0:00 Our Lord God, thou has made the heavens and 0:17 the earth by thy great power. Oh Lord God, thou has made the heavens and the earth by thine outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for thee. 0:35 Nothing is too difficult for thee. Great and mighty God, great in power and mighty indeed. Nothing, nothing. Absolutely nothing, nothing is too difficult for thee. Let's 0:55 read our voices. Oh Lord God, thou has made the heavens and the earth by thy great power. Oh Lord God, thou has made the heavens and beyond by thy ar. Nothing is so difficult for thee. 1:19 Nothing is too difficult for thee. Great and mighty God. Great in power and mighty indeed. Nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No 1:35 nothing is still difficult for thee. Nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing is still difficult for thee. Please be seated brothers and sisters. >> Sing a song of celebration. 1:59 Sing a song of celebration. Lift up a shout of praise for the bridegroom will come. The glorious one. the door. 2:19 We will look on his face. We'll go to a much better place. >> With all your might, dance with all your 2:35 might. Lift up your hands and clap for joy. The time's drawing good and he will love you and all 2:53 will stand by his side. A strong your worthless ride. He will dance on the streets that are 3:10 golden. The glor is bright and the race of man. From every time and nation will join in the song of the lamb. Sing aloud for the time for rejoicing is 3:35 rejoicing. The risen king, our groom is soon to appear. >> The risen king, our groom is soon to appear. Wedding feast to come is down here at hand. Fast to come is down here 3:52 at your voice proclaim the coming lamb. We will dance on the streets that are closing. The glor is right and the race 4:08 of man. From every time tribe and nation will join in the song of the lamb. Though some may sing to pass a weary 4:34 night alone, though some may sing to entertain a worldly throne, I sing because I worship God in song. It's in my heart, deep in my heart. It's in my heart. This melody of love 4:53 divine. It's in my heart since I am his and he is mine. It's in my heart. I cannot help but sing and shout. It's in my heart. Deep in my heart. You ask me how. I know his blood can 5:12 cleanse the Lord. You ask me how. I know he sits upon his throne. And how I know he shows me for his own. It's in my heart. Deep in my heart. It's in my heart. This melody of love 5:31 divine. It's in my heart. Since I am his and he is mine. It's in my heart. I cannot help but sing and shout. It's in my heart. Deep in my heart. I may not know the skillful use of 5:49 tongue or pen to prove my thoughts return to unbelieving men. But this I know he's coming back again. It's in my heart deep in my heart. It's in my heart. This melody of love 6:07 divine. It's in my heart since I am his and he is mine. It's in my heart. I cannot help but sing and shout. It's in my heart, deep in my heart. Mighty is our God. 6:33 Mighty is our King. Mighty is our Lord. Ruler of everything. Glory to our God. Glory to our king. 6:52 Glory to our Lord. Ruler of everything. His name is higher. Higher than any other name. His power is greater. 7:08 For he has created everything. Mighty is our God. Mighty is our King. Mighty is our Lord. 7:25 Ruler of everything. Glory to our God. Glory to our King. Glory to our Lord. Ruler of everything. 7:43 Ruler of everything. Ruler of everything. I come before you today 8:22 and there's just one thing that I want to say. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Oh, for all you've given to me, for all your blessings that I cannot 8:45 see. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. With a grateful heart, with a song of praise, with an archet 9:04 I will bless your name. Thank you, Lord. I just want to thank you, Lord. >> Thank you, Lord. >> Thank you, Lord. 9:19 I just want to thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. for all you've done in my life. 9:40 You took my darkness and gave me your light. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. You took my sin and my shame. You took my sickness and healed all my 10:02 pain. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Grateful heart with a grateful heart with a song of praise with an outstretched arm. 10:21 I bless your name. Thank you, Lord. I just want to thank you, Lord. >> I just want to thank you, Lord. >> Thank you, Lord. 10:36 I just want to thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Sing. You are my strength when I am 10:56 weak. You're the treasure that I seek. You are my all in all. >> You are my strength. When I am weak, you 11:16 are the treasure that I see. You are my holy. Seeking you as a precious Jew, love to 11:32 give up, I'd be a fool. You are my all. Jesus, lamb of God, worthy 11:52 is your name. Jesus, lamb of God. Worthy 12:07 is your name. Taking my sin, my cross, my shame. Rising again, I bless your name. You are 12:22 my all in all. When I fall down, you pick me up. When I am dry, you fill my cup. You are my all 12:39 in all. Jesus, lamb of God. Worthy is your name. Jesus, 13:03 lamb of God, worthy is your name. >> Only the voices. Jesus, lamb of God, 13:21 worthy is your name. Jesus, lamb of God, worthy 13:39 is your name. >> We'll magnify the Lord enthroned in Zion. Oh Lord our God, how majestic is your 14:00 name. The earth is filled with your gloryy. >> Oh Lord our God, you are robed in majesty. You set your glory above the heavens. 14:23 We will magnify. We will magnify the Lord and thrown in Zion. We will magnify. We will magnify 14:43 the Lord in th Oh Lord our God, you have established a throne. 15:01 You reign in righteousness and splendor. Lord our God, the skies are ringing with your praise. Soon those on earth will come to 15:19 worship. We will magnify. We will magnify the Lord and throw desire. We will magnify. 15:37 He will magnify the Lord in ro. Oh Lord our God, the world was made at 15:55 your command. In you all things are hold together. Now to him who sits upon the throne and to the lamb 16:12 be praise and glory and power forever. We will magnify. We will magnify the Lord in all desire. We will magnify. 16:34 We will magnify the Lord and thrown in Zion. Let's all stand up and sing your holy Lord beyond description. You are holy, Lord, beyond 17:05 description, too marvelous for words, too wonderful for comprehension, like Nothing ever seen or heard. 17:30 Who can grasp your infinite wisdom? Who can fathom the depth of your love? You are holy Lord beyond 17:49 description. Majesty enthroned above. And I stand I stand in all of you. 18:06 I stand I stand in all of you. Holy God to whom all praise is you. I stand in all of 18:25 you. >> You are holy Lord beyond description. Too marvelous for words, too wonderful for comprehension, 18:49 like nothing ever seen or heard? Who can grasp your infinite wisdom? 19:02 Who can fathom the depths of your love? You are holy, Lord beyond description, majesty enthroned 19:20 above. And I stand I stand in all of you. I stand I stand in all of you. 19:38 Holy God to whom all praise is due. I stand in all of you. Dear brothers and sisters, as we just 20:20 sang, let's stand before a holy God, a father in heaven who enthroned above everything. How majestic is his name. He is holy and earth is full of his glory. 20:38 May the eyes of our heart be enlightened a little bit this morning to see the glory of our Lord to behold his glory in the temple to recognize his presence. Let's draw near Lord draw near to the Lord with faith in our hearts. I'd like to 20:55 read a few words from Psalm 113. Praise the Lord. Praise for servants of the Lord or children of the Lord. Let's come with praises in our heart. Praise the name of the holy God. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the 21:11 name of the Lord. From this time forth and forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations. His glory is above heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, 21:30 who is enthroned on high, who humbles himself behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them make the princes to make them sit with the princes with 21:47 the princes of his people. He make them the He make the makes the barren women abide in the house of a joyful as a joyful mother of children. The Lord can do mighty things. Nothing is impossible. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord. 22:03 Let's draw near to him with a heart of gratitude. Open your heart and open your mouth and thank him and praise him for who he is and thank him for what he has done to us. Lord, we thank you and praise you. My Lord, my King, I praise 22:19 you and thank you. Father in heaven, we praise you and bless you. Lord Jesus, we praise your holy name. Let your name be honored and glorified, Lord. You are the King of Kings. You are the Lord of Lord. We give you all praise and glory and 22:31 honor, Lord. Lord Jesus, thank you for saving us, Lord. Thank you for giving a new life to us, dealing with so patiently, Lord, full of love and compassion, Lord. Thank you for redeeming us. Thank you for pouring out your life for us, Lord. Pouring out your 22:46 precious blood to redeem us, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Father, thank you for your great love, your compassion and mercy over us our lives, Lord. We praise you, bless you. We give you all glory and honor, Lord. Let your name alone be 22:59 glorified. Let your name alone be magnified, Lord. We come near, Lord, to the throne of grace with confidence, Lord, believing that Lord, you will lift us up, Lord. You will send the rich empty-handed and you will send the poor 23:12 with full of joy in their hearts. Lord, we invite you Lord to our midst this morning. Lord, we pray father that you anoint into your servant as we bring forth your word from heaven Lord and onto your servants. Bless them. Fill us 23:24 with the Holy Spirit Lord. Strengthen us Lord. Build your church and make it strong. Thank you father for hearing in Jesus precious and mighty name we pray. Amen. So please take your seat brothers and sisters as we look at our memory verses. 23:43 Let's uh say it together. Last week we had a command. Psalm 66 verse 18. If I regard wickedness in my heart, >> the Lord will not hear. 24:01 And for this week, we have a promise. Joshua chapter 21:45. Not one of the good promises, which the Lord made failed. 24:20 All came to pass. Amen. And let's repeat it once again. Joshua chapter 21:45. Not one of the good promises which the Lord made failed 24:39 all came to pass. And this morning we are very happy that we can hear what's in God's heart through his servant. Brother Suresh will speak to us first about you. Good morning brothers and sisters. 25:08 So my topic for today is my problem with heaven. I was looking at biblical pictures of heaven and thinking of myself. And to be clear, the problem is not with heaven. The 25:27 problem is with me. The burden that I had is that I should not create a heaven heaven of my own imagination. I should not imagine heaven is different from what it actually is. My thinking must be aligned with God's word so that I'm not deceived. 25:44 so that I can fit in with the kingdom of heaven with the spirit of heaven as it actually is not not find myself in a shock. So the primary characteristic of heaven is that we will be in the presence of a holy God. 26:02 There's a sense in which that is true even today because we are part of the kingdom of heaven but we will actually be in the presence of a holy God. That is what I'm preparing for. John the Apostle we know John the Apostle you know described 26:20 himself as the disciple that Jesus loved. But we see in Revelation 1 and verse 17 that when he had a revelation of Jesus, it says he fell at his feet like a dead 26:42 man. He went down. He fell at his feet. And Jesus said, "Do not be afraid." Revelation 11:17, Jesus said,"Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. And he lifted him up. And we see this phrase, I am the first 27:01 and the last. In the beginning of Revelation and right at the end of Revelation, we can turn to Revelation 22 and:e 13. Jesus says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." Alpha and the Omega is like the A and the Z in the Greek alphabet. 27:20 the beginning and the end, the first and the last. And my preparation for heaven is to have a revelation of Jesus like this that he is everything of value. There is nothing worth seeing, doing or 27:39 thinking outside of my re revelation, outside of my relationship with Jesus. He's the source and the perfector of anything and everything that is good in my life. And to acknowledge him as the one who has done anything and everything that is 27:58 worth doing inside of me and through me. He is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. And I want everything else to be burnt up to be cleared away from my eyes and my desires to see Jesus and to be close to him. 28:14 And and Jesus said uh in Revelation 22:12, he says, "Behold, look." We look up through the eyes of faith and we believe and we see that Jesus is coming quickly. That all of this time that we are going through is short relative to eternity. 28:34 He's coming quickly. And he says, "My reward is with me to render to every man according to what he has done." to render to every man according to what he has done. But we know that Jesus is the alpha and the omega. He's the 28:48 beginning and the end. He's the first and the last. So I believe the right way for me to understand this verse according to what he has done, Revelation 22:12, is to see that I will be rewarded only for what Jesus has done in me and 29:05 through me. to see it like that. He is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Everything of value is in him. And what is my reward if I put myself in his hands? If I allow him to accomplish his perfect will in my life. My reward 29:24 says Jesus says my reward is with me. That is my reward with Jesus to be with Jesus. to be with Jesus. That is my reward. And this comes out of allowing him to do 29:46 all that he wants in my life. I heard a part of a message by brother Santos. was at the Tamadu conference recently where he was saying when Jesus was on earth whatever he was doing in his everyday ordinary life 30:04 it pleased the father and he gave glory to the father more than anyone else more than anything else more than anything else anybody else was doing and we know that the father gave testimony about this to this at Jesus's 30:18 baptism this is at the time of Jesus's baptism he said this is my son in whom I am well pleased And this was when Jesus had no ministry. He had not preached any sermons. He had not done any miracles. Nobody knew him. But he had pleased the father the the 30:35 father perfectly. And his life was glorious. And it was glorious because it was full of grace and truth. And brother Santos was giving an example of you know we can just imagine that Jesus uh the Mary the mother of Jesus 30:51 may have asked Jesus at a young age at the age of 10 perhaps you know go and clean the toilets and when Jesus was doing that at the age of 10 it was glorious and it was more glorious than the sacrifices in the temple at that time. 31:10 It was more glorious than the most wonderful speech that any of the Pharisees were making. Was more glorious than anything else that anybody else was doing. Why is that? It's because, see, it's not because he did a better job. He was 10 years old. 31:24 It's not because he did a more professional job than other cleaners. No, it's because his heart was entirely for the Lord. His motives was were pure. His attitude was perfect. Whatever he did, he did out of love for the Lord. 31:39 and he did his best. We have that revelation of how Jesus lived. And there was a sense in which he depended on his father for grace in everything, in every little task. He didn't do it purely in human strength. 31:57 He was full of grace and truth. And it was in fellowship with his father through the strength of the Holy Spirit. And his father saw that and was pleased. And that is a true picture of glory. That is what we must be taken up with. 32:12 Because in heaven there will be no secrets. There will be nothing hidden that is not revealed. The hearts of every man, the secrets of the heart of every man will be known. There's no place for acting. And unless I see the glory of Jesus like 32:26 this and I repent of all acting and show and hypocrisy and I learn to hate it, no, I will be exposed on that day. And we see that you know soon after Pentecost there was hypocrisy in the church and something that looked on the 32:44 outside you know to to be so good and so holy and sacrificial was dealt with severely by the Holy Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit is in our midst, he will continue to deal with us like that. He will convict us and expose 33:00 hypocrisy and show us what our true motives are because the kingdom of heaven is among us is in our midst. When we have a revelation of Jesus as the king. Yeah. Heaven was introduced to us by 33:19 Jesus as a kingdom and we can be a part of that starting now here on earth. So the central feature of any kingdom is that there's a king and you know the whole kingdom revolves around him and his word is law. We can look at Matthew 33:36 5 and verse 19. Matthew chapter 5 verse 19 33:59 Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven and he says whoever unalls or cancels or takes lightly one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same. And how do we teach others to do the same? Because they follow our example. 34:19 You know, as as parents, this is what will happen. This is how we teach people to anal or cancel or take lightly the commands of God. Um, and it says they shall be the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, keeps the 34:36 commandments and teaches others to follow them, he shall be great in the kingdom of heaven. And and this becomes so clear when we just understand how a kingdom works. No, I I must treasure the least commandment because Jesus is the king of 34:53 heaven. And if I don't do that, I will not be prepared for heaven. I will be the least in the kingdom. And brothers and sisters, we know this that you know many of us as we are growing up in school and uh you know many others who 35:09 call themselves Christians pray many many times let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven and to recognize that in heaven there is no there's no scope to hide. the motives of 35:28 my heart will be revealed and that you know am I keeping the commandments the least commandment because I see the glory of the king and I see that it's coming from him and the desire of my heart to keep the commandments that your will should be 35:45 done on earth as it is done in heaven and Jesus said if you love me you will keep my commandments and to see Jesus as the object of my desire of my love and to keep the smallest commandments and to take that seriously is how I can prepare for heaven. 36:05 I want to look at Galatians chapter 6. In verse four, it says, "Each one must 36:24 examine his own work." and and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone and not in regard to another. See, when I examine my own work, what am 36:43 I examining? It says in Galatians 6:8, the one who sws to the flesh will from his flesh reap corruption. The one who sws to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. So I believe the correct way to read that if we understand that Jesus is the 37:01 beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, the fountain of everything glorious is have I allowed the spirit of God to plant his word inside of me and to put his nature and to reap the fruit of the spirit. 37:19 And eternal life is knowing Jesus. To know and experience the resurrection life of Jesus inside of me as I put the flesh to death. And you know I when I examine my own work must not just examine 37:37 know externally what I'm doing or what other people think of it but look at my heart look at my motive because that is what is going to count in heaven. Who are the ones who will not be happy in heaven? You know in Galatians chapter 37:52 6:3 it says, "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." This is how we can deceive oursel. Brothers and sisters, if we look at our lives outside of my love relationship with Jesus, 38:10 I am not just a zero. I am a negative number. See, without Jesus, before I knew Jesus, before the Lord came into my life, and even today when I'm separated from him, I'm an instrument of evil. I am sold to sin. I'm a cauldron of 38:30 pride and lust. This is what happens to me. This is what is deep in my heart. And in Jesus, I can become zero, nothing. But he is everything. As we sing, he is my everything. He is my all, both great and small. 38:49 And that is the glory. Christ in me is the hope of glory. And to go small and to re rejoice in that, oh, I can become nothing so that Jesus can become everything. And when we start to imagine that we are something and we fall out of grace. 39:08 Let's look at Matthew chapter 20. There's a parable there. It gives us a picture of the kingdom of heaven. It teaches us a principle there of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner 39:27 who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard." And at the end of that parable, I trust you know the parable. Jesus went out in the first hour, in the third hour, in the sixth hour, in the ninth hour, and in the 11th hour, 39:44 and he called people who were hanging around in the marketplace. He said, "Come and work in my vineyard." And at the end of this parable, it says verse 16, "So the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Those 40:03 who thought they deserved something will be lost. Those who, you know, were looking at their effort and thinking themselves better than others will be lost. And those who felt they deserved nothing, were willing to work like that, 40:22 just happy to be given something to do. I can put it on my resume. Tomorrow somebody else will give me work. Uh, no. I was useless. I was wasting my life. It was the end of the day and then somebody gave me something to do. Oh, 40:38 one hour of work. Praise God. Yeah. Jesus said, "Are you jealous because I am generous?" Verse 15, "Are you jealous because I am generous?" Brother and sisters, if we examine our life, everything we have, any good thing 40:55 that we have is because of the generosity of God. If Jesus had not picked me, it's I look at my own life and we can all look at our our own lives, brothers and sisters. I would not have just been wasting my time in the marketplace. I would have 41:09 been a rowdy thief prostitute. That's what you find in the marketplace. And if not in my actions then definitely in my heart. And that is what Jesus saved me from. And he gave me the privilege of doing something worthwhile with my life. And 41:29 he gave me a purpose and his work is being done. Something worthwhile is being done. So as a citizen of heaven, as a you know person who wants to be a part of the kingdom of heaven, my glory, my joy, my supreme desire is that Jesus should 41:45 accomplish his will, his plan, his purpose in every area. And if there's something to be done and Jesus chooses somebody else to do it and they do a good job, I rejoice. I rejoice because it is the work of the king and it is being done and that is my purpose. 42:04 And you know whether I am used or not used, whether I'm recognized or not recognized, his name must be glorified. His will must be done. That is what we are praying. No on earth as it is in heaven. And I must guard against the spirit of 42:23 jealousy and of competition. We know in uh Revelation chapter 22 and uh you don't have to turn there. We we know this. There's a picture of, you know, the river of life that flows from the throne of God from the lamb that was slain. 42:38 Uh, and we also see this picture in Ezekiel 47 where it talks about the temple of God and there's a river of life that flows out from under the altar. Um, and you know, blesses blesses many. And brothers and sisters, I hope we 42:53 recognize this river. I hope you know what I'm talking about. It's the life of the Holy Spirit that flows in our midst. And we have tasted of this life of the goodness of God that flows through us through brothers and sisters who go down 43:09 to serve others to sacrifice their lives so that others can be blessed and lifted up and they do this out of love because the love of God is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. No, we are happy to go down and serve others. 43:26 And and we know that the spirit in the world is is exactly the opposite. In the world, there is a a different river that flows. Uh it's a spirit of competition. It's it's like a river of blood or river of death. We can think of 43:41 the first plague uh in in Egypt where the river Nile turned, you know, turned into blood. That's that's the picture. That's the spirit that flows through the world. And the river Nile was, you know, the entire economy of Egypt was built on the 43:56 river Nile and it turned into blood. And that is that is the way this world system works. And to recognize it and to guard ourselves, guard our hearts against it. Yeah. The spirit of the world says use others, exploit others. 44:10 Says, you know, the survival of the fittest. You must compete or you will die. You have to push others down. You have to fight for your rights. And and this river flows through our schools and our colleges and our offices 44:25 and our hospitals. And if we allow it, it will flow through our homes also. It'll flow through the church also. And our children will suffer. They will suffer the most if we don't protect them. We don't show them that no, there 44:41 is a king in heaven and he rules heaven and earth. And we want his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we are those who drink of the river of life. And I don't have to be in competition with anyone. I don't have to 44:57 be scared. My king Jesus will take care of me. I seek his kingdom, his righteousness. But there is a competition. The competition is that I want to love him and I serve him and honor him more than anyone else because he's worthy. 45:14 And how do I do this? I do this by loving and serving and honoring his people. And how do I do this? Is because there's a river of love of grace that flowing through me. Paul the Apostle said this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 45:32 Verse 10, he said, "By the grace of God, I am what I am. I'm nothing other than the grace of God. I'm the 45:51 chief of sinners. But by the grace of God, I am what I am." and his grace towards me did not prove vain, but I labored even more than all of them. Paul could see what everybody else was doing. And he said, to the glory of God, I labored more than all of 46:08 them. He wasn't, you know, fooling himself. But he said it was not me, but the grace of God in me. Jesus did it. He did it. He's the alpha and the omega. He's the beginning and 46:24 the end. He is my all and all. And we know that there were others who were jealous of Paul. And Paul Paul's attitude toward towards them is that's okay. At least they're talking about Jesus. Jesus is being preached one way or the other. No, his 46:43 kingdom is being forwarded. And so I rejoice. And brothers and sisters, there is this river that is, you know, these two rivers have been flowing from the beginning of time through the Bible. You look at, you know, brother Zach's 46:58 teaching, he makes this so clear. We have Abel. Abel's only desire was, "Oh, let me give the best because God deserves the best. Let me give my best." And Cain was jealous of him and killed him. And we have Moses who said, "Oh, 47:18 you strike out my name from the book of life, but let your will be done. Let your people be blessed. that your promises be fulfilled. And he only wanted to rule God's will and serve God's people and and Kora was there who was jealous of him and you 47:35 know saw that position and and rose up against him. We have Paul who just wanted Jesus to be proclaimed and we have preachers who were jealous at him and of him and rejoiced at his chains. We have John the apostle of love. 47:50 We can look at this in quickly in John 1 John I mean 3 John 3r John it talks about diotrophies I I looked up the name Diotrophies the 48:14 meaning of the name Diotrophies it's interesting how God you know does this remarkably throughout scripture. I'm not saying it always happens and not saying if you have a name that means something bad that you know that uh necessarily 48:28 you have to live that way. No, but uh Datrophies actually means inspired by Zeus or something like that. Okay. So inspired by a false god and says Dotrophies loves to be first among them. I wrote something to the church but Datrophies who has this 48:44 spirit of competition who wants to go up wants to be big wants to be great. He wants to be first among them. He does not receive what we say. He unjustly accuses us. He puts out the brethren. And uh brothers and sisters, this this is the 49:04 spirit of hell. It's an infection of hell. This is the same infection that Satan had. He was an angel in heaven. He could have rejoiced in all that God had done for him and beheld the glory of Jesus and continued to worship. 49:23 But he wanted to rise up and take the place of God. And so he fell. And yeah, this is the spirit of the world. It's not enough to be rich. No, joy, the pleasure comes from being richer than that other person and the richest. 49:42 It's not enough to rejoice that God has given us health, that he's made us smart or healthy or strong. No, I want to be healthier, smarter. I want to prove it. No, either blatantly or subtly, I'm showing it off. We can look at Esther 5:3. 50:03 It's a story of Hammon. um who was infected with this spirit of the world and yeah 50:27 verse I'm looking at verse 11 first Esther 5:1 says Hammon recounted to them the glory of his riches the number of his sons every instance where the king had magnified him how he had promoted him above the princes and servants of the 50:41 king. So Haman was you know the second man in the kingdom. He was big man. He had so many things. And then he says okay Esther has called this banquet. Nobody else has invited only me and the king. 50:59 And verse 13 this is this is what should convict us challenge us if this spirit is found in us. It says, "Yet all of this does not satisfy me. Every time I see Morai the Jew, sitting at the king's gate. As long as there is one person, no, who 51:19 stands up who has received something who's better than me in some way, I can't be satisfied." It's a spirit of competition. Yeah. And brothers and sisters, I want to contrast this with the atmosphere of of 51:37 heaven. I want to turn you to Revelation 4 and verse 11 says the living creatures, the 24 elders, 51:56 all those who had a place of position in heaven, they cast their crowns before the one who sits on the throne and worship. worship him, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For 52:14 you created all things, and because of your will, they existed, and they are created. For your pleasure, they are created." Yeah. It says, "All these good gifts that you gave me, you gave, you're free to take away. You do whatever you want. It's not mine. 52:34 It's not used for me. It's for your glory and for your honor. And you alone are worthy. You alone are worthy. Brothers and sisters, I uh we we can watch a short video. Um I I'll just take my seat for 5 minutes. It's only a 52:52 5-minute video. U I I I trust many of you have seen this video before, but I think it's good for us to see it once more at this time. Now I'm going to demonstrate something 53:14 here. What are the things we glory in? Can you come here and stand facing the Yeah. Most of us glory in wealth. Up. Up. That's what he is. Where's that mic? 53:36 Okay. Okay. Wealth. The wealthiest man in the world. Seen him. He's number one in Forb's list of the 53:54 wealthiest people in the world. Zero in God's eyes. Okay. What are the other things we glory in? We got another brother. Here's a good-looking brother. Come here, beauty. 54:14 You see how handsome he is? I mean it. Zero. Okay. What's the other thing? people glory in position. Okay, come brother. He's got a very high position in the 54:36 world. You don't recognize it. He looks humble, but he's got a very high position. Zero in God's eyes. Okay, the next one. He looks very clever. PhD education 54:53 zero. Okay, one more. Here's the athlete. He wins every medal in the Olympics. Sports zero. This guy is the one who's really 55:19 popular. The young people, old people, girls, everyone. He's really popular. popularity zero. Okay, this is me. Preacher zero. He'll represent me. 55:38 Preachers, you know, people can be proud of preaching. Zero. And there are 101 other things or a million other things that represents all the 55:55 other things you can be proud of. Okay? And the last the root cause of it all is self. Now study it carefully. See what what they are. What 56:13 Nebuchadnezzar understood all the inhabitants of the earth are nothing. You know what gives value to them? Jesus. Now you see the value of all 56:31 these people. You take it away all the zeros. You can have all those qualities and you're still a zero. But the moment Jesus comes in, even if 56:48 it's just one person, he's got value more than all these other people just because Jesus is with him. You children remember that. Never forget it. one person and when you get fellowship 57:08 one person 10 becomes a hundred that's the wonder of fellowship you get one more brother in fellowship see what happens and one more and one more and one more fellowship fellowship fellowship where 57:28 everybody recognizes their zeros this is the church. This is the body of Christ. And you can be a member of the body of Christ, a functioning member, if you recognize like King Nebuchadnezzar and like Paul that you're a zero and 57:47 that God is everything. I hope this will be imprinted in your mind forever. And the moment you suddenly begin to think highly of yourself again, you know what happens? You're a zero all over again. 58:06 That's why you always need to keep Jesus number one in your life in every area of your life throughout the new year. Thank you, brother. All you zeros, thank you very much. and the one who preaches is also equally 58:38 a zero just like everybody else. This is the secret my brothers and sisters. This is why Jesus pleased the father. He took his position before the father. Humility is not oh saying I'm nothing or hanging your head down or wearing torn 58:57 clothes or none of all that. Humility is the recognition. God is everything. You and I may have different qualities but we are zero in his eyes. praise the Lord, brothers and sisters. 59:28 What a wonderful picture that is know all the good gifts that God gives us. We can't boast our glory in them, but we rejoice in the one who loved us and washed us from sin. We give him all the 59:44 glory and we have wonderful fellowship. He must increase. I must decrease. I must not just decrease. I must become a zero and disappear and have close fellowship with others. So based on that video, I I want to ask you 1:00:04 a mathematics question. Okay. uh we we read earlier in a verse and we understand that there are those who are least in the kingdom of heaven and there are those who are great in the kingdom of heaven. Okay. 1:00:22 Uh Jesus also said he who humbles himself as a little child you know will be great in the kingdom of heaven. We know Jesus did that. He humbled himself as a little child and therefore he became the greatest in the kingdom of 1:00:35 heaven. So here's the question. If we are all zeros and only Jesus is a one, then how can one zero be greater than the other zero? Question, mathematics question. Okay, somebody somebody knows the 1:00:53 answer. His mathematics is good. Yeah. See, there is there is a concept called place value. I'm not I'm not a major mathematician. I'm a lawyer. But there's a concept called place value, right? All zeros are not of the same 1:01:10 value. And the principle that I can take away from that is that I want to be a zero that is as close to Jesus as possible. I want to be that zero. That is my ambition. I know I am nothing. I see it 1:01:27 more clearly, more and more clearly as I come close to Jesus. But that is my desire to be close to him. And uh I want to look at Galatians 1:01:43 chapter 6:14 where Paul says he talks about the cross of Jesus Christ and what that cross of Jesus Christ did for him. May it never be that I would boast 1:02:05 except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world all these valuable things in the world have been crucified to me and I to the world. He says this is my boast. This is what I treasure. I value. It's the cross of Jesus Christ. 1:02:24 And the cross shows me what is really really valuable. Yeah, the cross is like multiplying by zero. No, we realize that all of these things are going to pass away and there is only one 1:02:44 worthy of praise and glory and honor. The you know great himwriter Isaac Watts 17th century he said like this when when I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died my richest gain I 1:03:02 count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride were the whole realm of nature mine were the whole realm of nature mine that were an offering far too small love so amazing so divine 1:03:17 demands myself, my life, my all. Brothers and sisters, we need this continuing revelation of Jesus to glory in Jesus alone to be ready for heaven. Take up the cross and follow him. Yeah. Nearer my God to thee. Even though 1:03:40 it be a cross that raisth me, still all my songs shall be nearer, my God, to thee, because my reward is with Jesus. I want to look at the book of Zephaniah 1:03:56 in closing. You can turn there. There are a couple of verses in Zephaniah that I hope we are familiar with. But uh otherwise it's it seems like a difficult 1:04:16 book, a heavy book. But it's good for us to understand uh the meaning of the name Zephaniah. Zephaniah means God has hidden hidden or God has protected. I am that zero who's taking refuge, 1:04:34 who's hiding behind the one because the wrath of God was satisfied and he every sin was was laid on him. And uh in the book of Zephaniah, we have a 1:04:53 picture of judgment of the judgment of God upon all the inhabitants of the world. And uh but it tells us how we can be hidden in that in that day in the final 1:05:08 day. Zephaniah chapter 2 and verse three says, "Seek the Lord all you humble of the earth who have carried out his commandments and his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. Seek more humility. Perhaps you will be hidden in the day of 1:05:30 the Lord's anger. That is the way we can take refuge in our Lord, our rock, our Savior." And if we if we look at Zephaniah chapter 3, we see these wonderful promises and the hope that is set before us. 1:05:47 Zephaniah chapter 3 uh 8 onwards. I'm picking a few verses. Jesus, the Lord is saying in that day I will pour out my indignation, my burning anger against sin. All of the earth will be devoured in the fire of my zeal. But I will give to my people purified 1:06:07 lips that they may call on the name of the Lord to serve him shouldertosh shoulder. And he says in verse 11, I will remove from your midst your proud, exalting ones. You will never beaughty again on my holy mountain. Verse 12, I will leave 1:06:25 among you a humble and lowly people. They will take refuge in the name of the Lord. in verse 14 and 15. Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion. Shout and triumph for Israel. Rejoice and exalt with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord 1:06:42 has taken away his judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You will fear disaster no more. In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, "Do not be afraid, O Zion. Do 1:07:00 not let your hands fall limp. The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exalt over you with joy. He will be quiet in his love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. What a wonderful picture we have of 1:07:14 heaven and seeking humility, seeking righteousness, seeking more humility, hiding myself in my glorious king. Amen. Yeah. We'll we'll have a song and after that we want to hear from brother Polo. Brothers, let's sing this as a as a 1:08:26 prayer. I'd rather Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather 1:08:43 be his than a riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than house or land. I'd rather be led by his nail 1:09:02 stand than to be the king of a vast domain and be held in sous way and rather 1:09:20 of Jesus than anything. this world affords today. I'd rather have Jesus 1:09:37 than men of laws. I'd rather be faithful to his dear cause. I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. 1:09:56 I'd rather be true to his holy name than to be the king of a vast domain and be held in sous 1:10:14 way. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world Thank God for what we heard this morning 1:11:07 that your days here on earth be like the days of heaven upon earth. That's that's what we hear in this church quite often. It's from Deuteronomy 11:21 that the days here on earth can be like days of heaven upon 1:11:26 earth. And we've heard in this church many times from brother Zach and brother Ian that our homes can be a foretaste of heaven in light of what we are hearing this morning. Taste of heaven. Foretaste of heaven. 1:11:44 You know the heaven will not be a boring place if I learn and appreciate and seek to live a life where my home can be a foretaste of heaven. And uh I want to turn to a parable in 1:12:02 Matthew 18. Jesus spoke about a parable the kingdom of heaven. For this reason, the kingdom 1:12:22 of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to set settle accounts with his slaves. He heard that Jesus is the king of this kingdom of heaven and he wants to settle accounts. 1:12:39 And when he called in the slaves, one who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, I want to think about and meditate about our my lives and our 1:12:57 lives did not have the means to repay. His lord commanded him to be sold, not just him along with his wife and children and all that he had and the repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostateed himself 1:13:14 before him saying, "Have patience with me. I will repay you everything. And the Lord felt compassion. And that's what we heard that you know if Jesus has not picked me, if he had not forgiven me, not just me, my whole 1:13:33 household, my family would have been sold. And he purchased me. He redeemed me. He brought me to his kingdom. and he set me free and he forgave my debt. 1:13:50 Not just in the day of salvation when I repented and believed in him. Even the debt of yesterday, the debt of today while coming to the church, I could not repay the debt on my own. 1:14:08 The Lord in his mercy, the king in his mercy felt compassion and released me and forgave me of my debt so that me and my wife and children are not sold to this world to sin to the devil and be part of 1:14:27 his kingdom. What a privilege it is that I can be in his kingdom. And what happened? But that slave went out. And we read that in the story on the way. But perhaps in my life, our lives 1:14:45 it's not on the way. It's 1 month, 3 days, 2 days, year after receiving forgiveness from the Lord. Perhaps I received forgiveness from the Lord this morning, yesterday, 1:15:02 and on my way out. What had happened? 2 Peter 1:19 it talks about a group which had forgotten the former purification. 2 Peter 1:19 we read that is blind her shortsighted having forgotten the former 1:15:21 purification. A slave who has been forgiven and made part of this kingdom on the way out has forgotten the form of purification. It's forgotten what the Lord has done to me. I could not have ever repaid the debt. But on he was 1:15:41 compassion, he felt compassion on me and he was merciful to me and he forgave my sins. And now my attitude, what's my attitude? We know the story. And my attitude is choke 1:15:58 my wife by neck, choke my husband by neck, choke others by neck, a colleague by neck and say you need to repay. I won't let you go. I won't forgive you for what you did. You need to repay. 1:16:18 You can't easily say sorry and get away. And that's the attitude that I see. Oh, every time you will do this and come back and tell me I'm sorry, please forgive me. I want to look at verse 21. This is how Jesus started. 1:16:36 Up to seven seven times. No, but up to 7 70 times. 70 * 7. Sorry. 70 * 7. And I don't have a excuse to say, hey, how many times you're going to do the same thing and come back and say sorry? 1:16:52 Jesus said 70 is time 7 and choke by the neck and say no I won't let you go you need to repay this attitude tells me that I have forgotten my former purification that I think that I'm something what we have been hearing 1:17:11 thinking that I'm something oh Lord forgive me and I moment I forget that I will begin to think that I'm something you know what I'm a guy who live a perfect life and I have the right to choke the other person by neck and make 1:17:28 them repay in a sense I just wanted to think about the home because most of the time especially many who are working from home or at home through the day and their interaction with the colleagues are only through zoom so it's at home 1:17:49 choke by neck and say I won't repay you I won't let you go, you need to you need to feel the and have consequences of what you did. And we read about the Lord a day of judgment and year of favor. 1:18:08 If I have to, we heard about mathematics. If I have to translate that, it's 24 hours into a day. 24 hours of favor, mercy, and about 3 seconds of judgment. Am I quick enough to forgive the other person in 3 minutes, 3 seconds 1:18:28 and say yes, I've been forgiven by the Lord and it's no use telling to the king, I will repay you because I never can repay the king. And in this kingdom, this is the you know principle of this kingdom. You receive forgiveness from 1:18:44 the king and you forgive others. Lord, I want to come to a place of forgiving others. Never choke anyone by neck and have the spirit that you should repay. And the sad part of this is this king, 1:19:01 what did the king do? Called the slave again and he put back the whole debt back on him and said, "You should repay." And he handed over them to the torturers. Do we realize the seriousness of this? When I don't forgive my wife, husband, 1:19:20 in-laws, colleagues, people who did harm to me, whoever it is, if I do not forgive them and release them, their debt is put back on me. And Jesus said, "My heavenly father will also do the same to you. 1:19:38 Each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart." I want to change that and read his husband from your heart, his wife from the heart, his children from the heart, perhaps young people, your parents from the heart. 1:19:53 And what's how should I forgive? I want to close with this verse. Luke 6:38 give it will be given to you. 1:20:15 We read that you know release be merciful. Verse 36 be merciful just as your father is merciful. a day of mercy and 3 seconds of judgment. Be merciful. Don't just hold them through that condemnation at judgment your wife or the husband or 1:20:34 others through the day and just towards the end of the day release them. No, release them. Be merciful. And how should I give forgiveness in that context? Give. How should I give forgiveness? They will pour out. They will pour into 1:20:51 your lap a good measure. What is that measure? pressed down, shaken together, and running over. That's how my forgiveness should be. When I give forgiveness to others, my forgiveness should be pressed down, shaken together, 1:21:05 and running over. It's not, oh, okay, you're forgiven. No, it should be my forgiveness should run over. For by your stand of measure, it will be measured to you in return. That's the stand of measure God will forgive me. 1:21:21 How did God forgive me? When I come back from him having received forgiveness, do I come with a heavy heart saying, "Oh, I'm not really sure whether he has forgiven me." No, I come back from his presence knowing that he has forgiven me 1:21:36 and rejoicing. And that's how people who receive forgiveness from me should go back rejoicing knowing that they are forgiven knowing that they have received mercy. Knowing that they have you know completely forgiven and for that I 1:21:53 should give it in a measure that's running over. The standard of forgiveness that you have been called to is in Ephesians 4:32 where it says Ephesians 4:32. 1:22:27 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. May that be the standard in which I want to go to this standard forgiving forgiving others forgiving others just as God in Christ 1:22:45 has forgiven me. May God help each of us. Amen. I want to hand over to brother Surh. Brothers and sisters, let's just bow our 1:23:04 heads and pray. As as we bow down, we can examine our hearts, especially in the light of 1:23:22 forgiveness. As we just heard, there's no place for unforgiveness in the kingdom of heaven, brothers and sisters. So, we turn to the Lord. Let's come to him as we are with a sense 1:23:45 of need and trust that he will give us the power of his holy spirit. He says if anyone comes to me I will not 1:24:01 cast him out. Anyone comes to me saying, "I don't want to do my will anymore. Father, I want to do your will. Let your will be done on earth in my life as it is in heaven. I will not cast him out." 1:24:23 Loving father, Lord, we praise you and thank you for this time, for this word. And we know, Lord, that you are the giver of every good gift. And you didn't come to condemn us, Lord, to judge us, but to save us. And we want 1:24:38 to acknowledge, Lord, that you've done wonderful things in our life. And you are the author and the finisher, Lord, of our faith. And we want you to be the beginning and the end. We want you to be the alpha and the omega, to truly mean the words, 1:24:54 Lord, that you have taught us to say and to sing, to treasure them. Give us grace Lord to turn and survey the wondrous cross. Thank you and praise you for the privilege of being a zero. Help us Lord to draw close to you. We thank you and 1:25:12 praise you. We pray in your mighty name, Jesus. Amen. We'll have the announcements. Presenting the book of this month, 1:25:27 Needed Men of God by Brother Zach Ponen. Throughout the centuries, the men and women whom God's been able 1:25:44 to use to route the forces of darkness to make a lasting impact upon the heathen for his name and to establish a testimony for his glory have always been few in number. The blessings of God are received by 1:26:01 many, but the working remnant that labors together with God has always been a small group. Out of Gideon's army of 32,000, God could use only 300. The proportion has been about the same 1:26:20 throughout church history. Few are willing to pay the price of being part of that remnant. The eyes of the Lord are running to and fro throughout our land today looking for such men. 1:26:38 Men of spiritual caliber whom God can use to glorify his great name where it is at present being reproached. May this book help you to become such a man. and we pray. 1:27:01 Take us everywhere.
