0:00 This will become a reality in our lives, and we too will embrace this gospel of a God who overlooks our faults and says, "I see the need you have." That's what I'm come to address. This is a joyous Sunday for us. Um 0:19 there's a brother who's been coming for a few weeks, months, and has decided to join our church. And we do not glory in numbers, but we rejoice when God brings people of the right spirit, people who uh committed to following the way of 0:36 Jesus and are gripped with the message that we're trying to establish here. Um and Brother Thomas, I'm going to ask him to come up and just share a few words of why he's chosen to join us, and um just as a word of introduction also 0:50 for him, it's really a blessing to see somebody who's older than us, um and probably has children close to some of our ages. As elders, I'm talking about us as elders, too. His children are in their 20s, some of them are married, 1:06 but he has such a passion to demonstrate the virtue of submission, and he we take it as a great honor that he's willing to submit to Bobby, Jeremy, and myself, who are a lot less experienced than he is, but uh we welcome him. So, uh Thomas, please 1:24 share. Praise the Lord. First of all, I thank God for bringing all of us over here safe and sound for today's service. Uh thank you, Brother Sandeep, for your 1:44 comment about me. It is all God's work. I'm here just to tell you why I decided to join 2:01 the family of God's family, that is this church. In the year 1999, some brothers and sisters came together for a prayer and fasting for 7 days. God miraculously led me to that. 2:20 I took my believer's baptism on Sunday, January 2nd, 2000. That group of believers were registered as Silicon Valley Christian Church, San Jose. I was an active participant of that church. 2:38 In the meanwhile, God opened my eyes and ears to the messages of Brother Zac Poonen. His messages, real revelations, captured me. Then, I thought like this, "If there is a church of Brother Zac in 2:57 the Bay Area, I want to be part of that." One day, I attended this church at Sandeep's house with my son and his wife. But again, I thought to myself, "God placed me in Silicon Valley 3:14 Christian Church, and I have to remain and help revive that church." Let me make it short. They are all good brothers and sisters with a great zeal for God. I love them. I was with them for 14 years. 3:34 I pray for them. I realized that Brother Zac's calling is for discipleship ministry. Now, I recall a passage he quoted, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his 3:52 cross daily and follow him. Luke 9:23 NIV. These words has helped me a lot when I was going through difficult times because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character 4:12 hope. Romans 5:3-4. I could understand what is a real worship in spirit and in truth. Another thing which motivated me is the biblical pattern of the church run by the elders. 4:29 Again, I am quoting from brother Zach. If you are in a church, submit to the elders and pastors of that church. If you are not happy, leave that church. Do not stay there and cause problem. So, I submit to the elders, Sandeep, 4:48 Jeremy, and Bobby. I join hand in hand with you and the brothers and sisters to serve the church family. Please pray for me and my household so that Joshua 24:15 5:07 last part may be fulfilled in my life. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. I am confident that God will reveal to us more about the new covenant in the New Covenant Christian Fellowship. 5:25 May the grace of our Lord and Savior in Jesus Christ be with all of us. It's very important that our church remains pure, and purity of our church is a big deal. So, it's I think it's a little bit 5:45 easier for us when we are asking new members if you really want to be a part of our church and that question of purity is a little bit easier sometimes to get a yes or no answer but it's sometimes more difficult when we've already 6:03 said yes and now we're starting to warm the seats for a while and it's been a while and then purity can also be um um can be made impure and the Lord will pass over anybody sitting here who has 6:22 who's not who's lost that seriousness with which you had when you first joined NCCF. Not because God only works through NCCF, but God is trying to do something here through us. And God works through united people. And so if you're united with the elders in 6:41 what we're trying to do and hope to God that we as elders are also trying to be as serious as we possibly can in our fight against sin. But I want to use every time we have a new member. I hope that's a call for all of us who are or are already committed 6:54 to this church. Have you lost your first love? Things were so clear to you at one point when you joined NCCF. Has this now just become like a routine? Has the enjoyment of fellowshipping with the saints lost it? That 7:10 it's become a little bit of a chore. May God help us. May God ask God again, "Lord, I can't do this without you. I need you to revive my heart. I need you to circumcise my heart. It's getting it's getting old. That rawness and 7:27 freshness, I'm losing it. And let us remain in that state of a first love as much as we can. Um we use this time also for a time of sharing for those who are committed members of this church to share if God has put something on their heart, God 7:44 has taught them something. Um Now, can I have a show of hands of those who would like to share something? Okay. Got quite a few. Good. I just have I heaved a breath cuz I got to remember now. 8:02 So, we have Paul and Michelle on this side, then we've got Bobby, Wen Hai, Surin, and Ijeoma. Arnaldo and Jessica. So, and we've got Jeremy in the back. If there's anybody else in the back who can do it. So, this is wonderful. 8:20 Um please be mindful of the time, so come up as soon as the other ones finish. Let's start with this. Let's start with Bobby. Um Ijeoma, do you have a preference when you go with the child? Doesn't really matter? Okay, so we'll start with Bobby, 8:31 then we'll go Paul and Michelle, and we'll go then Wen Hai, Surin, Ijeoma, Arnaldo, Jessica. You okay, Jessica, too? And then Jeremy, too, and then he's Hi, everybody. So, I wanted to share um 8:56 what First of all, thank you, Brother Thomas, for what you shared. I wanted to share what uh I appreciated most about what he shared was um something I think that's important for me and for everybody to take away is that um he didn't bash 9:12 or look down on his other church, his old church. And so, I think that is a um it's pretty rare to find people who don't look down on um Christians who uh don't share the same views as them or are in a different place as them. 9:27 And I just uh hope that we can all have that same attitude where um uh it's a very, very rare jewel to to a Christian who doesn't look down on other even denominations, I think. And if we can be um the kind of people who are 9:45 looking at ourselves like, "Boy, I got so far to go." and not putting requirements on other people like they're so far behind, then that's uh very beautiful in God's eyes. I remember one time um going to this uh Bible study and this 9:59 guy was so passionate. He was um preaching the word and sharing and he was so excited and um the way into his house, I saw his van. He had stickers plastered over the whole thing with how he loved Jesus and um uh the gospel over this van that he 10:13 drove and I was his work van, I think. Um and then at the end of the meeting, uh we were talking and he said, "Oh, what church do you go to?" Uh then I told him what church I went to and he started he started talking down about it because we 10:26 um he said, "Hey, I've Yeah, I've been there. They don't have pews. They sit at tables and they serve coffee during the um service. I I don't think that's a very good church." And uh for all that it could kind of reminded me of what you heard a few 10:36 weeks ago ago about people casting their pearls before swine. So, for all of the um the zeal that somebody can have, they can cast it before pigs just by um looking down on other people. So, thank you, Brother Thomas, for um 10:49 sharing uh your appreciation for being here without um criticizing anybody else and we have a race to run and uh our job is to look at our own life and purify ourselves um Uh the Bible says that whoever has the hope in God purifies themselves just as 11:04 he is pure. It's not that our goal now is to purify others. That's a secondary thing. Focus on ourselves and then the um I think uh others will uh naturally be benefited by our individual walk with God. So, um what I had to share was from Matthew 11:21 chapter 20. Just a um something short that Jesus said that I saw in a different way this week. Um Uh Matthew chapter 20 verse 28. Jesus said, um, 11:43 Matthew 20:28. He said, "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many." Um, maybe it would be helpful to read the verse before even. Um, "Whoever wishes to be first among 11:57 you shall be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but and to give his life a ransom for many." So, um, it kind of opened my eyes a little bit to the fact that Jesus was living life with this thought in his mind constantly, I've got 12:17 to die. I won't I don't I I don't think Jesus knew exactly when. I think he was led by the Holy Spirit, so I think God showed him, um, when it was time. Uh, but up until that point he he lived life with God, but with the idea in mind 12:32 that I've got to die. I've um I've come to this world to be a servant, not to be served. I don't have any expectations for myself in this life. I'm basically here to do God's will and um and to give my life up. And it was opened my eyes to 12:50 I've always kind of saw it as a unique calling of Jesus. Well, Jesus didn't really have hope for much cuz he knew he was going to have to be crucified at a young age and um, but for uh myself in a sense we we share that. We can share 13:03 that mindset with Jesus and we have to, I guess, in a sense that um I've uh I'm here not to be a served. I'm here not to uh accomplish my own will. I'm not I'm here not to live for myself, but to die. And there's so many good qualities for 13:20 about dead people. They never get angry at other people. They don't they aren't obsessed with the world accomplishing their hopes and dreams. They aren't angry at other people when they walk on them. Dead people are such wonderful 13:30 people. So, in a sense, I think that's something that we can share in Jesus. Dying to having this mindset that when things go wrong, it's not such a big deal because I'm not here to live out my fantasy. This I heard a quote one time. It's the thing 13:47 that has made this life so terrible for many is that man has tried to make it his heaven. And the problem is problem isn't the fact that I have a hope for heaven. The problem is that I'm trying to transfer heaven down to this this life as well. 13:59 And Jess and I were on the way back from our vacation a couple weeks ago when we heard this sermon that was a good sermon. It was titled unrealistic expectations. And it kind of even though it may sound a little depressing, it wasn't at all. It was 14:18 It was encouraging because it was a exhortation that when we start to put requirements on God and think that I'm here to be served and I need all these things from God and other people. And if I'm not getting something out of church or if I'm not 14:33 getting anything out of my out of my spouse or my children aren't obeying me like they should, we start to become discontent and rebellious towards life and even towards God. In a sense, we kind of can start blaming him for 14:46 our troubles. But when we go into when we go into life with the mindset that I'm just here to be a servant, I no servant ever puts a requirement on his master. So, Lord, I don't put any requirement on you. Whatever you choose 14:59 to give me, I'm happy with because you're my master. And I'm thankful I chose You've given me the free will to choose you to serve you. And I've chosen you as my master. I'm going to do it with a joy, not complaining. It would be pretty 15:11 foolish for me to stay at a job and just complain there the whole time. If I'm If I don't want If I'm not happy with the job, I should just quit and get a new one. But God, he's he's the one who saved me and I'm happy I'm happy to follow him and whatever he 15:27 that entails, whatever he wants to give me. And so, um Jesus always had that mindset that I I just I'm I'm not here to live a fantasy life. I know what my end is. And so, in a sense, I want to keep that. I know what my end is, too. My end is 15:43 godliness. My end is purifying myself. My end is not the fantasy that I see in these movies that I watch about people living happily ever after and um but it's I I shared a little bit with this with Jessica and I was like she 15:57 said, "Oh, that's kind of depressing." And so, I had second thoughts about sharing it cuz last week Cindy was like, "We should get under people and lift them up." But I I really don't think it's depressing. I think for me it's not 16:08 been depressing. It's been encouraging because it in a sense it's helped this truth has helped to transfer my joy from heaven to uh or from from here to heaven to moving my in a sense, it's not taking away my joy, moving it. So, instead of 16:22 finding my joy to find my joy in this world, it it helps to ground me and kind of like what Jeremy was sharing last week that this life is not really um this physical life is not really as real as a spiritual life. It's so it's 16:40 kind of like I guess I can compare it to some people play these video games like where they're they have lives online and they play 30 or 40 hours a week and their friends are on there and they make money and build houses and all that. Um 16:52 and we can kind of look at those people like that's pretty ridiculous, but I think in the same way it's kind of ridiculous to live this life building up a kingdom in this kind of like video game. That's so it's it's not really real compared to 17:05 the spiritual life. And so, God's moving with with that in mind, the fact that I I'm here to serve God, to live for for him. I'm here not to build my own kingdom, but to build God's kingdom and um, not uh, I want to have realistic expectations 17:20 and I think that will bring a lot more um, uh, uh, incentive for me to move my joy from this world to the next. That's one thing that I think a lot of um, newly married couples, they get advice or before marriage counseling, they say, "Go into 17:32 marriage with realistic expectations. That's the best thing that you can do before going into marriage. Have realistic expectations." And um, uh, and in the Christian life, when we start doing that, I think when we can it's 17:43 easier to move our joy to God, to find God as the center of our joy. In the last uh, few weeks, I've been um, 18:12 looking at Luke 19, 20, and 21. And uh, basically 19 was uh, Jesus was talking about the parable of the nobleman. And Luke 20 was uh, what was it? Um, parable of the uh, the vine grower. And 18:30 then 21 was the return of his return. Um, so I'm not going to get in fully that, but one common thing that that standed uh, stood out to me was uh, to be on guard, you know, to be ready. Um, in Luke 19, I mean, if you one 18:48 consistent thing also was why to be on guard, um, to be ready because when Jesus comes back, he's going to want something for that mina, for that talent that he gave us. Um, also with the with the vine, he wants fruit back from that. Um, 19:05 from the uh, the work that he's doing in our lives. Uh, so with with those three things, um and then also in the last probably couple weeks or so, uh Naomi and I have had just a brother in Christ just just shock value, you know. 19:24 Some of us when we get uh we know somebody close to us who has done something or involved in something we we get alerted, you know, and I think um through the through the reading of the scripture through Luke and and just that 19:38 that happening, God was saying, "Be on guard. Be alert." And uh so, I just wanted to share if uh just a couple of things, a couple of scriptures um of how to do that. Um so, Jesus was talking in uh Mark 13:33-36. 20:00 He says, "Take heed." He says He says "alert" like four times and and like four verses. He says, "Take heed. Keep on alert for you do not know when the appointed time will come. It is like a man away on a journey who upon leaving his house and putting 20:17 his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on alert." Verse 35, so he says, "Therefore, be on alert for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or 20:36 when the rooster crows, or in the morning." Verse 36, "In case he should come suddenly and find you asleep." Lastly, he says, "What I say to you, I say, be on alert." And just a couple of simple things 20:55 for me to think about being on alert was like walking in the light, walking in the spirit, and walking in love. So, Genesis 6, sorry, Genesis 4:6, with uh interaction between God and Cain. God's reminding Cain, he said, "Sin is 21:14 crouching at your door. And his desire is for you. But you must master it." And I thought about coming outside of my house. And you can have a your front door just haven't like maybe from the waist up just glass so you can see out your front 21:30 door. You're going to go out your door, but sin is below that glass so you can't see it. So, as soon as I open that door, I better be ready. And this is it wasn't like a word of paranoia to me, you know, the last a couple of weeks, but it was just a sober 21:46 alertness. That sin is there, you know, and it's it's ready for us. If I'm not ready for it, it's going to it's going to pounce on me like a big gorilla. So, and I I I just briefly I was thinking about Romans 6:14, you know, with that same 22:04 verse, right? It's You must master it. You must master that sin, whatever that sin is for you, that giant in your life. And Romans 6:14 is a wonderful promise, right? And it sin shall no longer be master over you. So, I think one of the worst sins is 22:19 pride, right? That's what made Satan fall. That's how he fell from heaven was pride. And you know, in that context of Peter and Jesus speaking about or or the guys talking about who's the greatest in heaven. I was like, "Why are you guys even 22:35 talking about this right now?" You know, but Jesus you know, told Peter he you know, basically you're going to deny me. So, I prayed for you. Um But it was it was Peter's just he wasn't being careful, right? He was just 22:51 speaking out of his emotion of the moment. So, that was a warning for me. I was reminded too of um There was a there was a top um, soldier for uh, Hitler and his name was Adolf Eichmann. And uh, he had been uh, brought to trial 23:08 here in the United States actually and one of the guys that was testifying against him was just just being in the room with the guy, he was gripped. Just just gripped and overcome with emotion. And uh, being interviewed later 23:24 uh, the you know, the guy said what you know, what was in your mind? What was going on? Well, you know, basically that that guy who had killed thousands of people um, what was going on with you, you know? And he said, you know, he's just a man. 23:39 You know, and he said but what what spoke to me most was that the fact I can become like him. I can do those same things and those awful evil things that he did. So, it was like there was a I'm waiting to hear, you know, how it 23:55 was so difficult, how he killed so many people, right? What a awful man he but he was he was he was arrested with his own potential to do the same sin and I think, you know, when I get the shock value from whoever it is throughout the week that I 24:08 know or some important person uh, the first things that should come to my mind is well, you know, I could be doing the same thing, right? Um, walking in the spirit um, Matthew 24:43, be sure of this that if the head of the house had known at what 24:25 time that the thief was coming he would have been on alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Guard your temple. Your body, you know, we've been Sandy's been talking about the land. Our body is the land, you know. 24:41 If these giants out by the Holy Spirit seek to rule, then don't let them rule in our lives. Be careful what our eyes see, what our ears hear, what's coming out of our mouth. And lastly, uh, Paul writing to Ephesus, if Ephesians 6:18, with all prayer 24:58 and petition pray at all times in the spirit. With this in view be on alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. And my last one was walking in love Ephesians 5:1 and 2. Therefore be imitators of God 25:15 as beloved children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and how does that relate you know to being on alert? I think if I'm focusing on God's love and I'm giving myself up in love to others for him and for others then 25:34 it's a it's a good indication that I'm going to be aware and alert and my motive is going to be right. It's not going to be to be in control but it's actually going to be be like God an imitator of him to put myself aside. 26:03 Good morning family. Um so I just have a couple of verses to share this morning and I think sometimes not I shouldn't even say just um I have a couple of verses to share this morning that have given me a lot of life this week 26:20 and I think I don't have a lot like a profound explanation or anything um but I was convicted as I thought oh I don't have a whole lot to say about it. I was reminded of what the Lord has had me share before in Proverbs 3 26:35 um Proverbs 3:27 when it says do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor go and come back and tomorrow I will give it when you have it with you. So I feel like I had this gem of a verse 26:51 that I just needed to share. Um and the verse is in Hebrews 12 um starting in verse 10. The second half of it, I guess. Um Hebrews 12 verse 10. 27:09 But but he disciplines us for our good so that we may share his holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. Yet to those who have been trained by it afterwards, it yields the peaceful fruit 27:24 of righteousness. Um and I was really struck by that because I think sometimes I have to force myself to think God's discipline always should feel good um because the results are good. Um but I think it's okay also to recognize that it can be 27:42 hard and sorrowful. Um but when we do have the hope that it yields peaceful fruit of righteousness, we have hope. And then I love this second part. Um in verse 12, it says, "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and 27:57 the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed." Um and I I never that has never stood out to me or I've never read it, I'm not 28:11 sure. Um but just the idea that God wants to heal us and when there are hard things in our life, um we can look to him for that healing and that peaceful fruit of righteousness. Amen. Yeah, that's good morning. 28:38 So, you know, one of the most important things in in the Christian life, as we've talked about, is is loving God, right? And the question I had is how do I know I'm loving God? How do I know I'm loving God according to what uh 28:52 the Bible tells me? Cuz sometimes I I come home from work, I'm a little tired, I have homework to do, I'm not a very uh loving spirit, so to speak. So, how do I know that I'm I'm loving God? So, one thing that that's encouraged me this 29:06 week was a a verse from 1 John. So, if you look at 1 John uh chapter 2, it says that by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. So, how much we obey uh the God's commands and how much we love God, there's there's a there's a 29:24 correlation there. So, for me, it was there's two things I got from it. The first thing was that um one, it encouraged me because I didn't have to trust my my feelings. Just cuz I came home from work and I'm I'm tired, doesn't mean I'm not uh loving God. Um 29:37 as long as I'm doing my best to to keep his commands, then I am showing my love to God that way through obedience, uh not necessarily through how I I feel. So, that for me was an encouragement. And then, the second thing is that it 29:50 also challenged me because it told me that if I want to love God more, I have to obey him more. And so, what I mean by that, so God's given us certain commands and there's different levels of obedience to which I've noticed over time that I could heed a 30:04 certain command. So, take for something like uh lusting with your eyes or speaking with your tongue, there's different levels of seriousness which I could treat it. I can treat it, you know, on a very superficial level or I 30:15 could you treat it in a very deeper level. But the more I love God or the more I want to love God, then the deeper I will treat those those commands and more seriously um I'll take it. So, it's something that's that's challenged me um 30:25 because again, it's such an important thing to love God um with all our hearts. So, that's the first thing. But then, the second thing is in terms of how we uh know we love God is the second part of um in John 1 John chapter 2, which talks 30:39 about loving our our neighbors. And this I find a little bit harder because the first part it's kind of easy to keep your commands because, you know, it's just between me and God. I you know, I'll keep my mind pure or keep my eyes 30:50 pure or whatever. That's somewhat easy in a sense. But when it has to love your neighbor, it's it's actually gets a lot harder. So, the story I'll share is I have a roommate and uh you know, so when you live with a roommate, I know I'm 31:01 talking to all the married folks here, but anyways, I have a roommate and you know, we kind of step on each other's toes sometimes, right? Cuz we we live with each other. And so, one night it was kind of cold and I was like, 31:11 "Hey, can we turn on the heat?" And I was like, "I want it at 64°." And he's like, "No, no, no, can we have it at 63?" Like, "No, no, that's that's that's too cold. Like, I I really want it at 64." So, "What about 63 and a half?" 31:20 "No, the thermostat doesn't go there." So, you we uh so, we kind of had this back and forth and after a while I I I I thought about it. I'm like, "This is ridiculous." And um but it it just showed me that if I really did uh love God, then I would 31:36 uh you know, love my roommate. And through something like that, I realized that I still have some ways to go to really you know, prove um that I really do love God and that's through how I treat my neighbors. And that's actually 31:47 for me the harder part than the the kind of the first part of of loving God. So, um again, it's the reason I share these things is because I I don't want to be deceived. Um I I want to make sure I get to the end of my life and say that, you 31:59 know, if I really love God, I I want to make sure that I'm I'm not kidding myself. And so, these verses help me to make sure that I'm you know, I'm not loving God out of my own, you know, ideas, but according to what uh scripture says. 32:19 I just have few things uh that I wanted to share. So, uh one thing is some of the struggles are maybe some problems that we go through. Sometimes we will be dealing uh superficially and say, if it if you treat it as a tree, 32:36 maybe you will try to cut the branches. But uh we unless we get into the root of the problem uh the problem would still be there. So, I want to show you one verse in Matthew chapter 3 verse 10. It says, "And also And now also the ax 32:53 is laid onto the root of the trees." So, few issues that I was going through, I was trying to handle it you know, the things that I see, but unless I go into the root of the problem, unless God shows the root of the problem 33:11 uh which is a sin. So, unless that is cut off uh the problem would still linger around. So, last I I think some of the things that I had to go through uh last year and this year were probably some of the decisions that I 33:24 took. Uh maybe because of my pride I did not depend on God. Few areas that I was totally depending on God, then maybe pride came into picture and I became self-dependent and I did not seek God's guidance, sought God's will. Took 33:39 decisions for which I had to go through certain things. So, I mean I unless I I mean until I saw the problem really the the root of the problem was a sin uh so, my eyes were opened and I had to confess that sin and move forward. So, 33:56 even I was going through some muscle pains and all in my body. So, actually the pain appears somewhere, but actually the root of the problem maybe the way I stand, the the way I sit, the posture could be wrong. So, that that's one 34:08 thing. So, uh may God give us that May we have that listening attitude and ask God to reveal that whatever is causing the problem, what is the root of the problem. Could be pride or jealousy. So, let God deal with that because the 34:24 ax has to be laid onto the root of the trees. So, that's one thing and uh uh the thing I wanted to share was from Hebrew chapter 11. Actually, just in the lines of what Michelle shared. So, uh I know I have a 4-year-old daughter, 34:42 almost 4 years. So, I love her very much, but sometimes I have to discipline her because yeah, very rarely I spank her, but uh whenever I spank, whenever I do anything like that, she will be crying, but her attitude is like she'll be 34:59 opening and trying to hug me again, "Daddy, Daddy." So, even though when I'm trying to uh you know, discipline her physically a little bit to uh because to correct her, she she's not going away. She's always coming towards me and trying to hug me 35:14 and saying, "Daddy, Daddy." So, I just thought about it. How many times I I went to God like that when he disciplined me? Because Hebrew uh 12:6 it says, "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he 35:29 receiveth." So, when we recognize that it is God who is of out of love he's disciplining us, I don't want to withdraw to myself. I want to go back. Father, please. I mean, I I want to be with him. Yeah, he's going to discipline me. He's going to 35:45 correct me, but I'm confident about his love. So, uh that kind of attitude would uh would really help us. So, sometimes when I look back, yeah, I when God disciplined me, I mean, I my attitude was like to withdraw to myself, but I want to be like Ethan 36:01 now, always going back to Daddy, always going back to the Father. Yes, uh I don't have any other hope. I mean, he he has every right to correct me, and he has every right to heal me. He will heal me just as Michelle uh was sharing. So, 36:16 uh when we are confident about his love. And also, I just wanted to thank Bobby last week. He was sharing something about that mosquito bite stuff. That really helped me uh last week. You know, that words in 2 Corinthians are 36:30 momentary light affliction compared to the eternal weight of glory. It's so the adjectives used are momentary light and eternal weight. So, a lot of things I mean I I started treating some of the problems that I was going through as mosquito bites and God 36:45 is so big and this is just a mosquito bite. Let God deal with that. So, that thought really encouraged me and sent me. Thank you very much. Good evening. 37:05 Hi. Um I don't know if you can hear me. It's my first time up here and I'm a little bit nervous. Um I just want to thank the church. Um it's been a very very difficult time for us as a family and we know a lot of you have been very 37:19 The family has been supportive and praying. Your prayers have been immense. It's been just wonderful. Um As a family last year we went through a lot um especially on my side of the family. We developed health crisis. And um it was just one thing after the 37:37 other. One thing after the other. One thing after the other. Um many of you met my dad. Um we had a lot going on with him. So, this January we we thought everything was over and he was, you know, going back to Nigeria. He 37:51 came to visit and stayed with us. And he got a lot of treatments. And um the very day he left I was at work and I got a call from my brother. My brother had come over here to help my dad. And he went back to school. He's a 38:06 college student. He's just 20 years old. He went back to Nigeria to go back to school. And on the same day my dad left I was just at work hoping to came okay. Maybe we can start out this new year with just a little bit of a breather. 38:20 And that same day my brother calls me. He was in school in college and he just left the US and on this Monday he got into Nigeria on a Monday. And on a Wednesday he started feeling feverish. He had a fever the sort of like flu-like symptoms. 38:37 And so he went to the clinic in his school and they gave him anti-malarial medication because that is typically what if you're coming with a fever, it's assumed to be malaria until proven otherwise. And the next day he started 38:50 experiencing dark brown very dark brown urine. So that was why he called me freaking out that I'm peeing dark brown urine. So I said that's not good. And so I called my mom. I told her you have to go get him from the school and 39:04 take him to the hospital. I wasn't thinking it was going to be anything much. I just felt okay, it sounded like the flu. You probably didn't have malaria because you've been in the US for 6 weeks. I don't think a mosquito bit you here. 39:15 So um he went to the hospital and that's a challenge challenging has been very challenging dealing with the Nigerian health care system because it's so different and the way they think. It's always malaria first until proven 39:32 otherwise. And so another problem we have in Nigeria is the issue of fake drugs. It's a very prevalent problem and that's what we think happened. He got a fake medication. So I know a lot of people have to talk and just to cut the and you know just to 39:46 he went from just having dark brown urine to his kidney function entirely declined. He's on dialysis. Um in the span of 1 week he we thought he would almost lost him. He was in the ICU. It was just very traumatic. And so 40:02 it's been a very difficult period for the family. And one of the things my family come is a Pentecostal family and one of the things we've been praying um as a family is that through this experience God opens their eyes and 40:16 learn to see him in a different way. Because the Pentecostals, at least way in Nigeria it's practiced, there's no um accountability for our part in our stance and what we do. It's always God will take care of it, but we don't learn through that 40:33 experience and see God's the bigger picture. So, that's been our prayer and what we asked through this experience that God opens anybody's eyes to see him in a different way and learn from that experience. And um this point um I'm glad to say he's out 40:48 of the critical stage, but he's still in on dialysis right now. His kidney function hasn't come back. Um so, we've been trying to see how we can get him out here to the US because I think they've exhausted everything they can do for him. They've been able 41:02 to just keep him stabilized and alive at this point. Um but, you know, he's just 20. He'll be 21 actually this week. And it's just very, very difficult for us to see him have to hopefully, you know, we just pray we don't have to stay on dialysis 41:18 for the rest of his life cuz that's going to change his quality of life. And so, you know, we still crave your prayers um that God sees him. You know, we're still having challenges. We're trying to get him a visa to come back 41:30 here um to get treatment and we hope that for every time that passes um you know, we know that every day that passes it's one more day that his kidney function is declining. And so, you know, just want to thank the church for your prayers and you for 41:45 support and you know, through this period um you know, I've always This is a memory verse I've have known since all my life, but it's always been with me through this period and that's 1 Corinthians 10:13. Um I'm reading from the Good News 41:59 version, so it may be slightly different. It says, "Every test that test you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to 42:10 remain firm. At the time you're put to the test, you will give you the strength to endure it and so provide you a way out. And so, it looks bleak. Um we've talked to some of the nephrologists here in the US and we don't get a very good picture of what 42:25 his outcome is going to look like, but we pray that God provides a way out of this. And if he has to be on dialysis for the rest of his life, we ask that God he's you know, he this is has been a shocker for him. He doesn't even know 42:37 how to handle it. That God gives him the grace to be able to get through this. Be able to accept if that's what's will for him. At the end of the day, we always ask for God's will. I don't think this came as a surprise to God. God knew 42:49 this even before he was born we're going to be at this point in his life. And so, we pray that whatever God's will is that it be done and we all get to be able to live with it and accept it and make the best out of it. Yes, yes. 43:08 So, I just want to say a very big thank you to the church for your prayers. We really appreciate it and still crave it. Thank you. His name is Nnamdi. So, let's bow our heads and let's um 43:26 approach God as I said, he is a big God and um he heals. We can't do it. There's only so much the medicine can do. There's only so much that we as humans can do. And in these cases, let us come before God confident. It's fully under control. 43:46 He's a healer. And that we don't wish this on our worst enemy, these kind of stories. How much harder it is when it is our family, when it is our brother. So, Father, we come before you, Lord, as uh we want to grieve with those who grieve. 44:00 We want to mourn with those who mourn. We pray for this tragic situation, Lord Jesus, that uh Nnamdi's brother is in. I just pray that you'll be close to him. Lord Jesus, you've conquered death, you've conquered every single disease. 44:15 Lord, we have no reason to fear. So, I pray Lord primarily that you will remove all fear from his heart. Fill him with the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, that you that Hello. 46:02 Pretty loud. So for the last couple of weeks I've been going through something like really internally. And I saw two quotes that kind of summed it up for me. 46:19 One is comparison is a thief of all joy and Theodore Roosevelt said that. And don't compare your chapter one to someone else's chapter 20. I don't know who said that. So These last couple of weeks I've just been going through so many things just 46:37 emotionally regarding doing a lot of comparisons with other people and I find that that is not good at all. Because I find that it makes me blind to what the Lord is currently doing in my life. 46:56 Um I come from a fam Yeah. 51:49 Mhm. All right. And we praise the Lord for everything that He does for us, for the way that He 52:09 speaks with us. His Holy Spirit is here to you know, to encourage me and to um to let me know that yes, I should I should speak and I should stand up and talk about what the what the Lord has been doing to me in this last week. And but first of all, 52:28 I wanted to say that I'm very happy, Brother Thomas, that you are becoming part of this section of God's family. I hope that the Lord will um will unite us in the Holy Spirit that that we can walk together in the likeness of Christ while here on 52:47 this earth. And um and that you know, as Christ asked for His Father to be one, I also ask that me and you are one in Christ. Um So, 53:03 I was going to share about about I was going to share in James, but I did all my my notes on Evernote and all of a sudden, I realized that my phone died and all my my notes were gone. And so, I thought, you know, I'm just 53:20 going to go up there since that I said that I was going to to share. I'm just going to go up there and ask that the church will will pray for me as far as I'm seeking I'm seeking that the Lord will put a burden in my heart, a real burden, 53:35 you know, not a man-made burden, but a godly burden. Um Well, I'll I'll I'll still ask for that because I think it's good, but I do I do want to share what I was going to share. It's not going to be you know to the extent that I wanted to, but the Lord 53:49 has you know the Lord has revealed that I have to. So, I do. But, the reason why you know I want you guys to to to pray for a burden for me it's because I've been working with I've been walking with the Lord for the past for the past 54:02 3 years seriously. And the Lord has been very good to us to my family and he has he has he has shown his ways for us and what we need to do you know you know to to be under you know under the the under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 54:20 But, I feel that I feel that there is more out there for me. I want a burden. I want a burden in my heart that even if I don't want to do it, I will compel to do it because that's God's burden. I think of you know of Jonah not wanting to go to 54:35 Nineveh to pray for the people there. He couldn't just help himself. He had to do it he had to do it because it was God's burden. I see all the prophets you know not wanting to deliver a message to you know to Israel because it 54:49 was a bad message, but he had they had to do it because it was God's burden. So, they had to do it no matter what cuz God caused them to do it. All the prophets all the the apostles um you know I'm sure that there was time 55:04 that they were being you know they were crucified and they were getting beaten you know but to death and all that and I'm sure that he they probably thought hey you know you know that might be too hard for me, but they still did it until the death 55:21 you know. So, they still did it. That's the kind of burden that I want the kind of burden that even if I wake up and my body feels like I don't want to do it the Holy Spirit will oppress upon my heart says you have to do it because 55:34 that's God's burden for you. That's not your own burden. See that a lot of people who have hid their own burden, um you know, time comes by, 5 years, 10 years, it's not it doesn't become a burden anymore, it becomes just a task, 55:46 a chore that they have to do it. Um you know, and I I don't want to go that way. I wanted to have that kind of burden um that So, I want you guys to pray for me so that way I can find it. I can find the calling um my calling in this earth. 56:01 Feel that you know Being saved and having Christ, um it's good and it's it's wonderful. I'm very thankful for that, but I feel that I'm in a position to where I want to I want to be a instrument in the God's in the God's hand. Um I don't know what it is 56:18 and I'm not going to I'm not going to choose whatever it is, you know, I want the Lord to be clear enough to tell me what's what's his burden for my life. Um but the reason why I decided to to share um what I was you know, what I what I what 56:31 I have been contemplating in in the last 2 weeks is because um you know, everybody every every pretty much almost everybody who came up here and shared it was very it was very in line with what what I was going to share. For 56:45 example, brother Paul you know, said that you know, something that says that he mentioned that sin show show show show no master over us and that we need to be on the alert you know, at all times uh you know, Bobby shares shares something 57:03 that caught my attention the most was to die to the earthly this is earthly desires you know, to to move from here to desires of heaven. Um um Jessica shared something about having 57:21 discipline and train our body. Um Surin was actually were right on the point with mine. When he said that the Lord came here to to to lay the axe, you know, on the root, which is the which is sin. I have been thinking a lot about when I 57:41 was reading the letter of James. You know, so first first chapter James um 12. So, James 1:12 it says blessed is a man who perseveres under trial. For once he has been approved, he will 58:00 receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he's tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone. And this is the verse that 58:18 that kept me thinking this past 2 weeks. But which but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, 58:36 it gives birth to death. um The Lord has already put in my heart that my first my my number one enemy is not the devil, it's my own flesh. um So, he has already established that. I believe that when the Lord died on the 58:51 cross and his blood was shed for us or for me. um And that my sin was cleansed under under under under his death and under his blood and I was justified on his resurrection. Believe that the Lord took away Satan's power over over me, but 59:10 unfortunately I still have the flesh. But I have to deal with it. So, I do not I used to do I used to give a lot of credit to the devil when I when it comes to temptation and trials. I really don't do it anymore just because 59:23 I I believe that the Lord took his power away, but I still have my flesh. And you know, so the Lord the Lord already put that on my heart. But once I read this verse right here, that's solidified even more because it says in all my time, but 59:37 each one is tempted when he is carried away and he ties by his own lust. So it is my lust. It is my own lust that that if I'm not watchful, if I'm not watching these things, it will carry me away. I feel that you know, when I when I talk 59:54 about carrying away that I'm being carried away to a place that I don't want to go. And that's why I kind of a kind of see hey, I'm being carried away. I'm not going down my by my own will, but I'm being carried away. And if I'm not 1:00:06 watchful for the things that pops up in my mind and the way that I speak with people and my lack of being patience you know, at work, at home or you know, whatever may be lust, lies, anything. If I'm not watchful of those 1:00:21 sins in my life, I will be carried away. And as I am carried away, the scripture says as I'm carried away by my own lust, then when lust is conceived and I feel and and here on the this conceived part, I heard brother brother Zach talking 1:00:38 about, you know, the conceived mean when when I actually sin, when I actually lie to to to someone. I think that's when sin is sin is born in me because now I'm not I'm not being tempted. I actually concede to that to that sin and I 1:00:55 actually lied to that guy or to that person. And when when so when the lust is conceived, it gives a birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, brings forth death. Um So this is one of the things that I 1:01:14 I you know, I always want to always want to to have on top of my mind until the day I die, which is that I want to be watchful for you know, the deceitfulness the deceitfulness of my own flesh and my own mind. Um until the day I die. I see that I see a 1:01:32 good example in the Lord Jesus when he died to every single lust of his flesh that he could probably died for. Believe that he also died in the you know, in the cross in the Calvary when everybody was mocking at him. And um you 1:01:46 know, I don't know. Maybe he probably thought, hey you know, I could have done something here that to to you know, to shut up everybody to say that you know, that I am you know, I am your God. And I'm going to die for you, but he 1:01:57 didn't. He probably he probably you know, believe that the Lord probably died to a you know, a deceit of his flesh at that moment. So, I take that the Lord died to his flesh all the way to the day all the way to his death all the way to 1:02:12 his last breath. And then if I have that, you know, if I have that as my my own example, I know that I'm going to die to my flesh desires and lust all the way to the last breath. Um and I you know, I like to think it that way because you know, um lust is 1:02:30 the you know, the flesh is very deceiving. Um you know, I the more the more I think about the Lord and the more I think about the Holy Spirit, you know, and the more I wanted to walk with the Lord, you know, the more you know, the more 1:02:44 things I see. The more uh sins I see and the more wrong things I see in my own life. Um and I think that that's going to be until the until the end, you know, until the end when I you know, when I'm just when I'm completely justified I'm being 1:02:58 perfect, you know, in the resurrection with other saints with Christ. Um And I feel that uh you know, because you know, because all of you guys that came up and shared that it encouraged me to share that as well and also encouraged 1:03:12 me to know that Christ is becoming more and more concrete to me every single time, every single day. It's It's going from something that is an abstract or something that I can touch to something that it is it is it is tangible, that I 1:03:26 can touch, that I can see, that I can feel, that I can smell. Um and in situations like this when I think that you know what, Lord, I don't have my I don't have my notes. I'm not going to share anything. But and I'm going to share about 1:03:38 something else. So, you know, just share something of a burden in my heart. But it's through the church, it's through you guys coming here and sharing what the Lord has been doing to you. It's those moments that makes for me the 1:03:50 concreteness of the Lord. Uh because now he's saying, "Arnoldo, yes, you go up there and you share what you need to share because you've seen that all the all the brothers that came here and shared and and shared what they they 1:04:01 shared, this is what I want you to do." And it's that kind of concrete that I'm talking I'm that I'm talking about, you know? It's the fact that the Lord is there and he's It's not It's not a It's not a It's not a phantom thing. It's just something 1:04:15 very real that I'm that I've been learning, you know, all the all the days that uh all the days of my life that I'm going to be still learning. So, um thank you for all of that and uh I believe that uh the Lord will continue to to make us uh 1:04:29 united in his Holy Spirit and continue to to make us see him as clear as possible. Morning, family. Huh, just had a 1:04:49 brief reflection that I wanted to share. I'll try to keep it uh fast. The um the verse that I had been um that been on my heart this week was uh it's from 2 Thessalonians. It says uh uh the phrase is uh receiving a love of 1:05:05 the truth so as to be saved. And that phrase um had been on my um had been on my mind uh for several days this week. I don't know if you've seen it before. We can take a look at it. Second Thessalonians 2 10, I believe. Yeah. 1:05:23 The second part of Second Thessalonians 2:10 it says, "Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." And I was just thinking about that this this verse this week um several times. I think the the original thing that I 1:05:41 that was laid on my heart is how much we need to love the truth every day in order to be saved every day. And this this idea that um as as as we encounter needs to be saved from sin, we have to have a love of God's truth and we have to have a we have to 1:05:56 love God's truth as he reveals it in the in the moment so that we might be saved from the trial or temptation. Um but I was just thinking what uh I was just meditating on that verse and so something I've been seeking to 1:06:10 understand was what does it mean to receive the love of the truth? And then um from our reading of Proverbs uh I feel like I got a little bit of light on that. So, I wanted to share. What does it mean to receive the love of the 1:06:21 truth? It's in Proverbs 9. Um and I saw there's a couple verses that are basically exactly the same. Um at the start of chapter 9 wisdom is talking and at the end of chapter 9 there's a woman of folly. I'm 1:06:40 guessing a you know, a um prostitute or something like that. Um but at the start of uh chapter 9 in verse 4 it says, "Whoever is naive, let him turn in here. To him who lacks understanding she says." And that's the same same verse as 1:07:00 basically same thing as in 16. "Whoever is naive, let him turn in here. Whoever lacks understanding," she says. So, there's a contrast between the call of wisdom or the call of Jesus and the call of sin. So, I just wanted to talk about the 1:07:12 difference. So, in uh in verse 4, it says, "Whoever is naive, let him turn in here." This is wisdom talking. "To him who lacks understanding," she says, "come and eat of my food and drink of the wine that I've mixed. Forsake 1:07:24 your folly and live and proceed in the way of understanding." And um if you compare that with verses 16 through 18, it uh the call of sin is similar to the call of wisdom. It's It's still calling to whoever is naive, let him turn in here. 1:07:39 And then still calling to him who lacks understanding. And the next verse is again appealing to food, "Stolen water sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." Um but then I wanted to kind of compare the verses 16 and 18. 1:07:54 I'm sorry, 6 and 18. Uh verse 18 says, "But he does not know that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of Sheol." But the big difference to me is verse 6. Verse 6 says, "Forsake your folly and live and proceed in the way of 1:08:10 understanding." And so, the thing that stood out to me is that the call of wisdom or the call of Christ, by comparison to the call of sin, is um it has a rebuke. It has a call to repentance in it. And that when wisdom calls, when Christ 1:08:26 calls, he says, "Come, if you lack understanding, come and eat of my food and drink of my wine." But it's not just an open invitation. It's still it There's a rebuke there. It says, "Forsake your folly and live and proceed in the way of 1:08:39 understanding." And it reminded me of um we heard a few weeks ago, I think, from George sharing about um I I I remember writing this phrase down, "May we learn to love to learn the truth about ourselves, about who we truly are." 1:08:54 May you learn to love learning who we truly are. And um and receiving the love of the truth, going back to the um 2 Thessalonians verse, receiving the love of the truth so as to be saved. It isn't just about acknowledging who God is or things about 1:09:11 him. I think it's easy for me, when I was thinking this week about that verse, receiving the love of the truth so as to be saved, that the truth was just all about God as I was thinking about it. But then looking at this passage in Proverbs, 1:09:23 I realized there's also a truth about ourselves that is part of receiving the love of the truth so as to be saved is forsake your folly and live, proceed in the way of understanding. It's res- Part of receiving the love of the 1:09:37 truth is acknowledging who we are. Part of it is acknowledging who God is, but then part of it is acknowledging who we are and admitting our sin. And um so there's almost there kind of two sides to the love of the truth. There's 1:09:49 seeing who God is, but then there's seeing who we are. And um right in the middle of this passage, smack-dab in between the two verses we were just looking at, is verse 10. It says, "For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 1:10:03 Knowledge of the holy one is understanding." And um so beginning the beginning of receiving the love of the truth uh is the fear of the Lord. Um but in that connection I feel like I got a little bit of light too cuz I was 1:10:17 thinking about, "Okay, that's That explains the first part of acknowledging who God is is the fear of the Lord." But then what about um admitting who we are? And I and I saw a verse in Acts that I hadn't seen before. It's 1:10:31 Acts 9 and verse 31. It kind of shed a little bit of light on the other s- on the other side of the love of the truth. One is the fear of the Lord, but then Acts 9:31 says, "So the church throughout all Judea and 1:10:51 Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit they continue to increase. And the thing that um that that stood out to me here is um if part of receiving the love of the 1:11:09 truth is the rebuke of forsake your folly and live, then the uh ointment or the or the bandage or the salve that the Lord offers is the comfort of his spirit himself. We've heard a lot today about the discipline of the Lord. The Lord rebukes those whom 1:11:25 he loves. I think it's um the thing that stood out to me is um when God calls, he also makes provision for our comfort by his Holy Spirit. He calls and and he calls us out and he says, "Here's here's what's uh lacking or 1:11:42 here's what's wrong." But then he also makes provision for that um for that pain by giving us his Holy Spirit. And it just made me think about that that's I think that's a benefit of the new covenant that they didn't have 1:11:54 in the old covenant. There's a lot of talk of the fear of the Lord, but there wasn't as they didn't have a comforter inside of them. And we have the comforter. We have the Holy Spirit with us. And um we just what joy it is to know 1:12:06 that when God rebukes us and he shows us himself and he and he shows us ourselves and and the true knowledge of who we are, he also gives the comforter through whom he pours out his promises and says, "I've I've forgiven you. I love you." 1:12:20 All the promises in Christ God reveals to us through his Holy Spirit. And it's that comfort. It's it's the simultaneous reverence for who God has revealed himself to be and humble uh receiving of the comfort of God in his Holy Spirit. That is what 1:12:38 that's what it started to mean to me to receive the love of the truth. The other the the last thing I'd say is the the word receiving the love of the truth. When I was reflecting on this verse this week, I hadn't actually 1:12:50 looked it up. It'd just been something that'd been on my mind a lot of a lot of the week. And I just been thinking of the phrase the love of the truth so as to be saved. And when I looked this verse up later in the week and I saw it actually says they 1:13:00 didn't receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. It's not something that we stir up ourselves. We don't grow our own love of the truth. Even that starts with God who gives a love of the truth. And it's our job to to submit to that to 1:13:17 that. Um and to submit to what he reveals of himself and and also to submit to the comfort of the Holy Spirit, not to look for the for comfort from his discipline in other in other ways, but to really look for the Holy Spirit to comfort us as we seek to 1:13:32 purify ourselves of all that God reveals uh in our hearts as he as he reveals himself to us.
