0:54 So, brothers and sisters, we want to sing this song. It says it talks about the love of God. And let's think about all that Jesus has done for us as we sing this. Let's sing to him. 1:13 Testify of his goodness. >> Oh, the love that has [music and singing] sought me. Oh, the blood that [singing] bought me. Oh, [music] the grace that brought me to 1:32 the [singing] fold. >> [music] >> Wondrous grace that brought me to the [singing] fold. In tenderness [singing and music] 1:46 he sought me, weary and sick with sin. >> [singing and music] >> And on his shoulders brought me back to his fold again. >> [music] >> While >> [singing] >> angels in his presence sang until 2:04 the courts of heaven >> [music and singing] >> rang. Oh, the love that sought [music] me. Oh, [singing] the blood that bought me. Oh, the [music] grace that brought me to the fold. Wondrous [music and singing] grace that 2:24 brought me to the fold. >> Sister, sing. >> He washed [music and singing] the bleeding sin wounds and >> [music] >> poured in oil and wine. He whispered [singing] to assure me, "I found thee, thou >> [music and singing] 2:43 >> art mine." I never heard a sweeter voice. It made my >> [music and singing] >> aching heart >> Last three brothers, sing. >> Pointed to the [singing and music] nail prints. For me, his blood was shed. A 3:03 mocking crown, so thorny, >> [music and singing] >> was placed upon his head. I wonder [music and singing] what he saw in me to save such a great [music and singing] wretch. >> Join in and sing, brothers and sisters. >> Oh, 3:20 the love that sought [singing and music] me. Oh, the blood that bought me. Oh, the grace that [music and singing] brought me to the fold. Wondrous [music and singing] grace that brought me to the fold. >> Okay, congregation, sing the fourth 3:40 verse. I'm sitting in his presence. >> I'm sitting in >> [music and singing] >> his presence, the sunshine of his face. While >> [music and singing] >> with adoring hearts >> [singing and music] [music and singing] 4:06 >> Just the voices. Fifth verse. >> [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] 4:27 [music] [singing] >> Fourth verse. >> [singing] [singing] [singing] 5:00 >> Please be seated, brothers and sisters. >> [music and singing] >> Stand up and sing. [music] >> [singing] 5:23 [music] [singing] [singing and music] [music and singing] >> Let [singing] 5:47 the rocks [music] be silent for one more day. Let the [singing] whole world sing out. Let the people [music] say Almighty, [music and singing] most holy God. >> [chanting] 6:05 >> Faithful through the ages. [music] Almighty, [singing] most holy Lord. Glorious almighty [singing and music] God. >> Time marches on. >> When time marches [singing] on, when innocence [music] gone, and the darkness 6:25 has covered the earth. But his spirit still [singing] dwells. He speaks it [music] is well, and the hopeless feel a new birth. He will break [music and singing] the leash of death. It will have no sting. Let the prisoner go free. [music] Join 6:43 the dance and [singing] say Almighty, [music and singing] most holy God. >> [singing] >> Faithful through the ages. [music] Almighty, most holy Lord. >> [music] 7:03 [singing] >> Glorious almighty God. Almighty, >> [music] >> most holy God. Faithful through the [singing and music] ages. Almighty, most holy [singing] Lord. Glorious [music] almighty [singing] God. 7:28 >> As the song sings, there's an endless song that echoes in my soul. How can I keep from singing your praise? How can I ever say enough how amazing is your love? I know [singing] I am loved by the King [music] and it [singing] makes my heart 7:51 want to sing. There is an endless [music and singing] song echoes in my soul. 8:11 I hear >> [singing and music] >> the music ring. And though the [singing and music] storms may come, I am holding on to >> [singing and music] >> the rock I claim. How can [music and singing] I keep from 8:31 singing your praise? How can I [singing] ever say [music] no? How amazing is your love? How can [music] I keep from shouting [singing] your name? 8:47 I know I am [music] loved by the King and it makes [singing] my heart want to sing. >> Brothers, clap and sing. >> I will lift my [singing] eyes 9:10 in the darkest night. I know >> [singing] >> my savior lives. >> [music] >> And I will walk [singing] with you, knowing you'll see me through, [music and singing] 9:26 and sing the songs you give. >> [singing] >> How can I [music] keep from singing your [singing] praise? How can [music] I ever say enough how amazing [singing] is your love? 9:45 How can I keep from shouting [singing] your >> [music] >> name? I know I [singing] am loved by the King and it [music] makes my heart want to sing. >> [music] >> I can sing [music] 10:05 in the troubled [singing] times, sing when I'm weak, I can sing >> [music and singing] >> when I lose my strength, fall down again. I can sing cuz you pick me [singing and music] up, sing cuz you're there. I can sing 10:24 cuz you hear [singing] me, Lord, when I call >> [music] >> to you in prayer. I can [singing] sing with my last [music] breath, sing for I know [singing] that [music] I'll sing with the angels and the saints around [music] the throne. 10:44 How can [singing] I keep from singing your praise? [music] How can I ever say enough how amazing [music and singing] is your love? How can I keep from shouting [singing] your name? >> [music] 11:02 >> I know I am loved by the King and it makes my heart >> [singing and music] >> want to sing. >> [music] >> Continue to praise the Lord for all that 11:26 he has done. Song says, "I'm a new creation, no more in condemnation. Here in the grace of God I stand. >> And I will Yes, I will praise you, Lord. >> [singing] >> And I will sing of all that you have 11:50 done. >> [music] >> I am a new creation. >> I am [singing] a new creation, no more in condemnation. [music] Here in the grace of [singing] God I stand. >> [music] >> My heart [singing] is overflowing. 12:09 My love just keeps on growing. [singing] Here [music] in the grace of God I stand. I will [music] praise you, Lord. [singing] Yes, I will praise you, Lord. And I will sing [singing and music] 12:25 of all that you have done. >> joy >> A joy [music] that knows [singing] no limit. A lightness in my spirit. Here in the grace of God I stand. [music and singing] >> I am a new creation. 12:43 >> I am a new [singing] creation, no more in condemnation. [music] Here in the grace of God [singing] I stand. >> [music] >> My heart [singing] is overflowing. My love just keeps [music] on growing. 13:02 Here in the grace of God I stand. >> [music] >> Congregation, sing I will praise you. I will >> I will praise you, Lord. >> [music and singing] >> Yes, I will praise you, Lord. And I will sing of all that you have done. 13:16 >> [music and singing] >> A joy A joy that [singing and music] knows no limit. A lightness in my spirit. Here in grace [singing and music] of God I stand. I'm but a stranger [singing] 13:39 here, this world [music] is not my home. I'm [singing] just a sojourner >> [music] >> and heaven >> [singing] >> is my home. Danger and sorrow stand round [music] me on every hand, 13:59 but heaven >> [singing] >> is my [music] fatherland. Heaven [singing] is my home, >> [music] >> my glorious home, and all >> [singing and music] >> my days are numbered 14:17 here. I soon shall [music and singing] leave this place, for I have >> [singing and music] >> run my race, and then I'll stand before His face. >> Brothers, sing. >> [music] >> What though the tempests rage, 14:37 this world [music and singing] is not my home. Short is my pilgrimage, and heaven >> [music and singing] >> is my home. This world's cold, chilling [singing] blast >> [music] >> will very soon be past, and I shall reach my [singing] home 14:59 >> [music] >> at last. >> Sisters, sing there at my Savior's side. >> There at >> [singing] >> my Savior's side, there in >> [music] >> my heavenly home, I shall >> [singing and music] >> be glorified. No more on earth to roam, 15:18 >> [singing and music] >> there are the good and blessed, those I love >> [music and singing] >> most and >> [music] >> Join in and sing. >> Heaven is my [singing and music] home, my glorious home, 15:38 >> [music] >> and all [singing] my days are numbered >> [music] >> here. I soon [music and singing] shall leave this place, for I have run my race, >> [music] >> and then >> [singing] >> I'll stand 15:56 before His face. >> Let this congregation [music] sing. >> [singing] [music and singing] [music] [singing] 16:22 [music] [singing] [music] >> Heaven is [singing] my home, my [music] glorious home, >> [singing] >> and all my days are numbered [singing] 16:42 here. I soon shall leave [music and singing] this place, for I have run my race, and then I'll stand [singing and music] before His face. >> [music] 17:10 [music] [music] >> Who else [singing] commands all [music] 17:30 the hosts of heaven? Who else can make every [singing and music] king bow down? Who else [singing and music] can whisper and darkness tremble? Only [singing] a holy God. 17:50 >> [music] >> What other [singing] beauty [music] demands such praises? What [singing] other splendor [music] outshines the sun? What [singing] other majesty [music] 18:10 rules with justice? Only [music] [singing] a holy God. Come [singing] and [music] behold the one >> [singing] 18:30 >> and the only. Cry out, >> [music and singing] >> sing holy, forever [singing and music] a holy God. Come [singing] and worship the holy [music] God. What other [singing] glory [music] 19:00 consumes like fire? What other power [music and singing] can raise the dead? What other [singing] remains [music] undefeated? Only [music] a [singing] 19:19 holy God. >> Who else could rescue me? >> Who else could [singing] rescue me from my failing? Who else would offer his [singing] only son? Who else invites [singing] 19:40 me to call him father? Only [singing] a holy God. Only my holy [music] God. [singing] Come [singing] and 20:00 >> [music] >> behold him, the one >> [singing] >> and the only. Cry >> [singing and music] >> and sing holy, forever [singing and music] a holy God. Come >> [singing and music] 20:18 >> and worship the holy God. >> Praise you for your faithfulness, oh 20:36 Lord. Who am I? >> I praise you [singing] for your 21:00 faithfulness, [music] oh Lord. For your >> [singing and music] >> father's love and never fails. Who am I, [singing and music] the king of love, my shepherd 21:19 >> [music] >> is. Who >> [singing] >> am I that you should call [music] me friend? Made lower >> [singing] [music] >> than the angels for a time. Suffered [singing and music] death 21:39 for only you alone. [singing] >> [music] >> Our my one high priest, my only sacrifice, [music] and my >> [singing] >> advocate [music] before 21:57 the throne. Though you know >> [singing and music] >> all my >> [music] >> ways, yet your love >> [singing] >> for me >> [music] >> endures. When I 22:16 >> [singing] [music] >> think of all these things, >> [music] >> oh >> [singing] >> I love you more and Praise you >> [singing and music] >> for your faithfulness, 22:36 oh Lord. >> [music] >> Congregation sing "For though you know all my ways." >> Though [music] you know >> [singing] >> all my ways, yet your >> [singing] >> love for me 22:56 endures. When I think [singing] of all these things, oh I love >> [singing] >> you more and more. I praise you for 23:15 >> [singing] >> your faithfulness, [music] oh Lord. >> Let's stand up, brothers and sisters, sing our last song. >> We bow >> [singing] >> down >> [music] 23:38 >> and confess >> [singing] [music] >> you are Lord >> [music] >> in [singing] this place. We bow 24:02 down and confess >> [music] >> you [singing] are Lord >> [music] >> in this 24:23 place. You [music and singing] are Lord Almighty. >> [singing and music] >> It's your face [singing] 24:43 >> [music] >> I see in the [singing] presence [music] of your [singing] love. 25:03 >> [music] >> We bow down. >> [music] >> We [singing] bow down. >> Just the voices, we bow down. >> We bow >> [singing] >> down. And [singing] confess 25:31 you [singing] are Lord in [singing] this place. >> Dear family, let's continue 26:15 in the same spirit of worship. Our spirit, soul, and body completely yielded and surrendered to the one who formed us in our mother's womb. His eyes are on the sparrow. How much more he 26:34 care for his children this morning. We acknowledge his presence in our midst in our singing and let's believe with all our heart that our father, the Lord who saved us, who is the savior, king of king, and the 26:51 lord of lord. He is in our midst. And draw near with that great confidence in him. In his faithfulness. I'd like to read a few words from Psalm 9. I will give thanks to the Lord with all 27:11 my heart. And I will tell of all your wonders. I'll be glad and I will rejoice in you. And I will sing praises to your name, oh most high. When my enemies turn back, they stumble 27:29 and perish before you. Remember there are no earthly enemies for us. For you have maintained my just cause. And you have sat on the throne judging righteously. You have rebuked the nations and you 27:48 have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins. And you have uprooted the cities. The memory of them has perished. But the Lord abides forever. He 28:06 established his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness. He will execute judgment for the people with equity. The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed. A stronghold in the time of trouble. 28:24 And those who know your name will put their trust in you. For you, oh Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion. Declare among the people his deeds. The Lord has not forsaken those who seek 28:40 him. So, let's seek him this morning and draw near to him with a heart of gratitude and thanks. And let's not be silent before the Lord. Open our mouth and give him thanks and praise. Our Father in heaven, we give you thanks 28:56 and praise. Thank you, Father, for your great love. Thank you, Lord, for forgiving all our iniquities. Thank you for cleansing us, Lord. Thank you for pouring out your Holy Spirit upon us, Lord. Thank you for the precious gift 29:11 of your word, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for giving us anointed servants to teach your word. Thank you for the church, your family. Thank you for giving us a place in the church. We give you praise and thanks, Lord. You're worthy. Lord, there is no one 29:24 like you. We give you glory and honor, King of kings, Lord of lords. Let your name be honored. Let your name be exalted, Lord. We praise you, bless you. Lord Jesus, we want to thank you and praise you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. 29:36 You're mighty to save and deliver, Lord. We give you glory and honor, Lord. We bless your holy name. We praise you, Lord. We praise you, Father. We praise you and bless you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We invite you, Lord. Take the highest 29:49 place, Lord. Take the highest place in our midst, Lord. Let your word come forth from heaven, Lord. And release the captives, Lord. We want to thank you and praise you, Lord. We pray for those who minister in your word, Lord. 30:02 Anoint your servants, Lord, that we may hear your voice from heaven, Lord. And prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive your word, Lord. Transform us, Lord. Thank you. Thank you, Father, for hearing us. In Jesus' precious and mighty name we 30:15 pray. Amen. Please take your seat, brothers and sisters. >> [snorts] >> Let's say our memory verses together. Last week, we had a command from 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11. We forgive so that no advantage 30:41 would be taken of us by Satan. And for this week, we have a promise. All things are possible to the one who believes. Let's say it as a confession of our faith. All things are possible to the 31:01 one who believes. Mark 9:23. This morning, we have a privilege we can hear God's word through Brother Charles first, and then Brother John Polo. Brother Charles, over to you. >> Would you turn your Bibles with me to 31:40 the book of Isaiah? Isaiah chapter 53, verse two. Isaiah chapter 53, verse two. It says here that Jesus 31:57 grew up before God the Father. Like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground. So, this is the basis on which 32:14 this entire Psalm is written. This speaks about the suffering servant, or sufferings of Jesus Christ. We read in this all that Jesus went through. 32:31 Acquainted with grief, and bore our sins, and our griefs, and sorrows. And he was crushed for our iniquities. And the chastening of our well-being fell upon him. And it says 32:49 in verse 10, but it was the Lord was pleased to crush him to put him to grief. This is something that we need to think about. The Lord was pleased 33:09 to crush Jesus. It says, that is for my sake and for your sake he was crushed, beaten, bruised, 33:25 so that he could justify many. And he will bear their iniquities. And he poured his soul to death and was numbered among the transgressors. It says. 33:43 And we read that Jesus was able to go through all this mainly for one reason. That is 34:02 in verse two. Jesus grew up before the Father. And that was what gave him the strength and the grace and the ability to endure all that he endured 34:20 as it is written in this book. You see the secret of the Christian life is not to live before man's face, 34:37 but to live before God's face. As it is written here, he grew up before the Father. He was not bothered about what anybody thinks about him, what anybody says about him. Many people thought differently about him. 34:56 And many people spoke so many bad things, evil things, and unimaginable things, called him by all sorts of names. He was able to bear with all that just because he grew up 35:15 before the Father like a tender shoot. That's a secret of the Christian life. It's not living before man's face and man's opinion, but to make it one goal in our life, 35:35 that is to please the Father alone. And in our pursuit of holiness, if we are all the time bothered about what so-and-so thinks about me, 35:51 then my pursuit of holiness is fake. It is not true. Like we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, it says, maybe we'll turn there, 2 Corinthians Corinthians chapter 7, 36:10 a well-known verse. It says, "Therefore, having these promises." What are those promises? They're there before this verse in chapter 16 36:29 verses 16 onwards. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 36:47 Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. If I am not perfecting holiness and pursuing after holiness in my Christian life in the fear of God, but in the fear of men, 37:05 then my holiness is fake. It is not genuine. And the Lord will not approve of it. And uh Jesus, when he was on Earth, he spoke about various things 37:24 and various topics. But notice one thing that Jesus did not mainly speak about external sins, like the 10 Commandments. Thou shalt not do this, thou shalt do this. 37:43 Thou shalt not commit murder. Thou shalt not kill and so on and so forth. He didn't so much speak about that. You read the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew starts with the Sermon on the Mount. And you read in the Sermon on the Mount 38:02 so many things that Jesus teaches, he teaches about internal sins, which man overlooks. He thinks that these internal sins are like they say in Catholic 38:18 uh faith, venial sins and cardinal sins. Cardinal sins are grave sins like murder and robbery and things like that. But venial things venial sins 38:35 like for example jealousy, hatred bitterness anger, lust, bad attitude, bad motives these things they don't speak so much about these and they think that these are all venial 38:54 sins. These are all minor sins. We should not be bothered about it. So long as I keep the 10 Commandments, these external ones, I'm okay. With that kind of attitude if I live 39:11 I will have the shock of my life when I stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Because we read in Acts chapter 1 verse 1, Jesus first of all did 39:29 and then it says he taught. So he just didn't go around speaking and teaching like many preachers do today. They teach which is not true in their life in the first place. They go about talking 39:47 speaking, preaching, exhorting which itself is not um done any good in them. They are like Jesus said in Matthew 23, you are like whitewashed 40:05 grave. Inside you are full of rottenness, rotten flesh and bone. Stench is there. We go around with all stench, but we are so clever to hide it. We don't let people 40:24 smell it. We are so what to say, airtight. We live in an airtight uh compartment or whatever you call it. We are so careful when it comes to our external testimony. 40:44 And when I'm bothered about my external testimony, I'm all the time under tension and pressure. And I have to be on guard all the time. What comes out of my mouth, how I behave, my motives, my attitude, I guard 41:03 them. I'm very careful about not letting people know what is inside of me. But outside, I behave very well and look like a gentleman. And everybody has a very high opinion 41:20 about me. But wait till the judgment seat of Christ, where we have to give an account for every thought, every word, every action. And these are the things that Jesus 41:38 mainly emphasized in his ministry. He said, "Watch out. Be on your guard. Pray. And lest you enter into temptation." And things like that, Jesus over and over 41:56 again, he meant I mean, he exhorted his disciples and all those who were following him to concentrate upon their inner life. We see 42:12 so many such things in our life. For instance, self-righteousness. We all tend to give a good um impression to others. That I'm a holy man. I I 42:31 uh live by principles. I'm a principled man. And I'm not like others. You see? Like the Pharisee said, I'm not like this tax collector. I fast. And I pray. I give my tithes. I I'm not 42:50 like the other sinners out. Uh as if God doesn't know all that. He's reminding God about those. We You can be like that. And you know the end of the story. The other man, the sinner, got justified and went home. 43:09 This guy received from the Lord. We when we look at the teachings of Jesus Christ, especially when you go home, you read chapter 23 of Matthew where Jesus pronounces curses 43:29 on these self-righteous Pharisees. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Serpents. He calls them by worse name. Cuz they thought they were 43:47 externally they were righteous and good and had public honor and all that. Because they were living before the face of man. Living before the face of man is like me cleaning the outside of the vessel. 44:07 And inside it is maggoty with worms and dirt and filth. And I'm not bothered about that. I'm mainly bothered about what how I present myself to others. 44:25 If that is my concern, then I'm thoroughly deceived. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for these things. You go home and read. I don't have time to go through all that. 44:44 But we can turn to what Jesus spoke on the mount the Sermon on the Mount. Go to chapter 6. Verse 3 for instance. He's speaking about almsgiving, 45:04 helping the poor, speaking about fasting and prayer, which many people would like to advertise. For example, you know, they give a gift and they want everybody to know that I gave such a huge gift 45:23 so that people will know that I'm a great philanthropist. And uh they say, "When I was fasting for 40 days, you know, God spoke to me like this." Or when I was fasting for 21 days, this was the revelation God gave. It's not so 45:40 much about the revelation or the word that God gave, but they want people to know that he fasted for 40 days or 21 days or things like that. And even prayer for instance. You know, some people in some churches, 46:00 they pray in the loudspeaker. There are so that the world will know that they are fasting and they are praying, which Jesus said, "Let no man know that you're fasting. 46:17 Let no man know that you're praying. Let no man know that you're giving. Let all these be done in secret so that that the Father who sees in secret will reward you publicly. That is on that day. 46:36 But if you do everything here so that others can see and know that you're such a good man that you fast, pray, and give alms and all that, Jesus said, "They have received their reward here already." 46:55 Don't expect anything to be received there. In verse three, Jesus said, "When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing that your alms may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret will 47:14 repay you." This is as far as giving alms. And then about prayer, verse six. When you pray, go into your inner room. And when you have shut your door behind you, 47:30 pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And don't use meaningless words. That's another thing. 47:48 We hear in some churches some preachers as well as the people on the pew saying the same thing over and over again. For instance, I remember more than 40 48:06 45 years ago when I one of our brothers in back in my hometown passed away and their children were in convent school and some nuns came to pray 48:22 and to comfort the bereaved family. And uh I was watching what are they praying? They're only praying and repeating the same thing, the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy I don't know how many times they 48:39 prayed. They had nothing else to pray. So, like that they keep on saying repeating the same thing, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, uh praise the Lord, praise the Lord. I remember one brother who was here who went to 48:55 pick up his mother from a church. He was asked whether he I mean where he works. He said, "No, I don't work. I don't have a job. I'm unemployed." And one of the church members there told him, "You say 49:13 praise the Lord 500 times and you'll get a job." Have you ever heard of this? If in India everybody says praise the Lord for 500 times, there won't be any unemployment in in not only in India, all over the world. 49:31 Why is it that it doesn't work? This is what Jesus condemned here. Don't repeat what the Gentiles do. They suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 49:50 And then he speaks about fasting in verse 16. When you fast, do not put on a gloomy face. Don't go around with a long face that people will ask you, "Hey, what's wrong with you?" As the hypocrites do. 50:13 For they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly, I say to you that they have their reward in full. See, all these things Jesus is speaking about, 50:30 he is speaking about our inner life, our inner attitude. Self-righteousness is one of them. And then Jesus spoke about hatred. Jesus said about hatred, bitterness, grudge. 50:49 We all can hide these things like good uh what to say, good Absaloms or good Davids. You know, Absalom, 51:06 he had hatred for his half brother Amnon who violated his half uh Absalom's own sister, Tamar. And uh when Prince Absalom came to know 51:23 about it, he told her just keep quiet. And he nursed that grudge in his heart for 2 years, 2 full years. You read that in 1 Kings. Uh sorry, 2 Samuel 13. 51:45 And uh after 2 years, there was an opportunity. They had all gathered for a party. That was the day when Absalom took his revenge on Amnon and killed him. And avenged 52:04 his sister's what he did to his sister. And even David, we know that when David was dispossessed, he was um his throne was usurped by his son 52:23 Absalom. David ran away. And when he was running away, one of his servants, Shimei, he cursed David to his face and started throwing 52:40 mud at him and started cursing him very badly. And David just ignored that. And one of his, generals told him, "Just let me go and chop off that fellow's head." He said, "No, don't do that. If the Lord 52:59 has allowed him to curse me, who am I to stop him?" See the spirit of David there. David was a was called a man after God's own heart for nothing. He had excellent qualities, but he had 53:18 also his own weaknesses and faults. And after Absalom was killed by Joab in the battle, and David's throne was reestablished, and he became king, Shimei comes 53:36 trembling before him, thinking that he would be his head would be chopped off. But David promises to him that I will not harm you. Go in peace. And Shimei lived till 53:55 David died. But that grudge David bore in his heart for the next 5 to 10 years. And you know what happened towards the end of his life in 54:12 1 Kings 2:9 1 Kings 2:9 He's giving final charge to Solomon, his son. 54:31 And the last thing he says just before he dies he says, "Now um uh verse 8 rather he remembers Shimei the son of Gera the 54:49 Benjaminite that how he cursed him with violent curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim and I swore to him that I will not put him to death by the sword. But you 55:08 Solomon you have not promised that. You're a intelligent man. And you know what you have to do. And bring his gray hair 55:27 down to Sheol with blood. He says. This is the last word that David uttered and then he says the next verse Then David slept with his fathers and was buried. Until the dying day David kept this 55:52 hatred hidden for 10 5 to 10 years and then he avenged it. What a sad way to end a man's life. He lived in the old covenant. But we 56:11 live in the new covenant. We are not to follow David in in this case. And we think that hatred and anger and dislike 56:30 towards somebody is not so grievous. But the word of God says very clearly, Jesus himself said that very clearly, if you are angry with your brother you have already murdered him. In the old covenant it says thou shalt 56:50 not kill or murder, but in the new covenant I say unto you, Jesus said if you are angry with your brother you already murdered. You can see the same thing what John says in 1 John chapter 3. 57:10 This is very serious word. I remember the other day when some so-called preacher was preaching against a true servant of God with all kinds of wishing all kinds of 57:29 bad things to him. The Lord gave me this verse. This came to my mind. It is in 1 John 3:14 and 15. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love 57:47 the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. But verse 15, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. This is more elaborate here than what Jesus said. Everyone who hates 58:06 his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer murderer has eternal life abiding in him. This is very serious, dear brothers. These hidden internal 58:24 venial sins, we call it like self-righteousness, hatred, anger, jealousy, lying, resentment, etc. We need to get rid of these. Jesus said, "First clean the inside of 58:42 the cup, and then you don't have to worry about the cleaning of the outside of the cup." Brothers and sisters, if we take these things seriously, this is the new covenant. This is not the old covenant. In the old covenant, they could 58:59 they could lust, they could get angry, and come and break bread if there was a breaking of bread. But in the new covenant, it is not so. If you have anger, bitterness, and lust, hatred, 59:17 you cannot break bread. If you do, you are storing up on yourself the wrath of God. And then we come to another sin called loving the world, especially young people. 59:36 Take this verse very seriously. It says, I will read that in the Living Bible. It says in 1 John 2:15, we all like to love the world and the things in the world. We live in the world and we use them. We 59:55 need the things of the earth, of this world, but not to an extent where it clouds out God. It says in the Living Translation, "Stop loving this evil world and all 1:00:13 that it offers you. And when you love these things, you show that you do not really love God." All the evil that is there in this world, if you love, then it means that you really don't love 1:00:33 God. For all these worldly things, these evil desires, they are the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you. Go for shopping and window shopping and 1:00:52 visit malls and um you'll be temp- you look at this one, oh you put it in the cart. You look at another one, put it in the cart. You may have gone there to buy something worth 500 rupees or something, but you finally come out with a bill of 1:01:09 5,000 rupees. You especially if you go in a mall. All that you see, you'd like to buy all of them, even if you have those things at home you still want them. 1:01:26 Because it's written 50% off or whatever. Ambition to buy everything that appeals to you and the pride that comes from wealth and importance. These are not from God. They are from this world itself. 1:01:45 And this world is fading away and all these evil forbidden things will go with it. But whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever. This is what Jesus said when he lived on 1:02:07 this earth. He always said, "Father, not my will, but yours be done." That is how he denied himself all the time, not only on the last day. All the days of his life he carried his cross. Carrying his cross is nothing but 1:02:24 denying his self. Denying himself. Then comes the juicy part of it called gossip. You know, many people think gossip is something very, very um 1:02:42 less important thing. You know, some people when they have nothing to do they have this habit of gossiping. Like somebody said, "Great minds speak I mean speak about ideas 1:03:02 and average minds speak about events that happened and small minds think speak about people." And you know where where in which category you are and I am. 1:03:20 We can examine ourselves. If we have spare time and little time with others, we call it by a spiritual name called fellowship. But what are we talking in our fellowship? Another person who is not present there. But if that person is present there, 1:03:39 would you talk about that person? If he walks in suddenly, would you continue the conversation? If so, go ahead. That is not gossip. When John's disciples came to Jesus asking, "Are you the Messiah or we have 1:03:59 to look for somebody else?" You know, after the after Jesus sent John's disciples, you know what he said? He said, "John, if you accept it, 1:04:15 he's the greatest of all the prophets." Such a commendation he gave behind his back. Do we do that? Behind somebody's back, we always want to backbite 1:04:33 because we don't have the guts to frontbite. That's why we backbite. And like somebody said, backbiting is the sport of cowards. Only cowards do that. 1:04:51 Backbiting, gossiping. Sharing, sometimes we share that in somebody's ears. This is only for prayer. Don't tell anybody. Oh, as if you have a great concern. 1:05:13 And if you have concern, brother, go into your room, close your door. Pray like Jesus said. And if it's really a prayer point, you will have burden about it. You will pray for that 1:05:30 particularly with burden, with tears, probably with fasting. If you have not fasted and prayed for that person, don't go around about that person's weakness or whatever to another person. You are only pretending to be spiritual. 1:05:50 And another thing is grumbling. That also many people think it's it's a very minor thing, you know. How seriously God took a grumbling. The people when they were in the wilderness, these Israelites, they grumbled, kept on grumbling for 1:06:13 water, grumbling for food, grumbling about the leadership of Moses, grumbling about why Moses married this Ethiopian woman, and so many things which certain things didn't concern them. But God heard all of them and he said, 1:06:32 "I'm fed up with these people. These 10 times, how long shall I bear with them?" He said, "I will finish them all off and >> [snorts] >> start a new race through you, Moses." Said, Moses didn't say, "Wow, I was waiting for this time. 1:06:49 I can also start a new human race like Noah did." He didn't say that. He pleaded with God and he said, "Lord, nothing doing. If you're not taking them, if you're not forgiving them, please blot out my name from the book of 1:07:07 life. He staked his his life, his future, his eternity. That was the spirit of Moses. And the Uh there is a very serious word in the Leviticus chapter 19. I want you to turn with me there for a 1:07:27 moment. Leviticus chapter 19 How seriously God takes these uh things. We think it is something unimportant or small. 1:07:43 But it says in Leviticus 19 and uh verse 16, you shall not go about as a slanderer. Slanderer means a mini devil among your people, and you are not to 1:08:01 act against the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart. You may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear a grudge 1:08:20 against the sons of your people. For you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And you know the Lord took it so seriously. 1:08:38 He swore in his wrath that none of these people will ever enter the promised land, and he made sure that none of these 603,550 people, soldiers, 1:08:56 who went out from Egypt, God killed all of them except Joshua and Caleb. He said 40 days you went to spy the land and you came back with a bad report. Diminishing my power. 1:09:18 Thinking that I'm unable to do what I promised. I will make sure that none of you will see the promised land. And every one of them Think about it. Every day people dying, dying, dying. We read about that in 1 Corinthians 10 also. Their bodies were 1:09:37 laid low in the wilderness. That means probably there was no place for them to bury them. Nearly at the rate of more than 40 people every day dying. Digging 40 graves, making 40 coffins every day. I think they've got fed up 1:09:56 and the bodies were just thrown around. Probably birds and wild animals came and ate them up. That was the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience and grumblers. And finally it speaks about idolatry. 1:10:16 We think we don't worship idols like the others who go to their worship place. I told once in the police station when we were called 1:10:34 the police inspector was asking, "Why do you prevent people from coming and offering prayers?" I said, "We don't have any idols there in our midst where people can come and offer their prayers. 1:10:51 God is God has I told the inspector it this. The Bible says heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. When God says like that, you can pray anywhere on the face of the earth. You don't have to come to 1:11:11 a temple or mosque or church to pray cuz God is everywhere. He is in heaven, this earth is his footstool. That's what Isaiah says. And I told him we don't have any idols here. But 1:11:30 we may have idols in our hearts. We may love our job more than anything else. We may love our children or our life partner or our wealth or our property more than God himself. So the Lord says no idolater 1:11:49 will inherit the kingdom of God. And John the Apostle towards and the last verse of his epistle 1 John 5 the last verse he says and closes his epistle 1:12:08 saying, "My little children keep yourself away from idols." Look at the way that he ends. Instead of saying, "May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." like Paul says in many epistles, this man closes it 1:12:27 saying, "Run away from idolatry." Dear brothers and sisters, these are sins that we don't think so much about. But these are the ones that are going to ultimately make us 1:12:45 get disqualified at the judgment seat of Christ. He who has ears, let him hear. Shall we bow our heads in prayer? Our Father in heaven, we thank you 1:13:07 that you love us so much that you've given us everything pertaining to life and godliness and correction in your word. Help us not to be smug but to take your word seriously. 1:13:26 Lord, help us to fear you in the depth of our heart and live before your face alone the rest of our life being clean in our spirit and soul mind and our attitude 1:13:45 our motives, intentions. Lord, wash us clean with your blood and fill us with your Holy Spirit and guide us lead us in the way we should go so that we may stand with boldness and confidence before your throne 1:14:03 when our time comes. We bless you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We'll sing a song now then afterwards we hear our brother Paul. >> Let's sing the song as a as a prayer. 1:15:25 The Lord who sees in secret, He knows us inside and out. He alone is able to transform us as we look upon the glory of Jesus. >> Breathe on me, breath 1:15:47 >> [music and singing] >> of God. Fill [singing and music] me with life anew. That [music] I may [singing] love what thou dost love and do 1:16:08 >> [music] >> what [singing] thou wouldst do. Breathe on [singing] me, breath [music] of God. Until [music and singing] 1:16:23 my heart is pure. Until [music] [singing] my will is one with thine. >> [music] >> To >> [singing] >> do and to >> [music] 1:16:43 >> and to. Breathe on me, [singing] breath [music] of God. Till [singing] I am wholly >> [music] >> thine. Until [singing and music] 1:17:03 this earthly part of me [music] glows with [singing] thy fire divine. >> [music] 1:17:20 >> Breathe [singing] on me, breath of God. >> [music] >> So shall [singing] I never die. >> [music] >> But live [singing] with thee 1:17:39 the perfect >> [singing and music] >> life of >> [singing] >> thine >> [music] >> eternity. >> [music] >> Thank God for the word we heard. Matthew 1:18:24 [cough and clears throat] 5:20. Jesus talks about the righteousness that surpasses the scribes and Pharisees. Unless your righteousness surpasses that 1:18:43 of scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So, what is what is their righteousness? You know, a man prayed. The Pharisee went to the temple and prayed, "I fast twice a week and I give 1/10 1:19:01 uh to the Lord >> [clears throat] >> as tithe." So, when it talks about exceeds the righteousness of Pharisee, is it like I fast three times a week and I give 2/10? No, it's not about quantity. 1:19:20 What the Lord's saying is it's about the quality, like we heard. They clean the outside of the cup. And that's what Jesus told the Pharisee, "You always clean the outside of the cup. You You You are very careful to clean and 1:19:35 present a cup clean outside. But your inside inside the cup is not clean. Like we heard, it's stench, it's filth. It's evil thoughts. So, it's not about the quantity, it's about the quality. They clean the outside, but I 1:19:54 clean the inside of my cup. And that is what it is to exceed their righteousness. You know, they they are so careful that they don't commit a murder. But Jesus spoke in the Sermon of the Mount, you know, anger is equivalent to 1:20:09 murder. That's inside. Lord, I clean the anger in my heart. Jesus said, you know, adultery, but he said lust. If you have lusted at your eyes, that's inside of the cup, cleaning the inside of the cup. Lord, I'm careful to 1:20:24 clean the inside. But I find in myself our nature is you You so taken up and by default it wants to clean the outside of the cup. It wants to present a good picture. It wants to immediately go run around and clean the outside of the cup. 1:20:42 And that's where you know, it's important for me to judge myself daily. And we see and what we heard about judgment and what we are going to be judged on. It's sort of a question paper leak for all of us on what we are going to be judged on. 1 Corinthians 1:21:00 4:5. God said what he's going to judge us based on. He will bring to light the things hidden 1:21:18 in darkness, the things that are hidden in darkness, that's one. And disclose the motives of men's hearts. That's what we're going to be judged on, the motives. The intentions of the heart, the motives, the inside. What is 1:21:34 my motives? What is my intention? And what what what is inside my heart? And that is what is going to judge on, the things hidden inside. That nobody can see. And my motives. And if we judge ourselves daily, we will not be judged. That's 1 1:21:52 Corinthians 11:31. If we judge ourselves daily, if we judge ourselves daily, my motives, my thoughts, and what is inside my heart, I'll not be judged. And we have the word of God. We read that in Hebrews 4:12 to help us judge 1:22:10 the inside of the cup. Hebrews 4:12, we read there, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit and both joints and marrow and able to 1:22:27 judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart. The word of God can go and pierce and judge the motives and say, "Hey, this is a wrong motive. This is love money. This is envy. This is anger." And it can 1:22:45 pierce and judge the intention of our heart. I often find in my own life that I need to allow God's word to pierce. And like we heard, we shouldn't close it up like a airtight container and say, "No, you can't enter." The word of God 1:23:05 we need to allow the word of God to enter. And quite often I find in in my own life I kind of battle in my mind and say, "Oh, yeah, I've I've forgiven. Yeah, I've forgiven that person." The moment I know that, "Okay, there is some 1:23:19 sort of unforgiving attitude." Immediately, so I forgive him I forgive him. Moment somebody had done harm, immediately, "Oh, Lord, yes, please forgive him. Please bless him." And all that is external, outside, you know, in 1:23:33 the mind everything is happening. But still in the heart there is some anger, some jealousy. And recently I was um thinking of something and immediately what came to me was, "This is jealousy." And all of the sudden I was quick enough 1:23:49 to say, "Lord, yeah, this is jealousy. I shouldn't have jealousy. Ble- please bless him. Uh And all of that I was saying externally like the David. Immediately, yes, he said the right things. You know, when Shimei cursed him, the 1:24:03 Lord allowed him Who am Who am I if the Lord has allowed him to curse me? He said all of it right. But when he went to bed that that night and that curse had come to his mind. He failed to 1:24:22 judge himself to say that yes, there is anger, there is bitterness, there is you know, some sort of revenge in my heart. And that's where I need to allow the word of God to pierce, to go in, to open my heart and say yes, 1:24:38 Lord, you come in, let your spirit come and pierce and [snorts] show. Say this is the wrong motive, this is jealousy, this is love of money. And that's where the Bible says, if you hear his voice in the same chapter, 4:7, we 1:24:55 read 4:12 that the word of God can pierce. And if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Do not have a stony heart. Move Move the stone. And Jesus said, "Move the stone. Let my word go forth." And immediately people around said, 1:25:13 "Lord, there will be stench." And Jesus said, "If you want to see the glory, remove the stone. Let there be stench. Let Let there be stench in your life. Yes, there is stench inside. Why are you hiding it with a stone as if there is 1:25:29 nothing inside? Remove the stone." And Jesus spoke saying, "Lazarus, come forth." His word went forth and Lazarus came out alive. And that's what I need to do. Allow his word, allow his spirit to go into my heart and judge my motives, my 1:25:47 intentions. And I remember in my life >> [clears throat] >> there was a person who harmed our family and who cursed us and who did a lot of harm. And every time I sit in a meeting and I hear about forgiveness, his name will 1:26:05 come, but I will fight it out in my mind. Yeah, I've forgiven him. I prayed for him. There is nothing against him. And once I was going past him and he was going on the other side and in my heart I was saying, "Oh, he is still doing 1:26:19 well." Immediately, you know, in in another 2 3 seconds, I met with a minor accident. And the Lord showed, "Yes, in your mind you are saying all the right things that you have forgiven him, but see, there is in your heart there is 1:26:34 you know, this bitterness, this resentment, an attitude that wants revenge. I need to open my heart and say, "Yes, Lord, you go in. I don't want to block with a stone. Let your word, let your spirit go in and show the jealousy. Show 1:26:51 the love of money. Show the love of honor. Show the love of world. Show the love for things." All it takes for someone to show that I love things is somebody to bang the door of my car hard. Now, I may say, "It's okay. It's okay. 1:27:11 It's okay." But inside, there is love for things. And I need in situation I need to allow God's word and his spirit to go, pierce, and show the things in my heart so that I can judge myself. You know, show the gossip like we heard. 1:27:31 We can cover it up, you know, in my mind saying, "No, it's for prayer." And Jesus said, "Go and do a friend bite, not back bite." He said, "Go, if your brother sins, go and tell him." And if he doesn't listen to you, take 1:27:46 another brother with you and tell him. If he still doesn't listen, tell the church. And is that what I am doing? If I go and see somebody is some doing something, if I see a teenager doing something, what is my attitude? 1:28:03 You know, the Bible says in Matthew 18 we read that, "So that somehow we you can win your brother." That's what Jesus said. Your intention is that you can win your brother. It's not to tarnish or damage his name. But we should allow the Lord to show, 1:28:21 "Hey, this is gossip. Your intention is wrong here." You may say the right things externally, but what is inside your heart? I should allow the word of God to go in and show and reveal what's in my heart. And I should move the stone for the Lord 1:28:38 to go in and can cleanse my heart. You know, when God shows there is no discouragement. I don't need to be discouraged saying, "Oh Lord, there is jealousy, there is love for money, there is anger, there is envy." No, we read 1:28:52 that in Hebrews 4 in the same chapter in the same context. You can go to the throne of grace with confidence. When God shows us the intention and the motives of our heart, we can go to him and say, "Lord, this is me. Please cleanse me." 1:29:08 And we can find mercy and grace. Yes, brothers and sisters, may God help us to clean the inside of the cup and the outside will automatically be clean. Amen. We'll have the announcements. >> Presenting 1:29:46 the book of this month, Here, oh my sons by Brother Zac Poonen. Fathers are told to bring up their children in the instruction [music] of the Lord. This book contains extracts from emails that 1:30:05 Brother Zac [music] wrote to his four sons when they were single and away from home. They [music] were studying in colleges at first and then working. They were in their late teens and in their 20s at that time. 1:30:24 This book mostly consists of [music] instruction from the word of God to lead young people to be devoted [music] to the Lord Jesus. This will help you to be established [music] from a young age in the truths of God's word 1:30:43 and also help you to be able to share God's truth accurately [music] with others. 90% of what is written in this book is equally applicable to young girls as [music] well. They too can read this book. Here are the testimonies [music] 1:31:03 of those who have originally benefited from the emails and they share about how they have been blessed and were able to receive the right guidance from them. >> Dear friends and especially dear young 1:31:22 people, I want to tell you about one of the best gifts that my father has given me. That is this book [music] here, Oh My Sons. Now, it wasn't given to me in the form of a book. I [music] received it in the form of emails that he wrote to me 1:31:38 faithfully over many years >> [music] >> as I was a young boy growing into a young man living far away from home on the other side of the world. And this book contains [music] encouragement and warnings and challenges that will help you 1:31:54 navigate [music] through life. I just want to mention two things that you'll read in this book and you'll find them on the first page of book and on the last page of the book. The first is that God has [music] a plan for your life. So, don't look at the ups 1:32:10 and especially not the downs. Don't look at your circumstances, [music] the opportunities you may or may not have, or any of those things. But look to God who is committed to finishing his plan for your [music] life. And if you ask him and you seek him 1:32:26 daily and seek to [music] live in purity and humility and love every day of your life by his grace, he will finish it in your life. And he proved that he will finish the plan, that he can finish his plan for any human being when he finished it in 1:32:44 Jesus Christ [music] who suffered more than any of us has ever suffered. And when he finished [music] it in Jesus Christ, he was showing us that he can finish it for us as well. And on the last page of the book you'll read that what God did for Jesus, he 1:33:01 will do for you. He will do for us. [music] I pray that this book will be an encouragement to you as it has been for me. Amen. >> Here on my father's is a [music] collection of emails that were sent by my dad to me and my brothers. And it was 1:33:19 like his own personal episode to us [music] like Paul wrote to Timothy, if you will. And uh for me personally it came at a really pivotal stage in my life where I was certainly a [music] Christian. I gave my life to Jesus, but I but I was defeated 1:33:37 with many sins and I [music] kind of oscillated between that and going over to the other extreme of being legalistic and judgmental towards others. >> [music] >> And this book brought me back uh emphasized a pure [music] and 1:33:50 absolute devotion to Jesus and reminded me that my focus must only be on fixing my eyes [music] on Jesus and not looking inside myself because by looking inside myself only without looking at Jesus it will lead me to [music] 1:34:05 uh discouragement, self-condemnation, and loneliness as well. And [music] if I focus on others it will relieve me to judgmentalism, comparing them to my myself, and being legalistic, and being just like [music] the Pharisees. But 1:34:18 when I focus on Jesus um I'm aware of my own need [music] and my own need alone and that uh brought me into a great sense of confidence and rejoicing over the hope of what God was [music] going to do for me tomorrow and 1:34:34 uh make me like the path of the righteous like Proverbs says [music] that is brighter and brighter every day until it becomes like the new day. >> We pray that this book [music] will be a blessing to all young people who read it. 1:34:48 You can read this book free online at cfcindia.com/books/hear-o-my-sons. [music]
