3:57 Open our hearts and speak to us. Thank you for being in our midst, Lord. In Jesus name we ask. Amen. Take 456. Brothers and sisters, while we remain standing, let's sing our first song. 4:16 Come ye that love the Lord, and let your joys be known, and join in a song with sweet God, and thus surround the throne. Come and love the [singing and music] 4:32 Lord, and let your joys be known. Join [music and singing] in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. And does [singing and music] around the throne and does surround the 4:51 throne. We're maring [music and singing] to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful [singing] Zion. We're [music] maring upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Only brother 5:08 sing. [music] Let those [singing] refuse to sing who never knew [singing] our God. But children [music] of the heavenly king. But children [singing] of the heavenly king must speak [music] 5:27 their [singing] joys abroad. must be your joys abroad. All together you're maring [singing] to Zion. [music] Beautiful, beautiful Zion. You're maring upward to Zion, [singing] 5:44 the [music] beautiful city of God. Sisters, go. [music] The hill of sne [singing] before [singing] we reach the [music] 6:01 heavenly fields. Before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the golden streets are walk the golden [music and singing] street. We're maring to Zion. [music and singing] 6:19 Beautiful. Beautiful Zion. You're maring onward to [music and singing] Zion, the beautiful city of God. And let [music and singing] our souls 6:35 abound and every [singing] maring through [music] maring [singing] through [singing and music] high to 6:54 your voices singing to [singing] Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. [singing] We're maring upward to Zion, the beautiful city [music and singing] of God. 7:13 Please be seated. Praise him. Praise him. Jesus, our blessed redeemer. Sing, O earth, his wonderful love proclaimed. Inhale him, highest arch angels in glory. Strength and honor we'll give to his holy name. 7:36 Praise [singing and music] him. Praise him Jesus our blessed redeemer. Sing [music and singing] oh his wonderful love proclaim. Hail [singing and music] him. Hail him. Highest arch angels in glory, 7:55 strength [singing] and honor [music] to his holy name. Like [singing and music] a sheer Jesus will guide his children. In his arms he carries them [music and singing] all day long. 8:13 Oh he sings that [music and singing] dwell in the mountains of Zion. Praise him. Praise [music] him ever [singing] and joyful son. Praise [singing and music] him. Praise him Jesus our blessed redeemer [music] 8:32 [singing] for our sins. He suffered and [music] blood and died. He [singing] are all our hope of >> [music] >> eternal salvation. Hail him. Hail [singing] him. Jesus the crucified [music] 8:51 now in Savior [singing] enduring sorrow crown with thorns [singing and music] that will purses round once for [music and singing] us as rich into despise and fors 9:09 of glory [music and singing] never triumph sing praise and praise Praise [singing and music] him Jesus our blessed redeemer. Heavenly portals [singing] love Hosana's reign. 9:28 Jesus [singing] savior reignth forever and ever. Crown him crown [singing] him prophet and priest and king. Death [singing] is languish [music] with joy faithful. 9:46 There [singing] is now [music] victory. Jesus [singing and music] lives no longer. Jesus [singing and music] is the mighty and strong to successful 10:07 [music] [singing] there is no [music] victory. [singing] Jesus lives no longer [music] the mortals of children. Jesus [singing] lives, [music] the mighty is strong to 10:26 say. Honor and glory and power and might be unto Jesus the King. [music] 10:53 >> [music] >> Unto [music and singing] the king eternally mortal, [music] invisible, [singing] the only 11:14 wise [music and singing] The honor and glory forever [music and singing] and ever. The honor and glory [music] forever more. Honor and [singing] glory [music] and 11:35 power and might be unto Jesus the king. >> [music] >> Honor and glory and [singing] power and might be unto [music] Jesus the King. Be all [singing] the honor >> forever and ever. [music] >> Be all the glory >> forever and ever. 11:55 >> All adoration [singing] [music] >> forever and ever >> and all of his praises forever [music and singing] and ever more. [music] >> [music] 12:16 >> Unto the [singing] king, eternally immortal, [music] invisible, [singing] the only [music] son, the honor [singing] and glory [music] forever and ever. 12:37 >> [music] >> be honor [singing] and glory forever more. Why don't you join and sing brothers and [music] sisters? Honor and glory [singing] and power and might be unto Jesus the King. [music and singing] 12:54 Honor and glory and power and might be unto [music] Jesus the King. Be all [singing] the honor and [music] be all the glory. Forever and ever. >> All our duration [singing] >> forever and ever. [music] 13:12 >> And all of the praises forever and ever more. [music] From everlasting to everlasting. [music] 13:32 You are God and holiness. You stand secure through culture shifting [music] sands unchanged by all the vanities of man. As the nations [music] rise and fall, your sovereignty remains. 13:48 You are God. You are the one true God. 14:18 >> [music] [singing] >> sand [music] changed by all the vanities of man. [music] As [singing] the nations rise and fall, your sovereignty [music] 14:37 remains. Heat. Heat. [music and singing] Oh, everlasting [singing and music] 14:58 to everlasting. You are [music and singing] God, everlasting to everlasting. [music and singing] You 15:17 are [music] God in faithfulness. Your love [singing] is sent [music] to be adopting [singing and music] those who call upon your name. And every [singing and music] generation 15:39 joins the songs of faithful [music] praise. Heat. Heat. [music and singing] [music and singing] Oh, 16:00 [singing and music] I see. Together I see you. [music] [singing] [music] [singing] Everlasting. Everlasting. [music] 16:20 You are [singing] [music] eternal. [singing] Eternal [music] invisible [music] [singing] 16:41 eternal [singing and music] eternal immortal invisible [music] [singing] God everlasting [singing and music] for everlasting [singing] 17:07 [music] God. everlasting. [music and singing] Oh, everlasting is [music] [singing] our God. You 17:26 [music] are God. The love of God is greater or far. How rich [music] and pure, how 17:44 measureless and strong, it shall forever more endure. The saints and angels [music] songs 18:11 The love of God [singing] is greater far than [music and singing] ever. [music] It goes beyond 18:31 the [music] highest and reaches to the L. [singing and music] A guilty prayer [singing] bo with [music] 18:51 God gave his son to [music] his child [singing] [music] and pardon [singing] from 19:12 >> [music] >> Oh lord [singing] of God, how rich and pure [singing and music] [music] and strong. 19:29 It shall forever [music] [singing] more and joy the saint and angels [music] would be [singing] within the [music] 19:49 oceans [singing] and where the skies [music] of [singing] parchment. and every [music] song I [singing] man [music] 20:11 [singing] [music] to write the love [singing] of God above [music] or praise [singing] the Oh [music] sh 20:32 [music and singing] [singing] from [music] to [music] [singing] 20:50 [music] measureless [singing] and strong. [music] It shall forever [singing] more [music] endure 21:08 the saints [singing] an angel song. Worship 21:25 the [singing and music] king. Praise [music] him and sing. Jesus [music and singing] the lamb upon [singing and music] the throne. 21:49 Glorious [music] is [singing] name. [music] No [singing and music] 22:03 one is God and King but Jesus [music] [singing] alone. [music] >> [singing] >> Morning sun [music] [singing] 22:22 of day [music] worthy [singing] of glory. [music] Worship [singing] and praise. Worship [music] [singing] 22:41 the King. [music] Praise [singing] him and sing. Jesus [music and singing] the lamb upon [music] the throne. [singing] 23:03 Glorious [music and singing] is ever [singing] the same. [music] No [singing] one is Lord and King [singing] but 23:21 [music] Jesus alone no one is Lord and King. No [singing] one [music] is Lord and King but Jesus [singing] alone. [music] 23:42 Shall we all stand? You are holy Lord beyond description. Too marvelous for words and I stand in awe of you. Holy God to whom all praise is due. I stand in awe of you. 24:16 You are holy, [singing] Lord beyond [music] description. [music] Too [singing] marvelous for words, [music] too wonderful for [singing] 24:35 comprehensions [music] like nothing [singing and music] ever seen. our heart. Who can grasp your infinite [singing and music] 24:52 wisdom? Who [singing] can fathom [music] the depths of your love? [singing] You are [music] holy Lord beyond description. [music] 25:11 Majesty [singing] enthroned above. >> Holy voices sing. I stand and [singing and music] I stand. I stand in you. I stand. [singing] 25:30 I stand in you. Holy God [singing] to whom all praise is due. [singing] I stand in all [chanting] 25:49 of you. [singing] 26:21 Dear brothers and sisters, dear family, as we stand before a holy God to whom all praise is due, let's draw near to him with absolute confidence in him that he is a a God who silently plants us in love as 26:40 we just sang from everlasting to everlasting. He is God. He's eternal, immortal, invisible God and all praise is due unto him. So let's draw near to him in our hearts to the Lord and remember it is impossible to please 27:00 the Lord without faith. So let's have that great confidence in him that he is a faithful God. He will fulfill his plans concerning us. I'd like to read a few words from Psalm 121. Says, I will lift up my eyes to the 27:19 mountains. From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord. The Lord is willing to help the least of us. And he who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot foot to slip. 27:38 He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will never slumber. Neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper and the Lord is your shade on your right hand, right side, right hand. In the last verse, it says, "The Lord 27:57 will guard your going out and your coming in from this time and forever." What a great confidence it should give these verses in our hearts that the one who keeps us is faithful. All thanks, all praise is due unto him. So brothers 28:14 and sisters, even children, young people, draw near to him and faith and open your mouth and thank him and praise him. Our gracious, loving father, we want to thank you and praise you. We want to bless your holy name. A God who 28:29 is enthroned on the praises of your people. Father, we want to praise you. We want to praise you and thank you, Lord. We want to bless your holy name, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. We you deserve the highest place in our midst, 28:42 Lord. We want to give you the greatest honor. We want to give you the full adoration of our heart. We want to see your beauty, Lord, as we come together, Lord. We praise you. Thank you. We bless you. And Lord, we seek your help. You 28:56 are able to help us, the least of us. We want to receive a word from your mouth this morning. Lord, we ask you to speak to us powerfully. Anoint your servant as he speak your word. And we ask you, Lord, to build the church, Lord. Make us 29:09 strong. We want to praise you because you defeated the devil and all the demons. And you have we praise you for your mighty victory on the cross. We want to thank you and praise you. We bless your holy name. Thank you father 29:22 for hearing. In Jesus precious and mighty name we pray. Amen. Please take your seat brothers and sisters. So we had a promise last week. Please 29:38 repeat after me. Romans chapter 8 11. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead. will give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit. 29:58 Amen. And today we have a command Colossians 3:2. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 30:16 Let's say it once again. Colossians chapter 3:2, set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Amen. And this mean this morning we are 30:33 very happy we can hear God's word through dear brother Charles first followed by brother John Paulo. Brother Charles, over to you. 31:03 this morning. Would you please turn your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 3, the first book of the Bible, Genesis 3:8. We read here that Adam and Eve 31:23 heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. They heard the voice. In some translations it says they heard 31:40 the sound of God walking. So I prefer this. They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. The Lord was coming in the cool of the day as usual 31:57 to fellowship to meet with Adam and Eve as was his um custom. probably every day he used to come and uh fellowship with them, spend time with them, enjoy their company and 32:16 they would enjoy God's company and this is something that we all long for. What is greater than this 32:32 that we can ever expect in our life? the very physical presence, not by faith but by sight. They could see the Lord face to face and be around him probably each of them 32:51 on his lap and talk to him. Enjoy his company, his presence. As the Bible says, in thy presence there is fullness of joy. 33:09 They must have been exhilarated to be in the presence of God. And God had given them a command that you can eat the fruit of all the trees here. I don't know how many hundreds and thousands of different varieties of 33:25 fruits were there in those trees. Probably we know only just part of it in this part of India. But in different countries there are different fruits which we have not seen. And such delicious 33:43 things God had given but with a command that they should not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And what do you think they did? That is the one they 34:01 reached out, took and ate and disobeyed God as was inspired by Satan the serpent. And the result they were cut off from the presence of the Lord 34:20 and they were driven out of the garden of Eden. And it's very sad to see this first family that God created after they were driven out of the 34:39 garden. They had a son. rather than teaching the son the sweetness of the fellowship and the reality of the existence of God. 34:59 They look looks like didn't do anything about it. They just went their way. Cultivation or whatever they were doing they did. And Cain and Abel grew up in 35:16 their own separate ways. And you know what happened in the family? The first family, the first son who was born to them became the first murderer. 35:37 And this is how mankind developed and they went further and further away from God. We read about that in Genesis 4 where Cain killed his brother, righteous brother Abel. 35:55 He killed him because God accepted his sacrifices. First God accepted Abel, it says, and then his sacrifices. But but for Cain and for his sacrifice, God did not have any regard. It says 36:15 because of jealousy Cain killed his brother and when God asked him where is your brother Abel he says so audaciously am I my brother's keeper and God says his blood is crying out to 36:36 me and God puts a curse on him and he goes moves away from the presence of the Lord. It says rather than being broken and humble and contrite before the Lord, it says that he 36:54 he went away from the presence of the Lord. And when the Lord um uh in a sense if I can say cursed him, he said the punishment is too too much 37:11 for me. He says rather than coming back to God in brokenness and repentance and saying Lord I'm sorry I did something very foolish and stupid. Please forgive me. Have mercy on me. If he had done that probably things would have been 37:30 different. But he says your punishment is too much for me go God. He says and then he goes away from the presence of the Lord and goes to another place and he builds a city and calls that city by his son's name. 37:49 And this is how wickedness developed in the land on earth. And two chapters later you see in chapter 6 of Genesis that God was 38:07 very grieved. It says Genesis chapter 6 verse 5. It's not many days here. A few years later, it speaks about the Lord that he saw that the wickedness of 38:25 ma man was so great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Once in a while is different. But to 38:44 have evil thoughts and intents of the heart in man was continual. And God was so displeased 39:03 and it says God it repented God. It says and God decided to wipe out the whole human race at that time. I don't know how many millions of 39:21 people were there at that time. It doesn't say there, but it says Noah found favor or grace in the sight of the Lord. And God speaks to Noah. Noah, now you build an ark. 39:39 And I'm going to send rain. According to history, it says there was no rain until the flood of Noah. And people didn't know what rain was. And when Noah started building the ark, people were asking, "What are you doing?" And he was 39:58 telling, "The flood is going to come. Rain is going to come." And God has told me that he's going to wipe out every breathing um creature including man upon the land. So 40:15 I am going to build a ark and we will be safe in the ark and those of you who would like to repent and come to the Lord you're welcome. And he started building first year, second year, third year, 10th year, 20th 40:33 year, 50th year, 100th year. He kept on preaching the gospel to them, God's mercy and grace. But people thought this man is a nut. They mocked him. They thought he's 40:52 building here in this land where there is no sea nearby. And we have never heard of the rain and what is it he's talking and his children also have joined him with their 41:08 wives and his wife also and only eight of them were building and Noah kept on preaching and preaching for 120 years it says and if you had gone and asked Noah 41:26 after 25 says Noah, how many people are there in your church? You would have said eight and another 25 years again eight. What? No, there is no growth in your church. No, cuz our standard is very high. 41:46 And 100th year, no. Not one soul is added to the church. 120 years finished. And lo and behold, every living creature on earth started 42:06 entering the ark two by two, male and female. At least seeing that people should have realized, yeah, there is something something here. I think Noah is right. This cannot happen just like that. These 42:23 animals and these crawling creatures, they cannot come into the ark by themselves. Something is strange here. At least there some of them could have um woken up, but they didn't. 42:42 And the time is over and everything is intact. All animals and creatures have come in and Noah and his family goes inside and the Lord shuts the door behind him. It says, "And when the Lord shuts the door 43:01 behind him, that's the end of it." The Bible says, "When I shut the door, nobody can open. When I open, nobody can shut." That is God's way. And you cannot outsmart God. 43:18 And it happened and it started raining. It started pouring and deluge the the earth opened up. The underground water started gushing 43:36 and cloud burst and all that. And you know even the tallest mountain including probably the Himalayans also got drowned. Everything was underwater submerged 43:54 and every living being it says died. And then God repopulated the earth with Noah and his family. And then they became exceedingly great again. 44:14 Population explosion again. Thousands and laks millions were born. It says only the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt were about 600 44:35 63,550 people. came out of the land of Egypt. Only men, men of war, apart from their wives and children and parents, aged parents, that must have been about 2 million people 44:53 excluding the Egyptians and the rest of the uh humanity on land. So these people came and God wanted them to be his own possession as he had told Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that I will bless you and 45:10 you'll be a blessing and God wanted to fulfill that and he saw that these people Israelites when they went to Egypt during the famine of Jacob when Joseph was the ruler in Egypt they all were called 45:30 there about 70 of them and they went there and they they grew as God had told Abraham your descendants will be slaves for 400 years in a foreign land and 400 years they were slaves to Egypt 45:49 and it says in um Exodus Chapter 3, it says the Israelites because of the tyranny and the bondage 46:07 and uh the whiplashing of the task masters in Egypt. They cried out to the Lord. It says they sighed. You know what a sigh is? Heaving up a 46:27 a big breath like you're so fed up and you don't know what to do and you say [sighs] that is the sigh and God heard that it says they didn't 46:42 pray they just sighed and God was moved and then God sent Moses as their deliverer and you know the rest of the story he delivered them. He came down 46:59 because despite all their disobedience and uh their obstinacy, arrogance, all that, still the Lord had mercy on these people 47:17 even though they rejected him because the Bible says God is rich in mercy and His mercies never come to an end. And his mercies are new every morning. 47:33 That means that he looks at each one of us as if we never sinned yesterday. That is the meaning of that his mercies are new every morning. And great is his faithfulness. We are alive today because 47:51 of his mercy. and uh the Lord came to meet with them. We read about that in Exodus chapter 19 48:08 verse 18. Exodus 19 verse 18. The Lord comes physically. He comes from heaven and he comes in all his glory with angels, 48:26 with fire, with smoke like a furnace and with trumpet blast and earthquake. The presence of the Lord was so powerful 48:43 that the earth quaked. It says and people trembled and they were not able to look up there because it was so so fearful a thing that they had to 49:00 you know tell Moses, Moses, please don't let God speak to us. We will die if he speaks. You speak to us, we will listen to you. And such was the majesty, the glory of 49:18 God when he came on Mount Si. And Moses called, God called Moses and Aaron and Joshua and the 70 elders to come up and meet with him. 49:34 And they went, they saw the Lord. They were in his presence for some time. And they came down. Then Moses was left there for 40 days and 40 nights. And the people down here under at the foot of the hill. 49:54 They started wondering what happened to this Moses. He's gone and he is never come back. It is 40 days. Then they caught hold of Aaron and then they say Aaron we don't know what happened to this man probably he must have died in 50:09 the presence of God because our God is a consuming fire and if anybody played the fool in the presence of the god in the presence of God he would die even the high priest could enter into the holy of holies as 50:25 we read only once a year that to with gard He had to enter the presence of the Lord with blood. And if anything happened to him and he was smitten dead there, he had to be pulled back 50:43 because he had to have a rope on him. He they had to pull him out. Such was the glory and fearsome presence of the Lord. They thought Moses must have been dead in the presence of the Lord. 51:02 And in 40 days they caught hold of Aaron and said, "Aaron, we don't know what happened to this man. Why don't you make a god for us?" See, they have seen the glory of God. God coming down from heaven and being 51:20 there on Mount Si with all his glory and majesty. See idol worship is so ingrained in the heart of man that all over the world you 51:39 see every country they either have some uh idol of metal or mud or gold or silver or wood. They they want to bow down before that and worship. 51:58 How insulting it is to God if let's say your husband or your wife you are away from home and he makes one stick and put some hands and two legs and says this is 52:16 my wife or this is my husband and keep talking to that dead inanimate thing. How insulted you feel or probably you put a cockroach there and say, "Oh, that is the God that brought us from Egypt or 52:36 this is the God uh that helps us in times of trouble and things like that." What an insult that is to Almighty God who created heaven and earth and you in his own image. And God was it was only 40 days, mind you. 52:56 And after 40 days, Moses comes down and sees and hears Joshua says, I think this is sound of war or maybe sound of victory. Moses says, no, this is not that sound. This is different. Then they come down 53:12 and see. They're all dancing around this golden calf which Aaron had made. And God's anger burnt so much that God told Moses, "I'm going to wipe out all these people 53:29 like he did during Noah's time, and I will raise a nation through you, Moses, through your family. I will raise a new generation of people." But Moses said, "Nothing doing, Lord. You have done so much for them. 53:49 your through your mighty hand you brought them out of the land of Egypt by doing such miracles and now you brought them here and you want to kill all of them. What will the other nations say that you are not able to take them to 54:05 the promised land? Please change your mind. Moses pleads with God and God relented. Then God held back his wroth and he says, "Okay then, but on one condition, 54:23 none of these 600,000 soldiers will enter into the kingdom of God. I mean the promised land except Joshua and Caleb." That comes later on when they went to spy the land before conquering 54:41 it. And the 10 out of the 12 came back with a negative report and only Joshua and Caleb came with a positive report saying that if God is with us, we will conquer them. We will win over them because they are our food. They said 54:56 they had faith and this is how God delivered them. See, every time when man sins and goes away from God, we see God coming after them. It's not that man went after he sinned. 55:15 Lord, I'm sorry. Adam didn't go back to God after he sinned. But God came down asking for Adam. Adam, where are you? And whenever these people sinned, even when we sinned, we read in Romans 5:8, 55:33 even when we were um sinners, God demonstrated his love towards us in that he sent Jesus to die for us. And uh it says even when we were dead in sins and trespasses, 55:52 God being rich in mercy, he forgave us and cleansed us and made us his children. Ephesians 2 verse 1 and two. And this is the God that we worship who 56:09 is who is full of mercy, full of loving kindness and he overlooks our sins when we come to him. 56:26 Paul says that in the book of Acts he says the ignor the iniquities of the past our iniquities God has ignored God has wked at it. He says in another translation 56:44 and then all those years God was their king. They were a theocracy not a democracy. God was their king and he was guiding them and leading them, providing for 57:02 them all those 40 years in the wilderness. And then after that, he brought them to the promised land and gave them victory after victory, nation after nation, and they grew big and wealthy. 57:20 And then Moses died. Then Joshua died. Then God raised some more judges to judge these people. Even they passed away. Then it says towards the end of judges almost the last verse it says 57:37 each one did according as he wanted to do. They did their own will not the will of God. And then we read that God raised different prophets later 57:55 on, major prophets, minor prophets, kings, King David. They asked for a king. By the way, I forgot to mention that God was their king. And then they asked Samuel, "We want to have a king like all other nations have." 58:13 And then God was not happy about that. But still God relented and he said, "Okay, I'll give you a king. He gave Saul as their first king and he bungled up." Then God gave Dan um David 58:32 as his successor and he was an excellent king even though he had a few weaknesses his son and then their generation. And then we come to the book of Malachi, the last book of in the Old Testament where God was so displeased with his 58:51 people that they started offering to him something worthless, something that was fit to be thrown in the garbage that they were offering to the Lord. And God was so angry with them. And he says, "Where is my honor? I am your father. Where is 59:13 my honor? I'm your God. Where is my respect? You give and go and give this to your governor. What will he say? The leftover drags, the leftover 59:31 um garbage that you want to dump it in the garbage bin that you want to sacrifice to me. something that is blind, something lame, something sick. Such ones you bring it to me, go and 59:49 give it to your governor and see what will be his response. And then we see there is a huge gap of 400 years silence between Malachi and Matthew, between the old and the new covenant. 1:00:08 Why God was so fed up with his children that there was no um prophecy, no word from the Lord, no prophet, nothing for 400 years. They groped around 1:00:26 and then finally adds as it had been promised in the garden of Eden. I will send the seed of the woman who will crush your head. God had told Satan the serpent. And then the time got 1:00:43 fulfilled. The forerunner John came and he prepared the way for Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ came. We read about that Jesus comes. You can turn with me to John chapter 1 verse 10. 1:01:01 It says Jesus came. He was in the world and the world was made through him. And the world did not know him. Jesus made the world. By the way, remember that Jesus made the world. Even in Colossians, it says there's nothing that 1:01:17 has been made that he has not made. Everything that has been made has been made by Jesus Christ. He is the creator of the whole universe. Everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth. 1:01:37 Everything has been created by him. He was in the world. The world was made through him. And the world did not know him. See what a blindness that had covered these people. He came to his own. 1:01:55 It says his own people, but his own did not receive him. They did not recognize him as the promised Messiah, the Christ. 1:02:12 But it says in verse 14, "The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and 1:02:32 truth." See, in the old covenant, the Lord wanted to be with them, to dwell with them and lead them and guide them and be their u guide all through their life. But they 1:02:52 rejected that. They didn't want that. And now in the new covenant, the Lord comes again a second time. And even now they don't recognize him. And he came for his own. His own did not 1:03:09 receive him. And then the Lord says in um verse 14, he came to dwell 1:03:27 with man. And then we read Jesus speaking to the Pharisees and Sadducees. We read about that in chapter 5 of John. 1:03:46 John chapter 5 verse 38. John 5:38. Here Jesus is speaking. He is 1:04:03 even though he came as was promised, they still did not recognize him, their eyes were blinded. And he says in verse 38, "And you do not have God's 1:04:22 word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he sent. And you people, Pharisees, you search the scriptures and you're so absorbed in it, 1:04:40 studying the scriptures day and night, and you search the scripture because you think that in them you have eternal life, [snorts] and it is these that bear witness of me, and you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. Jesus is telling 1:04:59 you don't want to come to me that you may have life but you search the scriptures and those scriptures are talking about me but you cannot see me when I'm standing right in front of you because your eyes have been blinded 1:05:16 seeing they don't see hearing they don't hear so this is their fate and verse 42 Jesus tells them I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. 1:05:35 Okay. So this is one group to whom Jesus addressed. Even they did not receive Jesus in the old covenant. They did not receive God. They didn't want God. They wanted something else other than him. 1:05:53 Their pleasure, their idols, things like that. In the new covenant even when Jesus came and John the forerunner foretold about the coming of Jesus and he said he is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He pointed 1:06:11 out to Jesus who was standing there in the crowd and they even saw when Jesus was being baptized the voice from heaven. They heard and the Holy Spirit coming in the form of a dove on Jesus. They saw all that but 1:06:29 still their eyes were blinded. What was the intention in all this? The intention, God's intention was that he wanted to live among men with them in their heart. We go back a little 1:06:49 further in 1 John 14 verse two. 1 John 14:E2 it says in my father's house are many dwelling places. In some translations it says in my father's house are many mansions. Actually that is not the right 1:07:09 translation. It says in my father's house are many dwelling places. And if it it were not so I would have told you for I go for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and 1:07:24 receive you to myself that where I am there, you may be also. See the selfishness of man when God says he wants to live with them, dwell with them, walk among them, 1:07:41 they don't want that. And Jesus says in heaven I'm going to prepare a dwelling place for you. Oh, for that everybody is happy. Everybody wants to go there. But to whom it is 1:08:00 promised. It is promised to those who first of all gave their heart to God. a place in their heart to God to dwell and be his sanctuary here on earth. 1:08:18 And if he accomplishes his work in us while we are still here and breathing and then he does his work in us of sanctification in transforming us from glory to glory. Then to such people he says by the time they came to the 14th 1:08:36 chapter all those people were left in chapter six only you see all the people thousands and thousands of them who were following Jesus left Jesus only the 12 were left out they 1:08:53 stuck with Jesus and in chapter 13 one more fellow fell away Judas and in chapter 14 Jesus is speaking only to these 11 disciples in the upper room that I'm going to prepare a place for you people because you have obeyed me 1:09:12 and you have been with me in in in through thick and thin and you have believed that I have come from the father and he says also in verse 16 he says rather 15 I'll If you love me, 1:09:32 you will keep my commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper that he may dwell with you forever. This is he speaking about the holy spirit. So I'll ask the father and the father will give you the holy spirit who will dwell with 1:09:50 you forever. Before Jesus left earth, he said lo I am with you always. And then he went away from heaven from earth. How is that? He's saying I'm with you always and then he goes away the next moment. He is saying here I am sending the Holy 1:10:09 Spirit who proceeds from me and he will speak about me. He will glorify me. He will bring to your memory all that I have spoken to you and he will come and stay with you. that is the 1:10:26 spirit of Christ. And the the main uh theme that I wanted to speak about today is God's dwelling place 1:10:45 was supposed to be man and man's dwelling place is supposed to be God. that we read further in 14:20. 1:11:07 It says, "In that day you shall know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you." Just think about this verse, my dear brothers and sisters. We just browse through it and we don't 1:11:25 get anything out of this if we read in that way casually. But here the lord is telling in that day you shall know that I am in my father and you in me 1:11:43 and I in you. I mean it's little difficult for us to grasp this but he says he prays the same thing even uh later on also in in chapter 15 verse4 1:12:03 he says abide in me and I in you. How is it that I abide in Christ and Christ abides in me? And as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so 1:12:19 neither can you unless you abide in me. So this is Jesus telling and then in the last uh chapter or rather last discourse of Jesus with his disciples in chapter 17 where he 1:12:39 prays the high priestly prayer to God. He says in verse 21 of John's 21, John 17, John 17: 21, this is again 1:12:55 something very baffling to us. It's he says here in 17:21 he says father I pray that they may be one even as thou 1:13:15 father art in me. Thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, and they may be in us. 1:13:33 That the world may believe that you sent me. I mean, what a glorious thing it is that God is in Christ. Christ is in God and they are in me. 1:13:50 And in even in the same let's go a couple of pages back he says in verse 23 of John 14 excellent word that I like this verse very much. Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone 1:14:09 loves me, he will keep my word." Not that it is because of compulsion because I have commanded that you will keep it. But he says, "If you love me, 1:14:27 you will keep my word and my father will also love you. and we both will come and make our abboard with you. How do you like it? This is something mind-boggling. 1:14:45 And we read such is the heart of God and such is the will of God for us. And towards the end we read in Revelation 3:20 to the church of Leodysia. Jesus said, "I stand at the door and knock. If any man open the opens the 1:15:05 door and lets me in, I'll come in and dine with him and he with me." Jesus was inside the church of Leodysia once upon a time. But this church was not taken up with Jesus anymore. He were they were busy with their plans and 1:15:24 programs and um their um whatever they wanted to do their future construction plan or their improvement in their choir or music and 1:15:42 things like that. They were only taken up with the crowd and their opinion rather than the opinion of God. And Jesus had to go away from their midst. And now he's standing outside the door and knocking at the door of that church 1:16:01 and says, "I stand at the door and knock. If any man opens the door, I will come in and s with him and he with me. And brothers and sisters, this is very very important for us as Christians to 1:16:20 see and recognize the heart of God, the intention of God for man. It says in Revelation 21:3, "I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell with them 1:16:40 in the that's in the last day. The tabernacle of God is among them. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And we pray 1:16:55 that thy kingdom come where? Upon earth, not that we will come to your kingdom. Lord, let your kingdom come here first. Let it come in my heart and then let it come on earth. 1:17:15 And in closing, I would like to read 2 Peter 3:10, 11, 12, and 13. It says, "But the day of the Lord will come." This is Peter speaking towards the end of his life. Towards the end of his epistle, he is saying, "But the day 1:17:33 of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burnt up. Everything that you see, 1:17:51 everything that you don't see on this earth will one day be burnt up with intense heat. And since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conduct 1:18:10 and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat. Again, he is mentioning that. 1:18:28 But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. God is preparing his children in these 1:18:46 days towards this end. My dear friend, are you ready? That is the question. Not that I come to church, I do this that and the other, God must be happy about me. No sir, 1:19:05 if you want to be in God's family, you need to be born in God's family. I can be father only to my children and only my children can call me father. Same is true spiritually also. 1:19:25 We can't just call God our father. If I am not born into his family as many as received him, to them he gave power to become children, sons and daughters of God. So let's repent. If we have not 1:19:41 known the Lord as our father, but only known him as some distant deity, then I don't have a fatherson relationship with him. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father, we thank you that your heart is 1:20:02 so magnanimous to accommodate us. Your mercies are so new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Lord, we pray that you will bring about conviction and contrition 1:20:21 that we may repent of our sins, confess it to you and receive pardon from you so that we can be born into your family and become your children and call you Aba and father. 1:20:40 We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. I'll sing a song now. Then afterwards we'll hear brother Paulo 1:21:28 Let's sing this song. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. not be all [music] else to me that say that the word 1:22:01 be [singing] thou my worship. Oh [music] Lord of my heart, not [music and singing] be all else to me, save that thou art. [singing] 1:22:19 Be thou my best thought [music] by day or by [singing] night. Waking [music] or sleeping, thy presence [singing] [music] my life. 1:22:40 Be [music] thou [singing] my wisdom and thou my true word. [music and singing] I ever with thee and [music and singing] thou with me, Lord. 1:22:59 Thou [singing] my great father [music] and I thy true son. Thou [music and singing] in me dwelling and I [singing and music] in thee. 1:23:19 Be thou [music and singing] my brush. She sword for the fight. Be thou [music and singing] my dignity. Thou my delight. 1:23:38 Thou [singing] my soul [music] shelter and thou my higher. Praise [singing and music] thou me heavenward. Oh power of my God. [music] 1:23:59 riches [singing] I he [music] praise. [singing] Thou my inherititance [singing] now and [music] all. 1:24:17 Thou [singing] and [music] Lord first in my heart. My king [singing and music] of heaven, my treasure [music] thy 1:24:38 [music and singing] king of heaven and victory [singing and music] is one and I reach heaven. Oh bright heaven [music and singing] son, 1:24:56 heart of my own [music] heart forever before [singing] still be [music] my vision. Oh [singing] ruler of all. [music] Sing verse five. High 1:25:15 king of heaven. High [singing and music] King of heaven. When victory won and I [singing] reach heaven, 1:25:31 oh bright heaven son, part of my own [singing] heart whatever before still [singing] be my vision. 1:25:51 Oh, ruler of all. 1:26:22 Thank God for what we heard this morning. We read in [clears throat] we heard from Revelation 3:20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine 1:26:41 with him and he with me. That's the expression of you know God Jesus wanting to have fellowship with me. I will come and I will dine with you. you know it's not if you [clears throat] see in this context it's not just um to 1:27:00 the unbelievers or people who haven't accepted Jesus yes it can be applied in that context that open your heart to the Lord but in this case specifically to the church those who have you know already um believed in the Lord Jesus 1:27:17 and accepted the Lord and perhaps is outside [clears throat] I was thinking of how I can apply in my own life. There are areas in my life and rooms in my life and and the Lord is saying, 1:27:35 "Hey, why don't you open open this to me? Let me come in and I want to have fellowship with you." And um we [clears throat] read of a similar um passage in Song of Solomon. 1:27:52 We've heard that in Song of Solomon is a relationship between Jesus and us. If we look into that context, the Song of Solomon 5 2-6, I'll read a few verses. [clears throat] 1:28:12 It says beloved. So they they were they knew each other. They they call each other beloved. So you know in that context it's not the it's not the first time and he I was already on the bed and sleeping or my heart was awake 1:28:30 and heard him knock what's my response it's not jumping immediately saying yes Lord I will open because if I have to jump immediately and open there is a cost involved and there is a gentle knock and he is 1:28:47 trying to reach out his hand but I'm giving excuse Lord I'm on bed already you know I have to wet my feet again I have to dirty my feet and all of that all excuses by the time I came to sense and open the door he's not there 1:29:06 and this is what came to me there are many times the Lord is trying to knock say hey I want to have fellowship with you I want to dine with you and the cost is asked to put something right and I say no Lord later. Forgive someone right 1:29:24 away. No Lord later. Give up something. Lord later. Get alone with me. No Lord later. Obey something. No Lord later. And by the time I realize, oh okay, let me spend time and it's dry. I read the 1:29:44 Bible. It's dry because he is gone. is not there. [clears throat] A lost opportunity is an lost opportunity to have fellowship with the Lord. It is lost. I want to take it seriously. Say Lord immediately I want to respond to you 1:30:00 because you like we heard how wonderful it is to know that the creator of the whole universe he is seeking to have fellowship with me. He has taken the first step. He has done everything that he has to do. and Lord let me respond. And that's why 1:30:18 we read in Isaiah 57:E15, [clears throat] God dwells in two places. Can read that verse. Isaiah 57 verse 15. 1:30:43 Thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever whose name is holy. I dwell on a high and holy place. And that's his first dwelling place. And he says, "And also with the contrite and with the lowly of the spirit or the 1:30:59 broken in their spirit and that's where he lives." And a contrite spirit will not be arguing with God when he speaks. A contrite spirit will immediately respond to God. It doesn't keep him outside. It won't make him wait outside and knock 1:31:18 and knock and knock. And somehow I don't I like to visualize the picture of God standing there forever and knocking. No, he he knocks and he is a gentleman. If he don't respond to him, he moves away. And I've seen that in different situation. He 1:31:34 knocks and my heart is so hard or so lazy and the knock stops. A contrite heart. That's why it says a contrite heart. It won't be arguing with the Lord. It will immediately set things right. It will immediately settle. It 1:31:50 will immediately take the blame and say, "Lord, yes, I value your fellowship with you more than anything else." A dwelling place fit for God is not a heart that never fails but a heart that is contrite and is broken and responds 1:32:07 to him when he knocks. And the question is then why do I leave Jesus knocking? Because there is a cost to be paid. And that's where it comes to. And we read that in Genesis uh 3, you know, God could have fellowship with them so 1:32:27 freely. But when sin came, we read that in Genesis 3:24, the door was closed. Angel was kept there and there was a flaming sword and nobody could enter and the fellowship with God was cut off. 1:32:44 But Jesus, he paid the price. He went through this blazing sword. It fell on him. He made a new and living way. We read that in Hebrews 10:20. Jesus made a new and living way through his flesh. 1:33:00 The veil was torn and that's how he did his part to restore fellowship with human beings. And what should I do in different circumstances? It's not new that we have heard in this church. Man's self-will is this thick veil. 1:33:17 When I say Lord, I'll go through a way of brokenness. I'll crucify myself here. I will crucify my flesh here. I will put my flesh to death and I can enter into a fellowship with him. 1:33:34 And a broken heart say Lord I want to be remain as a broken person. You know many times we've heard this in the church breaking a bread is not when you look at the bread you look at it and say I appreciate it and say hey thank 1:33:51 you Jesus that you are broken for me but to say Lord I want to be broken I want to be a broken person at different circumstances and I often think of this during the breaking of bread how easy it is to break a bread know it's very easy you just need two 1:34:10 fingers break it. Imagine in the breaking of bread if we pass a naan which is 2 three hours you know uh old. It was prepared 3 hours ago. It's going to be very dry isn't it? You can't break it with one hand. You need the help of help of usherers or those 1:34:30 who are passing the bread and can you give me a hand and that's how it is in my life in different circumstances and God says go this way of being broken the flesh is not easy it's not giving in it needs two 1:34:48 three hands it needs time and finally to yield in Lord make me a person where it's so easy it was so See for anyone to break Jesus make me like that Lord let me be a person that anyone can break me 1:35:06 and that's where God lives a contrite and a broken spirit let me go this way so that God can dwell in me. May God help each of us. Amen. Let's have the announce announcements book of the month and then announcements. Thank you. 1:35:54 How I wish I had wholeheartedly followed the Lord from the beginning of my Christian life. I have wasted many years loving the [music] world. Is there hope for me? I grew up in the church hearing about victory over sin, but I have not sought 1:36:13 for it until now. Can I still be an overcomer? Presenting the book of this month, the purpose of failure by brother Zach Pune. There are many brothers and sisters who 1:36:32 feel that because they have sinned and failed God at some time in their past lives, therefore they cannot fulfill God's perfect plan for their [music] lives. Now, no matter how much we may have failed or made a mess of our lives, God can still 1:36:49 make something glorious out of our lives through his spirit and his word. It is an amazing truth that God has a glorious purpose to fulfill. Even through the failures of his children, whatever blunders you may have made in 1:37:09 the past, you can make a new beginning with God today. God can still fulfill his perfect plan for your life. >> [music] >> If God does not do miracles for many of his children, it is not because they have failed him in the past, but because 1:37:27 [music] they do not trust him now. If you have come to the end of yourself and are thinking of giving [music] up, then this book will have an encouraging word for you. You can read this book [music] free online at 1:37:44 cfcindia.com/books/thepurpose of failure. Yeah.
