0:03 So we'll have a time for prophecy time, time of sharing for people who are committed to this church and consider this as their church family. We um to all the visitors uh if you haven't 0:23 heard um or we haven't mentioned to you what we we encourage all the visitors to take time and pray about uh which church family they could should commit to. But um eventually if uh you come here and you decide that this this is the church 0:37 family that you want to be part of then um encourage you to uh after you've taken several months or so um if you decided this is your church family to come appro talk to us elders and uh let us know and we'll we'll talk to you and 0:52 um and uh we just want to we just like to know who considers this who is committed and so this time of prophecy is a time that we consider for people who have consider this their local church family that they're committed to. 1:07 Um, we'll uh open it up and can I see a show of hands of people who have something they want to share today? EM Paul Surin Renchu let me uh just check the back and 1:25 see if there's any and I'll pray while while he's checking. Father, thank you so much for speaking to each of us in our lives by your Holy Spirit through circumstances, through your word. 1:42 We pray that whatever you've gripped us with throughout the week that you would each give each of us grace to share, share effectively, share clearly what you've put on our hearts. 1:59 Lord, we thank you for uh speaking to each one of us directly that we don't have to go to uh anybody to talk to you because you've given us direct access to you. Thank you father so much for giving us fellowship with you. Please fill us with your 2:17 spirit to speak your word today in Jesus name. Amen. Is there anybody in the back that wants to share? No. Okay. Um so I encourage everybody who uh does have something to um try to keep it 2:36 brief so that we have uh enough time for everybody. And um we always encourage everybody, let's make sure that this is something that God has spoken to us and not something that we like to that we heard, but something that we at least has motivated us and 2:56 changed us and ch or challenged us in some way in our own personal lives. So I'll I'll start and then I think um do we remember the order? There's Eim, Paul, Sur, and Renchu. Is that okay? Okay. So I had something um to 3:12 share from an experience this past week or two that uh I had been able I felt it was a situation I had been a I felt God gave me opportunity to exercise a lot of different words from the Bible that he 3:30 has given and uh it was uh um so I just wanted to share about that experience and kind of going through it. Um it's regarding so we're uh I'm not sure if everybody knows we're uh me and my family are planning on going to the 3:46 India uh conference in Bangalore in a couple of weeks and on the way over we're stopping uh by Paris and we're so just trying to get all the logistics set up uh and we're uh so to book a Paris hotel we we're kind of doing it a little 4:02 last minute and so they seem to be pretty expensive and we were uh so we were considering ing doing one of these like uh home rent vacation home rentals that tend to be a little uh better on price and uh little there was 4:16 more availability. So, we went on there and we we booked one and then uh we just got a a simple like kind of automated email back and then we had some questions and I had emailed these people and I've never we' never done this 4:32 before so I didn't know what to expect and I emailed them and asked them a few questions and I didn't hear back and so a couple days had gone by and emailed again and a couple days had gone by and so Jessica was uh she had called both 4:44 these phone numbers that were listed and it just went straight to voicemail. and she never heard back. And so, um, I just figured one thing, uh, this is a scam. Um, I didn't know, uh, I had never done this before and I figured, well, I I 4:57 don't know what else to think. Like, we can't get a hold of them now. And the the thing was we had right when we booked it, we had to pay a deposit, which I thought was pretty large for um just like a whatever it was, cleaning or 5:09 I'm not sure what the deposit was for, but we paid it so we could make sure to book it. And uh and so uh I figured uh these people are trying to scam us. And um so through this uh God, you know, God is speaking to me. Just be patient and 5:25 trust me. U at the same time be wise. So I felt that um the wise thing would be to try to book a hotel just in case this wasn't going to work out. So we booked a hotel. Um and this uh made sure that the deposit was refundable in case this 5:39 worked out. And then um and so since we booked the hotel, like after we didn't hear from him for so long, I figured, okay, we're just going to cancel and try to get our money back somehow. We can't get a hold of him. So I emailed uh I 5:51 emailed this guy one last time just saying, uh we haven't heard from you, so I'm cancelling. Within two hours, he emailed me back. Oh, no, no, no. We're uh we're we're good to go. You know, I here's here's all the instructions again 6:01 in case you didn't get them. I didn't receive any contact from you. And um and so I I let him know uh I we're you know we're we're going to cancel. And then he he was he sounded we we hadn't heard back from you so we're going to cancel. 6:16 And he sounded like we're we can't give you a deposit back because the policy is if you uh cancel then we only get your deposit back if we can book the place. And so I um I was a little disturbed by that. And uh God was speaking to me um 6:32 just be patient and don't the devil was tempting me at the same time like uh with thoughts of you got to go leave a negative review on this guy's page and blast the guy so nobody else ever books. Um but then God reminded me of the 6:45 scripture vengeance is mine says the lord. Uh so my uh my duty was to to not be take vengeance on my own to this guy. And so that was one scripture that encouraged me. Another one was uh love your enemies. So um the I basically felt 7:02 the whole situation I was praying to God, Lord, I want more important to me than getting the money back is that I wouldn't sin in this situation that we would handle it correctly cuz I don't deal with these confrontational types of 7:14 situations very often. And so I just my prayer was I don't care if we get the money back or not, but I um just help us not to sin whatever we do. And so um there's this there was this other verse that encouraged me that uh so I was like 7:31 so what should we do now then? Should we just say okay I'm just going to leave it. Um but then I remembered this verse in John chapter 18 that God reminded me of verse uh 23. I'll just read um 22 and 23. John 7:49 18 22 and 23. This is when Jesus was being questioned after he got taken. Uh he said, "When he had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus saying, "Is that the way you answer the high priest? Jesus answered him, if I have spoken 8:05 wrongly, testify of the wrong, but if rightly, why do you strike me?" And there was such a good principle for me there that it's not that we as Christians just let people walk all over us or we don't try to get seek justice 8:20 for ourselves ever. Like right here, Jesus was um he was basically at their mercy and they struck him wrongly but but and he questioned it like he didn't just stay quiet right there. Most of the time he stayed quiet but he questioned 8:33 it one time and after um after that they uh he didn't say anything anymore. He just stayed quiet. But the principle I took was um I should ask for what's right. So I emailed him again and I said um I believe since we couldn't get a 8:47 hold of you that you should give us the deposit back. And uh he emailed back and said that's not the policy. I understand you got we have to be trustworthy but that's not the policy. And so um I was tempted to be angry at that point. And 9:00 uh but I was like but I had in my mind such a peace about it that I can only explain that came from God. Like I almost didn't even care if I got the money back or not anymore. I'm like Lord um I just want you to be honored. And I 9:13 I saw that the money was in God's hands. And so I told God this is your money. It's not our money. Like if you want him to have it then that's fine. he can have it. Um, and I had such a peace after that. And this uh I I had more of a 9:27 desire um I had more of a desire that God give the money who he wants to who he wants rather than me get the money back because it's really his money. And um and I'm just saying, Lord, just cleanse our attitude. And so I kind of just left 9:43 it at that and I resigned myself to I'm not going to leave any negative reviews if he doesn't give my money back. I'm just going to let it go cuz it was God's choice. Um and then I got an email this morning saying they booked the place and 9:53 they're giving our uh deposit back. And so like after everything, you know, it worked out. But even if it didn't work out, I just um saw like simple principles in the Bible that helped me to get through the situation, have total 10:04 peace about it, not be disturbed, and um so I just praise God that his word is simple and practical. And um I uh I hope that the rest of the trip we can get through with the same type of peace. There's going to be a lot of challenges. 10:17 I know taking kids that far around the world. But uh uh yeah, just that God would be honored through everything, whether we um you know that uh whether we get sick, whether we get robbed, whatever, that God would be honored and 10:29 that we would not sin in whatever we have to go through. Hello fam. Hello family. Can you hear me? Oh, 10:50 great. Okay. Um, had a busy week. Uh, very long week. And, um, I'll just get to the reason why I wanted to share this. Um, in the last year, I've actually been embroiled in a lawsuit. And 11:10 um so I was sued by a very big corporation and in addition to all the other things I was dealing with. Um so immediately I knew I did everything correctly. So didn't think that I had anything anything to worry about and so 11:25 I uh hired a lawyer and um we started the process. This is the first time. I've never been sued before and uh it was an it's been an interesting experience because once the lawyers came involved I didn't understand what they 11:41 were talking about anymore. You know they will file a suit they'll file this or file this motion. I mean some documents were like 15 20 30 pages long of just English but not English if you know what I mean. Um so sometimes I just 11:56 will read through it get to you know I mean I'm a science guy so I want to know the conclusion and then so um at first I felt very good about it um I was right and so what could I what could be wrong you know I did everything right and so 12:11 eventually even though there was all this legal stuff I was going to be I was going to prevail and um that's not how it works you as the case said to build mountains and mountains of papers. I mean, not mountains, but you know, lots of 12:29 paperwork that I couldn't even remember what was said and what wasn't said. And eventually, my lawyers called me one day and said, "It looks like we're going to have to go to trial. The judge is not going to dismiss this case. I think you 12:42 should settle." And I said, "Settle? Why?" "Well, you know, you have a 50/50 chance." I was like, "50 chance. I am right. And um and make a long story short, we disagreed. I prayed about it. I remember talking to you, Jama. I said, "Should I 13:01 let this go? You know what I did? You know, I did everything right." And she said, "What do you think?" And I prayed. And I said, "I just don't feel good about it. I I I know I did everything right. If the judge rules against me, so 13:16 be it." Um, so I parted with my lawyers and decided to take the case on my own. I had to take the case on my own because I didn't have any any money to hire any more lawyers. I mean, for all of this mountain of paperwork, you're paid to 13:31 build by the hour. And so, um, just not, you know, it's funny how they say it's you're trying to find the truth. You're really not. You're really an exercise in who can blink first, you know. And um so I decided to take the case on 13:45 my own and it has been far more difficult than I can ever have imagined. Not because of the case itself but the rules that regarding the truth. Um you know if you didn't file a motion be certain before a certain 14:03 number of days you can't file anymore. You have deadlines on when things were supposed to have been set even if it were true or not. And of course I'm not a lawyer. So I was like I did not know I had to file this in order to say that. 14:17 And I didn't know that if I had said that I can say this. You know it became very technical. And so um eventually after figuring out the best way to lay my case forward I filed my what we call a cross complaint. Meaning 14:35 they sued me and I'm suing you back. And after I filed it, I felt so good. I felt so good because I simply told the truth. This is what happened. This is what you told me. This is what I was told. This is what I 14:53 did. I didn't think it was going to change anything, per se. I wasn't sure, but I felt good. And of course, immediately they followed back and we started getting to this cross thing again. And this week was the peak of it 15:06 because they essentially twisted everything I said. And um I was telling Jama, you know, during the week like I can't believe they're trying to imply that I did this when they know I did 15:22 that. So every night this week, I was just crying and not crying like crying really, but just crying to God. God, you know what I did. you know why I did it. You know the truth. And every time I did that, I felt good. I just felt good. And 15:41 um this morning um I was reading Psalm 18:2. And um it says, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take 16:00 refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." You know, the one thing that I realized through this process and you know, I don't know what the final outcome is going to be. Um, but one thing I have realized and 16:16 I'm so grateful for and we're we're so happy about is that we have a God that is willing to hear the truth without anything, without any petitions and filings and deadlines. You just come to him any time of the day, any moment, and 16:35 he's ready to hear you. He doesn't like require mountains and mountains of paperwork to to figure out the truth. He's there for you. You just speak. And in all this process, that has been the most, you know, satisfying thing is when 16:53 I get to say the truth. And um reading this today, I just realized we're blessed that we have a God that believes that. And we should always realize that we have an open God who's there to hear the truth and is not 17:12 willing to hide behind petitions and motions and filings and things like that. So, um I hope that blesses anyone who may be sometimes be misconstrued or is fighting some accusation that is not true. You have a God that listens and is 17:31 ready to hear from you. That's it. Good morning, family. Probably the last 3 months or 17:50 so, I've uh without getting too many details, I've been dealing with a lot of health issues. So, I spent a lot of time on my back, a lot of time thinking with God and him speaking to me. And um uh I realized a couple things and that's 18:08 one is Satan loves to give his advice on those times where you're thinking and laying on your back. And uh Philippians 3 is going to be my um encouragement this morning that I had uh verse 13 and verse 15. Philippians 18:27 3:13 and verse 15. Um, but you know, as I was laying on my back at times or just not having much time to um I don't know, uh, serve him in in ways that I thought I needed to do at 18:45 that time. I remember Zach saying he was laying on his back for a long time and God spoke to him. And so I said, "Lord, if that's what you have for me, then I want to listen to everything you got to say. Uh even if it is in pain and 18:57 discomfort, uh discomfort, having to take medication and uh do things the doctor uh tells you to do that you can't use certain parts of your body and that kind of thing. It's very frustrating, very you have to discipline yourself to listen to those 19:12 instructions and uh and it can be you can be at least I was tempted to be uh discouraged at times or or even um you know feeling sorry for yourself or whatever it may be. Um, but it was a it was a different time for me to be able 19:28 to realize how good God is. And if I persevered with him in in prayer during those times of discomfort and pain, he would meet with me and he would encourage me and he certainly did. And I praise him for that. And there's so much 19:40 more to grow in that. But, um, I can truly thank him for that time of just being uh, you know, in discomfort or in pain. Uh, cuz you get to a point you say, "Lord, when when is this going to end? when is the next ailment going to 19:53 stop or come and and I'm going to be over with it? And uh so he brought me to verse 13 and it says, "Brethren, I do not regard myself as laying hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and 20:10 reaching forward to what lies ahead." And so during that time of of the last couple of months or whatever, the Lord was verse 15, let us therefore as many as are perfect have this attitude. And if 20:29 anything you have a different attitude, God re reveal this also to you. And just like Romans 8 has been so applicable into this, I'm so thankful that you guys had us memorize that. Uh this is becoming one of those uh uh chapters as 20:41 well. Uh because I I never thought of like verse 10 looking back and saying or sorry before I get into that verse 13 Paul saying I do not regard so this is an attitude I was thinking this whole these last verses from 7 through where 20:59 we're at now is an attitude that God wants me to have as Paul had. And so he was honest right in verse 12. If I haven't obtained this altogether and part of forgetting what lies behind is realizing that I haven't 21:18 obtained all that God has wanted me to. And what is that? Obtaining what? Knowing him. Verse 10, uh, gaining Christ. Verse 8 and 10, knowing him. Uh verse 10 also says the power of 21:37 his resurrection. The fellowship was of his sufferings and the power the power of his resurrection fellowship of his suffering was kind of like having victory over my sin. And so it was something that Paul was was he was knowing him more. He was 21:54 gaining Christ. He was having victory over his sin. But it was not fully he realized and that that's the thing that I was grabbing hold of is that it's not fully not in this life. I'm fully going to gain Christ. I'm fully going to have 22:06 him, but I'm going to know him in the moment. It's going to be a present thing that uh that's where I think I I can find my discontentment is when I'm in pain or or in discomfort or whatever. It's give me the pill so I can be done 22:20 with it, right? Give me that scripture so I can be done with it. You know, give me victory over this so I can be done with it. No, it's in the present time. I want to know you and the power of your resurrection. And whatever comes out of 22:31 that as I'm trusting him, God will use that in in this church and my brothers and sisters in Christ or at work or whatever. That's what God's going to use is that work over my sin and in me uh reflecting Jesus and everything. And so 22:45 it was not um it was uh becoming content with that process that he does in the midst of the suffering and the pain and the discomfort that I was having that um part of it was so what's my point on verse 13 forgetting what lies behind is 23:02 that difficult for you sometimes and yeah it's it's difficult to sometimes look over the regrets and things of life but I think what Paul was talking about there obtaining it, obtaining the knowing him, the gaining him, those things. That's I 23:19 think what he was referring to of forgetting. And as I was looking back, sitting and spending those hours of thinking and praying and asking to help me, it's I was thinking a lot about what I had not obtained in him. And and so he 23:36 goes, "You need to forget that. You need to stop it. You can you can make your list all day long every day for the rest of your life of how much you're not obtaining. I mean, how much you have obtained and how much you're not 23:48 obtaining. You can do both, but stop. And he was following me truly through his spirit. I just really heard him saying, "Knock it off." And okay, well, I just It's not just knocking it off. It's not that easy. But I think the answer was for me 24:05 in this was the second part of the verse in 13 which says and reaching forward to what lies ahead. Um and he was talking about verse 14 that goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ. Well I said okay God what does that really refer to? And I I 24:23 went back up to verse 10, which reaching forward in faith was to know, like I said earlier, was knowing him in that process of whatever it is that's facing you. It's experiencing victory over sin. Sure, it's part of it. The re resurrection 24:42 life of Christ and the fellowship of his s sufferings. The fellowship of his sufferings. I thought about that verse. I can't maybe you know where it is but uh he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. So those that 24:57 fellowship of his sufferings I think as Jesus said no to sin for 33 and 1/2 years. It's the similar thing with me. Um as I experience suffering in the flesh it's suffering against saying no to you cuz it does right. It's not 25:12 there's a suffering that takes place there when I say no I'm not going to do that or whatever. I'm not going to dwell on those thoughts. I'm not going to listen to the lie of the enemy. I'm not going to let him remind me of what I 25:24 have not attained or have obtained or whatever. But I want to continually be in a mindset that says, "Lord, I'm going to reach forward in you because this is what you have for me." And that's to know you more in the process. Know how 25:38 good you are. know that um you're accomplishing something uh through me that's going to bring you glory um and it's going to draw me near to your breast as this wonderful picture here is the father's heart for for me uh 25:54 it was it was all those things and so uh and I I just really appreciated Paul's honesty and I think that's two things that I can take away from him is that when he says forgetting what lies behind he was he was honest that he did not obtain 26:09 what God was having for him. And what lies behind, right? I mean, sometimes with time, what lies behind was just 2 seconds ago what I just said. So, if it was a failure this morning, if it was a failure yesterday, 2 weeks ago, whatever it was, it's 26:25 forgetting that. It's done. It's over. It's in the history books. Okay. Make amends. Ask for forgiveness. Whatever you need to do, great. But don't dwell on that and say I'm never gonna amount to anything because that's ultimately I think what 26:40 the devil wants, right? Is he wants to destroy us. So he wants to remind you of that and how terrible you are, how you won't be u I don't think anybody has not struggled with in this body with at some point being told by your 26:56 thoughts or by Satan, you're no good to the body at NCCF. How could you? whatever you did it is. How could you possibly be an asset to this body or whatever it is that's a lie that's in the from the pit of hell and I think ultimately it's a suicide you know 27:12 as we've seen so much he would love for us to kill ourselves. So that's it. I mean it just verse 13 and verse 15 having that attitude and verse 13 uh to reach forward uh to know him more to gain him. uh if that's presently happening in our lives, I 27:32 think God is well pleased and there's nothing really else we need to worry about. Hello family. 27:50 So I just want to share uh what God has taught me and the verses that helped me uh during the past one week or so. Uh Colossians uh 3:15 it says and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which you 28:10 also you are called in one body and be thankful. The first part of the verse and let the peace of God rule in your hearts. So last week uh I had to um do I mean God allowed certain circumstances in my life to reveal a sin that I 28:28 thought I had a victory over the sin of anger getting angry and getting frustrated uh be becoming impatient all all sorts of different manifestations of anger. uh I the reason I think when I analyzed why it happened I mean why I had behaved 28:47 the way I behaved the reason is I'm worshiping an idol which is uh self that is I'm serving the self too much that every idol requires a sacrifice right so you offer a sacrifice and you are trying to please yourself and no matter what 29:05 you are trying to through every circumstances you want your say you want you are I want my thing to be done. So the moment uh I I fell into that sin and I experienced that that I lost the peace that there's something 29:22 disturbed uh in my spirit and um yeah sin breaks the peace with God and within yourself too and our relationship with God is immediately suffered and the more godly we become I think the sooner we will uh get back we'll confess uh 29:40 Ephesians chapter four. I think it says uh do not let the sun go down upon your anger. Um and also I thought I had a reasonable victory over anger but uh I thank God for the situation uh that revealed that I'm still I still need to 29:58 depend on God to overcome that. Uh I still need to ask God to give victory over the sin. Matthew uh chapter uh in the biatitudes I think most of you heard about from Jack Pennan's messages he talks about two sins uh anger and uh 30:14 lusting with eyes I once asked him why uh I mean why he emphasizes so much because those two sins God when Jesus was explaining those things uh teaching about them he associated with hell so so serious and uh um thankfully we have wonderful promises 30:33 we have wonderful ful God, God who understands us. Uh in 1 John 1:9, he says like if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And also chapter 2 verse one, it says um uh little children 30:48 sin not. First thing is our standard is sin not. Do not fall into angry but if you fall we have an advocate Jesus Christ the advocate uh righteous. So we have a great comfort. uh we we cannot take comfort that we are falling 31:02 repeatedly but we have a comfort that God understands and God forgives and restores our relationship restores the peace as soon as we confess it and come back to God. So uh the thing is I should not hold hold back and I should not let 31:15 the sun go down upon my anger and wait for next day to restore the things but whatever I need to do uh confessing to God or uh setting the relationship with the other person need to do need to be done right away that and then this 31:30 Colossians 3:15 will be true again in my life that the peace of God ruling in my heart it's an umpire it's like I can check and I can guard my heart uh whether I am in peace anything that is disturbing our spirit uh we should we 31:45 should uh get it right right away and thank I thank God for the wonderful promises and this picture also is so touching today I mean when we come back to him when just God is like hugging us back and then he's he's not just uh 32:01 forgiving us our sins but also giving us strength to overcome not condemning us why did you fall uh all we need is honesty before him and thank god uh we have such a Great loving father. Praise God. I thank God for the words 32:27 you've been hearing today. Uh I just like to share something from what I've learned over the past week or have been learning over the past week. Uh I've through laziness of my own side, I've found out how important it is to 32:41 spend time with God on a personal level, like not just receiving things we hear in church or receiving things we hear from other people, uh but the time we spend one-on-one with God and how how important that is in in our Christian 32:53 life. not only in our personal lives but also in in the way we interact with other Christians. Um one of the verses a passage that I was reading p in the last week was from Romans 12. Uh it's the it's the passage it's a chapter that 33:07 starts off with uh talking about presenting your body as a as a holy sacrifice which is your spiritual service of worship. And uh you know that vers had usually overpowered the rest of the chapter for me. this time uh reading 33:19 reading through verse 9 through13. It seemed like a very practical uh passage that Paul puts out. It says uh let love be without hypocrisy. Abhore what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Give 33:32 preference to one another in honor. Not lagging behind in diligence. Fervent in spirit serving the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Persevering in tribulation. Devoted to prayer. Contributing to the needs of the saints. Practicing 33:45 hospitality. And in all these instructions, there's one theme that kept coming back up to me. Like there were like specific phrases like uh love without hypocrisy, devoted to one another and brotherly love, giving preference to uh to one another and 33:59 honor serving the Lord, contributing to the needs of the saints. And I was thinking in all of this, one thing, one way we we practice that is practice that as a church, I believe like loving others, serving others, uh giving 34:10 preference to to others is is when we come to church, give having the chance to to prophesy or share or when we meet one another to being able to encourage each other. Uh and uh I was reminded by another brother of the verse in Romans 1 34:22 in verse 11, 11, and 12 where uh Paul talks about his attitude towards the time that he spends with other brothers. It's uh it's interesting to see how Paul not only wanted to receive encouragement but also give like he says in verse 11 34:38 and 12 he says that so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you that's for I long to see you so that I might impart some spiritual gift to you but in verse 12 he also says that I may be encouraged together with you and that I've read 34:50 this verse in the past as well and seen the importance Paul gives to that it's it's not only Paul the great Paul wants to be encouraged by the regular Christians in Rome comments and that was something that stood out for me. But 35:01 like his attitude that he wants to impart some spiritual gift to them and that's something that we can't do unless we've prepared ourselves like that. There's no way I can fellowship with a brother and be an encouragement to him. 35:12 If in my daily life I I choose to sleep instead of study the Bible or you know some something like that. U in 1 John 1:7 we read of you know how it's important to walk if we have fellowship with with each other if we walk in the 35:24 light. It's not just standing in the light. You've got to be walking. You've got to be in that motion. you got to be growing uh in the light and that that's been something that stood out to me and also the parable that uh Jesus talks 35:35 about the the person who comes and asks for bread you know where Jesus says you know he knocks on the door again and again and asked for bread that bread wasn't for himself that was for wasn't for himself but for a friend who had 35:45 come to his house in the middle of the night and so in that sense like what for sure it's it's for my own benefit if I if I spend time with God make sure that I I I study the word and and discipline myself in that regard but 35:58 It's not just for me, but also for for the brothers and sisters who are around me and, you know, the people I I have a chance to fellowship with and spend time with. If if I don't do my part and prepare myself, I'm doing a disservice 36:08 to myself first off, I believe, but also to uh the brothers and sisters around me, the the family that God has put uh put me in. Hey guys, good morning. Um, so I'd like 36:26 to share something that I felt God challenged me with uh this week. And in a nutshell, it's a paraphrase of Colossians 1:9. It's a pretty beautiful paraphrase. And it basically says to learn to look at things from God's point 36:40 of view. And that's something that challenged me because if I wanted to discern how God's going to lead me and guide me in life, that's a very important principle for me to keep in mind to learn to look at things from God's point of view. And if I could use 36:53 an illustration, it's as though we're all nearsighted and everything we see is is kind of blurry. But as soon as you put on your glasses, you see things clearly. And those glasses for me represent God's word. And we see the 37:06 world a certain way, but when we put on the glasses of of God's word, that's when it becomes a bit more clear. And that what helps guide us. So just to give a bit more practical example of what I'm I'm talking about um as many of 37:18 you know um I'm in a stage of life where I'm looking for a life partner and it's a very uh nebulous process in a sense and what I learned through this process is that it's very easy for me to look at a situation look at a person and assess 37:33 it using the values of the world as opposed to the values of God. The values of the world being a bit more external, the values of God being very much internal. And I remember praying for this and say, Lord, you know, guide me through this process. 37:47 But what I realized was that Lord, if I'm not willing to look at things from your point of view to say, Lord, I'm going to look at people through the lens of your word. How in the world are you possibly going to guide me? I'm just 37:58 going to I'm just going to go astray. So, that was the challenge for me this week. Um that whatever the Lord thinks is beautiful, I want that to be beautiful in my eyes. Whatever is not beautiful in the Lord's eyes, I want 38:09 that to be not beautiful. And my hope is that if I look through the world and my life through God's lens, then it'll be easier for me to discern his leading and I won't um fall off the road or something. So that's all. Thank you. 38:21 Yeah.
