto them. Curse upon you Pharisees 11:01 and scribes. You do this and that and just to get honor and do long prayers and you devour widows' houses and so many things you do all this for external things but your inward life is like dead man's tomb 11:21 like whitewashed grave and inside it is full of stench and dead bones and things like that. The thing that the Lord expects of us those who are born again first of all he cleanses us from inside. 11:40 Our past is taken care and then he gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can live the rest of our life in reverence to God cleansing ourselves and perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This is part of the 11:59 apostles' teaching and uh this is number one what we read in that um chapter 2:42. They devoted themselves continually to the apostles' teaching. And then we come 12:18 to the number two about what they did. That is about fellowship. It speaks about fellowship. You know, fellowship is an integral part of the Christian life because I just can't say that I can I can make 12:36 it without my brothers and sisters. That's the reason why God has given us and placed us in the church so that we can encourage one another and edify one another build up one another and correct one another so that our goal is 12:56 to become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And fellowship is very important integral part of uh Christian life. And fellowship is not just like some people say two fellows in a ship. 13:16 That is not true. There can be 100 people in the ship but there may not be fellowship. Or that there can be two two fellows in the ship or maybe on a bed, husband and wife. In between there can be an Atlantic Ocean. The distance, spiritually speaking, they 13:38 may be like, you know, turning their face to east and west and sleeping on the same bed with heart already divided and separated. Though they're physically there, 13:57 their spirits are not one with them. And Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst." And if there is no unity between the husband and wife, there's no fellowship there, your prayers will come down from ceiling. 14:14 It will not go beyond your ceiling, brothers and sisters. Remember that. The Lord wants us to have fellowship with one another. And the biblical basis, or I can say the definition of scriptural definition of fellowship, 14:33 you can read it in 1 John. This is how our fellowship is built. It's not two fellows in one ship. It is first of all, it involves in the fellowship involves um two people. 14:53 I mean, my fellowship involves two people. That we will see here. 1 John chapter 1 verse 3. 1 John chapter 1 verse 3. John writes here, "What we have seen and heard." He's speaking about Jesus. 15:13 "We proclaim to you that you also may have fellowship with us." Fellowship with the apostles. And indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. See, the first criterion 15:32 of having fellowship or the condition is that first of all I should be right with God. Fellowship between me and the Lord that is paramount importance. And after that next comes the horizontal level of fellowship that is 15:51 with my brothers and sisters whom God has given me in the church. Those who have been washed and cleansed with the blood of Christ and have been born again, regenerated and are walking in the light. Go back Go to the next verse. 16:07 Um And that is in verse six. If we say that we have fellowship with with God if we say that we have fellowship with God and yet walk in the darkness, that means if there is something 16:27 some darkness in me deep down in my heart or in my mind or in my motives if my motives are not pure and clear, clean and I'm walking in darkness if there's anything in me that belongs to the prince of darkness. You know, 16:45 Jesus said just before going to the cross, the prince of this world has been judged. And the prince of this world comes but he has nothing in me. That means nothing that belongs to the prince of the world that is Satan was in 17:01 Jesus. Not a smell of bitterness not a smell of hatred or anything but love. And he loved the world so much that he gave his life so that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting life. And here it says if we 17:21 walk in if we say that we have fellowship with him and still walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. And verse seven it says again of fellowship, but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, that 17:38 means first of all my relationship with my heavenly father is absolutely transparent. He can look down upon me and say like he said to Jesus, "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." That should be our goal to 17:56 hear that commendation from the Lord. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. In order to have fellowship horizontally with one another, I have to first of all 18:15 have fellowship with the Lord. I should know him as my Lord and savior, as my God, and as my father, and as my brother, elder brother, Jesus Christ. And if I know him that way, 18:33 then the love of God will be shared abroad in my heart like Romans 5:5 says, it fills my heart. Then I will be able to love even those who hate me. And that love constrains me to share the gospel and to love them and do good to 18:52 them, pray for those who persecute me, and ill treat me. And you know, that comes only when you're filled with the Holy Spirit. When you're filled, your heart is flooded with the love of God. And this is um about fellowship. 19:10 Um then we read one more very important area about fellowship that is in our family life. There also it speaks about fellowship. First of all, if I don't have proper 19:30 fellowship with my life partner and children, then there's no point in me going and seeking fellowship or trying to um you know, impress the brothers and sisters 19:49 with my spiritual talk. That's not scriptural. The scriptural way to have proper fellowship is turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. This is very, very important 20:07 to know, brothers and sisters, and especially young people, this is a word for you. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, it speaks about our family relationship, verse 14. 20:28 It says here, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers." In the King James and in the Amplified version it says, "Do not be unequally yoked together or get mismatched alliance 20:46 with unbelievers." Especially those of you young people who are looking for life partners, this is a verse for you. Remember, the Bible says very clearly that you are to look for a person who is 21:05 equally with whom you can equally yoked. That means that person also should be born again, baptized, walking in the light as he is in the light. And his goal is to please the Lord alone, not to go to different countries 21:24 to make money and enjoy this world worldly pleasures. You know, Moses was brought up in Pharaoh's palace. He could have been Pharaoh if only he had compromised on certain principles. He didn't do that. He 21:44 he esteemed the reproach, it says, of Christ more than the treasures and wealth of Egypt. He could have been the next Pharaoh and enjoyed life like anything, but he gave it up. Are you willing to accept a brother or a 22:05 sister as your life partner who is spiritually minded and not worldly minded? And you know what is the reason why it says that you should not get entangled or get a a mismatch in alliances? 22:25 It says, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers because what partnership have light have righteousness and lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness?" 22:42 You see, you are called light here, and the person you are trying to consider is is darkness, unrighteousness, and lawlessness. Um somebody called me the other day from 23:01 another church, a brother, about an alliance for his daughter. He asked, "Uh we found a family, a very good family we know, and the boy is also good boy. And what do you say, brother?" The first question I asked him, "Is he 23:19 born again?" He said, "Uh no, brother, he's not born again, but the boy is good. We know him and the family is good." I said, "Brother, if he's not born again, just drop it." And that was my conversation with him. Don't consider somebody who is 23:42 good brother or sister but is not spiritually regenerated, is not spiritually quickened, but spiritually dead, and he is unrighteous, he's lawless, and he's walking in the light, belongs to the 24:02 prince of darkness. What fellowship you have with such people? And what kind of married life you will have, young people, if you marry such a one looking at the salary or, you know, I mean, he's living in such a such a country and he has this, he has that, so 24:20 what? Hasn't God promised you that he will supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus? Has he let any bird starve till they Have you seen any bird fallen down and dead because of starvation? I haven't seen. 24:40 He's promised that he feeds the birds, he clothes the lilies of the field, and he takes care of everything. And he said, "Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things you don't have to worry about. 24:52 They will God will drop them On your lap. That is God's promise. And further it says, "What harmony has Christ with Belial? And what has a believer in common with unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the 25:11 temple of the living God." You know who you are according to these verses? You are first of all you are light. And you are righteous. And you are 25:31 part of the body of Christ, verse 15. And you are temple of the living God. And if you are so then the following promises are and command 25:49 are for you. The Lord says, "For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them." Do you want the Lord to dwell in your home and walk with you in your home? "And I will be their God and they shall 26:07 be my people." "Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate says the Lord. Don't get entangled with unbelievers in marital alliances. Reject them straight away. If it is an unbeliever, drop it 26:24 like one brother was telling in another place. "I'm considering somebody who's not born again, but I'll bring her to CFC." I said, "Brother, there are so many people sitting in CFC for years who are not born again. What guarantee is there 26:42 that she will be born again by bringing her to CFC? You see, don't think that coming to CFC you will become a born again person. That also is a gift from the Lord. You know that. It says in Acts that God granted them repentance. Repentance is a gift from 27:00 God. Not everybody can repent. And the Lord knows who will repent, who will not repent. From eternity past, he knows it. And he allows them. He gives them the grace and opportunity. But the invitation is open for all. 27:19 All that labor and are heavy laden, come to me. The invitation is open for everybody, but not everybody will respond equally. And those who respond and come, Jesus will give them what he has promised. And then 27:38 the next thing we read in that is about the breaking of bread. First is the apostles' teaching, then the fellowship with the Lord and with the saints, and then the breaking of bread. 27:57 Many people have very wrong idea, misconception about the breaking of bread. The day we announce that next day we next week we are going to have breaking of bread, oh, the church will be packed. I have seen that. Church will be packed. 28:16 Those who don't come on Sundays are those who come once in a while, those who don't care even to listen to the Sunday meeting on live stream, they all flock here. You know why? They think that there is a special blessing in 28:34 partaking of the table of the Lord. I tell you, I don't find one single verse in the Bible which says that in the Lord's table or in partaking of breaking of bread, there is a blessing. In fact, there are warnings. 28:52 You go home and read 1 Corinthians 11 and other related passages. He says, "Examine yourself before you come to the Lord's table. Let each man examine himself, his intentions, his motives. His 29:10 How is his heart? Is he walking in the light? As he's in the light, have you cleared your debt to others? Maybe financial or even apology or things like that whom you have hurt 29:30 and offended and cheated. Have you set everything right in your place of work, in your business, in your personal life, family life? Have you apologized to your life partner? That is another hindrance to prayer. 29:49 It says in 1 Peter 3:7, "Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way." If you don't do that, your prayers will not be heard, it says. Then there's no point in you if you have tiff between your 30:07 husband or your wife and you come and pray and pray and pray and fast and pray, even if you pray for 40 days or 40 nights, brother, there's no use. You better go home and sleep and rest and eat well. Don't waste your time praying. Your 30:23 prayer will not be heard, the Bible says clearly. And do not be unequally yoked. You want to build a godly home? Look for someone like-minded who has the same desire to have a godly home. 30:42 Who has the same desire to walk in Jesus' footsteps? And such homes will be blessed. You'll be blessed with peace, joy, rest, contentment in your home. And you will live in harmony with your life partner. 31:02 And your children will see you grow as they grow. And they will want to have a family like they have seen at home. And even when they go away from home, they would long to come back home. Do you give that kind of 31:22 um atmosphere to your growing children? Or the children are just waiting, "When will I um get out of this house and be on my own?" You make 31:40 the You set up the atmosphere. It's in your hand, husband and wife. And don't you ever pray if any proposal comes to you, young people, and you know that the person is not born again, 32:00 don't go and ask the Lord, "Lord, shall I marry this person or not?" You know what the Lord may tell you? He may tell you what he told Balaam, the prophet. He was a true prophet once upon a time. 32:19 He backslid and became a false prophet. And when Balak sent some noble men with a lot of um inducement, um money, and whatever he wanted to reward him with, Balaam 32:39 prayed. He told those people, "Just stay here overnight. I'll tell you tomorrow what the Lord tells me." You know, he had such a connection with the Lord as it were a hotline between him and God. He said, "By tomorrow morning I'll tell you God's 32:52 will." And the Lord asked, "Who are these people?" And he says, "They've come King Balak has sent them to fetch me so that I can curse Israel and he can win." And the Lord said, "Do not go with them." That was clear, just like it is clear 33:13 here, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers." And next day he told them point blank, he said, "I'm not coming. The Lord has not given me permission to come." And off they will go. And 33:31 King Balak sends another uh set of people, team with more um um more money and treasures and with more noblemen. And 33:50 he also asked them, "Uh you stay here. I'll tell you tomorrow morning." And the Lord asked him. And he says the same thing, "They've come again to And this time, you know what the Lord said? He said, "Go." You ask the Lord a second time when it 34:07 is clearly written, "Do not be unequally yoked." You ask for a second time, the Lord will tell you, "Okay, go ahead and get married." And reap the consequences. And you see how many people around you you can see today those who have disobeyed that and have 34:24 hell in their home. A foretaste of hell here on earth. You want your family life to be like that? Yeah, pray for a second time like Balaam did. 34:40 You know, there is a verse in Psalm 116. It says, "God gave them their request and sent leanness in their souls." That means a consuming or a wasting disease 35:00 in their souls. You ask God for a second time when you know God's perfect will that he has said no, and you are to twist God's arm and say, "Lord, I want to bring her to the meetings. I want to bring him to the meeting and get him converted." 35:22 The Lord is not as foolish. He says, "Okay, go ahead, and you will experience the result of disobedience. And you will experience all through your life a wasting disease. I'm not talking about 35:40 physical disease, maybe sometimes you will. Spiritually, you will be diseased. A wasting disease that comes day by day, your spiritual life will decline to an extent that you will end up like Balaam ended up. 35:59 And you will end up like Judas ended up. Both of them loved money. So, take heed to God's word. And the next thing it speaks about the breaking of bread. I was telling about the breaking of bread. Many people think that they have 36:17 blessing in that. Of course, there is a verse in 1 Corinthians 10. Um 1 Corinthians 10, I think was 16. Oh yeah, it is there. It is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in 36:35 the blood of Christ. You can quote this verse and say that there is a blessing in the cup, but read that properly what it says. There is no blessing in the cup, but you are asking for a blessing on that cup. It is not the cup of blessing which we 36:54 bless. We are blessing that cup asking God to bless it. Sharing of Christ's blood. And you keep reading in the next chapter he speaks about the Lord's supper. And he says very clearly 37:14 in chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians um verse 27 onwards. Therefore, whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the 37:32 blood of the Lord. What is it? How is it that we eat or partake of the table in an unworthy manner? Not unworthily, none of us is worthy. But in an unworthy manner. 37:51 That means I know deep down in my heart what dwells in my heart, but still I come as if like a saint and take part of it thinking that the Lord overlooks. You know, Jesus said when you come to 38:10 offer anything to the Lord, especially prayer. And there you remember that somebody has something against you. He said, "Leave your offering there. Then first go and get reconciled with 38:27 that brother or sister or whoever it is, maybe your neighbor or boss or whoever. Get reconciled to him, set things right, and then come and then offer your prayers or your offerings. Then the Lord will hear." 38:45 The psalmist said the same thing, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear." It's I mean, you want your prayers to be answered? I have these things, brothers and sisters, a clear conscience and um 39:04 um proper relationship with one another, walking in the light. If that is so, then your prayers can be heard. Otherwise, it's See this verse. So, he will be guilty of the body and the 39:23 blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself so that let him eat and drink of the cup. And he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to 39:40 himself. This is to whom it is telling. It's telling the believers, not only the unbelievers, even the believers who take part in the Lord's table. It says, "He is 39:57 eating and drinking judgment to himself, not a blessing." There's not a single word saying that you will receive a blessing here. And if he does not judge the body rightly, you are eating and drinking judgment to 40:16 yourself. For this reason, many of you are weak, sick, and number sleep. It means you have weakness in your body or maybe in your spirit. And you have sickness in your body. 40:34 And a number sleep means many of them had already died when Paul wrote this because they took unworthily. Like Ananias and Sapphira, they also partook of the table. They used to break bread in those days every day from house 40:51 to house. Ananias and Sapphira were there. And you know what happened to them. They dropped dead in the church right there in the midst of all the people who were who had gathered there on that day. You read that in chapter 41:07 five of Acts. But verse 31 says, "If we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged." If we judge ourselves rightly, we will not be judged. So, if you don't want God to judge you, 41:25 judge yourself here. So, that when your turn comes before the Lord's throne on the day of judgement, the Lord will tell you, "Next, you go. There's nothing for me to judge about you. You have already judged on earth. Your slate is clean. You go. Next." 41:45 Live life like that. I want to live my life like that. So, that the Lord will tell me, "Carry on. Leave this place to the next person." And the fourth one we read is about prayer. 42:04 And the apostles' teaching, then fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. Prayer is not just you know, asking God give me give me give me give me. That is not prayer. Many people think that prayer is that, but the Lord 42:24 has given us a pattern. In Matthew chapter 6, he has taught us pray in this manner. He didn't say that pray like this or pray this prayer everyday. Some people pray every after every prayer they say the Lord's prayer. That is ritual. Jesus 42:42 didn't mean that. He gave us a pattern as to how to pray. And you see in that Lord's prayer he has made it very clear distinction there. The first three requests Father, thy kingdom come. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be 43:01 done on earth as it is being done in heaven. And then comes our our need. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us deliver us from evil. 43:16 And then comes another layer. For thine is the kingdom, the glory, and the power forever and ever. You see, our prayers or our earthly needs are sandwiched between God's glory and honor and God's kingdom and his power. 43:34 This is the pattern that we have to pray. This is a comprehensive prayer that we first of all worship him and honor him and pray that his name will be exalted on this earth, that he will be blessed 43:51 the eternal ruler, blessed forevermore, the immortal, invisible. The only omnipotent God, the creator. And then we put our petitions. And then we thank him for 44:10 what he's going to do. In faith, we praise the Lord and make our requests known to him. And you know, Paul also prayed. We read about Paul's prayer in 1 Timothy 2:1. 1 Timothy 44:29 Paul was a man of prayer. 1 Timothy 2:1, he exhorts us to pray. He says 1 Timothy 2:1, "First of all, I urge that entreaties and prayers, 44:53 petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men." This is Paul exhorting us. Even Peter also says the same thing. Pray for the king and honor the king and, you know, all those things in Peter's epistle. The same 45:12 Paul he tells in further in 2 Timothy 1:3. Another kind of prayer, he says, as many of you know that Timothy was a young young brother, young brother in the Lord, and Peter 45:30 Paul took him under his his wings. And he treated him like his spiritual son. And he was like a spiritual father. He was constantly praying for Timothy. It says in 2 Timothy 1:3, 45:48 "I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience." See again here, a requisition, I mean, requirement is a clear conscience for your prayers to be heard. "I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did as 46:08 I constantly remember you in my prayers day and night. See, every day and night Paul was praying for this young brother Timothy, a wholehearted brother whom he picked up to be on his team so that he can be 46:27 a wholehearted man like him. And because of Paul's prayer the man Timothy became the man he became. Another apostle. 46:47 And this is another type of prayer, this intercession, praying for one another. And then prayer is You know, it's a communication or communion between me and the Lord. Communion 47:06 uh communication. Unbroken communication. And Jesus said in Luke's gospel, he said, "Men ought to pray always and not lose heart." And Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, 17, 18, 47:24 he says, "Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing. In everything you thanks. This is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus." And verse 17, it says, "Pray without ceasing." What does that mean? Do we have to always kneel down and 47:43 close your eyes and pray all the time? No. What do we do without ceasing? Most of you know that. You breathe without ceasing. Even when you're asleep, even when you're unconscious, you breathe. Nobody reminds you when 48:01 you're going out of station or children, you're going to some other place, your parents won't tell you, "Look, I'll give you a final advice. Don't you ever forget to breathe." The day you breathe, you stop breathing, 48:19 that will be the end of it. Nobody will tell you that. That's automatic. So, when the spirit of the Lord is inside of us, the Bible says he makes intercession for us with groanings too deep for words. And you know, he's the one who inspires 48:39 us to pray. And you can be I mean, that of course comes later on as you develop in your spiritual life. But you can start with praying every day morning or evening or sometimes when you have when you're reminded or when you have some free 48:56 time, you can pray in the afternoon when you're studying or doing your work. You develop that way. And then slowly, slowly it becomes more and more part of your life that prayer becomes like breath. Then you can be in constant communion 49:13 with the Lord in your spirit. And the sum and substance of all that the apostles taught. You know what was their goal? The goal 49:33 Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:5, he says, "The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." This is the goal. Not only this is the goal. 49:52 But Paul says in He says in Galatians chapter 4 verse 19 Galatians chapter 4 verse 19. I'll close with these last two 50:12 verses. The purpose of the apostles labor and striving and teaching is this that he says The Apostle Paul says in chapter 4 of 50:31 Galatians verse 19, "My children with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you." Like a mother who is in labor about to give birth. 50:49 He is saying, "I'm in labor again until Christ is formed in you." That means until your life becomes like the life of Christ, radiates the glory of Christ. The same Paul said in Romans 8:29. 51:09 He said, "Those God called he destined them to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ." He said. See the final goal of all this is love from a pure heart and to make us more and more 51:27 like Jesus. That's the ultimate. And to that end we have been given the word of God, the spirit of God the fellowship and an access to the Father in prayer. Make use of all this 51:47 and let your Paul says to Timothy take pains with all these things so that you know, be absorbed in them so that your progress may be made evident to all. If you follow this path, your progress will become more and more evident to 52:05 all. If not, your your regression or whatever backsliding will also become more and more evident to others. And some have not taken heed to that and they have backslidden and they have fallen away. 52:22 These are all for our instruction. Let us take God's word seriously and strive to please the Lord. And the life is not difficult. He has not left you alone to fend for yourself here. He has sent you the helper. 52:41 Ask for the help of the Holy Spirit every day to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that you can also run like Paul did and said at the end of his life I have run the race, kept the faith and now my time has come. May the Lord bless these words. 53:00 Praise God for all that we heard. I want to I want to start with the the goal that brother Charles ended with in Galatians chapter 4 verse 9 where he said the burden of his heart was that 53:18 Christ should be formed in you. 4 verse 19, "My children, with whom I am again in labor till Christ is formed in you." This is our our great hope and this was 53:36 the burden of the apostle in all that he did. We know that, you know, labor takes a long time. Right? It takes a long time and but you know, the apostles continued with that burden with the the gold that Christ has formed 53:55 inside. And this this continuing, this perseverance is is what gripped my my heart. If we just look at the verse that Brother Charles was sharing on Acts chapter 2 verse 42. This is after Peter 54:16 shared and the Holy Spirit had come down and people were pierced to their heart and he said, "Be saved from this perverse generation." And and after that what happened is it says they were continually devoting themselves. And this word continually is 54:33 you know, what what gripped my heart that Lord, I need to continue. I need to continue. And if we look at the Apostle Paul and his life as we just saw and heard, we think about our elders, we think about Brother Zach, we look at their lives, we 54:49 can see that continuing, that perseverance. That pressing on as it says, you know, on our pulpit here. And if we're serious about you know, that Jesus should be formed in me and that's the goal, then we will use the means that God has 55:08 provided now for for this to happen. And we've heard about those means that the word of God, uh you know, through through the Holy Spirit and that fellowship and prayer and being part of the body of Christ. So, 55:26 uh I I want to look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 23. It says, Again, it it talks about continuing. Yeah. So, verse 22 says that 55:52 he will present us before him he holy and blameless and beyond reproach. I think all of Christianity, you know, talks about this being presented before him holy, blameless, without reproach. But, verse 23 says, "If indeed you 56:06 continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and have not moved away from the hope of the gospel." What's the hope of the gospel? Uh the hope of the gospel, I think if we look at verse 27, 56:24 over there says, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." The good news that we hear is that Jesus will be formed in me. The life of Jesus will be seen in me. That resurrection life will be seen in me. And that's my aim and that's my 56:41 objective. That's the goal. And that's the goal of the apostles' teaching. And I continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast. Um yeah, that uh you know, this continue is is gripping my heart. The verse in Ephesians chapter 57:01 5 verse 18 says, "Be being filled. Be continually filled with the Holy Spirit." And uh speak to each other in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. That uh so so the Holy Spirit is God's way of giving us the means, the strength 57:20 to continue. And besides that, he's given us the word, he's given us fellowship. Yeah. Colossians chapter 3 verse 16 says, "Be continually filled with the the uh the word of Christ. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. 57:40 And it says, you teach and admonish each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your heart to the Lord. So, if we're serious about the goal, then we'll, you know, take the means that God has offered us and given us. 57:56 And uh it's, you know, so many words that we hear, you know, in this church and otherwise begin to make sense. It says, pay close attention to what you have heard. Do not neglect this great salvation. That this is the longing of my heart, 58:14 and this is what I'm pressing on towards that Jesus will be formed to me in in in me. And this is how I respond to the work of God. I think all of us here have have seen that, you know, God has an interest in us. If we just think back about our 58:29 lives and all that the Lord has done in our lives. And to say, Lord, I want to continue steadfast in, you know, pursuing this work that you've done in me, that you've begun in me. With the goal clearly in mind that Jesus will be formed in my 58:44 heart. Here's here's another verse that, you know, we can I I used to understand it in a different way. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 58. And the word steadfast comes over there. 59:06 Uh the Lord wants us to be, you know, steadfast in that place where, like brother Charles was saying, as I breathe, you know, I know how to pray. And prayer comes to me automatically as as a product of the life of the Holy 59:20 Spirit inside of me. Steadfast. It says, be my therefore my beloved brother, and steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. And you know, as as a young believer, I I 59:39 would read this word and I would say, "Okay, I'm doing something for the Lord, you know, singing, I'm sharing, I'm helping, I'm traveling, I'm doing something, I have some, you know, activity, ministry, and it's it's not in vain." 59:52 Okay, I mean, I I I believe that's true, but let's If we read it in context, what's it talking about? All of the verses below before that is talking about the mystery of resurrection. And it's it's saying that there's a seed 1:00:07 that is sown. And I'm if I'm willing to die to myself, then there's a resurrection life, the life of Jesus will be formed inside of me. And that is the work of the Lord that I should be abounding in. No, verse 49 says, "Just as we have borne 1:00:26 the image of the earthy, we will bear the image of the heavenly. We shall be changed." And that is the work of the Lord that I should be steadfast and abounding in, knowing that my toil is not in vain in the Lord. That the Lord will 1:00:43 fulfill his plan and purpose. He will make good on his promise. But this is the work that, you know, the apostle said, "This is what I labor for, that Jesus will be formed inside of you." And and to see that clearly and to press 1:00:58 on towards that goal, yeah, and in in relation to this, I was challenged by the example of the story that we see of Jacob. And we can look at that. It's where where God met with Jacob the 1:01:15 first time in Genesis chapter 28, verse 15. Genesis chapter 28 verse 15. So, we know Jacob's history till then. 1:01:36 And we know all of our history. But the Lord still, you know, met with him as he met with us. And he spoke these remarkable words to Jacob, you know, when he was running away from his home as a deceiver because he could it was 1:01:53 not safe for him to stay there any longer. The Lord said, "Behold, I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land and I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 1:02:09 Wow, what a what a wonderful wonderful promise. And we know that Jacob saw that there was a stairway to heaven. And the messengers of God were descending and ascending on that. And in our life also, for many of us, the Lord has brought us to that place 1:02:26 where we see, "Oh, there's something else different from the things of this earth that I've been pursuing." And the messengers of God have descended and ascended and there's there's a different path, a glorious path. I can 1:02:38 go upwards. And the Lord gave him this promise at that point of time, but he said, "No, I don't want to go that way. I want to go this way." And he he he was amazed that God had spoken to him. But his what his response was, "If the 1:02:53 Lord blesses me, you know, I'll give him 10%." That that was his response. But the Lord's promise was, "I will not leave you until I have accomplished what I have promised." And we know that there was another meeting in another place 1:03:12 where God brought Jacob through so many circumstances, trials, and and showed him that it was only his power and his blessing that was keeping him, sustaining him. And he came to a place where he said, "I will not leave you until you bless me." 1:03:30 And he held held hold of God. And he said that that place was called Peniel. Yeah, we can see it in Genesis chapter 32. He laid hold of God. 1:03:48 Verse 16. No, not verse 16. Yeah, verse 26. He said, "I will not let you go until you bless me." And 1:04:06 then then he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." The rest of his life, that mark of having met with God and wrestled with God stayed with him. Because he was a broken man. And he lived in that, 1:04:23 you know, as the man who had seen God and who God had broken. And that's what we want as the sisters, that we will see God. No. And and get that that new life. Not not my old life, but a new life that only he can give me. 1:04:43 And the Lord did this for Jacob. And we have an equivalent promise in in the New Testament where Paul says that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. It's It's in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6. He who began a 1:05:04 good work in you will be faithful to complete it. And I have to come with that faith. That Lord, what you did for Jacob, you can do for me. And I've seen you and you've pointed this different path to me. And my heart's desire is to continue 1:05:21 into in these things until I see you clearly and my life is transformed and the life of Jesus shines forth in me and through me. And Lord, you're saying that you who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. 1:05:36 And I I want to press on. I want to continue Yeah, this uh you know, Paul Paul said that I press on to lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of. And I count everything else is done. And uh 1:05:55 you know, we we've seen that in relation to the word of God, in relation to the fellowship. You know, we've heard from Brother Zach that you know, when I I God speaks something to me and I don't understand it, I lay hold of it. And I lay hold of God 1:06:11 and I say, "God, what is this word?" And I don't move from there and I wait. You know, I press on for what God wants to accomplish in me. I read the word, you know, not till I go through the word but till the word of God goes through me. 1:06:30 And you know, I've heard like Tozer say and Spurgeon say, "Pray till you pray." It's a matter of discipline. We have to start somewhere. Maybe we can start with just making a habit. But learning to pray till you know, I reach the throne 1:06:45 of God and knock on his door and have a glimpse of his glory and have clarity as to what he wants to do. This is the journey. What a journey it is. What a high calling it is. Till Christ is formed inside me. And you know, I would say fellowship 1:07:02 till you fellowship. Don't stop at you know, you have to start there. You have to start with like social, you know, just how are you doing? And and being friends, but don't stop there. You know, press on to to fellowship where the I I I can see the 1:07:18 life of Jesus and what the Lord has done in somebody else's life. And, you know, I also have the confidence to be to be, you know, transparent. You can't do that with everyone, but there's a there's a progress that we can 1:07:32 make. No, fellowship till we fellowship. Pray till we pray. And let the word of God lay hold of me so that in all these things that the glory of Christ will be seen in me and that, you know, I am laying hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me. 1:07:48 Because long before I had any inclination or desire, the Lord looked at me and made this promise. And that's the faith that I have that God will, you know, work it out in my life. He'll transform me. Christ in me will be the hope of glory. 1:08:04 This is the work of the Lord that I want to be abounding in. May God help us. Just as we have heard, as we individually grow into the likeness of Christ, God's will is that together as a church, we become more and more united. 1:08:19 We know that the church is the manifestation of God's kingdom on earth. And God's will is that this kingdom of God should not function as an earthly kingdom or an organization, but as a body. And just as in the body the different 1:08:38 members are united, God wants the different members in the church to be united. And for this reason, the early church practiced these four things which we have just heard about in detail. Uh the first, the apostles' teaching. 1:08:54 See, the unity, the kind of unity the Lord wants among the members of the church is not something that he wants at the expense of the truth. So, he doesn't want any compromise with respect to the truth. So, what he has given us 1:09:10 to have unity and truth is the teaching of the apostles. So, the early church devoted themselves to to the teaching of the apostles so that how so that they can have truth and in that truth they can have unity. And they were devoted to it and as long 1:09:26 as they were devoted to the teaching of the apostles they were kept free from false doctrine and many types of errors. In Ephesians 4:13, we read that Paul speaks about attaining to the unity of the faith. And 1:09:44 and for this unity of the faith to be attained in all essential matters of doctrine it is necessary that we follow the teaching of the apostles and we take it very seriously. We know that in the world or in Christianity, all churches claim to be 1:10:04 following the teaching of the of the apostles. But we are indeed blessed to have a God-appointed teacher anointed by God in brother Zach who has interpreted the teaching of the apostles so accurately and also in the same spirit in which the 1:10:23 scriptures were written. So, if we devote ourselves to such teaching, we can be protected from false doctrine. And the second is fellowship. And while the unity of faith will take a long time to arrive at for us to agree on all matters of 1:10:42 doctrine there is something else called the unity of the spirit which Paul speaks about in Ephesians 4:3. This unity of the spirit can be attained in the church and that is attained through fellowship. So, we have to devote ourselves to 1:11:00 fellowship. First of all, we have to ensure that we have fellowship with God because without fellowship with God, we can't really have fellowship with each other. We know that example where different musical instruments, if they are 1:11:15 tuned with the same tuner, uh they are not only in tune with the tuner, but also they are in tune with each other. So, when we have fellowship with God, we can also It is easy for us to have fellowship with other brothers and 1:11:29 sisters in the church. And that is one way we can see uh if if you are really having fellowship with God, then it'll be easy for us to have fellowship with other brothers. If you are finding it very difficult, then we have to examine ourselves if we 1:11:44 really have fellowship with God. And the third thing we heard is about the breaking of bread. And here also we know that Jesus told, "Do this in remembrance of me." So, that is the motive uh that is the uh we have to keep in 1:12:01 mind uh the death of Jesus, the life of Jesus uh when we take part in the breaking of bread. And remember that that is how we have come together as a church. See, we belong to different backgrounds. We are very different, very 1:12:15 diverse, different languages, and different cultures, and so on. But what brought us together is the life and death of Jesus Christ. And Jesus said when he started uh the Lord's table with his disciples, he said, "This is my body which is broken 1:12:33 for you." So, the Lord's body was broken for us so that the members of his body may be united. And we know that in Ephesians 2 again, Paul says that Christ broke down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles. And not just between Jews and Gentiles, 1:12:51 but between the different kinds of Gentiles, people from different races, nations, and languages. And he has made us one by his death. And when we take part in that Lord's table, we also are confessing that we are also willing to be broken just as 1:13:09 Christ was broken so that we don't remain as individual grains of wheat, but we we become as one bread. And finally, prayer. And we know that just before his death, uh before the night before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed. 1:13:25 He wanted his disciples to be one, and he knew that the disciples would form the church, and he prayed in John 17:21, "Father, that they all may be one." So, that is what the desire of the Lord, the prayer of the Lord is. And as 1:13:41 members of his body, we also desire the same thing, and we join with him in that prayer. And when we pray, as we pray more and more, we are more and more attuned to God's will. And as each member of the body is attuned to God's will and performs God's 1:13:58 will, the whole body together, the church, can fulfill God's purpose here on earth. So, may the Lord help us to, as we heard, to be continually devoted to these four things and thus fulfill God's purpose on earth.
