0:03 So we want to have two young brothers who are also elders of churches as we've been doing right through this conference. Everyone who has spoken is a younger person 20 years younger than me is probably the 0:22 oldest one who spoke. Mother is more than 40 years younger than me. So we thank God for uh that God is raising up at that level and even younger people who can take responsibility and also speak God's word and we long to 0:41 see that more and more in the days to come. First Sep will speak and he is an elder in a church in San Jose in Cal near San Jose in California which it's a small church 30 40 people who's been going for 2 three years and 1:00 as I said when I showed the picture of the church is that it's a church who's got about 10 nationalities I think just in a small group of people which a great testimony to the unity and then after that we'll hear Santosh Matthew 1:15 who's an elder in the church along with Joji Samuel you heard this morning who um is an elder in court. So before that I want to show you a little picture. This is the only picture I have of an early conference. This is actually a 1:33 conference 1979. What you see there at the back is my house and that's the first conference where we had a tent shamyana pitched over there and uh these are not all there is taken in between some break and if you move to 1:51 the left a little bit you can see Annie can you focus over there you can see Annie on the left uh yeah she's over there you can see right there Okay. 2:07 Uh, she looks prettier now, but [Applause] And now move to the other end. Uh, you'll see two boys sitting on the scooter. Can you expand it a bit? 2:25 And guess who they are? That's all. That is Santos and behind him is Sep. They had just come back from school. It was a Friday where they had to go in white uniform for sports and they came back and that's the time when we taken 2:42 the photograph and Ian and I are not in this picture. I think it was probably taken in the afternoon sometime. They must have just come back from school about 4:00 and those who were there we took a picture. We were not there hardly any of us had 2:56 cameras. I do not know we couldn't take so many pictures and we never thought much of it in those days. But I just thought I'd give you a little Can you compress it again? Uh, see this is how we started. And I'll tell you another thing. 3:11 Almost all the people here are not with us today. Many of them have some have died and many of them have left. There are a few who are there with us but it's I think I can count on my fingers perhaps three or four that's about it. The others have 3:27 either died or left or gone away and somewhere else. Okay, that's fine. Turn it off. So, what I want to say is, you know, our in our experience, we have had people coming and going and we were not discouraged like what you see in that picture over 3:45 there. 80% of them are not with us. They left. Okay, fine. The Lord said that those who endure until the end will be saved. Don't be discouraged in your locality. If you start meeting with people and some people drop out and 3:57 years later when you see you'll see that God has brought in other people and that's how he built the church. Okay, Sep. I wanted to start by asking something 4:16 about uh that the question that was posed to me as I was studying something from scripture about the glory of God. When we think about the glory of God, we sang when we I think in the first day of the conference. So come let us adore 4:31 him. Let's give him all the glory. What do we mean by that? Uh, glory is such a Christian word that we can use it so often that we may forget. We may not think about what that word means. Um, so I kind was thinking about that the other 4:46 day. When we say Lord, we want you to get all the glory. What we're saying is that none of the musicians should stand out. None of the singers should stand out. None of the speakers should stand out. Lord, we don't want anybody to 4:59 stand out. We want you alone to stand out. We want you to be set apart so that you get the glory. And glory is not just a Bible word. Glory is an English word. You could think about it. Let's say in a restaurant that the glory of a 5:16 restaurant might be the the way they make a particular dish. That particular dish stands out compared to all the other restaurants that make the same dish and that's what becomes the identifying glory that sets it apart. So 5:32 when we think about the glory of God, we're thinking about that which sets God apart, that which sets God and make him unique. And we live in a country which has worships thousands or millions of gods. What is it about our God that we 5:49 say God, the God we worship, we give you glory? I really want to live my life more and more where God gets the glory. that I may speak as one who's God- centered, who's not thinking how I look, or whether I'm coming out appropriately, 6:05 but whether God is being demonstrated properly, otherwise I'm I'm lying. I'm a hypocrite when I say that God, I want you to get all the glory. What really stands out, family of God, what really stands out to you about God, 6:21 about your God, about the God we worship, what really stands out to us about God? And this is something that struck me. Please turn with me. Exodus chapter 33. We heard in the conference about Joshua 6:39 up on the mountain and Moses was up there. And this is the time when Moses is up there. One of my fellow elders, Jeremy, was telling me, "It's wonderful to hear the sound of so many pages of Bibles turning. It's like little drops of 6:56 water. It's like light rainfall flowing. Um, so it's really nice to hear that. Exodus chapter 33, Moses is up there in the mountain and actually God is having uh an interesting conversation with Moses and God is saying in verse 15 of Exodus 33, if your 7:16 presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. Verse 17, God said to Moses, listen to this. This is God saying to Moses, "I will also do this thing of which you have spoken, for you have found favor in my sight, 7:32 and I have known you by name." Imagine if God was to say that to me. Well, imagine if God was to say that to you. Imagine if you were all alone lying in bed at night and God woke you up and you had a private personal conversation with 7:45 God and God said to you, "I have I will do what you're asking me to do, whatever prayer you have, because you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name." Look at Moses's response. Moses was almost unimpressed 8:03 with that commendation, with that with that approval almost by by God. Moses said, "I pray thee, show me thy glory." He It wasn't enough for him. And you got to think about who this Moses was. Moses had seen a lot of God's power. He had 8:21 seen rivers turned into blood. He had seen all kinds of plagues and the way the Israelites were saved from it. He had seen the Red Sea parted. He had seen mana come from heaven. He had seen water coming out of the rock when he just struck on it. He saw his 8:37 rod become into a serpent. And he had also seen stones written with the very finger of God. I think we pick any one of those and say, "God, that would be sufficient. If we could have even one of those things with my natural 8:52 eyes." But Moses was clear that in spite of all of those things about God, that wasn't his glory. And so even though he had also found favor with God and God knew Moses by name, Moses said, "Lord, that's not good enough for me. I want to see your 9:10 glory." And we see in verse 21, 222, 23, God says, "I'm going to pass by, and it'll be that my glory is passing by, but I'll cover you my with my with my hand so that you can't see my face, but that you'll see my back." And then in Exodus 9:26 chapter 34, we see this happen where God meets with Moses and God covers him up, but then he calls upon the name of the Lord. And this to me was what came to me as the glory of God. In verse 6, then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The 9:46 Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth, who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, and he will by no means leave the 10:00 guilty unpunished." There is judgment in there. I just talked about that, that guilty, but he's a very imbalanced God. He's an imbalanced God towards, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth, keeping 10:18 loving kindness for thousands. Wouldn't it have been good enough for God to just say, "I'm loving. I've got loving kindness and I'm justice. I'm mercy and I'm truth." But God's very imbalance. Mercy triumphs over judgment. God to 10:33 repeat almost synonyms, almost the same word, but different words. compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, bounding in loving kindness. And God says, "That's my glory. That's what sets me apart. I can do miracles. I can 10:50 divide the Red Sea in half. I can turn a stick into a serpent. I can bring water above a rock. But Moses, you know me. That's not my glory. My glory is that I'm gracious. I'm compassionate. 11:08 I'm full of loving kindness. Now, if you're like me, when I read this, I was a little disappointed. I wanted something more flashy because when I think of glory and I say, "Lord, show me your glory," I'm thinking of some out of 11:24 this world experience. I'm thinking maybe of rushing wind or something, windows rattling or a tingle down my spine and I connect that, oh, I saw the glory of God that day. And when God comes to me and says, I'm loving kindness. I pass it by 11:44 because I want something more exciting maybe or something that I say, "Oh, the Red Sea being parted, that's your glory." No, it isn't. Moses was not happy even when God gave him such a great commenation. He just doesn't think like us. He's the 12:01 kind of God that says the 11th hour person gets the same wage as the first hour person. He's the kind of person who says I'm not going to reveal my truth to the wise and the intelligent. I'm going to reveal it to babes. He's we marvel at 12:14 the amazing miracles. He marvels at people who have holiness. We are awed and satisfied by things that are fireworks, lights, and sound. In the Christian world, God's impressed by a soft enduring fire, a fire of truth and 12:31 holiness. In the same way, we can want so many different miracles, healing, all kinds of things. And God says, "That's not my glory. Here's my glory. Here's what sets me apart is my loving kindness. 12:49 That is my glory. What is God's loving kindness towards us? God's loving kindness has been there from the very beginning. I was reminded, this is the verse that I think of when I think of God's loving kindness. Luke 10 20. We heard that verse earlier today. 13:05 We've heard it before. God's loving kindness. He says in verse 20, "Nevertheless," Luke 10 20 Luke 10 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice 13:26 in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. re and the Lord has spoken to me over and over again that this is the secret to the Christian's joy. It's not in health or wealth that 13:42 our joy is. Even though there is a glory when God heals us of our sickness and solves our financial problems, but that's not the ultimate glory of God. It's not that all my children are a well- behaved and maybe one day is my 13:56 desire that they grow up to be disciples of Jesus. That's not the ultimate glory of God. Even though that doing that will bring a bring great glory to God. It's not our ability to cast out demons as we read in here because that too is not the 14:09 ultimate glory of God. It surely brings him great glory and it's not even our functioning and being functioning members of a thriving church. In Matthew chapter 16, it says that I will build my church. And the proof of 14:27 the church being built by Jesus Christ is that the gates of hell, the forces of hell will not prevail against this church. In other words, he's saying that the evil spirits and the kingdom of darkness will be subject to a local 14:43 church that Jesus brings. But then he says to me in verse 20 right here, "DO NOT REJOICE EVEN WHEN THAT HAPPENS. Even if the kingdom of heaven at the end of that day, what really should be the source and core essence of your joy is 15:00 that God's extended his loving kindness to you. Don't get me wrong, all of these things that I mentioned must and do bring glory to God. But the essence and the source and base of our joy is the fact that our names are recorded in 15:17 heaven. That is the loving kindness of God that our names are recorded in heaven. But here's the best part. Here's the part that's made it so special to me. Cuz I ask myself, where is where are our names recorded in heaven? 15:35 Is there a book of life? Is there a physical book of life that exists in heaven that when we go to heaven, we'll see an angel with this huge big volume and he'll turn over. Is pun in there? Punin Sandep and he turn over to pee and 15:49 see if Pune and Sandep is in the book of life. Maybe it's that way. I don't know. But if you want to see my name, you are going to have to go past the streets of gold. You're going to have to go past the mansion that Jesus is preparing for 16:03 us. You're going to have to go past the angels who are worshiping God. And you have to you're going to have to go to the very throne of God. But my name's not written on the throne of God. Because seated on the throne of 16:17 this most magnificent throne of God is the creator of the universe. And if you were able to te take a little peek at his palm, you'll see my name written there. And you may see and you'll see your name written there if you want to be a 16:34 disciple of his. Let me say this with great reverence but also great confidence. I get that from Isaiah 49:16. Isaiah 49:16, one of those passages that have become so precious to me. It tells me tells me where my name is recorded in 16:51 heaven. John Luke 10:20, Jesus tells me, "Rejoice that your name is recorded in heaven." But Jesus didn't tell me where, but Isaiah 49:16 tells me where I am written in heaven. And he says right there, that passage is beautiful. 17:07 Starting from verse 13, verse 15, I'll read. Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not for Behold, I have inscribed you. I've written you down. I've written 17:24 inscribed you as if like a tattoo. I've written it so etched it into my palm. That's where I've written your name. And as if it were not enough for us to know that it is written there, he asks us to come up and take a look. Did you 17:42 see that first word of verse 16? He says, "Behold, it would have been enough for us to see God from a distance and marvel at his majesty." But he asks us to come close to the throne of God with boldness and confidence. Why? to fool around and listen to the 17:59 music of the angels, to marvel at all the majesty of heaven. No, he's asking you to come up higher. That's not why he's asking you to come up and be seated in the heavenly places. Because he wants you to come up right up to the throne. 18:12 And he says, "BEHOLD, LOOK, LOOK, look right here. Written on the palm of my hand, creator of the universe, is your name." Dear saint, accepted in the beloved. Do you know how precious God's thoughts are towards you? You know how often God 18:31 thinks of you? If you were to count how many times he's thinking about you, they would outnumber the sand. Psalm 139:17. He's thinking of us so often. And he's inscribed our names. If we're following Christ, he's inscribed our names in his 18:47 palm. We're not far from him. Our defenses, our walls are continually before him. This joy, this enduring joy is so important because as we heard from brother Charles, we have to endure the cross, not enjoy the cross. The cross is 19:04 something we have to endure. But we endure the cross for the joy set before me. And if I have the wrong joy, if I have the joy in entertainment, if I have a joy based on a track record, if I have a joy based on ministry, I'm not 19:17 following God's prescription. And I don't know if I will be able to endure the cross and I might fail. But God tells me the joy that I can have, the joy that was set before him, that the the father loved him so much. And that's 19:31 the same joy that God asks me to base my life on. It's with that that I can endure the cross. I can search up and down for Christian joy. I won't find it. I can read bookstores. I can look for experiences. I can ask for new 19:46 doctrines. I can come to more and more listen to more more and more CFC series. I can maybe think I need to do self-denial even more, but I'll find all more and more that the prescription to joy is what Jesus gave me. That the glory of the Lord is in his 20:06 loving kindness to me. And I have to keep holding on to that. Oh, what a wonderful day. What day I will never forget when heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Loving kindness filled my soul on that time. Perfection didn't 20:22 fill it. Holiness didn't fill it. Right there. Loving kindness. But that's when heaven came down. That was the wonderful part of that day when loving kindness came down and filled my soul. And these old songs is where God is drawing me 20:35 back to amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And I stopped and thought about that for a second. And I didn't like the way it sounded when I said, "Lord, I'm a wretch. I I was okay calling myself a sinner but 20:52 sinner almost became dignified to me. Wretch seemed a little beneath me and I had to sing that song with new meaning and I try to stop when I was singing. Lord, I'm not a sinner. There can be a dignified word today in Christendom. Oh, 21:06 we're all sinners saved by grace. And the Lord was telling me, you're more than a sinner. You're a wretch. We are nobodyies. We are zero. And once I see more and more that I'm a wretch, then I will marvel at what was so special about 21:22 God, which was his loving kindness. And I will marvel at God when he comes up and says, "Come close to me." And I look at his palm and I see my name written there. What's our excuse for not accepting the loving kindness of God? 21:36 We're not good enough. That's the point. That's the point. We are not good enough. And that's what it ought to make us marvel at God's truth that he says come in because of the blood of Jesus. Come in because you've been justified by 21:50 the blood of Jesus as a free gift. Come and look at the palm of the creator of the universe. And that's where we have to start with the loving kindness of God. Couple of things about the loving kindness of God. Psalm chapter 63. 22:10 Psalm chapter 63:3 because thy loving kindness 22:28 is better than life. We live our lives as if our lives are most precious. They say the number one fear is the fear of death. Why? Because our lives are the thing. Life is the one thing that's most precious. But my Bible 22:43 tells me that there's something better than life. There's something much more valuable. Lord Jesus, God, your loving kindness, the fact that you wrote my name on your palm is greater and better than anything and everything in my life. So I had this 23:03 picture of a weighing scale where you've got two pans as we see in the people who are in the shops. They have these two weighing scales. And one hand, on the one hand, I felt like the Lord was saying, "Put everything in your life in 23:15 there. Put all your successes. Put all your failures. Put all your insecurities. Pull all the accomplishments you have. Put all your ministry achievements. Put all your gifts. Put all the and put in fact the very fact that you're alive. Put all of 23:28 your life on there and that's your life. And then put my loving kindness on the other." And he was telling me that if you want to believe this word of God, if you want to believe my truth, you have to recognize that my loving kindness far 23:45 outweighs, it's better, it's greater than everything in your life. Everything in my life. This is not the perspective of an earthly minded person because our lives are on this earth. The God of this world wants us to be wrapped up in this 24:02 world. But the heavenly minded says that loving kindness of God far outweighs everything in my life. Everything that ever happened to me, whether my parents abused me, whether somebody somebody did something wrong to me, where whether I faced injustice in 24:19 my life, everything in my life, put it on the scale on one hand. And then God says, "Use my weighing machine. Now put my love on the other side." Which way does it weigh? And you lose your joy sip because you constantly 24:34 think that my loving kindness is not better than everything in your life. You think your problem is more important than your loving kindness. That's why my loving kindness that's why you're discouraged. Proverbs 11:1 says, "A false balance is 24:49 an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight." Uh the earth is filled with false balances that tells you to weigh your problems differently and inappropriately compared to God's goodness to us. And I have to 25:08 recognize that it's an abomination to keep using these balances and I compare God's goodness to somebody else with God's goodness to me or I compare all my problems with God's goodness. I have to recognize it's not just a bad thing to 25:23 do. It's an abomination because it's a false balance. A true balance is God's balance. And he says, "I'll tell you, my loving kindness is better than everything in your life. Don't use a balance that's an 25:41 abomination. Use a true balance." Another thing about God's loving kindness, lamentation chapter 3. Some of us know these this word. It's a popular song. Lamentations 3 22 and 23. The Lord's 26:09 loving kindness never ceases. His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. I heard a story about a person who worked as a salesperson in America and he was a sales top salesperson and they 26:26 took him on a one week all expense paid trip to a resort island and his whole family got to go and they paid for everything there as if that was not enough. He was telling me that every day there would be a knock on the door 26:44 and there would be a gift given to everybody who had made it on this trip. An expensive gift just as a way of saying thank you. And the first day it was an iPad, not some ordinary, yes, here you go, little sweets. No, an iPad. 27:00 And the second day it was some expensive necklace. And the third day it was some expensive watch. every day a new gift. And I sat there listening in that. I thought, how could I join your company? I wonder what I need to do to do that. 27:16 And then the Lord showed me this passage. As I was thinking and marveling at what a wonderful company that must be, he said, you know, I got something. You know, I have a gift for you. Every morning, 5 minutes before you wake up, I 27:28 send my angel to your bed and I put a gift right there at the foot of your bed. And most of the time you don't recognize you a new gift every morning. You don't value it. It's called loving kindness, mercy, compassion. 27:46 But you value the iPads and the Rolexes and the other necklaces more than you value my loving kindness. You're using a false weight. It's an abomination. If you valued, if you saw the bed when you woke up, look at the foot of your 28:01 bed. There's a gift. Did you see it this morning? Go to bed tonight and wake up tomorrow morning and look, you'll see it. It's new. That's what the Bible tells me. It's new. It's a new gift. Every morning, we heard about that new song. We must 28:18 keep on singing. I have to fan Aresh. I need to kindle Aresh. Fan to a flame. This song of God's loving kindness every day. This song must remain new in my life. Every day I must sing as if new. Every day the song of Lord, the 28:37 Lord's loving kindness. Because worthy are you, Lord Jesus. Because of you, because of your worthiness, I've been put on the palm of God himself. We'll be singing it for all eternity. So, we might as well get used. and this 28:52 new song. Every single day we're going to be singing it as if a new song. And the picture that has helped me as I've thought about doing this is to take a shower. Every day we take a shower. And we don't say, "Hey, look, I took a 29:05 shower last week, so I don't need to take a shower anymore." No, a shower is a new shower. Every day it's a new shower. And every day, I find that I need to take a shower in God's glorious, loving kindness. And if you're like me, 29:18 you find that you have to take showers many times a day. It's absolutely normal to take a shower every day. It's absolutely normal to take a shower in God's loving kindness. So in moments of the day, I find that I have to quickly 29:31 stop what I'm doing and I close my eyes just to shut out the noise of this world and I quiet my thoughts because they can be going all over the place because of the pressures of this world, because of all kinds of temptations. 29:46 I'm not talking about some mindless meditation or breathing technique. Not at all. I just quieten myself and I jump into the shower of God's loving kindness because of Jesus. Because of what he did on the cross, I get to take a shower in 30:01 God's loving kindness. And I do it. I've I've been doing it many times a day because I need to, not because it's a command, because I find the pressures of temptation too strong. I need to get under the shower. It's not 30:13 a command. It's a pleasurable thing to do. I don't take a shower in the morning every day because it's a pleasure. It's because it's a command. No, I enjoy taking a shower even in the physical sense. And I enjoy taking a shower in 30:25 God's loving kindness. I jump under the shower of God's loving kindness when the pressures of temptation gets really strong. This is what I see as one of the key parts of a baptism of the Holy Spirit over and over again. It's a 30:40 baptism in the Holy Spirit of love. That's what Romans 5:5 says. The love of God has been shed abroad. He turned on the faucet and let the shower fall down of his love. And that's what the Holy Spirit wants to baptize us and immerse 30:56 us completely over and over again. Why stop with once a day? I can't. I do it many times a day because I see that's the only way for me to stay close to Jesus. It's not because I have some strong self-will or anything. I need to stand under his 31:13 loving kindness and remember Lord let me remember where my name has been written. Let me come up and sit on your lap. Let me remember dear Lord that my name being recorded in heaven is so most important. Let me end with a word of warning. 31:32 2 Chronicles chapter 6. 2 Chronicles chapter 6. We've heard about Saul. We've heard about David. We've heard about Solomon. This is Solomon's prayer when he's dedicating the temple. 31:54 2 Chronicles chapter 6 verse 14. And Solomon said, this is how he starts his prayer. This is his introduction. He says, 'Oh Lord, thy God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven on earth, keeping covenants and showing loving 32:12 kindness to thy servants who walk before thee with all thy heart, who has kept with your servant David, my father, that which you have promised him. Now therefore, Lord, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David, that which you have promised him. 32:31 And verse 17, now therefore, Lord, the God of Israel, let your word be confirmed which you have spoken to your servant David. In the very beginning of the prayer, Solomon appeals to God's relationship and God's favor because of God's 32:46 relationship to his father. Here's a man who has grown up with great wealth and privilege and has never experienced the loving kindness of God for himself. So, he can't call on that. He's never experienced that. But since 33:00 he knows for sure that God's glor is connected with his loving kindness, God said that to Moses many years ago. He asked for God's blessing and for God's loving kindness but not relationship but because of God's relationship and 33:14 intimacy with David. David understood that. David said your loving kindness is better than life. Solomon grew up in David's house but never experienced it. At the very end of the prayer 2 Chronicles at the end of that chapter 33:26 verse 42, oh Lord God do not turn. So this is the book ends at the beginning he starts with that in the very end he says Lord don't turn your face from your anointed remember the loving kindness to your servant David here again Solomon be ends like he 33:41 begins appealing to the loving kindness of God that was shown towards his father and we know how Solomon ended up this man full of wisdom but still worshiping idols here is a root I see here a root 33:58 Solomon never endured in worshiping God and ended up worshiping idols. He was an incredibly wise man. He had so many pearls of wisdom, but he was ruined spiritually way before he outwardly bowed down to idols. He was ruined 34:14 spiritually because he never ever grabbed a hold of God's loving kindness towards himself. It was available to him. He never grabbed a hold of it. Now, we young people are at the crossroads of our lives. We're being asked by the 34:30 older generation seeking for a new generation of spiritfilled witnesses. We've heard all week that it's not about theology. It's a question to us, each one of us. Just because God gives us some responsibility doesn't mean that we have 34:49 experienced God's loving kindness towards us. We too for ourselves will have to need to know the loving kindness of God and appeal to God and saying God fulfill your promise according to the loving kindness you've shown me not to my 35:06 father or my father's generation or to the elders of whatever churches Lord because of your great loving kindness that I am so convinced of help me we too have to adopt the posture in our lives of an outstretched arms. This is not a methodology. But in our 35:26 hearts, this is not something we now become a habit. In our hearts, we have to ask ourselves, young people, if we are going to be people of outstretched arms, outstretched arms because we're so thankful for his loving kindness and 35:39 outstretched arms because we are helpless. That we need to go and turn on the faucet of God's loving kindness over us over and over again. We need to have this for ourselves. Otherwise, we'll end up like Solomon, maybe claiming to preach all kinds of 35:56 great pearls of wisdom, but ruined spiritually on the inside, and eventually maybe even worshiping the idols of self or money or the approval of man or something else. I pray that this is my prayer that the Lord would find me as one who practices 36:15 what he preaches. I want to have a heart that says, "Lord, I don't want to just appreciate and enjoy the loving kindness that you've shown to the previous generation. I want to see the loving kindness. I want to experience your loving kindness 36:32 over and over again. This, Lord, is your glory. This is what sets you apart." When non-Christians ask me, "What sets your God apart?" I'm not going to go to some theological or some kind of philosophical reason. I'm going to talk about the 36:51 loving kindness of God cuz God said that's what sets me apart. That's my glory. It's better than everything in your life and it's new every morning. You can take a shower in it whenever you want. I want to make it personal. Amen. May it 37:09 be so. May it be so in my life. I thought I'll briefly share my life 37:31 journey and some important things that I learned from this church. It was in 1987 when my life was in a mess that I came to know the Lord. One of my 37:49 junior students was studying with me. He shared the gospel and when my life was in a thoroughly messed up state, I those words spoke to my heart and I 38:06 yielded to the Lord. and became his child. Soon I started my undergraduate studies in Coyaturur and uh then it was there was a change in my life and there was an excitement and 38:24 a joy and uh it was exciting. I studied in a Christian Karunia Institute of Technology that that was the name at that particular time and I remember in 1987 I came along with the Jesus called team to Bangalore in some ground here 38:43 representing the students. I was also sharing my uh my conversion and all that. I never knew anything about CFC at that particular time. life was exciting and I was going around I was sharing and I was uh you know in back home also I'm 38:59 from Kerala so back home and I go also I they used to tell okay here though now nowadays you meet rubbed shoulder tosh shoulder any you meet come across engineering students everywhere but at that time they used to say oh this 39:13 engineering student will testify and all that so over a period of time I I my ego was just being fed up though through this excitement I was losing the sense of reality of my Christian life. And in 1988 39:31 December uh I went through a life experience where my younger brother Prasad he Prasad Matthew he met with a road accident and he went to be with the Lord. He was a young brother of just 18 39:49 and a half years old but just one year he knew the Lord. He was he really knew the Lord intimately and some of you recently there were his Prasad Matthew Prasadi Matthew's life and his life sketch was is being circulated in the social networks and 40:07 all and I think recently the in the Tamil Nadu youth camp they enacted his life. So he was a uh I I I don't want to narrate more on his life maybe you can through I was very much deeply attracted I was I I was longing for something and 40:23 I was listening to something which I was longing for and that was the message of uh brother Zach and uh uh some brother in that particular region gave me that and so I I got some new purpose new direction and I came back to my college 40:37 in Kimbatur and then immediately I wanted to meet this brother who this brother is and then I remember I think in it was in 1989 that we came on a study tour and then while in Bangalore I rang him up I don't know whether he 40:51 remembers I rang him up and then he was busy I think then I rang him up again and he said you can come and I went to his house and then he again encouraged and then I went back to the college with a box of audio tapes and then I got 41:05 connected with a church there in Koatur and I started sharing these tapes with my some of my friends and we had a fellowship there and every day we used to meet that was a wonderful experience and then uh but then the greatest thing 41:21 that I value in this church is that as soon as I came to the church I started hearing these truths that the way to the tree of life is guarded by cherubim zoo you know with flaming swords so you can't if you want to go to 41:40 the tree life, experience life. You have to go through this flaming sword because outside everywhere I am being pampered. My ego is being boosted and all of a sudden in a short span of time you kind of very soon become a blotted 41:57 up balloon and then I come here and I hear words of eternal life and I really like brother Charles was saying that you need to kiss the hand of the your parents who discipline you. I really want to thank God for the godly brothers 42:13 who very strongly rebuked me, corrected me and uh and uh many things which I had no light about I was corrected and through this correction and through this flaming sword I could see I could see life. There is this is a place where I 42:31 can receive life. This is a place where I can receive life. This is the way to life. Like Jesus asked Peter, do you also want to go? No, I don't want to go because you have the words of eternal life. We have the words of eternal life. 42:46 The words that give us life that can take us forward. So that is how I started and during my life uh I have had my ups and downs but then the lord was faithful like just we heard the lord was kind the lord was faithful and the lord was lord is really 43:04 faithful to take me through. So this is a this is a picture of Prasad. Uh probably some of you can um read that read about his life on in Facebook and so many other social networking sites. It's available and then um 43:22 then uh uh I you know we read about God that God is God's loving kindness and God's severity. God is loving and God is severe. So I could experience u this kind of God's correction and God's uh 43:42 you know going through the flaming sword and all that. But then whenever I've I've gone through difficulties, failures, discouragements, I could also see brothers were so loving. I could see taste of God's love, God's the warmth of 43:57 his love. And then recently as a family we went through a tough situation in life. So there also we could experience the prayers of so many of God's people, the love of so many of God's people and I'm really thankful to God. So in this 44:14 journey I just wanted to uh uh share a few things that really helped me. uh one is to know that God knows me. So through the diff all the difficulties that I went through 44:34 that could be an anchor not just for me for all of us that God knows me. God knows me by my name. This has just sipas just sharing. I just want to read a verse from Isaiah. Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43 verse 1 and 2. But now thus 44:57 says the Lord, your creator, oh Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. You are mine. I have called you by name. You 45:13 are mine. This assurance, I am God's. Whatever might be the situation that I am God going through, I am God's. You are mine. And then it goes on to say in verse two, when you pass through the I'll be with you. And through the 45:29 rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. You are mine. I have called you by my name. Probably we went through a tough situation where our daughter was 45:47 di diagnosed with osteocaroma in 2010 and we she had to go through an year of chemotherapy and treatment and all that. And our daughter Shika, she went to be with the Lord in 2011 November 46:05 uh at the age of 15. She had completed 15. She was about to be 16. But then we were comforted and we were strengthened by the prayers of so many of you brothers and sisters. And this assurance that uh you know God God knows 46:25 knows us. God without his knowledge nothing happens in our lives. And she was a god-fearing girl and she loved the Lord. And we had this assurance probably you if you u many of you have seen this booklet and many of you probably you uh 46:43 would have met Shakina she's uh Shaka and briefly about her life also is available in the social networking sites and all and when you get time you can go through she too had a sensitive conscience she loved the lord and the lord comforted us 46:59 through this through this period and that was also we could experience the loving kindness of the Lord, the assurance that God knows us. God knows us. Without his knowledge, nothing happens in our lives. He is in control. 47:11 At that time also I remember when I was very much discouraged, I had doubts. I wrote to brother Zach and he also was encouraging me. Uh God is a loving father. He's a loving father. The these two truths really strengthened me at 47:24 that particular time. God is a loving father and God is a sovereign God. He's a loving father and everything that comes from his hand. Though we may not understand everything on this earth, it is out of his love and he's sovereign. 47:38 He cannot make a mistake. He will not make a mistake. Whatever he allows, he has a purpose. These truths strengthened us, encouraged us. We that was really literally going through a fire, going through waters. But uh but uh praise the 47:54 Lord. By his grace, by his mercy, by his loving kindness, we could come out without being scorched, without being burnt. We praise God for the love of the Lord and the mercy of the Lord. 48:09 So God knows us. God knows me. That should be the assurance. Maybe you are going through maybe not a big trial as this. Maybe a smaller trial. Whichever big or small, whichever trial in our lives that we are going through, we need 48:27 to have this assurance that God knows me. He knows me by my name. He says I am you. You know, you are mine. You are mine. I am his. He knows me personally. And whatever might be what might be the small or big the situation that we are going through, 48:44 he's in control. He he has a purpose. He has a way. He makes a way through all through it all we can come out. That is uh that is the solid foundation that we need to have. And then um another truth that helped me in my 49:02 Christian life and probably it could also help you is that we need to know God. We need to know God. We have been listening that we need to have an intimate relationship with the Lord and uh we need to know God. We need to know God. 49:18 So by sometimes we think about spending time in a closet having spending time adoring and worshiping him. Definitely along with that or beyond that we need 49:36 to know him in the in our lives situations. We need to know him by surrendering. As we were hearing earlier, there are situations in our lives, choices in our lives, problems that we face at that particular time where we 49:55 can surrender and say, Lord, like in Matthew 26, like Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, Lord, not my will but thy will. I desire this. I have this will. I have my plan. I have my ambition. But Lord not my will but thy will. I yield 50:12 myself. Lord not my will but thy will. And at these times when I say Lord not my will but thy will. I am knowing the Lord. I am knowing the Lord. I am knowing him personally through life situations when whatever we go through 50:27 we are knowing the Lord. And we read in John 17 that eternal life is to know him. Eternal life is to know God. eternal life is to know Jesus Christ. And then we read in Daniel chapter 11. 50:46 J Daniel chapter um 11 and verse 32. At a difficult time we read there that uh the latter part of that verse contrasting to the difficult time there 51:05 it says but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. But the people who know their God will display strength and take action. Those who know him personally, there could be storms and there could be 51:19 trials, there could be pressures, but those who can, those who know him personally can stand. They'll be able to stand. They will display strength and take action. And dear brothers and sisters, we all need to know him. And 51:33 for that God allows various situations in our lives, in our personal life, in our family life, in our workplace, in our life situations. And at that particular time instead of rebelling and instead of complaining and instead of 51:44 questioning if we can say Lord I don't understand everything fully but Lord you are in control not my will but thy will. Lord I give myself to you my offer my life before you Lord not my will but thy will. And in that process of laying our 52:00 lives, our self-will, our goals, our ambitions, our plans on the altar, we know him. We get to know him. We get to know him. And God wants us to be people who know him and who display strength. And last, I just want to also mention 52:15 that in this Christian journey, it is very important that we know ourselves. That we know ourselves. Many times I have found when I look back into my own life, it was the time when I really didn't know myself that I get deceived. 52:33 So we read in revelations chapter 2 and 3 and all that about uh so many people who were even leading the churches the revelations chapter 2 we the letter to 52:51 the leader of the church in Ephesus there he writes uh there are so many good things about him. I know your verse two. I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance and that you cannot tolerate evil men and you put to test those who call 53:08 themselves apostles. So many good things. So many good things. And you have perseverance and have endurance endured for my name's sake. But probably he too the problem was that he knew that he is doing all these. He knew that he is doing all these. 53:26 probably whatever he did his success probably it would have gone to his head but his lack he couldn't know he didn't know that he had lost his first love lord I want to know my real condition if I have lost my first love if I'm cooling 53:45 off Lord I want to know that rather than meditating on my successes and my achievements and what I what I do Lord in reality what is my heart's condition Lord Lord, I want to know myself. And the and if we want to know ourselves, we 53:59 need to we need to really know that we cannot understand know ourselves by our own estimate. Because in Jeremiah chapter 17, we read that our heart is deceptive. Jeremiah 17 verse 9 and 10, the heart is more deceitful than all 54:18 else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? I cannot understand it. I need to be humble enough to acknowledge that Lord I cannot understand my heart and then the Lord says I Lord search the heart. I test the mind even to keep to 54:32 each man. I search the heart and then I need to go to the Lord and ask him Lord show me my true condition and then I I will not deceive myself. The Ladishian church leader also deceived himself. He thought he was wealthy and rich and 54:48 great. When God's estimate, God thought that he's rich. He he's poor, wretched, blind, and miserable. Show me my true condition. And I want to in my journey ahead, I want to be founded in this fact that God knows me and I want to continue to know him 55:08 personally. And lest I fall by the wayside, I want to continually know my true condition. Lord, I want to know myself. And I thank God for all the godly examples. Thank God for all the teachings that I and my family have 55:23 received. And I'm so thankful for the church and the brothers and for all you all. Thank you. It's wonderful to see these 55:42 young brothers who have grown up little children, young people, and now mature elders in a church, planting churches, leading churches. It's a tremendous joy for me to see 56:01 that. And that's what we work towards right from the beginning. You know, just like parents, we train our children to grow up to one day become parents themselves. And what a joy it is for parents to see their children grow up and become 56:20 parents. That's the same joy that those of us who are older elders have now when we see younger people who grew up as little boys in our midst. now leading and planting churches. Santosh Matthew 56:39 was a very zealous brother in the Indian Institute of Science and numerous young people came in touch with CFC through his witness in that institute number of them very fine brothers some are with us and some are not but 56:59 they are all believers and we're very happy but then a time came in Santos Matthew's life where I don't know what was the reason. It happens very often with young people that God blesses them and then maybe their head gets a bit swollen and he 57:19 drifted away from us from CFC and I virtually said goodbye to him. I said, "Okay, you go your way. I don't care how gifted you are. I don't care how many people you can bring to the Lord." in our church, we work together 57:35 in a spirit of submission. And if you don't have that, I don't hate you. Go and do your own work." And he went right away. And I thought I' that was I mean, I knew I'd see him in heaven, but I don't know whether I'd see him much on this earth. 57:53 But it's amazing how God took him through different circumstances and he had the humility to come back. It's one of the only people, one of the only people who went away and came back because some 58:11 people they know they are wrong but they won't come back because it's a loss of face to acknowledge I was wrong. But God gave him the grace and that is how God prepared him for the ministry he has today. 58:29 And that was not all. God had to do a more greater work in him. He has three daughters. And it's a unique example. I tell you how he and his wife have brought up those three daughters in simplicity and 58:48 godliness with a spirit of service that is rare to find in young girls. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. That girl who died, his eldest daughter Shaka was such a spiritually minded girl at the 59:06 age of 15. Almost was rare to find a girl such a girl at the age of 15. So spiritually minded and the spirit of service. It shows how the parents have brought her up and and she got cancer and 59:27 God took we know I know of another case of a girl who had similar cancer and survived. We prayed and we prayed a lot for her but God chose took her away. Like somebody said, if a gardener has tended a garden and 59:45 produced so many roses, doesn't the owner of the garden have the right to come and pluck one and take it away? The owner is God. We parents tend these roses and if God comes and says, I want to take one of these for myself in heaven, 1:00:03 well, we submit. He's the owner. We are not. So I encouraged Sto Matthew at the time. It was a tremendous trial. I've never been through it. I don't know how many of you have been through raising up a girl up to the age of 15 in godliness, 1:00:19 your eldest child, and then to lose her like that. So I encouraged him and I said, "See, 15 years ago, God sent a little helpless baby into your home who knew nothing. You trained her up in 15 years and made 1:00:39 her a saint and sent her back to heaven. What a wonderful job you did. There's a lot of heartache there. But that was a preparation. First that other drifting and coming back and the humility to acknowledge 1:00:58 error and then the pain of having to lose your eldest daughter through that God prepared him for a ministry and I've known him from the time he was in a young student in Karuna 1:01:16 and I can say his ministry really began after his daughter went to be with the Lord. I could see what has happened since then as an elder in Cotium. God knew that Joji Samuel 1:01:34 who you heard earlier such a godly brother. However godly you may be you need a balance. Even Paul needed a Barnabas a Barnabas needed a Paul. God he needed someone. And God trained this brother to be the perfect balance. 1:01:54 It's one of the ideally balanced elderships I have seen anywhere in India. But see how he got prepared for it. And together they have been a blessing in that church. You know each sort of balancing out the 1:02:13 lack of the other. and together a glorious unity that's blessing not only Kota but all the churches in Kerala. I'm very thankful personally for the fellowship I have with my dear brother Santosh Matthew 1:02:31 and uh I believe he's fulfilled a great ministry of see one of the ministries of the church we don't realize this is what is mentioned in uh Luke's gospel in chapter two 1:02:51 where Simeon said about Jesus, the little baby, said to Mary in verse 34, "This child is appointed for the fall and the rise of many in 1:03:09 Israel, fall and rise, and for a sign to be opposed so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed." There are two three things there. When Jesus comes into a situation, people will never be the same after that. 1:03:28 They'll never be the same. Either they will rise or they will fall. Verse 34. That's the one mark of Christ, the real Jesus coming into a when he came into the midst of the Pharisees, some rose, some fell. Second thing, when Christ 1:03:44 comes into place, it'll be tremendously opposed. That's what it says there. A sign to be opposed. want this and the third the hidden thoughts of many people will be exposed. We thought they were such 1:04:01 spiritual people and suddenly we discover they are carnal and jealous and immature. That is the ministry of a true servant of God and of a church. and Joji Samuel and Santos Matthew 1:04:20 together have fulfilled that ministry in Kerala. There are people who have risen and people who have fallen. They have been opposed tremendously and through it all the hidden thoughts 1:04:40 of so many who people thought were very spiritual was exposed. So God does not take a person through painful experiences without a purpose. It's with a purpose. Sometimes when they go through it with a 1:05:00 human compassion, we say, "Oh Lord, why do you let them go through all this?" God has a purpose. I often think of that verse which I often quote to people in John 13:7. Jesus said, "What I'm doing now, you don't understand. 1:05:16 You will understand later on. That's a verse that we must always remember sometimes when we go through some circumstance which we can't fully explain. Beautiful words of Jesus in John 13:7. What I'm doing now, you don't 1:05:32 understand. You will not understand now, but you will understand it later on. And that's a great thing. I know many things I went through in my life, I didn't understand. The reason I showed you Sep's picture and Santosha's picture there on the 1:05:52 screen was to show you that that's what they looked like when we had one of our first conferences. And year after year they came to conferences and they've also been through many ups and downs in their own life 1:06:07 and trials and defeats like many young people. Don't get discouraged. And through it all, as they humbled themselves, God raised them up and gave them a ministry. I didn't give it to them. I felt that they need to establish a 1:06:30 ministry for themselves where nobody knows me. Here in India, everybody knows me. It was um people would know them as my son. That's not the way to get a ministry. They had to go to a place where nobody knew me 1:06:48 and through the lord the lord himself must give them a ministry and that's what happened. I go to that place and I'm introduced as seps father that's that's how they know me. So what I'm trying to say is all of you young people it's for your 1:07:07 encouragement. I say that don't get discouraged. All these young brothers, they will tell you about their failures and mistakes. But God has blotted it out and says, "I will not remember you anymore. Remember it anymore. 1:07:20 They are not people who have not made mistakes." Joseph Kura who has come here, he'll tell you about mistakes he's made. But God's given them such a unique ministry. I mean, not only in Valor but across Tamil Nad. I thank God for these 1:07:34 brothers whom God has raised up as I told you to all the folks who spoke to this this couple of days are between 20 and 40 years younger than me and this is our greatest joy spiritual witnesses in a new generation 1:07:53 and we are not like Cain who's jealous that God is blessing and Abel we're not like Reuben and the older brothers of Joseph who are jealous that younger brother Joseph is being accepted. We're not like Saul that younger David 1:08:13 is being blessed. We who are older elders sincerely rejoice that the anointing of God is upon these young brothers and our prayer is that they will do a greater work for God in their generation than we have ever done. 1:08:31 that they will know God better than us. They will minister with greater anointing, greater fire, lead people to godliness across the face of the earth. Spread the vision that God has given us 1:08:47 in CFC to many nations and many people. Not by power nor by might, but by the Holy Spirit. God can use anyone. And it's good for all of you young people who sit here 1:09:05 to get hope. See, God has given these brothers such good wives. And that's why the sisters also have a ministry. If these brothers who got up and spoke here did not have good wives, it would have been very difficult. 1:09:23 Whether it's Sanjay or Santosh or Santos Matthew or these I mean if they didn't have wives to support them these young brothers they wouldn't be able to fulfill a ministry. So your sisters also godly men need godly wives. Be a godly 1:09:38 sister. God needs godly young men and young women in the days to come in India. And don't get discouraged because you failed. God picks up people who have failed. If you get discouraged, read my book, 1:09:57 The Purpose of Failure. There's it's part of it is my own testimony. There's a purpose in it. And I think in the history of the human of the Christian church, you'll find that almost every most of the people God has used 1:10:14 were people who failed somewhere or the other and that that failure humbled them. so that they wouldn't lift up their head and think that they are somebody and then God could fulfill his purpose through them. 1:10:31 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, please help us to honor you in everything. Thank you for this testimony we have heard from these brothers in Jesus name. Amen.
