0:01 Yeah, thank you for the invitation and welcome here. Bobby um Wenhe is right that uh if God had planted NCCF be uh in 2007, I would still be here. But he in his wisdom, he allowed NCCF to be planted four years later or 0:20 three years later after I had moved to Colorado for a purpose that he had different from what um I may have thought. And I moved to Colorado looking for a church like this and God planted me there. I'm thankful 0:38 for that and I'm thankful that we share a special relationship at RLCF with you all here at NCCF. Uh in in a few weeks, we'll have the singles gathering and the the elders here and the elders at ROCF have really labored together with a real 0:56 special burden that the Lord has planted in our hearts for young people to be gripped with not just nominally becoming a Christian but taking the call of disciplehip seriously. 1:10 Um, and I I've observed something when when I see somebody going through a difficult time, a trial, an individual, let's say, um, and I see that from outward evidences at least they're seeking to follow the Lord and 1:30 the Lord takes them through a trial. I have observed that that's actually a reason to have much hope for such a person. And if life is always comfortable and nothing ever goes wrong, then I wonder is something wrong? And likewise for a 1:45 church, when a church goes through a difficult time, a time of testing, a time where the things we believe and stand for are put to the test, it is uh for me gives me much hope. A very popular verse in Christrysendom is 2:00 Jeremiah 29:1 where God says,"I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare, not for your calamity, to give you a future and a hope." And he says that if you read in chapter 28 and chapter 29 of Jeremiah where a false prophet had come 2:20 and said, "Things are going to be easy. It's going to your trial is going to end very quickly in two years." And actually God said, "No, you're going to be in captivity for 70 years." And Jeremiah stood for the truth and was persecuted 2:34 because of it. But in the midst of that trial that Israel was Judah was facing, God says this promise. I know the plans I have for you. I'd like to start by turning uh to a verse in Psalm 66. Along that line, if you could please 2:51 turn there with me. Psalm 66. Verse 8 says, "Bless our God, O peoples, and sound his praise abroad, who keeps us in life and does 3:09 not allow our foot, our feet to slip." This is all the way in the Old Testament. Isn't that an amazing promise? But look at how God does that. How does God keep us in life and bring us to a place where our foot will not 3:27 slip? He says, "You have tried us, oh God." Verse 10, "You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net. You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. You made men ride over our 3:45 heads." Can you imagine what that felt like? All those things he described, we went through fire and through water, yet you brought us out into a place of abundance. And this is like Jeremiah 29:11. That place of abundance, dear 4:03 brothers, dear sisters, and dear children, that place of abundance is on the other side of a time of testing. It is always that the resurrection life is on the other side of taking up your cross and denying yourself. That's true 4:20 for us individually. That's true for us in our marriages. That's true for us in our homes. And that's true in the church. And I've been meditating recently about what is the purpose for the church, for a church in general. Why 4:36 do we gather like this? God's purpose for the church, I believe, is not that we have a reputation. You know, even walking in this building, I noticed there's another church a few feet away with a different name. And here we are called NCCF. And 4:52 within a square mile, there probably be a few dozen maybe churches that have met today. And when I hear about people talking about their church, I often hear you should come to our church because of this or because of 5:10 that. Churches trying to establish a a reputation for themselves. Why are we the church that you should come to? That's not our purpose as a church. Our purpose is not that other people will know we exist and that they should want 5:26 to come here. But our purpose is because we have a responsibility. And as I often say even at our churches, I'm hesitant to necessarily want a lot of people to come to our church because that increases our responsibility. And that's something 5:46 I've been meditating on, not just as an elder in my local church, but also for all of us as members. The church has a responsibility and out of that responsibility I hope you have seen what the responsibility you have as 6:03 a member of the church we have a responsibility and in that responsibility it's very easy for for us to think because of what we hear in the church that as long as I take care of my own self my own spiritual well-being 6:22 That's enough. We we hear a lot and it must start there that we must each learn to take up our cross daily in our personal life. And that happens mostly when we're away from each other. It does start there, but it doesn't end there. And 6:42 I've noticed in my life at different periods in my life a sense of satisfaction that things are going well with me spiritually and a lack of care and burden for how it's going with somebody else spiritually. So we have a responsibility 7:00 as a church because God has placed us in a body. You read in 1 Corinthians 12 that the characteristic of the body is that there is a care for one another. Let me show you that verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Whenever people come to RLCF uh and 7:26 want to become members, we usually ask them to attend the church regularly for at least 3 to 6 months. So they get to know us and we get to know them. And when we talk about membership, some people ask us, "Is membership in a 7:39 church a biblical principle?" Some churches say it's not important. You don't have to be a member in a church as long as you're member of Christ's universal body. Uh other churches that are really clubs insist on membership that you must commit to this 7:56 church and you must put your money here and very controlling. It's true that membership is a biblical principle and you see that here in 1 Corinthians 12. And this is the verse we share with them when they want to become 8:09 members. 1 Corinthians 12, we read in verse 25 and you can read the whole sentence which begins a few sentences a few verses earlier that God has composed the body. This is the middle of verse 24. 8:28 giving more abundant honor so that to that member which lacked so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. The same care for one another as the head has for the body. And one 8:47 thing the Lord has been impressing on my heart recently is to have the same care for my brother and my sister and the children in the church that God has placed me in as he has for them. The well-being of the church, a burden for the well-being of the church. 9:05 Uh let's turn to a verse in Hagi chapter 1. I hope you know where Hagi is. It's the third last book in the Old Testament if you work backwards from 9:23 Malachi, Zachchariah, and then Hagi. Hag was an interesting prophet because after the people of Israel had of Judah had come back to the land after those 70 years of captivity that we heard about earlier and God allowed them to 9:40 establish themselves in the land and they all started to have their personal lives come back to a state of well-being. You can say, can you imagine? It must have been very burdensome to be in captivity as slaves and then God brought them out and 9:55 established them back in their own lands and their own homes. But Hagi had a burden from the Lord that these people should build the house of the Lord. The temple of the Lord was in ruins. And that's what we see here in Hagay chapter 10:11 1 verse 7. Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Consider your ways. Go up to the mountains and bring wood and rebuild the temple that I may be pleased with it and be glorified, says the Lord. And look at the condition of their lives. For a 10:26 while, I'm sure their personal life had some success to it. Better to live in freedom than in captivity. But they soon came to a place in their lives where all of their hard work was not resulting in fruitfulness. And the same you'll see spiritually as 10:46 well that when our focus is only on ourselves, I just want to make sure that I thrive spiritually and my wife and my husband and my children, as long as they're doing spiritually, it's okay. I don't have a burden for others in the 11:00 church as well. Likewise, we'll find that our personal life will also start to lack in fruitfulness. And so you see here that these people, it says in verse 9, you'll look for much, but behold, it comes too little. When you bring it 11:15 home, I blow it away. Why? Declares the Lord of hosts, because of my house which lies desolate, which each of you while each of you runs to his own house. Therefore, because of you, the sky has withheld its due, and 11:34 the earth has withheld its produce. I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands. Verse 12. Then 11:49 Zerubbabel, the son of Shiel, and Joshua the son of Jehoshak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Hagi the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the 12:02 people showed reverence for the Lord and you'll see they ended up building the temple. So God sent Hagi with a mission. He says, "You've been so focused on your own life and your own home and your own personal well-being, but you don't have 12:19 a burden for my house. You don't have a don't you're not concerned. You're not burdened when you see some part of my house in ruin, in decay." That's the word that the Lord's been impressing on my heart recently, that to 12:35 have the heart of God is to have a burden for his house as well. David was called a man after God's own heart. And one of the things you see about him, if you turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 12:52 7, to be people after God's own heart is to have the same burden for his house. That is the church, the the spiritual house of God as God himself has. 2 Samuel chapter 13:09 7. Here's this what it means to have the heart of God. What it means to be a man after God's own heart. 2 Samuel 7:1. It came about when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest on every side from 13:26 all his enemies. Maybe you're there today, dear husband and wife, dear parents. God has brought you to a life of victory. You're overcoming sins that you used to be defeated by. Your marriage is doing pretty well. Your children are growing up and doing well. 13:43 This is what happened with David. But David wasn't satisfied. He was a man after God's own heart. And if I could paraphrase or put words into David's mouth, I hear him saying, "Lord, you've done so much good for me. You've brought 13:58 me to a place of rest. These things that used to defeat me, these enemies that used to defeat me, I now have victory over them, but it's not enough for me. Lord, when I look and see your house in ruin, that would be like me saying, 14:15 "Lord, I thank you for all the wonderful blessings you've done spiritually. You've blessed me. I've been here in this church now, and you've done so much for me. I'm I've entered into the new covenant. I'm experiencing victory, but 14:27 it's not enough for me, Lord, when I see somebody else that's backsliden, or I see your house that's that's in disarray or in decay. And God and uh he says verse two, the king called Nathan the prophet and said, "See now I dwell 14:45 in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains." And he had a burden to make a permanent dwelling place for the Lord. He had a burden that God's house would succeed, would thrive, that God would have a 15:03 resting place. That's the burden that God has for his house as well today. And to share and to become people after God's own heart is to share that burden. It's said about Jesus. If you 15:20 turn with me to Luke chapter 2, most of you know this story where Jesus at the age of 12 and you some of your children may be thinking, well, okay, what does this have to do with me? Jesus when he was your age, maybe you're 6 years old, 8 15:39 years old, 10 years old, 12 years old, not even a teenager yet, he had a burden for the father's house. When he was sitting in the synagogues, he wasn't only thinking of living a life of personal victory. As we know, Jesus 15:54 never sinned. He never sinned even once. Isn't that an amazing thing, children? Jesus never once disobeyed daddy and mommy. Never once fought with his brothers and sisters. Never once fought with his friends at school. And he's our 16:07 example. He's your example as a young boy, as a young girl. And in addition to that, it wasn't enough that he lived a pure, holy life, he had a burden for the father's house. We read in Luke 2 that when his parents forgot about him, what did Jesus 16:27 do? What would you do, dear 12year-old boy or 12-year-old girl, if accidentally your parents left without you somewhere? Maybe this now it's not going to happen. Hopefully not. But if your parents left and you realize you're all here by 16:41 yourself, what would you do? Jesus didn't get into a panic. But he says, "Okay, Lord, father, I'm here to further your business. I'm f I I care about your house." And that's what he tells his mother when his mother comes back and 16:56 finds him and says, "What?" You know, she almost blames him that she forgotten him. But then he says, "Why is it that you were looking for me? Don't you know that I had to be about my father's business? Think about it even to your 17:12 children that from this young age if if somebody sees you reading your Bible, let's say one of your friends at school sees you reading your Bible, you know, maybe they'll make fun of you, but you can say, "I'm here. I care about my 17:28 father in heaven. It's his business that I'm about." In fact, later on when he was 30, you read this in John chapter 2 that that being about his father's business and that burden for the 17:44 father's house consumed him. John 2 when Jesus chased the money changers out of the temple. You see that that chasing the money changers out of the temple wasn't some sort of personal vendetta. Vendetta means he didn't hate these 18:00 people. It wasn't a fight he had with them. He didn't know most of these people, the money changers. But for 30 years up to that point, he had a burden for the house of God. And I believe as a 12year-old even, he watched these money 18:15 changers who were there even before he was 30 years old. And he watched them. And every time he saw it, there was a pain in his heart. There was a burden. Lord, these this is your house, my father, and they're dishonoring your 18:27 house by their behavior. And the father said, "Not yet. Not yet." And it just consumed him. You know what that word consumed means? It's like eating at you. It bothers you. Bothers you, bothers you. Bothers you. Bothers 18:41 you. Most people are consumed by bitterness, unforgiveness. Oh, that person did something to me. Now, every time I see him or her, it consumes me. Ah, that's that same person who did that to me. Most people are consumed by that 18:56 bitterness. Jesus was consumed with a burden for his father's house as one who lived perfectly without sinning. That's convicted me. I say, Lord, if you bring me to a place where I'm overcoming in all known sin and I'm living a life of victory, that's 19:14 wonderful. But it shouldn't stop there. Lord, can you allow your that burden for your house to consume me? Where when I see God's name dishonored when I see things in the church or I see things in Christendom that are dishonoring to 19:29 God's name, especially when it comes to money, does that consume me? Then I've understood what it means to be a man or a woman after God's own heart as Jesus was. It says in John 2 verse 17 when he chased them out the disciples remembered oh this is what it 19:48 means when it said that my servant my son would have a zeal for his father's house which would consume him. Um I have a little question maybe for the children or for the adults. We will start with the children. Who is it about it whom it 20:05 is said it was reckoned to him as righteousness? Anybody know? It says about somebody that he did he had something and therefore he was called righteous considered righteous. You can shout it out. Any 20:23 guesses? I heard it. What is it? Abraham. Yes, you can read it multiple times. Genesis 15 and then Romans 4 two or three times. Galatians 3, uh, he was reckoned as righteous. Now, that's the easy question. There's another person 20:38 about whom it is said it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Let's turn to Psalm 106. I don't know, most people don't know that here was another man who did something and because he did that, he was considered 20:57 righteous. It was reckoned to him as righteousness. Psalm 106 verse 30. Psalm 106:30. It says, "Then Phineahas stood up and 21:16 interposed." We'll talk about that in a second. What does that mean? And so the plague was stayed and it was reckoned to him for righteousness to all generations forever. An amazing story. Now, Fininehas, I'll just tell you about him. 21:31 You can read about it. Um, where is it? Somewhere in Numbers. I'll, if you know offh hand where it is, you can tell me later on. Uh, 25. Numbers 25. My margin tells me that. So, numbers 25. You can read it. Now, there was you read go back 21:47 to 28. It says or verse verse 28 here. They joined themselves also to Baal Por. This is uh through the influence of Balam if I remember correctly. And the people of Israel committed sin, immorality, and joined themselves to 22:06 Beaal, this other god. Back then it was God and Baal, the gods that were competing for the attention and devotion of of the Israelites. And because of their uh alleged because they started worshiping Baal, they ate sacrifices offered to the 22:23 dead and they provoked God to anger with their deeds. Verse 29. And God sent a plague. Now, Phineahas was not one of those who had sinned. He was a descendant of, he was a son of Eleazar, a descendant of the Levites. He was not 22:39 one of those who had fallen into sin. But he saw these people in sin. And he saw the anger of God at their sin. And he took a stand and he went and killed those people. Killed the one who had started the problem and addressed it. 22:57 And because of that zeal, God said, "I'm going to count it as righteousness." And you think about Jesus. When I think about his life for 30 years having lived a sinless life without ever falling into sin, if God 23:14 the Father had allowed him to finish his course of life at the age of 30, having lived a perfect life at that point, if he had died for my sins, it would still have been an acceptable sacrifice. A perfect man as God as man dying from 23:32 Santosh sins acceptable. But God had a plan that for the remaining three and a half years, the father had a plan that Jesus would expose the sin in religious circles. He would have the zeal for the father's 23:50 house exemplified as an example to us. And I think if Jesus had finished the course of his life at 30 years old, none of the Pharisees would have hated him. In fact, I think they rather enjoyed his exper his his encounter with them at the 24:03 age of 12. They probably thought, "Oh, this is a smart kid." And they sat and talked to him. They asked him questions. He asked them questions. It was a an interesting time. They weren't ready to kill Jesus when he sat with them and 24:15 talked with them at the age of 12. But when the zeal for the father's house consumed Jesus at the age of 30 and he started exposing the things that were going on in the name of God, Jehovah. Then they wanted to kill him. And the 24:32 anger that Jesus faced was because of his zeal for the father's house. And God forbid if I should ever be content with a comfortable Christian life that doesn't offend anybody that doesn't cause any unrest in the people 24:48 around me because I'm just living a good Christian life. I tell you, nobody will persecute you if you overcome sin and that's it. If you overcome your personal sin and you're more kind to others and you're more giving to others, they won't 25:02 kill you. That's an enjoyable person to be around. But that's not all of God's will. God's will extends beyond that where we come to a life of victory. We're overcoming, but a zeal for the house of God consumes us. And that's what was true about 25:19 Fininehas. And that's why was reckoned to him as righteousness. I had to face a situation years ago. This was even before I became an elder in 2008, a few weeks before I was appointed as an elder there at River of Life. Something I've 25:34 never forgotten. A situation came up in our church where I was faced with something that was going on and I wasn't sure if it was my place to speak up or not cuz I wasn't yet officially an elder. I we had prayed about it and God had 25:51 made it clear to those of us who were involved in the situation that I was going to be an elder. I was going to be appointed in a few weeks. But then the situation came up that I had to deal with. And the person who was an elder at 26:03 that time didn't deal with it. Didn't want to deal with it cuz it was a friend of his. And I was sitting there and it was a situation where somebody was asked to speak for 5 minutes. And um I was sitting there and this was the other the 26:18 other elder had asked him to speak and I was sitting there and I wasn't sure after this person went on and the spirit in which he was speaking was not good at all and went on for 10 minutes 15 minutes and and I wasn't sure what to 26:30 do. I said do I have authority here and will this cause an offense? And I sat there and I was just praying as seeking the Lord and the Lord gave me a word that I've never forgotten. He said, "So Santosh, if this was your children that 26:44 he was speaking this way, too. And if this was in your house, how would you deal with it? Do you care more about your own family than mine?" It's exactly the word the Lord gave me. And immediately it settled it. And I had to 26:58 ask him to stop and sit down. And uh I've never forgotten it. And that's a question that the Lord often asks me now, not just as an elder, but just as a member of the church. Do you care about your own family? If somebody was 27:13 treating your children that way, if somebody was taking advantage of your family that way, would you speak up as a husband and as a father? And do we have the same care for the family of God, for his house as we do for our own 27:29 children? I've never forgotten it. I'll close this verse in Matthew 21. A beautiful picture where Jesus comes into Jerusalem, the triumphal entry before he goes to the cross. He comes into 27:49 Jerusalem and before he comes in, as you know, he came and riding on a donkey. But he went looking for a donkey. You read there Matthew 21 verse one. And when they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethage at the Mount of Olives, 28:06 Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 28:21 "The Lord has need of them." Phrase I want us to remember. I encourage us to meditate on. The Lord has need of them. The Lord has need of you. And later on, you see that the term that's used to describe this donkey in 28:41 the cold to the end of verse 5 is the a beast of burden. A beast of burden. And I've made it my prayer. Lord, I want to be one of your beasts of burden. I want to be one on whom you can put your burden, Lord. Whatever it is, is there a burden, a 29:00 specific need in the church I'm not aware of? And you don't have to be an elder for it. And you don't have to be a busy body in matters that don't concern you. But are you willing, are we willing, dear brothers and sisters and 29:11 even dear children like it was for Jesus at the young age to allow God to put his burden in our hearts where I'm not trying to get involved in things that don't concern me. I'm not trying to be a busy body. I'm not trying to go outside of my 29:25 circle of responsibility, but I'm saying, Lord, what is your burden for the church? Not just for me and my wife and my children. Not just for me and mine, but for your church. Lord, what is the burden you want to place on me? How 29:38 can I intercede for my brother, for my sister, for my children, as if they were my own? How can I pray for somebody else's daughter or somebody else's son when I see them backsliding and being weward in the same way that I would pray 29:52 for my own? How can I pray for somebody else, Lord, who's in the church? How can I pray about some matter and just instead of just leaving it for the elders to deal with? Help me, Lord, to be a beast of burden. And you see that that's a 30:08 wonderful thing. God is looking for donkeys, not smart people. donkeys. And one more verse, if you turn back with me to Matthew chapter nine. I've been challenged by this recently. In most of Christianom, you'll hear the word go. Jesus is saying go. 30:25 Go. Yes, he did say go. Matthew 28 verse 19 says, "Go into all the world and preach, making disciples of all men, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded them to do, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the 30:40 holy spirit." That's ma Matthew 28:19 and 20. But before he said that in Ma in Matthew 9, you read this verse verse 36. Seeing the people, he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. And then he 30:59 said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So go." Is that what you read? What did Jesus say? He says, "Beache the father." And that's the correct response to a message like this. It's not, "Okay, 31:15 fine. I'll be a shepherd. I'll go, Lord. I'll be your beast of burden." No. The a response, my response is, I'll tell you this. Lord, I want to fall on my face and beseech you. Beseech is a heavy word. It's a strong word. It's a word 31:30 that I imagine somebody on their knees crying with tears down their face saying, 'Lord, send shepherds. If I'm the one you want to send, sure, send it. Send me, Lord. But beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the 31:45 harvest. How many brothers and sisters and children are there who are willing to beseech the Lord for his church? To stay up late at night carrying the burden that God has for his church. That's a much more difficult 32:04 thing to do than to just go out and preach. Not everybody's called to preach. Not everybody's called to teach. But all of us are called to beseech the father to send out shepherds. May the Lord use us. We all have a responsibility as members of his body to 32:21 care to have a burden for the Lord's house like Jesus had. And God will reckon it as righteousness to us as well. Amen.
