0:07 Morning family. It's good to see you all. Thank you for praying for us as we were together. I was together with my fellow elders in Austin last couple days. Let's pray together. And as I say often, 0:25 it's important that you pray as much as that I pray. Maybe before I pray, I want you to see this verse that I was reading early this week. It's really blessed me. Let's turn to the book of Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon 0:51 chapter two, Song of Solomon chapter two verse 14. Song of Solomon 2:14 O my dove in the clefts of the rock 1:07 in the secret place of the steep pathway let me see your form, let me hear your voice. For your voice is sweet and your form is lovely. I hope you know that this is the 1:24 bridegroom, Jesus saying this to his bride, the church, to you. If you are in Christ, if you are a member of his body spiritual body, not any earthly church but you're a member of his spiritual 1:42 body and you're a part of his bride. And in the book of Revelation chapter 14, we see that that is the mark of the bride as they follow Jesus wherever he went. They didn't follow any other preacher or else. They followed Jesus wherever he 1:59 went. That's the bride of Christ. And if you are part of his bride, listen to what Jesus says to you. Bless my heart so much to be reminded of it. He says, "Let me hear your voice." You know how often we are saying, "Lord, 2:13 I want to hear your voice." And I list I when when you speak to me, it's so blessed. And when you give me a comfort from your word, it's so blessed. Have you heard Jesus telling you, "I want to hear your voice." Exactly like a man who loves his wife 2:30 dearly says, "Darling, my dove. My darling, my dove, let me hear your voice." Every time we stand here to sing, I hope you'll be reminded of Song of Solomon 2:14. Jesus rejoices when you sing to him. 2:49 And when I saw that, and I realized how much he was excited to hear my voice, it made me sing louder. And more, not louder to be heard by you all, but louder to be heard by him. And sing with all my heart. To think that the Lord of heaven, 3:06 the king of the universe, is excited to hear my voice singing to him. That's why we should never be a church where we just sit here and watch people singing like it is in many churches. The band performing and you impressed by how 3:20 tight the music is. May we never be such a church. But a church that's taken up with Jesus because he says, "I want to hear your voice." I don't I don't care how good that guitarist and that drummer is and the keyboard player is and how many 3:35 albums they've sold and Grammy awards they have. None of that matters. I want to hear your voice, little child, even if you can't sing in tune. I want to hear your voice. Let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet. 3:51 Now, let's pray. And even if you pray out loud, if you want to pray out loud, that's fine. But pray in your heart. Jesus wants to hear your voice. Children, will you pause for a moment whatever you're doing and pray with me. 4:04 Let's pray to Jesus cuz he wants to hear your voice. And even if this is the first time you thought about praying like that, I hope it'll be the first of many times to come. When we pray, children, I want to give you one more exhortation. I hope all of 4:17 you take every opportunity to pray. Anytime there's a chance to pray, you should pray. Don't make it a law. It's not legalism. Don't say, "Oh, Brother Santos said I have to pray, so I should." No. Jesus wants you to pray. 4:34 He wants to hear your voice, and he says, "Little child, you're 4 years old, you're 7 years old, 12 years old, 16 years old, teenagers, 18 years old, 15 years old." However old you are, you know, Jesus loves to hear your 4:47 voice, and that's why I want to encourage you any chance you have, pray. Pray out loud. Let the others hear your voice. Let them see that you're praying to Jesus. So, let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I come before you. We come 5:01 before you this morning as sheep. I am a sheep, and you, the Lord, are my shepherd, watching over my soul. My soul to keep. Thank you that you've kept my soul up to this point, and you will preserve me blameless until the day of 5:21 your coming, Lord Jesus. What comfort that we could be reminded of that this morning. You promised to hold us, preserve us blameless, and we are going to hold you to your promise, Lord. You made the promise, and we're going to 5:35 say, "Amen. It shall be so because you said it." Not because we're so good at being able to keep ourselves from sin. We cannot, Lord, in our own strength, but you will keep us from falling. We thank you that we can come to you 5:49 boldly to the throne of grace. The veil has been torn permanently from top to bottom. You started it and you rent the veil all the way to the very bottom. And thank you that we can come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and 6:03 to find grace for help in our time of need. This may be a time of need for some of us, Lord. For others, the time of need is coming this week or in the days ahead. We need grace, Lord. We humble ourselves before you. You said that you will give 6:19 grace to the humble. And so we set aside all proud thoughts. Any thoughts, Lord, of self-centeredness and where we think we're more important than others. We forsake all of those thoughts where our world revolves around me and 6:37 my family and my things and my job and my bank account and my toys. Lord, I s- We set aside all of that, never to pick it up again. And we humble ourselves, Lord, casting all our care upon you because you care for us. Thank you that you 6:56 can you bear our burdens. And we ask you for grace, Lord, for this day and grace for the week ahead. Come and be glorified in our midst, Lord Jesus, here in this place. It's your presence that matters more than anything 7:10 else. Lord Jesus, we believe you're here. I pray that everybody here and even those listening online and aren't in this room will receive an awareness of your presence even at this very moment and throughout this meeting. 7:22 Even the children, Lord, that it will change how we pay attention, that we won't be distracted. We won't be picking up our phones to see what's going on because you're here. And you long to move in our midst, Lord, to revive cold hearts 7:38 to set us on fire to baptize us with holy energy like we sang, heavenly energy. Oh, will you do that, Lord? I long for the windows of heaven to be opened afresh over us this morning. For us to taste and to experience complete immersion in your Holy Spirit's 7:56 fire. Will you do that? Thank you that you've cleansed us from sin. Cleanse our hands, you cleanse our minds, purify our minds. We don't want a double-minded life. We don't want to be adulteresses who love the world and love you. We want 8:10 nothing of the love of the world because we know then that your love is not in us. So, Lord, we want to love you purely. Will you shed abroad your love in our hearts so that the love for you will be pure, refined seven times like we sang? 8:27 Purified, Lord, purify my heart. Let me be as gold, pure gold, consecrated, set apart for you and you alone. That my affection, my ambition, my goal will be for you and you alone. Oh, pour out the Holy Spirit, your Holy 8:43 Spirit upon us afresh this morning for that life. Not a stirring emotionally, Lord, here on a Sunday morning, but a life that's devoted to you 24/7, seven days a week, not one day a week. But on that Thursday evening, Lord, when 8:58 the battle is thickest and the temptation is strong and the pressures we feel around us through home situations and work situations and other pressures, Lord, we will have an energy that's beyond our ability. Oh, will you send that power in our 9:13 midst like you did for the apostles on the day of Pentecost and their lives were changed? Thank you. I pray for every marriage in this room and every marriage from those listening. We know the devil's trying to attack it. 9:25 Lord, we sense it, we see it. We're alert because the our adversary, the devil, is prowling around our marriages seeking which one he will devour and destroy. And we stand against you, Satan, in the name of Jesus. We bind your work. The 9:40 Lord rebuke you, Satan. Get your hands off of any individual, in any marriage, in any home, in any child. Oh, Lord, I pray that you will bind the work of Satan in any life, in any marriage, in any home, even in any child 9:53 if he's got a foothold, the love of the world. He's the prince of this world. We know it, Lord, and if the love of this world is there in any heart, will you loose them in the name of Jesus that they will be set free? Set free to live as one whose affection 10:08 is above, seated there with you because our life is hidden with Christ in God. Oh, do that, Father, we pray. Record this prayer in heaven, Lord, not because I have words, but because it's your spirit that's moving in our midst 10:22 even right now. It's your spirit that's inspiring our hearts to pray this way and saying in our deepest need and bondage, "Glory, praise to thee. As at Pentecost, oh spirit, send your fire in our midst." Send that spirit of love 10:36 that we can love even those that is difficult to love. We can love our enemies. We can love those who persecute us and harm us in any way. We can love in our marriages as you loved us. Do that, Father, and I pray you'll 10:50 restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the children to their fathers because you said you would. You've sent Elijah in the form of your church to restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the children to the 11:04 fathers. I pray for every parent-child relationship here. Will you restore it, Lord, to what you intended it to be when you placed these children in our homes? If there's a coldness or a brokenness in any relationship between parents and 11:17 children, Father, will you restore it? Will you bind those hearts back together in the name of Jesus? Give us our children's hearts, Lord, we pray as parents. They're yours first of all, Lord, before they were ours. And so we ask you for the promise that 11:35 our children also will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. We ask you for that fulfillment Lord. Pour out your spirit upon our children. Let your light shine into their hearts that that the teachings that they hear and 11:47 the memory verses they memorize will come alive in them Lord. It won't just be a ritual. It won't just be memorization, but it will be life in them. Do that Lord, I pray. Shine your heart even this morning into the heart of 11:59 every child, those children that are on the verge of deciding whether to go with the world or to go with you. Oh, will you do a work Lord that will tip them towards your kingdom? Open their eyes Lord, I pray. Open the eyes of every one of us this morning to 12:15 see Jesus more highly exalted and glorified. We're helpless Lord. We don't know what to do. We face a world that's increasingly quickly passing away, getting worse by the minute. And even people in your church are falling away 12:29 and living hypocritical lives Lord. And who are we that we that won't be said of us as well? We're no different. We could fall in exactly the same way Lord, but we fall on our face before you. We remain lowly in the dust and say, "Have 12:42 mercy on us and pour out your spirit and preserve us Lord. Unless you build this church, we labor in vain. Unless you build our homes, we labor in vain." So Lord, will you build our homes? Will you build our marriages? And will you 12:54 build this church? And establish it Lord in heaven, not here on this earth. Let us have a reputation in heaven. Let us have a reputation in hell. That's where it matters Lord. Will you do that? Will you build a church through 13:08 us that the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against us? And Satan will have no place in any life, in any marriage, or in any home. And now no place in this church, not even a foothold. Be the wall of fire around us. Be the glory in our midst 13:21 Lord. That's our cry. And will you preserve us in love until the end? You said many many would fall away. And that means that it could be us, Lord, but we believe in faith it shall not be so. You will preserve us. We will be those who persevere in love 13:36 until the end. In love in our homes and in love in this church. And love for the dying world around us. One kindling passion, other souls to win. Oh, will you light a fire in our souls, Lord, in our hearts this morning to win other souls. 13:54 Fill us with the Holy Spirit that there will be no more uh tongue tiedness and a cowardliness when we're out in the world. That we'll have courage and boldness to speak of you. My tongue my lips shall speak only of thee, Lord, with boldness. Do that 14:09 through this church, I pray. We humbly ask you for it. Cuz we believe that you're here and you hear our prayer. And you will do it. Change our lives, Lord. No more of this cowardly shamelessness in the world with our friends or 14:25 neighbors or co-workers, but a a fire that's from heaven that we can't help but speak of you. Whatever's ahead of us this week, wherever you take us, Lord Jesus, touch our lips with the coals of fire and change us. Here we are, send us. 14:41 Here I am, send me. Thank you, you will. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I hope you prayed with me, dear brother and dear sister. One of the fears I have is that um you as we preach in this church 15:04 as you hear rich teaching, I believe, that comes from heaven through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit a prophetic voice is that we will say amen, will nod our heads and say, "Yeah, that's right. It's good. I'm glad I'm in this church." 15:20 We may even be able to discern truth and true teaching from false teaching. But, it's not working in our lives. That's my fear. Is that even in one life 15:38 in this church, and I especially want to speak to the local church here, that if there's even one person here where you're nodding in agreement and you're here because you believe that what we preach is the truth, and the whole truth. 15:53 We don't claim to understand it fully, but wherever God has shown us his truth, we want to preach it. We don't want to And I've said this often that as a church, I challenge anybody to come into this church and show us something we're doing 16:06 that's not in God's word, anything. You can challenge us, brothers and sisters. If there's anything we're doing that you don't see in God in the New Testament, come and ask us, why are we doing this? Or if there's something you see in the 16:18 New Testament in the teaching of the New Testament that we're not doing, tell us. Why Why aren't we doing that? It's taught as doctrine in the New Testament. That's what I mean when we say that we seek to teach the whole counsel of God, 16:32 like Paul did in Ephesus. He said that in Acts 20. But my fear, I'll tell you honestly, brothers is and sisters and children is that we'll preach and there may be even one of us for whom it's not working. And I don't say that to discourage you. 16:51 And I say that I put myself at the front of the line. Paul had a healthy fear, you read in 1 Corinthians 9. I don't know if you've seen that. Maybe I'll have you turn to that verse with me. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Paul who had planted many churches 17:10 was used a mighty by God, was taken up into the third heaven to see heaven. And to be there and to see and he didn't speak about it because it was it was so amazing that he knew he couldn't speak about it. The Lord forbid him from speaking about 17:26 it. And in order to keep him humble, God gave him a thorn in his flesh to keep him in humble and he would remain in humility. And he said at the end of his life, I finished the course. I've run the race. I finished the race. 17:39 Now there's a crown waiting for me and for you anyone of you who love the Lord's returning. There's a crown waiting for you. But man said in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 26, "I run in such a way not without aim. 17:57 I box in such a way not just beating the air, but I discipline my body and tell it to do what it should do not what it wants to do. I discipline my body and make it my slave." 18:14 That's what means make it my slave. In in Paul's time, if you had a slave and you told him or her to do something, they better do it. And if you told them not to do something, they dare not do it. Now I ask you, dear brothers, dear 18:28 sisters, is your body your slave? Can the Holy Spirit tell your body, "Don't look at that picture. Don't look at that image. Don't look at that movie." And it's your slave and you do it. Can the Holy Spirit tell your tongue, 18:44 "Don't say that to your wife. Don't say that to your husband. Don't retort that way." And it is your slave and your tongue is your slave. Telling it to do what it should do not what it wants to do, "Otherwise, after I have preached to others, I 19:01 myself will be disqualified." Paul says. And if if it was true about Paul, how much more us? Paul says, it does God's not going to say how many people did you preach to. How many churches did you plant? That's all secondary. 19:17 The first thing God Paul knew the first thing God's going to ask me when I stand before the judgment seat of Christ when I see Christ was was your body your slave? Were you addicted to food? Good food. Were you addicted to drink to alcohol or 19:32 even to sugary drinks? Were you addicted to it? Was your body controlling you? Was your God your belly? You love the taste of good food? Or was it your slave? Otherwise, you'll be disqualified. And then all the other stuff, well Lord, but I I I raised my 19:51 children well and I didn't cheat on my wife and all these other things he says, but you failed the very first test. I'm not even going to look at all the other things. Lest having preached to others, I might be disqualified and so 20:06 I put myself at the start. That it could be that even I as the one preaching, it might not be working. I want to tell you an honest testimony, brothers. It's working in my life. I'm not as God is my witness, what we preach is working in my life. I 20:25 don't I don't brag. I'm not here to It's not not no credit to myself. But it's working finally. I'll say that after many years of it not working because I came to a place where I was at the end of myself. And I came to a place of dependence on 20:44 the Holy Spirit. And I came to a place of being actually filled with the Holy Spirit rather than just talking about it. And then it started to work. And I I long that every one of you will experience that as well. If it's not, 21:00 then don't be discouraged. Don't give up, but don't stop seeking. That's the essence of what I want to share with you this morning. Don't get so comfortable with sitting at RLCF because we preach about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, because we sing 21:16 about the baptism of the Holy Spirit without actually experiencing it. Don't get comfortable with it. That's the thing. And keep seeking the Lord. We've been blessed so much by the examples of my dad and brother Ian and 21:29 others who've gone ahead of us. But you know, what is it that made their lives fruitful? They were filled with the Holy Spirit. I think it was Chetan somewhere a couple of weeks ago was sharing about how when he whenever he'd speak with brother Ian 21:44 brother Ian would give him some advice and some suggestions and show him scripture, but he would always finish it by saying, "But you must be filled with the Holy Spirit." Otherwise, this advice or this should I do this or 21:57 what's God's will for my life is just black and white. It's just law. It's not life. And if you want the will of God and God's purpose for your life to come alive, dear brothers and sisters, I encourage you, I exhort you, I plead 22:12 with you. Don't stop seeking for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, for the power of God to fill you. And I don't I don't sit here as one who's somehow accomplished it that I climbed some staircase and finally got the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I tell 22:27 you I went down. I went lower and I was broken and I failed so much that I finally was ready to give up. I say, "Lord, unless you fill me, you might as well take my life." And then he filled me. And I seek to remain in that place of 22:43 desperation where unless the Lord gives me his power, I'm better off dead. And you'll see a difference in your life, brothers and sisters. I believe it. Um in John chapter 1 we read, and this is also the passion of my heart that 23:02 as we speak John 1 as you hear the preaching in the church that this will be the testimony of our RLCF. John 1 verse 37. John 1:37, the disciples heard the message 23:22 and they followed Jesus. That's what I mean by my fear is that you will hear the message and you will nod your head or I will hear the message that I preached and I'll nod my head. I preached it but I won't have followed Jesus. 23:40 And I can be disqualified, brothers and sisters. And I hope you it's a healthy fear in your life as well that you can be disqualified. The qualification will not be I sat at RLCF or that I heard good messages. It will be did you follow Jesus? Are you 23:57 following him wherever he's leading you? And so if you're hearing the message, I hope you're following Jesus. I sincerely hope you are and if you're not I hope that in what you hear this morning, if not anything else that's already 24:11 already had the spirit move in my life through the songs we sang. And if that hasn't happened yet, I hope at least through what we hear now that there will be a stirring in your heart not to do it better not to try a little harder but to simply 24:25 fall on your face and say, "Lord, no longer I want the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit that changed Peter who was so afraid in front of a little girl to confess Jesus and then he stood up in front of thousands that this Jesus 24:39 of Nazareth is the one I'm following now." What was the difference? Did somehow Peter get something that he you know, did he somehow attain to something? He followed Jesus for three and a half years and at the end of it a little girl came up 24:55 to says, said, you Jesus' friend?" He said, "No, no, no, not me." Afraid, timid little Peter. He Can you imagine 30-year-old Peter and this little girl and he's afraid of her to confess Jesus. And then Pentecost happened and the spirit came 25:10 and filled his heart and he got up. Peter taking his stand with the disciples said, "This Jesus of Nazareth whom you persecuted is the lamb of God." And there's salvation in none other. And he proclaimed it until the end and 25:25 then he was thrown in jail, beaten. Didn't matter. He says, "You can't stop me from from preaching Jesus, speaking about Jesus. Doesn't matter if you threaten me, Pharisees and high priests, Annas, Caiaphas, you can threaten me all you want. I've been 25:41 filled with the Holy Spirit. There's a fire within me. There's a boldness within me that I can't contain. Love all constraining, compelling me." Peter had it and it changed his life. And I don't know where you are. Are you at 25:57 the place where you followed Jesus for a number of years sitting at RLCF because we've tried to point you to Jesus, but you're missing that. The The The shame and the cowardness is still there and the lack of victory is is there in 26:12 your life. Then, dear brothers and sisters, seek God for the outpouring of his Holy Spirit. We heard in Ephesians 4 last week that it is the responsibility of everybody. Let's turn there also. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11, the last part of of verse 12, 26:37 sorry. Ephesians 4:12. Ephesians 4:12 says that the work of the service is for the saints to do. The equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building 26:56 up of the body of Christ. And the question I want to ask you to answer before the Lord yourself is, did you fulfill that verse? We heard about it last week. That it's the responsibility of every member of the body of Christ to build up 27:11 the body of Christ, to build up the church. Did you do that this week? Did the messages that you heard last Sunday and then others through the week, did the little bits of encouragement we share with each other during the week as apostles, prophets, 27:27 evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, did that equip you in such a way that you actually built up the church, the body of Christ? Did that happen since the last time we were here together? Through conversations you had with 27:41 somebody in the home, with your husband or wife, with your children? If not, take it seriously, brother or sister. Don't let it be another message that you heard, that you share with somebody, but that the Holy Spirit has filled you and you 27:54 were actually involved in building up the body of Christ this week. In order to build up the body of Christ, your affection must be set in heaven. Because God is building this church not here in Loveland, he's building it in 28:07 heaven, whose architect and builder is God. We're seeking a place, a home that's there. That's the church. And you won't be able to build up the church unless your affection is also there. Unless God is giving you a revelation of 28:24 the home that he's building in heaven, you'll still be earthly minded. You'll Your thoughts throughout the week will only be about how can I make a little bit more money? And how can I get this? And how can I invest in that other thing? And how can 28:36 I get this thing for myself? And should we buy that other thing? Now, all that is necessary. We need to buy food, we need to live in homes and all of that. You might have to buy clothes, that's wonderful. But is your affection there, 28:47 brother, or Is your affection there? Like we read in Colossians 3, then God will show you the church that he's building. And you will be passionate about building that church. And you will pray for others in this church because God has placed you in 29:05 this local expression of his body here on this earth. But he will give you the vision of that work that's happening in the heavenlies and how your you'll intercede for that brother. How is it for you, brother, sister, when 29:16 you wake up in the middle of the night? I often wake up in the middle of the night and don't immediately fall back to sleep, but for many years now it's like, "Lord, you woke me up for a reason." Maybe I ate too late or ate too much for 29:32 dinner, that could be the reason, but God can even use that to say, "Lord, now to to say, Santosh, now I want you to have a burden. I want to put a burden on you for so-and-so, that brother, that sister, that child." And consistently the Lord will just put 29:47 somebody into my mind saying, "Lord, I don't know what they're going through. I'm going to pray for them." Begin in your home and then begin and then move on to the local brothers and sisters in this church. Because those are the ones that God has 29:58 placed in your life, whom you've committed yourself to to pray for. And you won't know what they're going through, but you'll be building the church. And I'm here this morning to remind you of your responsibility to build the 30:13 church cuz that's my responsibility in verse 11. As a whatever my ministry is and a shepherd in this church, to remind you that brother, sister, child, you must be building the church. Children, you must build a church, you know that? 30:30 You don't have to have a title, but you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. So children, pray that you'll be filled with the Holy Spirit. And this life of being filled with the Holy Spirit, I think I've been thinking about it like this, that the Christian 30:43 life is one of being satisfied in Christ, but thirsting for him. Listen to that carefully again. I'm satisfied in Christ. We sang last week, and that's a little bit of what promised uh um prompted, not promised promised to 31:00 prompted my thoughts about this, because we sang none but Christ can satisfy. Oh Christ, in thee my soul has found and found in thee alone a joy and a satisfaction. Jesus, the only one, the holy one, the purest one. Give me thy nature, thy pure holy heart. 31:18 We sang all those songs last week, and it's it's finding our satisfaction in Christ, that Christ is enough. And Christ alone it will only be enough. Nothing else will ever satisfy. That's the Christian life is a life where Christ alone is my satisfaction, 31:34 but I'm thirsting for him. And it's easy for us to come to a place where Christ is our satisfaction, but we're not thirsting for him. And it's this healthy tension, as it were, where I'm satisfied, but I'm not satisfied. 31:50 I'm satisfied, but I'm thirsting for more. Is that the testimony of your life? Or have you reached a place in your life where you've topped off, as it were? You know how they say, "Top off my cup. Top it off. Fill it up." And that's it. 32:05 And it's not overflowing. You've Your cup has been filled to the brim, but it's not overflowing. The psalmist David said, "My cup overflows." And perhaps you reached the the point where your cup is topped off, and you think, "Well, that's good. Now let me 32:21 coast along with this experience that I have up to this point. Life's pretty good. My marriage good. The children are good. They seem to be doing well in school. They're learning their memory verse. And I pray that they'll commit their life to Christ, and 32:34 they'll take baptism. And I pray that they'll be filled with the Holy Spirit, but I I'm in this steady state. I've plateaued as it were. And well, what a dangerous place that is if you've reached a plateau in your life, brother, sister. 32:47 Where Christ is your satisfaction, yes, but you're not thirsting for him more. And you're not longing for a deeper outpouring and a deeper revival and a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit in your life. Children, you could come to that place 33:01 where you're born again and you say I'm thankful I'm born again. Maybe you've taken baptism, that's wonderful. But have you has it plateaued out? And it will plateau off plateau out if a love for the world comes in. A little bit of the love of the world 33:14 and that will just the devil will try to douse. You know what the word douse means? Douse means to be like the fire is getting out of control. You're getting a little too radical, Santos. Tone it down a little bit. You're always talking about the baptism 33:28 of the Holy Spirit. You always seem to want to talk about Christ. Tone it down a little bit. He'll pour a little water on it to control the fire. Oh, beware that it should ever happen in your life. Where God has laid a hold of you. I know 33:41 children, you've all had some experiences where God has laid a hold of your heart in some way. Maybe it was at a prayer meeting or some message you heard. God touched your life. And you were set on fire that evening or that morning or whenever it was and 33:55 you're like, "Lord, I want to follow you." And you made decisions to follow Christ. Maybe you gave your life to Christ. Maybe you took baptism or you made some other decision. I've decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. But 34:05 now it's cooling off. Oh, beware of that. Don't get to be 40 years old and having cooled off and coasting through life waiting for Christ to come. There's no such thing. I want to be running towards Christ when I see him in the air. 34:22 What will it be like for you, brother? Sister, will it be "Oh, Lord, I'm waiting for you. Come and take me home." Sitting here with my arms crossed, my legs crossed, doing this, doing that, or are you running to meet him? 34:37 So that when he appears, you you both collide as it were. Cuz he's running to meet you. He's excited to come. His coming is soon. But if you love this appearing, you'll be running towards him. You won't be just coasting. 34:54 So this life of being satisfied in Christ, but thirsting for him. Paul experienced it because you turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 1. As far as we know, this is the last episode that that Paul wrote. 2 Timothy and if I remember correctly, 35:14 Philippians was right before that. The last two letters that he wrote, from what we know, 2 Timothy and Philippians. And I'd like to show you a passage from both of those uh episodes. So first, 2 Timothy chapter 1, Paul says, again, remember we're 35:29 thinking about the Christian life being a life of being satisfied with Christ, but thirsting for more of him, constantly. Every moment, in any moment, you come and look look at me. Santos, what's your life like? It should be like this. I 35:45 ought to be telling you, I'm satisfied with Christ, but I'm thirsting for him. Tomorrow you come and ask me the same thing. I'm satisfied with Christ. He is all I need. He is everything to me, but I'm thirsting for more of him. 35:57 And let that be the testimony of our lives from this day forward if it hasn't been until Christ return. And you will have the most glorious life. You'll have no regret in heaven. Make it your ambition, brother, sister, that every moment of this of your life 36:11 from now onwards, it will be a life of being satisfied with Christ, but constantly thirsting for more. Lord, you've topped off my cup. That's great, but break this cup. Break me through some circumstance. Let me go through 36:23 frustration and disappointment so that I get a bigger cup that you can top off. And then break me some more so that I get a bigger vessel that you can top off because I'm thirsty for more, Lord. Don't ever get comfortable here at RLCF, 36:37 and I hope that in the preaching you hear from us in this pulpit, it will always be this stirring. We're not satisfied for where the Lord has brought us. He's brought us such a long ways, hasn't he, church family? But we're not satisfied. 36:50 We're charging the gates of heaven and the gates of hell in this church. 2 Timothy 1 we read in verse 12, in the middle of verse 12 it says, "I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed, and I'm convinced that he is 37:07 able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day." I know whom I believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I've entrusted to him until that day. So, 37:25 break it down. Paul entrusted something to Jesus, and he says, "I know him, and I believed in him, and I'm convinced that what I've entrusted to him, he's able to keep." So, Paul, what's your life like? For some people who only read 2 Timothy 37:40 1:12, they're like, "Okay, I gave it to Christ, my salvation. He will keep me from falling. I'm just going to wait for him to come and take me home." Satisfied in Christ, knowing him whom I have believed. Now, let's turn to Philippians chapter 37:55 3. The same Paul who said, "I know him whom I have believed, and I'm convinced that he is able to keep what I've entrusted to him until his coming, until that day." 38:12 says in Philippians chapter 3, verse 7, having known him whom I have believed, and known to being convinced that he is able to keep what I've entrusted to him. I've entrusted my eternity to him, my life here on this earth and forever I've 38:30 entrusted to him. Having done that, how shall I live my life? First Philippians 3:7, Whatever things were gained to me, these things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of 38:45 the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Hold on, Paul. I thought you knew him. I thought you knew him whom you've believed and have entrusted and convinced that you've entrusted to him. He says, Yes, I'm satisfied in 39:01 Christ, but I'm thirsting for him. I know him, but I passion that I might know him. You see that healthy tension? I know him, but I have a passionate desire that I might know him. Know him more. Let's continue reading. For whom I have 39:19 suffered This is the middle of verse eight. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish, dung, manure, so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that 39:38 which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, so that I might know him. And the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. You see how Paul had this balance, as it were, this tension. 39:54 I know Christ and I'm confident that what I've entrusted to him, he will keep until the day of his return. But I have this passion to know him. I know him, but I I've counted all things as loss so that I may know him. Paul was on this journey of continually 40:12 seeking to know him. He knew whom he believed, but he had a longing. Is that true in your life, brother? Sister, I've been meditating on this for the last week, examining it. Christ, I sing from the bottom of my heart when I say Christ is my 40:26 satisfaction. But I wonder if there is a slowing down in some way. Or a toning down, or a let's shift it back a little bit into a lower gear and coast. Let's put it on cruise control for a little bit. Not quite ready to 40:41 commit 100% to the Lord. I'm Okay, maybe in a couple years when I just get this thing figured out. You know how the devil plays that game? Just work a little harder right now and then you'll get that to that point and then 40:53 you'll be able to give everything to the Lord. He's played that trick on me thinking somehow we'll we'll get over this hill and then I'll I'll be able to give everything to the Lord. It's like a false summit if you ever do any hiking. 41:06 It's what they call false summits cuz you come up and you think, "Yeah, there's the summit. Let me just get to that point." And you think you've reached You realize, "No, wait. That summit was just blocking my view of the actual summit 41:17 which is even further." And there's many false summits and the devil will tease you. He'll put a little carrot in front of you. Just get to that point where you've saved up this much or you're earning that much or you've got 41:29 to this point in your career and then you'll be happy and then you can really live the rest of your life for the kingdom of heaven and commit yourself to the work of building up the church at that point. At that point, tomorrow, 41:40 tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. It's a lie of the devil and one day you'll wake up and realize it's the end of your life. And then you don't have any more days, no other false summits. This is it. You're standing before God and and like 41:57 we like that poem you will see as I will bury my head in my empty hands and say, "Oh, I wish I had given him more." And there will be regret because I was chasing a dream. Let it never be said of us. Today is the day, brother, sister. Today is the day 42:16 to give it all to Christ. And the reality of this is um um If we're speaking about this satisfaction, I think that for many Christians, God is as unreal 42:33 as he is for unbelievers. God God is as much a an unreal being as he is for unbelievers. Let me explain what I mean by that. For unbelievers, they don't even believe that there's a God. Or even if there is, it's he's not real to them. 42:51 It's clear because they live for themselves. They They are their God. Their bellies are their God. Their jobs are their God. Sex is their God. Money is their God. Pleasure. Uh uh business. All of that is their God. So, that that's unbelievers. And for the 43:08 atheists, they say there is no God. But you know that Christians sometimes live as atheists? Yeah, we pray to Jesus and we say there is a God, but he's not real. In the sense that when I pray to him, I don't know if he's even heard me. 43:25 You see what I mean by atheism in Christianity? Christians who pray and it's like I prayed the prayer, but honestly, I don't really know whether God if there's even God even heard me. That is saying intellectually, yeah, 43:38 there is a God up there. That's why I'm praying. I'm not like the atheist who doesn't even pray. But in terms of my heart, I am an atheist because I like Lord, I I actually don't know if you heard me. It To me, you don't even have ears, 43:50 Lord. And I don't hear your voice. To me, you don't have a tongue. You don't have a voice that speaks to me. You see how God is as unreal for some Christians as he is for the unbelievers who don't even who spend time in front of their TV on a 44:04 Sunday morning watching football. What difference is it for us, brothers, sisters, to sit here and sing to him and lift our hands to him and pray to him where he's not real. I'm not actually hearing from him. I'm not actually seeing Jesus. We say 44:21 open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus, but we sing that same chorus every Sunday and we never actually see him. I tell you, brothers and sisters, I'm more and more convinced that the proof that we've seen Jesus is how little we 44:33 will live for the things of this earth and how much we will live for the things of heaven. That's how we know we've seen Jesus. So, ask yourself as I've been asking myself recently more more and more, "Lord, I want to prove that I've seen you by that 44:46 there's even less of this world that I want." Otherwise, you're as unreal to me as you are to the unbeliever. God is not real to the unbeliever. That's why they live for world for themselves and for the world. And let it 45:00 be different at least for us. And sadly, it's true about many Christians. They sit in churches watching the football score in the middle of the message because their mind is there. They don't really care about the things 45:12 of this world. They sit in churches and their mind is wandering about all the other things. Oh, this week, yeah, maybe we could do this and let's eat this for dinner tonight and all that stuff. Now, maybe you're tempted by that, but 45:23 capture those thoughts, brothers, sisters, children. Let your affection be set in heaven and you'll know that you've seen God. You know that God is real in your life by how little you live for the things of this world. Less and less and less and 45:38 less. I'm on that journey. I'm not there perfectly. I'm trying to get there. Honestly, I mean it. I'm not here to lie or sell you anything. You know that, right? But I want it to be that at least for all of us here in this church and those 45:50 listening to this message, it'll be true that I'm living for less of this earth because I've really seen Jesus. He's real. Otherwise, Jesus is not real to you. And he's called you by name. You're hearing his voice. Let me tell me ask you, the Jesus you 46:06 worship, does he have a voice for you personally? Does he have ears for you personally? Does he have eyes that that that are that you've seen? Does he Does he have a shape and a form? His nature, is it real to you, brother, sister? If not, ask God 46:20 to fill you with the Holy Spirit. And don't don't go on another day. Don't let go of God even one more day before Jesus becomes real to you. That's why we're here at RLCF, to see Jesus. Not to just talk about him and sing good songs. 46:39 And if you find Jesus, you will find satisfaction in him. I think it was in our reading sometime recently that this verse came alive to me, Deuteronomy chapter 18. In Deuteronomy 18, we read about how God divided up the 46:59 inheritance for the tribes of Israel. You know, there were 12 tribes, the 12 children of Judah. Let me start the children of Israel, sorry. Jacob. And there were 12 children, and I I could rattle off all their names, but I 47:14 won't waste your time with that. But one of those children was Levi. There was Reuben, Simeon, Levi. And the 12 included Joseph and Benjamin. If you count the children of of Israel, children of Jacob, you'll see that there were 12 children, 12 boys at 47:32 least. 12 men. And included beginning with Reuben all the way to Benjamin, including Joseph. But you know, if you look at the 12 tribes of Israel, there's those other tribes, and when the time for division came, you see this in in Deuteronomy 18, verse 47:51 1, that the tribe of Levi entitled to the inheritance, cuz they were also descendants of Israel, descendants of Jacob. The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance 48:10 with Israel. They shall eat the Lord's offerings by fire and his portion. They shall have no inheritance among their countrymen. Imagine if your father was dividing up the inheritance and he says, "Okay, each of you you you you you get this money, this 48:27 money, this money, this money, but you." And it wasn't even the last or the oldest, it's one one in the middle. He says, "You, Levi, you're not going to get anything." How would you feel? You know who got the biggest portion of 48:39 all? It was Levi. Because they all got a piece of land. They all got some money or I don't know what all the inheritance was in the land of Israel. Levi got God himself. Which was bigger? There's what Reuben got, what Simeon 48:55 got, what Issachar got, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim. Did did what they got even as they were probably all were comparing sizes. Dan says, "Oh, I got this big one." Manasseh says, "I got this." And you know, "Well, yours is a little bigger. Okay, 49:09 whatever. Dad must have liked you a little bit. Reuben, you got first." And then there's Levi sitting with his empty hands. And he got the biggest of them all because he had, it says, "The Lord is their inheritance." As he promised them. 49:24 My dear brothers and sisters, God can bless you with something. What is it you want? Success in your life? Healing for that child of yours? Taking care of your children? Making sure there's enough? All your children will be educated and 49:39 they'll also be able to set up homes? These are the things that the Gentiles seek, as Jesus said. He can bless you with that. Or you can say, "Lord, I don't want that. I want the Levi portion. I want the nothing on this earth where I have 49:53 you and you are my everything. That's what I mean by being satisfied with God. I know him whom I believe that I've and I know that that which I've entrusted to him he's able to keep. And I hope you today entrust your future 50:06 and the future of your children and the future of your home and your eternal destiny in his hands and keep it there and find your satisfaction in him. And I don't know if Levi figured it out, but I hope we'll figure it out. Lord, 50:21 I want to be satisfied in you and you alone. I want you to be my portion. The Lord is my portion. That word portion is used often in the Old Testament. He's means he's everything. He's my full plate. He's my full plate. I don't have room in 50:35 anywhere else. I've taken everything and my full plate is God. I don't want to add a little bit more of this cabbage or that other ice cream or that other piece of meat. The Lord has filled up my plate. I don't have room for anything 50:47 else. The Lord is my portion. This is what Levi got and the tribe that got nothing got the biggest of them all. This is the principle on which God operates today. If you seek nothing on this earth, you will have all of God. 51:02 That's the trade-off. All I have is yours, Father, and so he says, all I have is yours now. Now, it doesn't mean that we sell all we have and live like paupers and beg others cuz that's what people who sell all they have end up doing. 51:20 For you it is you might like we sang in that hall, let all I have be thine and thine alone. I lifted my hands up when I sang that a few minutes ago. And I really meant it. I said, Lord, there are things you've put in my hand, 51:35 but let all I have be thine and thine alone. Burn fire of God my ransomed soul possessing. Let all I have be thine and thine alone. And if you didn't do that when we sang, do it now, brother sister, it'll change your life." 51:49 "Let all I have be thine and thine alone." And so, this this was the tribe that found their portion in Christ alone. But, like I was saying, for Paul, that wasn't enough. He was thirsting for more. He was thirsting for God to make Jesus more 52:06 real to him. Paul probably saw that there was that other thing that he hadn't counted as manure. He He says, "I counted all things." But then it's like, "Oh wait, oh there's one more thing that I put a little bit of value on." 52:20 That's the journey I find I'm on. I thought I had counted all things as loss, all things as dung, com- unworthy to be compared to Christ, and then the Lord showed me, "Hold on. By the way you reacted in that particular situation, 52:33 you proved that there's something that you put value on." The way you defended yourself in that situation with your wife or your husband. The way you sought a reputation for yourself, the way there was a little bit of jealousy, you showed that that thing 52:48 is not dung in your eyes. And Paul was like, "Oh, that I might know him." And Paul wasn't made perfect until the end of his life. And I believe that perfection was a journey of discovering there's something else. I thought all 53:02 was dung. I thought my whole plate was Christ, but there was a little corner that the Lord showed me that is not Christ, something else I put value on. He says, "I'm counting that also as dung now, that I might know him." 53:16 That I may know him, that I may know him. And Jesus must become more and more real to us. A real God, not just some imagination. And I I've been convicted of that because I we pray to Jesus, we sing to him, we ask, "Lord, speak to us." But is 53:34 it actually happening? That's what I mean. That my fear is that we could preach about these things, but we don't experience the reality of it every day. Has Jesus been speaking to really? Are you speaking to him in a way that 53:46 you know he hears it? And even if he doesn't answer right away, it's recorded. He's heard it, brother, sister. Do you know that? I can't convince you in your mind. The Holy Spirit must do it, and that's why I I want to emphasize again, seek to be 54:00 filled with the Holy Spirit because only the Holy Spirit can make Jesus real to you. No preacher can. Even the best preacher in the world cannot make Jesus real to you. It's a ministry that's reserved for the Holy Spirit. And if you've been feeding off 54:15 of good preaching, if you've been feeding off of good YouTube messages and daily devotions and all of that, but you haven't had the Holy Spirit lead you to Jesus, you haven't seen Jesus. It hasn't become real. You're watching the menu of what's what 54:31 can be offered and how delicious that meat looks, but it's not actually in front of you, and you're not tasting it. Come and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Go to Christ. Not I can't give you the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I don't have 54:45 that authority. Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and he will do that for you. You don't have to come in to the altar here. One of the reasons we don't do altar calls is because Jesus said, "Sit down. Count the cost." Do you 54:56 really want the fire of God to burn in your heart? Do you really want to say, "All I have, let it be thine and thine alone?" That will change your life, but it will cost you everything. You can't have any room for anything else. If that's the 55:07 life you want, come to Christ. And he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit, and he will possess your ransomed soul. It's already been ransomed. He paid for it on the cross. But now you will invite him to fill all of it. Say, "Lord, you 55:22 paid the price for me. This soul belongs to you, but I've been holding it back in some way, wanting this or wanting that." And say, "Lord, possess my ransomed soul." Now, he doesn't possess like demons possess, but he will take over 55:37 all of it if you invite him to. But only the Holy Spirit can bring the make the presence of Jesus real to us. That only the Holy Spirit can do it. And that's again, like I said, I go back to what I started by saying is my fear is that we could 55:52 preach and teach about Jesus and speak about him and speak about him and speak about him, but some of us could go away not experiencing the real Jesus. And it's a Jesus that Brother Zach speaks about, or Santo speaks about, or 56:05 somebody else speaks about. I heard about that Jesus. There is such a person up there, but I don't hear him. And when I speak to him, I don't know if he hears me. And I haven't seen him, and that's why I still love the world. 56:19 That's why I still want a little bit more money and I'm taken up with the things of this earth. And I want a little bit more pleasure. That's why I still have some grumbling and complaining in my life. That's why I'm I have unbelief. 56:31 Cuz I haven't seen Jesus. If you've seen Jesus, I tell you there will never be unbelief in your life, because faith comes from hearing the hearing the word of Christ. And when you've actually heard the word of Christ in instead of imagining. 56:45 You know, you think about, "Lord, I need more faith. Oh, I wish I had more faith." No, you just need to hear Christ. That's it. You'll have faith. So, come and ask the Holy Spirit to make the voice of Jesus real to you, and then 56:55 you'll hear him speak and you'll have faith. And in that trial, when you're shaken, whenever when you used to be shaken, you won't be shaken anymore. The secret to having faith is not to work up more faith. It's for the Holy 57:07 Spirit to make the voice of Jesus real to you. And the figure of Jesus and his nature real to you. He wants to do it. The The promise is for you and for your children, we read in Acts 2. So, do you want to have faith? Do you want 57:22 your children to have faith? The Holy Spirit can do it. He alone can do it. And I'll say it this way, dear brother, dear sister, and dear children, if you've been attending this church for at least 3 months, which I think is 57:35 99% of us, at least looking out at you, and for those of you online, if you've been joining us online for at least 3 months, and there isn't in you a constant longing, a seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit, 57:53 I then I failed my job as a teacher. If you've been coming here for at least 3 months, and throughout your day, day and night, there isn't this deep down thirsting, a deep thirsting, then I failed my job, 58:11 and I hope to change that. Because if you'd remember one thing from this morning when you leave this room, let it be this, Lord, I want my life to be characterized from this day forward by a constant thirsting to be filled 58:26 with the Holy Spirit, constantly. And if he does fill you, wonderful. Now, thirst for more, that I may know him. Yes, I'm satisfied that I know him whom I believed, and I'm convinced that he's able to keep what I've entrusted to him 58:39 until that day, but I want to know him. And I tell you again, as God is my witness, this is the testimony of my life. The middle of the night, I wake up and say, Lord, I want you to fill me right now with your Holy Spirit. Please 58:50 do it. I've almost never had a physical sensation of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I'm just here to tell you that. So that if you're seeking for that, don't waste your time. He gives it to some. He gave it to the 120 on the day of Pentecost, and others 59:05 maybe have had an experience, a specific moment. But regardless, I say, Lord, I want to be filled. I don't care how you do it. I don't have to have the sensation. I don't have to have the hair standing on the back of my neck or 59:15 anything like that, but fill me, Lord. I want power. I don't want the feeling. I want the power. And if that's the cry, and you make it the constant cry of your heart, Lord, I'm not going to let go of you. I'm not going to let go of you. Lord, I prayed. 59:30 I prayed for years. I prayed, but I don't have it." Okay, but keep praying. And if you quit after 10 years, it meant that you hadn't really It wasn't really that a thirst. If you quit seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit because you asked for 1 year 59:47 and didn't receive him him, then you weren't really thirsty. That's what I would say. A thirsty man, a thirsty woman, a thirsty child will keep asking until the thirst is satisfied. That's the plain and simple. No matter if it's 1 year, 10 1:00:02 years, 100 years. And like Abraham, he held on to the promise without wavering, we read. And when he was 100 years old, and he pretty much said, "Lord, you've still said it, so I'm just going to ask you, but it's I'm 100 now, 1:00:21 but I'm going to keep asking you. I'm I'm not wavering. And I even my wife seems to have grown tired of asking. She's laughing at the possibility. And even my friends, they say, 'Abraham, you know, it was good when you were 80. It was good when you 1:00:35 were 90. But 100, three figures, impossible, man. You can't have a child. You reached three figures now. Too late.' But Abraham says, "I'm not going to waver. Lord, you said you would. Lord, you said you would give me the power of the Holy 1:00:49 Spirit, and you know HOW HELPLESS I AM WITHOUT HIM. And if I live to be 100, one day God will fill me with the Holy Spirit." Brother, sister, will you leave this meeting with that confidence that God who promised to baptize you with the Holy Spirit is 1:01:04 going to do it? I It doesn't matter. I I And you're not going to quit. You're not going to give up asking until he does it. And that's the one who will be filled. And may we be a church where every one of us is like that. 1:01:18 We'll change this town. God will move and revive hearts that are cold. He'll revive relationships. Your relatives who know you, whether they live close to you or far away, they'll see a difference. Something's happened to Santosh. Something's happened to 1:01:34 their their their tongues have been speak only of heaven and heaven alone. And that burden you've had to see your loved ones born again and turn to the Lord will somehow change because your lips have been changed. And it won't 1:01:46 that be that somehow you figured out what to say to them. You you got an anointed with a fire from heaven. The coals from off the altar of heaven have touched your lips now. And your purged lips speak of Christ with such grace, with such anointing, 1:02:03 that people are drawn to him. So, if you've been coming here for 3 months and there isn't a continual cry to be filled with the Holy Spirit, I failed. And I hope that you it will change from today. Children, every little moment 1:02:20 the when I when I find a little space in my thoughts, I find it's it's start I had to exercise that. I had to choose to seek for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Now it's second nature for me. It's been a number of years, but that's the constant cry in my 1:02:33 heart. And now I just find it welling up with me, "Lord, you must fill me with the Holy Spirit." And it's a cry that's constantly there. And it's such whom God fills. I would say that you must pray at least 10 times as much as you listen to 1:02:47 sermons. If I speak for an hour, you must pray at least for 10 hours to experience the reality of what we preach. I believe that. Pray, pray, pray constantly. Pray without ceasing. And I you know, a lot of people can speak 1:03:04 about the Holy Spirit, describe the Holy Spirit, but they don't really know him. And they don't really know Jesus because they haven't experienced it. But I want to ask you as before I close, um is is this what you want or will the 1:03:19 will the Lord's blessing some answer to prayer be enough for you? Let's turn to Exodus 33. Keep a finger there. I want to show you uh the um yeah, let's just go to Exodus 33. I was going to You can read it sometime. Revelation 2. 1:03:38 To the church in Ephesus. The church in Ephesus was a wonderful church and I believe they experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit through Paul. And they many of them in that church were touched by the Holy Spirit and were 1:03:49 filled with the Holy Spirit. And Paul tells them again in verse uh in chapter 5 of Ephesians, he says, "Now that you've been filled with the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 5:18, be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit. 1:04:03 Don't live off an experience that you had last week or last month or last year or 10 years ago where you first experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. Don't live off that experience today, at this very moment, be being 1:04:14 filled with the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 5:18." But the pastor of that church, the messenger of that church was like, "Yeah, yeah, Paul, that's probably for that person. I'm full of the Holy Spirit. Look at I'm so gifted in how I speak." 1:04:31 And then God had to write through John to that messenger in the church in Ephesus. Messenger, "I told you to be being filled with the Holy Spirit, but you didn't take it seriously. Some in your church did, but you didn't. 1:04:45 And now I'm I I see all the works. I see the meetings. I see the prayer meetings and the Bible studies and all this wonderful and you stay and have lunch together and all that wonderful all that but you've left your first love. 1:04:58 The proof that you've lost the anointing of the Holy Spirit is that you've left your first love. Jesus isn't everything to you. You've left your first love and what does he say? I'm going to remove the anointing from you. 1:05:11 I'm going to remove the anointing from you. My dad was speaking to us elders yesterday and he was saying, "How much is the anointing worth it to you? Is it worth a little bit of giving your wife a piece of your mind because you reached the boiling point? 1:05:29 You you got the pressure got so much you finally just blurted out that word in frustration. Why are you always like that to your child? Lost the anointing cuz the anger filled up in your heart. How much is the anointing valuable to 1:05:41 you, brother sister? Are you so Is there such a radical hatred for sin that you say, "Lord, I can afford I cannot afford to lose the anointing for a second. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me, not even for a second, Lord. Help me, Lord, 1:05:54 to take to hate sin so radically and to see that sin will rob me of the anointing. I don't want to lose the anointing even for a second. I can't even watch that movie. Let alone something R-rated, but even that PG-13 rated movie 1:06:09 where they casually joke joke about Christ or take the name of Christ in vain. I can't do that, Lord, because I'll lose the anointing. How much is the anointing valuable to you? How much will you seek to preserve it? And my dad was saying, "It's like, you 1:06:23 know, you if you lost a thousand dollars or even a hundred dollars, how how much would you search for it? You you had a hundred-dollar bill and then it got misplaced. Now, where is it? Or five hundred dollars in cash somehow 1:06:36 misplaced it. Where is it? How much would you search for it? I guarantee every single one of us is It's here in the house. I know it. Tear up the house. Spend all afternoon and I do nothing else. We've got to find that money. 1:06:47 But the anointing, ah, yeah. I guess I'll pray for it tomorrow. And that's why so many sitting in churches who used to be useful for the Lord, whom God had laid a hold of, have lost the anointing. They don't value it. Money is more important to them. 1:07:02 May it never be. There's only two gods, money and Jesus. That's it. And if the Holy Spirit sees that you're more interested in making a little bit more money than seeing Jesus more clearly and hearing his voice more clearly and having him hear your prayer 1:07:18 every time you pray and having such faith that comes from it, if he sees that money is more important to you, he'll say, "I'm going to take the anointing from you. You've left your first love. Something else has become a love in its 1:07:31 place." Exodus 33. A wonderful story, one of my favorite passages in the Bible, at least in the Old Testament. It's how we should live our lives, brothers, sisters, and children. Moses was a tremendous example. And in Moses in this passage, you see 1:07:47 that God starts by saying verse one, "The Lord spoke to Moses, listen, here, go go on up." See, remember God had promised that he would take the people of Israel into the land flowing with milk and honey and he brought them up out of Egypt. 1:08:02 And this is soon after that. Um and they he says, "Listen, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt. Go to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob saying, 'To your descendants I 1:08:15 will give it.' I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey." And as I was reading that again 1:08:30 recently, I thought about God saying, "Listen, Santosh, you've been asking me for all these things. Yeah, go. I'll give it to you. I'll have my angel be an angel around your home, protect you, be an angel around your business, around your 1:08:42 children. My angel will go with you. But I'm not going with you." That's what he said. "I will not go up in your midst. You can have this land of flowing with milk and honey. It's the land I promised you. You can go. I'll send my angel. You'll be 1:08:58 protected. You won't have the sicknesses. If you get sicknesses, you'll be healed. My angel is well able of healing you from that. And I'll answer that other prayer. I'll drive out all the enemies, the giants. I'll take 1:09:08 care of that. Go, take the land. That blessing that you've been asking for so long, here it is. You can have it. I'm not going with you. What would you say? Healing. Yeah, I'll heal. Go ahead. You can have it, but I'm not going with 1:09:22 you. And uh uh you know, you can read the rest of that story, but I want to skip down. You know, it says if you look at the relationship Moses had with God, verse 11. The Lord used to 1:09:40 speak to Moses face to face. He'd seen it. He'd seen God really. It wasn't an imaginary God. Moses had actually seen him. He had a longing. You know, it started, you read in Hebrews 11:25 that he didn't consider the pleasures of Egypt he 1:09:59 as anywhere comparable to being with the people of God. And the reproaches of Christ as far more valuable than the pleasures of Egypt. To be with Christ and be scorned and reproached and to have nothing was far more valuable to Moses 1:10:14 than all the pleasures of Egypt. Think about the life that he Moses had in front of him. He could have married anybody he wanted, have multiple wives if he wanted, all the money he wanted, all the good food. Didn't like the food, fine. Take get 1:10:26 another one, cook it again. People waiting on him hand and What pleasures ab- uh abounding for Moses. And he says Christ. He didn't even know who Christ was. But the He- Book of Hebrews says he knew the reproaches of Christ. To be with the 1:10:43 people of God was valuable to him over everything else. Being with his own so-called brothers in Egypt and his so-called father, the Pharaoh, and this princess of Egypt who adopted him as his child. It's like, that is nothing. 1:10:59 All the fine clothes and all the chariots and all the luxury and the comforts and the pleasure, nothing. I want to be with your people, God. And I want to be with you. Moses used to The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face just as a man speaks 1:11:16 to his friend. Brothers and sisters, if it happened for Moses in the Old Testament, don't you think it's your inheritance in the New Testament? In the new covenant, that God ought to be able They ought to be said about me, "The 1:11:27 Lord used to speak to Santosh face to face just as a man speaks to his friend." Just like you speak to me. Just like you speak to your wife. God wants to speak to you. A real God. That's why we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. 1:11:43 Only the Holy Spirit can make God real. Where I'm speaking to him face to face. In verse 12, this man, because he'd seen God, he says, "Lord, the land promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey, you couldn't give 1:11:59 me enough milk and enough honey compared to you. I've seen you face to face. Now, you can't tempt me with any else, Lord. You may be able to tempt the Israelites. They'll probably go. For them, the milk and the honey is the most important 1:12:12 thing. For me, it's your face, oh Lord. And oh, that we would be a generation that seeks God's face." Say, "Lord, I want your face. Don't I'm not going to be tempted anymore by all these other earthly blessings that would solve a lot of problems for 1:12:29 me, sure, but I don't want to go there, Lord, if you're not If it's not your face." And then Moses said to the Lord, verse 12, "See, you say to me, bring up this people, but you yourself have not let me know whom you will send with me. You say an 1:12:43 angel. I don't want an angel. You say that a preacher will preach to me. No, I don't want another preacher. I don't want another sermon, Lord. I want to hear your voice. You have said, "I have known you by name and you have also found favor in my 1:12:59 sight." You said, "Moses, you're pleasing to me. I'm happy with you. I'm happy with how you're raising your children, but you're saying you're not going with me." Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, if you really 1:13:13 mean it, Lord, that I have found favor in your sight. If I found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may know you. He knew him, but he says, "That I may know you." You see that? Moses had the spirit of Paul. Paul had the spirit of 1:13:27 Moses. Actually, it was the spirit of Christ. That Moses under the Old Testament, without being filled with the Holy Spirit, he didn't have the Holy Spirit to reveal him Christ. But he had a longing for it. And God in a supernatural way showed Moses under 1:13:41 the old covenant more than most Christians today have seen of God. Isn't that a tragedy? Moses just got to see the back of his face his head. God put his hand there, crossed by him, and then Moses saw him. He says behind. But he saw more of God 1:13:58 God's glory than many Christians today. Is that true? Is Moses putting me to shame? Having seen more of the real God than I have seen, even though the Holy Spirit longs to show me Jesus? And then it says, um, "I want to know your ways, Lord." 1:14:17 And he said, verse 15, Moses said to him, "If your presence does not go with us, leave us here in the wilderness. I'm better off in the wilderness with God's presence than in the land flowing with milk and honey without his presence." 1:14:34 That's the question, brother and sister. Are you more content Can you be more content in the wilderness? Like Moses said, "If your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. Leave us here in the wilderness, Lord. Don't 1:14:47 answer that prayer of mine because I want your presence. That's more important to me. Moses knew his ways. You read in Psalm 103. The people just saw his acts. They were content with the blessing. Psalm 103:7, the people knew God's deeds. Moses knew 1:15:06 his ways cuz he said, "Lord, I don't want the miracle. I don't want the quail and the mana. That's good. You'll take care of my needs, Lord. But if I see your face, I don't even need mana to drop down from heaven. You will fill my 1:15:17 belly with all my needs. I don't need meat cuz I've got your face." Brothers and sisters, I poured out my heart because it's the longing of my heart. I don't want to stir you emotionally, but I hope that at least from today 1:15:33 onwards, you will make it like I said, the goal of your life that every moment of your day, of your and your night, whenever you wake up, it'll be a longing, a thirsting for the true outpouring of the Holy Spirit and you won't stop asking until Christ 1:15:49 comes. Because he will fill you. That I can promise. Not me, but he promises he will fill you. But after he fills you, you will it will taste so good that you will thirst for more and more and more. If you've had an experience of 1:16:03 being filled with the Holy Spirit, how long ago was that? Was it last week? Was it 10 years ago? Or was it today? Let it be today. Let it be the now, the continual filling of the Holy Spirit, the continual burning that off that God said 1:16:19 must be in my temple. The place of continual burning and the place of continual filling. Father, I pray with all my heart that the words that you placed in my heart and I've tried to express humbly and feebly will be a reality for all of us that there 1:16:33 won't be a single person hearing this here in this room or online that will not come to a reality of experiencing the fullness of your Holy Spirit and seeing Jesus, a real Jesus, and hearing a real Jesus, and knowing that a real 1:16:48 Jesus is there interceding for me and receiving my prayers. We believe you heard this prayer. You were here you are here in our midst. Be glorified. Now and until your coming and forever you will be the lamb upon the throne. Receive all 1:17:01 the glory and honor, Lord. That's why we offer you our bodies. Not that we might have a better life, but because you ransomed our soul and they are yours. And they will be yours for all eternity. Let it be so even from the least from 1:17:13 the youngest child in this room to the oldest in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
