0:00 of the people be. We are gathering together unto him. We are praising. We are praising together unto him. We are praising together unto him. 0:19 Unto him shall the praises of the people be. We are praising together unto him. Hosana. Hosana. 0:37 Hosana in the highest. Hosana. Hosana. Hosana in the highest. Lord, we lift up your name. 0:54 Praise with our hearts full of praise. Exalted. Be exalted Lord our God. Hosana in the highest. Sing. Glory. Glory. Glory. Glory. Glory to the king of kings. Glory 1:12 to the king of kings. Sing. Glory. Glory. Glory to the king of kings. Lift up your name. Glory. Lift up your name. 1:30 With our hearts full of praise. Be exalted Lord our God. Hosana in the highest. Jesus is the king of kings. Jesus. Jesus. 1:46 Jesus is the king of kings. Sing Jesus. Jesus. Jesus is the king of kings. We lift up your name. Glory. Lift up your name. 2:04 With our hearts full of praise. Be exalted. Oh Lord our God. Hosana in the highest. [Music] It's saying you are beautiful beyond 2:22 description. [Music] You are beautiful beyond 2:45 description. Too marvelous for words. Too marvelous for words. Too wonderful for comprehension. [Music] 3:01 Like nothing ever seen. Who can grasp your infinite wisdom? Who can fathom the depths of your love? 3:19 You are beautiful. You are beautiful. [Music] Majesty. Majesty. [Music] in all of you. 3:48 Holy God to you. All praises. I stand in all of you. Shall we all stand as we sing? Let's focus our eyes on him, his 4:05 affection, his love for us. Unending love. We sing to him. You are beautiful beyond description. I stand in awe of you. Let me sing again. You are beautiful beyond 4:22 description. Too marvelous for words. Too marvelous for words. Too wonderful. Too wonderful for comprehension. Like nothing ever seen or heard. 4:39 And nothing ever seen. Who can rise and fin [Music] you are beautiful. 5:03 Your majesty majesty and th I stand 5:22 in all you. Holy God to you. praises you. I stand in all of you and I stand 5:39 and I stand I stand in all of you. I stand I stand in all of you. Holy God, holy God to whom all praises 5:58 to you. I stand in all you. There is no better place. There is no better place than to be here and to look than to be here and to look 6:18 upon your face [Music] in your church are all alone. No better place to be. No better place than to be 6:36 before your throne. for your throne. God of comfort, Lord of mercy, God of comfort, Lord of love, God 6:53 knows no. I adore you. Worship, I adore you. Worship and bow down. Worship and worship and bow down. Let's 7:13 get to the top. There is no better place. A little faster. There is no better place than to be here and to look upon your face. In your church, you're all alone. 7:31 [Music] in your church are on the road to be before your throne. No better place than to be before your throne. God of comfort, Lord of mercy, God of 7:53 comfort. You're the Lord of my souls no worship. I adore you. Worship and bow down. Worship and bow down. 8:19 Thank you for the cross, Lord. Thank you for the cross, Lord. Thank you for the price you paid. Thank you for the price you paid. Bearing all my sin and shame. 8:37 Bearing all my sin and shame. In love, you came. Gave amazing grace. gave amazing grace. Thank you for this love, Lord. Thank you for this love, Lord. Thank you for your nail pierced 8:55 hands. Thank you for your nail pierced. Wash me in your cleansing flow. Wash me in your cleansing flow. Now all I know, now all I know. Your forgiveness and embrace. Your forgiveness and embrace. 9:15 We sing worthy of sing. [Music] We crown you now with many crowns. We 9:30 crown you now with many. You reign victorious. You reign victorious. I am lifted up. 9:47 Jesus son of God. Jesus of God. The father's beloved crucified. The father's beloved crucified. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. 10:06 Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. One more time. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Raise your voice. Sing it again. Thank you for the cross, Lord. Thank you for the cross, 10:26 Lord. Thank you for the price you pay. Bearing all my sin. all my s and shame. We love you. We love you king. 10:42 Thank you. Amazing. Thank you for this love, Lord. Thank you for this love, Lord. Thank you for your nail pierced hand. Thank you for your new pure. Wash me in your cleansing flow. Wash me in 11:02 your cleansing flow. All I know, now all I know for your [Music] praise worth. We now 11:33 you victorius Jesus of God's father's beloved 11:55 crucified Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. 12:10 Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Forever you will be the lamb upon the throne. Forever you will be. 12:27 Forever you will be. The lamb upon the throne. Lamb upon the throne. Lamb upon the throne. I gladly bow mighty. I gladly bow mighty. Worship you alone 12:44 and worship you alone. All heaven sing. Oh dear. The glory of the ris. 13:02 Who can compare? Who can compare with the beauty of the Lord? With the beauty of the Lord. Forever you will be. Forever you will be. 13:20 Forever you will be the lamb upon the throne. Forever on the throne. I gladly bow my knee. I gladly bow my name and worship 13:38 you alone. I will proclaim and I will proclaim The glory of my risen Lord. The glory of my 13:53 Lord. Who once was slain. Who once reconcile to God. Reconile man to God. Forever. You will be. Forever. You will 14:16 be the lamb upon the throne. The lamb upon the throne. I gladly bow my knee. I gladly bow my knee and worship you alone. The voice says, "Forever you will 14:35 be. Forever you will be. Forever you will be the lamb upon the throne. The lamb upon the throne. I gladly bow my knee. 14:55 I gladly bow my knee and worship you alone. Worship you alone and worship you alone. Oh, [Music] Shall we bow our heads in prayer? 15:39 As we sang this morning, he is worthy. Worthy to be praised and exalted and glorified, [Music] worshiped is the great God of our Lord Jesus 16:00 Christ. The king of all kings, the lord of all lords, the ruler of this whole universe. At his command everything came into being. 16:16 There is no one like unto him and we have been given the privilege to call him our father. He has made it possible because of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we were yet at sinners, the Bible 16:38 says that Christ died for us for the ungodly. Now we've been reconciled to him who sits on the throne. We can boldly come to the throne of grace because he was tempted in all 16:57 points like as we are at without sin. He is able to help all those who come to him. Let us come to him boldly to the throne of grace. Offer to him the worship that he richly deserves. 17:17 The praise, the thanksgiving and honor, glory, power and adoration, they belong to him alone. Let's not forget that. We draw our breaths because of him. 17:41 Many wanted to see this day but they were not able to. God has given us breath today and the Bible says everything that hath breath praise the Lord. There's no reason why we should keep 17:58 silent. There is no reason why we should not shout praises unto him. Dear brothers and sisters, take this opportunity. Open up your hearts. Open your mouths. 18:15 Lift up your hands if you feel free. Praise the Lord for he is worthy. Worthy of all praise, glory, honor, and adoration. He's the only one who is worthy to receive it from his creatures. We thank you heavenly father this 18:33 morning for you are great and greatly to be praised. You have done mighty things that again and again and again in our lives. We have no words to thank you for all that we have received from you, our father. We bless your holy name this 18:50 morning. Lord, angels bow down before you and worship you incessantly. We bow down before you this morning in our spirits. Join the hosts of heaven in shouting praises to you. And we worship you, Lord. We bless you because of what 19:08 you have done and what you have promised in your word and what you're going to do in our lives. We want to praise you. We want to thank you Lord for giving us to one another. Thank you that we are parts together of your body. We thank you that 19:23 we have been connected to the head who is Christ the Lord. We thank you he is the head of the church when we are his members. We thank you this morning, dear father. As we come be before your throne this morning, Lord, we expect you to 19:37 speak to us. We pray that you will anoint those who minister your word. That you will give us grace and rich anointing and liberty, clarity, and boldness and courage to bring forth your word. That every word will bless 19:57 everyone who is who's come here. that none will go empty-handed, that everyone will be blessed and that your name may be hallowed and honored and glorified. We thank you this morning once again in Jesus precious name. Amen. 20:16 Amen. Please be seated. Let's look at our memory verse this last week's and this week's. Shall we open our Bibles? I think since we have some problem with projection 20:35 is there. Okay. Uh last week's memory verse was uh Job 5 verse 11. Shall we all say it together loudly? He sets on high those who are lowly and 20:52 those who mourn are lifted to safety. Job 5:11. Shall we say it once more? He sets on high those who are lowly and those who mourn lifted to safety. Job 5 verse 11. And 21:12 today today's verse is from James 1:19. James 1:19. Shall we say together all together loudly? This you know my beloved brethren, but 21:28 everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. James 1:19 once more. This you know my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to 21:45 hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. James 1:19. Now I request the Newton to share the word with us. I want to share with you something 22:20 that's on my heart. So this morning I'm not just giving you a message or I'm not giving you a presentation but I want to speak something 22:37 that's been of a concern to me about us as a church. I want to begin with one Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 23:04 one onwards. Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 23:23 Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord 23:40 here Peter is talking about spiritual growth. You know in a sense spiritual growth I find is a mystery. It's a very sad thing that so many of God's children have not 23:58 grown up in the Lord. And Peter with that burden in his heart, he says, "Therefore, put aside all malice. If you want to grow spiritually, you're going to afford to have malice in your heart. any evil intent, 24:17 deceit, hypocrisy, any sland, we all have this, but the Bible says, put aside. In other words, you got to do something about it if you want to grow 24:34 spiritually. If you allow malice and deceit and hypocrising in envy and slander to thrive in your heart, you are not going to grow spiritually. You are a baby then. 24:51 And then Peter says like newborn babies, all of us have seen newborn babies, they cry for milk. It says long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow. So you 25:10 want to grow spiritually you have to do a couple of things. Number one get rid of all sin in your life. Malice and deceit and hypocrisy envy slander and that is not enough by itself. Number two, it says you got to like a 25:26 newborn baby have a craving, hunger and thirst for the milk of the word of God. You know they say mother's milk is better than this artificial milk powder because this mother's milk 25:44 contains antibodies that protect babies from germs and many sicknesses because they say that's direct from the source. And spiritually speaking, you know, we can read many books, we can 26:03 read concordance, commentaries, listen to messages, but nothing like we ourselves going to the word of God and directly getting some nourishment from God's word. And I have a fear brothers and sisters, many of us, we don't have 26:18 that habit. It's not just having a quiet time. is not just reading the Bible, you know, to receive some spiritual food. Like we say, every day you must have your breakfast. They say you must never skip your breakfast because breakfast is 26:33 a very important item of your food. Then we need to have lunch and dinner. And in the same way, oh, I believe we need to come go to God's word and say, Lord, I want food. And God wants to give us good food, not only balanced diet, a rich 26:50 diet. And brothers and sisters, may God give us grace to get into this habit of going to the Lord, going to his word and say, "Lord, I want food. I don't want to read your word to preach to others, but Lord, I want spiritual nourishment." And 27:09 I believe we could go to the God's word with that attitude. We not only receive God's word and then we learn to meditate on it and the more you meditate meditate and the more you'll find you become strong for example we look at this verse in 27:27 Psalm one the law of the Lord how many of you this morning can say I yields his fruit in his season and his leaf does not wither and whatever it does he prospers so sad to see some brothers and sisters, they're dry and 27:45 stale and barren, which is not God's will. All of your brothers and sisters must be like flourishing tree like it says a green allite tree in the house of God. And uh 28:03 you know the promise God gave Joshua chapter in chapter 1 verse 5. See Joshua is a book of victory, victory after victory. You know, in fact, as far as I remember, only once did Joshua get 28:20 defeated. Otherwise, Joshua was always going from victory to victory. And I believe that's the picture of the life God has in store for us. And when you get time, read the book of Joshua. I'm always excited to read the book of 28:38 Joshua because I get challenged and say Lord I want such a life of victory but you know there's a condition for that chapter 5 chapter verse 5 verse 7 sorry chapter 1 verse 7 Lord said only be strong and very courageous 28:55 be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you don't turn from it to the right or left so that you may have success wherever you go this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall 29:10 meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. You know why God led Joshua to a tremendous life of victory? 29:26 Joshua learned from a young age to take God's word seriously. He not only read it, he meditated on it. He didn't want to deviate from it to the left or right. I'm not surprised Joshua came to such a life of victory over sin. You young 29:45 brothers and sisters, you want to come to a life of victory is not going to happen automatically unless you learn not just read but meditate Lord, how can I obey that word? What does that word mean? Give me more light Lord on that 30:00 verse. And in the New Testament we see Jesus from the early age Jesus gift you know you know if you were to look at the thought life of Jesus you know what was Jesus thinking all the time he was always thinking how can that 30:22 scripture be fulfilled how can this scripture be fulfilled till the end of his life even when he was on the cross Jesus was thinking oh this scripture is fulfilled In other words, that's how he was thinking all the time, I must fulfill 30:39 the scriptures. He was not interested in preaching, merely preaching. He was tremendous interest in obeying the word of God. Oh, to find some young people like that in the church. What a blessed church that is where we have brothers and sisters longing to 30:57 fulfill the word of God. You know, and we read in Psalm 119. I want to encourage you, brothers and sisters, when you get back home, read Psalm 119. 31:17 Don't tell me he's got brother 76 verses. You know, it doesn't take much time. I'll tell you, you can go through it pretty fast and you learn something. the the psalmist he had a great longing. You know this word 31:33 quicken me or revive me is repeated many many many times. See for example you can look at uh Psalm 119 verse 25 my soul gives to the I think it's 31:56 repeated many many times I don't have time to go through it all but I want to give you some homework go home and round up the times it says quicken me revive me in other words all revive Revival, progress, growth comes through God's 32:12 word. And that's what the psalmist was saying. Lord, revive me, Lord. That was his longing. If you want, I can just show you some I I can give you the reference. You can go home and read it. Psalm 119 verse 25 32:29 verse 27 verse 40 verse 50 verse 88 93 107 149 154 156 159 all these verses say Lord quicken me 32:49 oh may that become our prayer and then one more thing we read here verse 24 your testimonies also are my delight you know this psalmist he delighted in God's word and you can note 33:07 down this references go home and read verse 24 maybe starting from 14 16 verse 24 35 47 50 77 97 103 3 111 162 174 All 33:27 these words speak about this psalm is rejoicing delighting in God's word. I hope you'll have some fellowship with the psalmist. And not only that, you see in Psalm 119 verse 11, he says, "Your word have I 33:45 treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you." And verse 18, he says, "Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your law." Oh, how much our life will be changed. If you behold wonderful, exciting things 34:05 in God's word, then our meetings will never never be boring. And andund Five, this verse we know by heart many of us thy your word is a lamp to my feet 34:23 and a light to my path and a situation those who love your law have great peace. So you want God to work in you. I want to say you take God's word seriously and say Lord I want spiritual food, spiritual nourishment and I want 34:39 to rejoice in your word. I want to delight in your word. I want you to revive me and God will answer your prayer. And not only that, in Nemiah chapter 8 and 9, I'm not going to go into that. You can go home and read that. You know, they just read the 34:57 word of God. Those days, they never had a copy. So, they brought the word of God to the meeting and somebody read it and they all paid attention and oh, they started confessing their sins and there was great revival. And Ephesians 5:26, it says, "The Lord 35:12 cleanses us through his word." It's like having a bath. You know, you look at someone who's having a bath daily more than once, they're always fresh. And then with those who are having a spiritual bath, they're fresh. And Colossians chapter 3 verse 15, it 35:31 says this is the privilege in the new covenant. The Lord wants to do such a work in us. Colossians chapter 3:15 it says, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another 35:50 with psalms and hymns and spiritual song. Sing with thankfulness in your heart to God." Yeah, in the beginning you you fight sin and impure thoughts in your mind but you know you have to progress to come to such a place say that the word of Christ 36:06 dwells in you richly then we can say you've grown in the Lord then we can say you have progressed and I want to say to all of you brothers and sisters it's God's will that we should grow in the Lord that the word of God should dwell 36:19 in us richly and that we get revived that we delight in God's word and you know then then God can always use you to help the other every time you speak open your mouth 36:39 you can bless others with God's word that's the wonderful privilege you and I can come into the new covenant okay there's number one is we can grow through the word of God number two we read in Luke chapter 2 verse 52 about 36:53 Jesus Luke chapter 2 verse 52 it says about Jesus and Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. Jesus began as a young brother 37:11 and it says here he was in the temple he discussing with all the leaders and after verse 51 he went down with them came to Nazareth and he continued in subjection to them and his mother treasured all these things in her heart 37:29 how did Jesus increase in wisdom you know how Jesus grew grew in the fear of God. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and Jesus learned to be under the 37:47 authority of his parents and Jesus was also under the authority of the father. He knew father had arranged all the circumstances and so Jesus said thank you father for arranging everything for me. This is exactly the best for me. And 38:03 the Bible says Jesus learned obedience in Hebrews chapter 5. And not only that, in Isaiah chapter 53, it's a lovely verse. Isaiah 53:2, you know how Jesus lived here on earth. 38:20 Verse two, he grew up before him or before the father like a tender shoot and like a root out of a parched ground. You know the secret of Jesus? He not only hated sin and feared God, he was onely interested in the approval of the 38:38 father. He was not worried about anybody, anyone else. And that's the secret to Jesus. He grew up before God. Father was watching him day after day after day. The way he was resisting the temptation, the way he was obeying the 38:55 word of God, he was not doing his own will. And no wonder Jesus increased in wisdom. And no wonder when he came after he got baptized, the father said, "This is my beloved son. I'm well pleased with him." And you may say, "Oh brother, that's for 39:11 Jesus. What about me?" You young brothers and sisters sitting here 20 and above. You can also grow in wisdom every day. Lord, to the best of my ability, I don't want to sin. I don't want to do my own will. I want 39:30 to obey your word. I want to be subject to authority. And I want to tell you, you start like that. From today, even if you're 20 years old, in other 10 years time, I'll tell you, you'll increase in wisdom, there will be a growth and 39:47 people can see that God's grace is upon you. And you are only seeking God's approval. There'll be a change in the way you speak. You know when you fear God it's manifest in your speech and when you fear God you'll also be 40:04 humble and oh may God help us as younger brothers of Jesus as the disciples of Jesus it must be written about us also not only about Jesus about us he increased in wisdom he increased in the fear of God 40:24 and he's living before God's is so brothers and sisters let's apply that to a practical life and say Lord please in a short time on earth I want to Lord grow in wisdom it's so sad to see some people always doing stupid things 40:39 foolish things Jesus wasn't like that because he feared the father and I want to say this morning if you fear God you don't have to continue your stupidity and foolishness you can also be saved from much folly and walk in the fear of 40:54 God and grow before God, you'll get God's approval and your life will be a great blessing to many and you will be a good example of the disciple of Jesus. Okay. Number one, we grow in respect to the word of God. Number two, we grow in 41:11 wisdom. And the third aspect of growth is written in second Peter chapter 3 verse 8. Second Peter chapter 41:35 sorry 18 not 8 second Peter chapter 3:18 but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And in this context you can come back to Luke chapter 2 verse 40. He says about Jesus here Luke 2:14 41:58 the child continued to grow and become strong in wisdom and the grace of God was upon him I hope you'll be gripped by that verse and say Lord I want your grace to be upon me like as it was upon Jesus is that your longing 42:13 brothers and sisters so there was so much grace upon Jesus because Jesus was humble he chose a path of humility humility. He He grew in humility. It says in John chapter 3, God did not give the spirit by measure to him. He 42:29 was faithful in every temptation, every trial, and every day he was growing, growing in wisdom, growing in grace. And oh, may it be written about you and me that the grace of God is upon him, and the grace of God is increasing. 42:49 I hope you're excited by that. That's not a gloomy message that you and I can grow in grace. In other words, we should not be the same what we were when he got saved. There must be a growth in grace, growth in wisdom 43:06 and we must be bearing fruit and we must get to know the Lord better and better and better. You know, the more you get to know the Lord, you will never be the same. All the men of God in the Old Testament, they knew God personally 43:19 and uh it's got nothing to do with the age. You can be a young brother and get to know the Lord in a deeper way, you know. Oh, may I hope you'll have a longing in your heart and say, Lord, I want to grow in wisdom and I want to 43:34 grow in grace. And not only that, in there's one more aspect, we should also grow in faith. It says in Romans chapter 4 about Abraham, it's a well-known verse. Romans chapter 4 verse 20. Verse 20 it says it with respect to 44:00 promise of God. What it says over Abraham, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith giving glory to God. You know Abraham did not even have a Bible but it says Abraham grew in faith. We got old and new testament. We got concordance. We 44:19 got all the facilities in the world. We got the Bible in our mobile. So much help we got. And yet so many people they're not growing in faith. They get shaken up with the small small trials. So the Bible says follow the example of 44:38 Abraham. He grew strong in faith. Supposing somebody asked some opinion about you will they say this brother this sister he's growing in faith. He's full of praise. He's 44:55 believing God. He trusts God's promises. That's a good testimony to hear about young people. Let it be written about you and me, brothers and sisters, before we die that this brother and this sister grew in faith. When you grow in faith, you'll also 45:15 learn to praise the Lord more and more. Look at this church in Thessalonica 2 Thessalonians chapter 1:3. She says written Paul is writing about them and he says we ought always to give thanks to God for your brethren as is 45:30 only fitting because your faith is greatly enlarged. Their faith is growing and not only faith and the love of each one of you toward one another grows even greater. We don't hear much about this church but the brothers and sisters were growing in 45:49 faith and growing in love. Blessed church indeed. Oh may God give us grace to be like that so that our faith grows and then Allah grows until now what I was saying was referring to our individual growth. We need to grow 46:07 individually with respect to the word of God. We need to grow individually with respect to wisdom. We need to grow individually with respect to grace and with respect to faith. That's wonderful. But it's not enough that you grow 46:23 individually or alone. You know, God's got a higher plan for all of us. And that is we read in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15. This is called the growth of the church or the growth of the body of Christ. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15 and 46:42 16. Maybe you can read from 14. You see earlier it speaks about the different gifts God has given to equip the church and verse 14 it says as a result we are no longer to be children. I wish all of us can say that in our 46:58 hearts. I'm not supposed to be a child tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men by craftiness and deserves giving. But it says speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up. 47:15 Oh, I wish I can shout it loud. Brothers and sisters, we all have to grow up. It says in all aspects and to him who is the head even Christ and this is the privilege as the body of Christ not just individual brothers and 47:34 sister growing in the Lord together we grow and here it says it shows how we can grow from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies. In other words, we are first 47:52 connected to the Lord. We are also connected to each other. Okay? I'm connected to the Lord. I'm connected to my brothers and sisters. I receive from the Lord. I receive from the brothers and sisters. I receive and give. I 48:05 receive and give. And I also receive from the other brothers and sisters. In other words, everyone has got a connection with the Lord. Everyone is able to give and receive from each other. He says according to the proper working 48:24 of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. As it is difficult to find brother and sister growing individually but here God's great longing is a church where 48:43 every brother and sister is growing in the Lord. connected to the Lord, connected to each other. A right relationship with the Lord and a right relationship with each other. This is the healthy body. We can say this is the healthy church. 49:00 That's really challenging my own heart. Maybe I will read to you from the living Bible. Ephesians chapter 4:15. It's written very nicely in the living Bible. I'll read from 14. Then we'll no longer 49:24 be like children forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will lovingly follow the truth at all 49:34 times, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly. So, become more and more in every way like Christ who is the head of this body, the church. under his direction the whole body is fitted together perfectly. Each part in its own 49:48 special way helps the other part. Did you get it? Each part in its own special way helps the other part so that the whole body is healthy and growing full of love. That's a blessed church. He has nothing. He's not speaking anything about the building. He 50:07 doesn't speak anything about the offering. He doesn't speak anything about the music. He's speaking about brothers and sisters having a connection with the Lord and having a connection with each other where there's fellowship 50:20 and where there's spiritual growth and they're growing in love. That's really something wonderful and it's it really excited me and you know you can't just grow alone. And you need other brothers and sisters to come to the maturity 50:38 in the church. And same way it says in Colossians chapter 2:1 19, it speaks of the growth of the church. Colossians chapter 2:1 19. Not a very familiar verse for many of us. Here it speaks about see not holding fast to the head. It's or you can say 50:57 the other headway holding fast to the head. from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments grows with the growth which is from God again from the living Bible he says but they're not connected to 51:20 Christ he said the head to which all of us were his body are joined for we are joined together by his strong senuse and we grow only as we get a nourishment and strength from God. In other words, now we are getting nourishment from God. 51:34 Each brother has come to maturity. He's got a connection individually. He can get some nourishment from God and give to others. I want to say if you're like that, you're a wonderful brother. You're a healthy brother and sister that you 51:48 have a connection with the Lord and you have a good connection with each other and you're functioning well. You you got fellowship with the father, you got fellowship with the brothers and sisters. I hope it's true in your life. In other 52:02 words, you can not only receive from the Lord and give to others. You can also learn to live like that contributing to the growth of the church. And the goal is we all come to full maturity of Christ. So many time we don't understand 52:19 a calling. You know it says in Ephesians 5, God wants a glorious church. That's why he cleanses and washes with his word. You know, it speaks about a spiritfilled life, spiritfilled husbands and wives. So don't think you husbands 52:33 and wives, I don't any role in the church. I just got to take care of my home. I want to say that's a very low level of thinking. You know, if you're a spiritfilled husband and wife, you can contribute to the building of the 52:47 church. You can come with that pure spirit of unity, fellowship, oneness. And you know the Lord wants to make us all mature. So maybe when we came to the church, we were babies. I want to ask you this 53:04 morning, have you grown up or are you growing? You know, all of us, we like our children to grow up. No mother wants her son or daughter to remain in the same condition. No, we want them to grow and become mature and 53:21 then run their own family. And same way the Lord also wants us to be strong and mature to grow up to become more and more like Jesus. And then he brings then he's very happy. You know it says here the growth comes from God. You can't just grow by 53:39 yourself. No matter how much you try, it is a gift from God. It's God who works in us. And it's wonderful if you can grow yourself. It's wonderful when we can grow together, the brothers and sisters, a mature church. And you know, it's not easy, 53:58 brothers and sisters. And it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 8 maybe verse 6 onwards Paul says I planted Apollos watered but was God was causing the growth 54:16 and Apostle Paul had the humility to say neither the one who plants nor the one who waters anything but God who causes the growth. In other words, one brother plants, another brother sows and God causes the growth of the church. So nobody takes 54:35 credit saying I'm the one who did something here. You know when the Lord does a work in you, you will never take any credit and that's the mark of the church. It's the Lord who gets the credit. It's the Lord who works in us to do his will and his 54:52 good pleasure. I want to ask you this morning, dear brothers and sisters, are you bringing joy to God's heart? Are you causing God sorrow because even after 20 years, you're still a baby. Small small things offend you. You get 55:09 shaken up by small small things. You're not strong in faith. Are you spiritually sick and weak and unhealthy? Are you wandering in the wilderness? In the Old Testament, we find the children of Israel, they're wandering, wandering 55:27 and wandering for 40 years. They were wandering. I want to ask you this morning, are you wandering or are you are making spiritual progress, steady progress? And if you're making steady progress in the New Testament, it says 55:39 they that wait on the Lord shall renew the strength, they shall mount up. In other words, they're not just going to walk on the ground. They take off like a airplane. They mount over wings as eagles. Oh may God help us to grow up. That's great 55:57 longing. Not just individually and as a church understand God's heart. Why has God given so many gifts in the church? Why has the Lord given us apostles and prophets and teachers and shepherds and all the gifts 56:16 he has given us? Not that we should remain as we were many years ago, but so that we grow and become strong and mature and bring joy to God's heart. And if you're not growing, it's good to check up and say, "Lord, why I'm not 56:32 growing? What's happening in my life? Why Lord, I'm so lonely? Why I'm so discouraged? Why I'm so weak and sick? Why Lord, I'm not full of life?" See all the children when they when they're healthy they are full of life 56:47 and we need to say Lord I want to be full of life. I want to grow in you and let that be your greatest passion and go home and examine yourself. What is hindering me from spiritual growth? Am I having any wrong attitude towards God or any 57:02 brothers and sisters? Get rid of it. And if you do that, I'll tell you by the end of this year, you'll be growing already. If you completed now 5 months, you can grow in this year, brothers and sisters. Even if you failed till now, if 57:19 you really repent and take some serious action and say, "Lord, I want your grace. I want your wisdom. I want your word. And I want to grow in faith. I want to have a right connection with my brothers and sisters." And together as a church, 57:33 we want to grow up to maturity. And that's the church, the bride of Christ, having a hidden life in God, bringing joy to God's heart. Oh may God help us to bring joy to his heart. Amen. We'll sing a song now and after that I'll ask 57:51 brother Charles first to share then an shall we sing the song. Lord help me. You don't miss up there. Anyway, we can just sing the chorus. Uh Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith and let me share. You see the chorus. Yeah. Our first 58:11 verse in the chorus. Let let that be our prayer. Lord, lift me up. I want to come up to a higher level. Lord, I want to bring joy to your heart. And since we don't have the projection, we'll just sing the song. First verse on 58:30 the chorus. [Music] I'm pressing on the upward way. [Music] 58:55 I'm pressing on the upward way. New heights. I'm giving new heights. I'm gaining every day to still bring as I onward bound. I onward bound. 59:12 Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. Lord, lift me up and let me stand. Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven stable land. By faith on heaven, heaven's stable land. A higher plane. A 59:30 higher plane. And I have found Lord plant my feet. Lord plant on higher 59:49 ground. One more time. Let's sing from the top. I'm pressing on the upward way. New heights I'm gaining. New heights I'm gaining every day. Still praying as onward bound as 1:00:06 I onward bound. Lord plant my feet on higher ground. Lord lift me up and let me stand. Lord lift me up and let me stand by faith in heaven's stable land. By faith on heaven's stable land. A higher plane than I have 1:00:26 found. A higher plane than I have found. Lord, plant my feet. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. I hope it is our heart's desire and 1:00:54 prayer that each day we will make some progress that God will lift us higher and higher each day. I hope you notice this phrase in what we read in 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2:2. 1:01:16 Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. Growth in respect to salvation. This is very important. See, the Bible doesn't just speak about our salvation. 1:01:34 It speaks about our growth in it. We need to grow in salvation. You know it is something like this when we are saved many people are you know so happy and content that now that I'm 1:01:52 saved and I'm baptized I'm breaking bread my name is in the you know commitment list and uh that's all there is to it for many people they're so happy about it and you see their life year after year 1:02:09 they are just you know happy with that fact that you know they come to the meeting they're accepted and then things like that but that is not what it says here that we need to grow in respect to salvation. How do we grow in respect to salvation? 1:02:29 How did the early church grow in respect to salvation? Turn with me to Acts, Acts 2 42, 1:02:49 you read in verse 38, when Peter told them, repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is for you and for your children. And then they 1:03:06 asked, "Sir, what should brethren, what shall we do?" Verse 37, he spoke these words to them. And then he said, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Verse 40. And then he says, it says there in 41:42, "So then those who had 1:03:23 received this word were baptized and they were added that day about 3,000 souls." See, on the day of Pentecost, when Peter spoke, the 3,000 hardcore Jews got converted. I 1:03:42 think this has never happened in the history of humanity that 3,000 hardcore Jews got converted in one day. And you know how they started growing? Look at the next verse. Verse 42. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and 1:04:01 to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. You see that time the Bible was not written only the old covenant was there. So it is not written that that they were reading the Bible or they were 1:04:20 being fed through the word of God. Otherwise that would that should have come first there and they were continually devoting themselves to reading the word meditating the word and to the apostles teachings and to fellowship 1:04:39 fellowship with one another. See there's no such thing as an isolated Christian. Have you seen an isolated coal which is little further away from the fire that gets colder and colder and there 1:04:58 will be nothing no fire in it. But if it is brought closer to the fire it gets the warmth and it becomes warmer and warmer and it may catch fire. You see in uh National Geography sometimes when you see u these big cats 1:05:18 uh you know catching the prey what do they do? They concentrate on some cattle some deer which is just straying away not with the group. With the group it is difficult for them to attack. But someone who is straying away little away 1:05:35 aloof from the fellowship wants to be you know all by himself doesn't want any fellowship doesn't want to be rubbed the wrong way. You know when you come into fellowship with one another there is always some rubbing. your sharp corners are rubbed 1:05:55 and you are that is for your good so that you can be well rounded off and fit properly into the you know when these masons start construction they they chop off some rough edges and then they put so that you know everything will be neat 1:06:10 and tidy um on the plum line and it aligns to the plum line and things like that. So if I think that I can manage on my own and I have that high thoughts about myself, I am deceiving myself. The Bible 1:06:30 says along with and together with all the saints that we are to grow. You don't find a word called saint in the new covenant, you will always find it as saints in the plural. The only time you find it in the concordance is the word when it is used. 1:06:48 Every saint see we are interdependent upon one another. We can't say I can manage on my own. It was there in the old covenant. There was one Moses, there was one Elijah, there was one Elisha, there was one Daniel, 1:07:07 there was one John the Baptist. But after that Jesus sent the disciples two by two and they were together and they always tried to build the church together in fellowship with each other. They developed, they grew. It says they were 1:07:25 reading the word if I may put that there. The apostles teaching, they were listening to the teaching regularly coming to the meeting. And now we have so many resources. We can have it on our mobile. We can listen to the messages 1:07:39 and we can build ourselves up and then to the breaking of bread and to prayer. You see the Bible commands us or exhorts us to pray not just you know in the old covenant people prayed three times people prayed 1:07:59 seven times. People had different timings for prayer. Even John and Peter went at around midn for prayer to the synagogue. So but in the New Testament it is not like that. We are called to pray at all 1:08:17 times. And it says pray without ceasing. How do we do that? It's something like you breathe without ceasing. Even when you're sleeping, you are not afraid that while sleeping I may forget to breathe. Nobody is afraid of 1:08:35 that. that they know that it is it's a bodily function that you you do that consciously or unconsciously whether you are awake or whether you are asleep you breathe prayer is like that it's supposed to be like that whether I'm 1:08:51 awake or whether I'm sleeping I am in constant touch with the Lord my spirit is praying I may be talking to somebody but my spirit will be in contact with God must we must long to come to that kind of life where you know 1:09:10 my breath becomes my prayer spiritually speaking when we come to that kind of life you know Jesus said I am the wine and you are the branches and when the wine abides in the branch that is the one 1:09:29 that gives bears more fruit and much fruit and as you keep bearing more root. The Lord prunes you. Prunes you in a sense. You know how they trim the rose plant and some other plants so that they they bring more 1:09:47 fruit, more flowers. In the margin it says he cleanses. Pruning is a kind of cleansing. So we need to be willing for the Lord to do that. 1:10:04 And we heard also about growing in grace. 2 Peter 3:18 Peter says they go grow in grace. How do I grow in grace and how do I receive grace? I receive grace only through humility. Jesus said 1:10:24 learn from me for I am humble and meek. I'm humble of heart. Learn from me. That's the only thing that Jesus told his disciples to learn from him. Not how to preach, not how to heal, but humility. Learn from me. 1:10:42 And people say no humble person says that I am humble. That is rubbish. Jesus was the humblest man who walked on the earth and he said I am humble. Learn from me. He said it's not uh some arrogance on his part. It's 1:11:02 the truth. Absolute truth. You can be humble and you can say learn from me. Like the apostle Paul said follow me as I follow Christ. We can come to that kind of life. Paul also 1:11:19 told Timothy grow in grace. be strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, "How do I become strong in grace by strongly humbling myself by consciously humbling myself not not asserting not becoming you know 1:11:38 arrogant and like we heard last week Job saying I am not inferior to you. I know what you know. I am not less than you." That is not the attitude. God had to bring him to the point where he had to say, "I put my 1:11:57 hand to my mouth. I retract what I have said. Lord, I'm sorry." Come to that place of nothingness. And then God's grace comes upon you. And it also says in Ecclesiastes 4 that two are better than one. See again 1:12:16 it speaks about fellowship. Two are better than one. If I am a loner, I am an easy prey for the predator. Satan can easily easily knock me off. But if I'm along with others, being built together with others, you know, it's very 1:12:36 difficult for you to take a brick from this building because they're all connected and they're held together. But if you had come two two three years ago where all these bricks were lying here in a lump, you 1:12:53 could easily knock off a few bricks and go. But you can't do that today because they're all knit together. They are all built together. They're all held together. One on top, one down, one to the left, right, and you know, then cement in 1:13:11 between to bind them together. This is how it is when we are in the body. In the body we are not stragglers. We are not you know oh today Sunday I I have to go to church. I wish I could sleep for some more time. You have that kind of 1:13:30 attitude. Or you say with the psalmist it says I was glad when they said unto me let's go into the house of the lord. Do you jump out of the bed on Sunday mornings and come to the meetings? Oh, I want to go. I want to meet my brothers 1:13:45 and sisters. I I want to hear some more of God's word. I want to know how to come closer to the Lord. I want to know how to know him more dearly, walk more closely and love him more dearly. Lord, help me. If you have that attitude, you 1:14:02 will not go astray so long as you have that cry in your heart. But if you're self-sufficient and you are a straggler, you just come for the sake of coming because your daddy and mommy come here and you have to come otherwise they will 1:14:15 scold you. My dear brothers and sisters, if that is your attitude, God help you. It's only a matter of time before you become a prey to the enemy of your soul. Hebrews 3:13 says, "As long as it is 1:14:39 called today, do not harden your hearts." See, there's only one place, my dear brothers and sisters, where there is no today and there is no yesterday and there is no tomorrow. That is in eternity. 1:14:58 But this side of eternity, we have today. That's why the Bible says as long as there is a thing called today, do not harden your hearts 1:15:13 and encourage one another day after day as long as it is called today. You see in Hebrews 10:25 it says, Hebrews 10:25, 1:15:37 not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing here not forsaking the assembling of 1:15:55 ourselves together as is the habit of some. So some people have the habit of skipping they want to come only on the first Sunday of the week where there is breaking of bread so that you get some you know some special benefit special 1:16:14 blessings I want to tell you there is no special benefit special blessings in the breaking of bread you make it a ritual it will become a ritual to you take it meaningfully you will value every meeting not only the break breaking of 1:16:29 bread meeting you know there in the church there is a core and there is there are fence sitters. Fence sitters are those who always sit on the fence. You know how it is with the fence sitters. They sit on the fence and a 1:16:46 little you know you doze off. What happens? That's exactly it happened to one young fellow when Paul was speaking in in in a meeting. I think that was in Ephesus. That was in 1:17:06 Acts 20. He was speaking and speaking and when he was speaking there was a young fellow called Uticus. He dozed off and he was sitting on the sill of a window and u he was indeed maybe you can see that 1:17:26 Acts 20 verse 9. And there was a certain young man. Imagine a young man sleeping in a meeting that to when the apostle Paul is speaking. If some boring preacher was 1:17:45 there that is okay. But if the apostle Paul a fiery preacher is speaking and this young man his uticus sitting on the window sill sinking into a deep sleep and as Paul kept on talking he was overcome by sleep. 1:18:04 sinking into deep sleep and overcome by sleep. What happened? This fence sitter on the third floor from the third floor he fell off dead. If you are a fence sitter, it's only a 1:18:20 matter of time. My dear young people, listen, do not harden your heart. Sooner or later, you will doze off. You'll become insensitive and you will fall over the fence and then they will pick 1:18:37 you up dead. Would you like to be like that? Thankfully, there was a man, the Apostle Paul. He came and he revived him. He prayed and got this man's life back. I hope God will have mercy on us and 1:18:57 bring us back if ever any of us experience this kind of thing. You see one way to ensure that we don't fall away but we constantly keep growing. My brothers and sisters I want to ask you those of you who have recently not 1:19:17 recently in the last five years those of you who have been baptized how has it been with you today? Are you growing or are you stagnant? You're happy that you are coming to the meeting, you're baptized and you are 1:19:36 breaking bread and say hello and hi and bye and then go off. How is it in your personal life? How is it in your thought life? How is it in your family life? Are you spending more time with the word and with the Lord? Or are you more for the 1:19:55 computer and with addicted to your mobile and these latest electronic gadgets? Have you become a slave to that or you're a slave of Jesus Christ? Like Paul calls himself from abound slave of Jesus Christ. 1:20:12 The only way to make sure that you don't fall away is what's written here in one Peter what's written here in 1:20:34 sorry 2 Peter 2 Peter Four onwards. Chapter 1 4 onwards. I will close with this. By these things 1:20:52 God has granted to us his precious and magnificient promises in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that's in the world. Now for this very reason also applying diligence 1:21:11 in your faith supply moral excellence. See if you follow these steps. Peter himself says that you will never fall away. What are those? Let's see them carefully. By them you might become partakers of 1:21:31 the divine nature. Now by this very reason applying all diligence not half-heartedness all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge knowledge of God and in your knowledge 1:21:51 of God self-control and add to your self-control perseverance and to your perseverance godliness and to your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 1:22:09 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, not just yours, but they are increasing these qualities, they will render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks 1:22:27 these qualities is blind, shortsighted, having forgotten his purification of former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. For as long as you practice these things, you 1:22:44 will never stumble or fall away. For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. See, here is a perfect assurance that 1:23:03 you will not fall away if you are keen in in applying these things to you. supplying to moral excellence knowledge and to knowledge self-control and then perseverance and godliness and 1:23:22 brotherly kindness and then love. You continue in these and keep on growing in these your entry into the kingdom of God it says will be abundant. You will have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God. 1:23:40 May God help us. [Applause] 1:24:04 I want to just sum up some of the verses that God spoke to us today. First in 1 Peter 2 chapter 2, I want to read from the Living Bible. It's put very wonderfully there. It blessed my heart as I read that. 1 Peter chapter 1:24:23 2:2. In the Living Bible, it says, "Long to grow up into the fullness of your salvation." Long to grow up into the fullness of your salvation. Cry for this as a baby cries for his milk. What a wonderful 1:24:41 expression, brothers and sisters, that we can cry to God like a baby cries for milk. Lord, help me Lord to grow up into the fullness of your salvation. Then in Ephesians 4:15, the last part we read, 1:24:58 we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ. I was so blessed reading this verse. We are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even Christ. We heard how Jesus grew in wisdom, how Jesus grew 1:25:16 in obedience, how Jesus grew in submission, how Jesus grew in love for others. In all these aspects, we can grow into him who is our head. And then in Colossians 2:19, the last part, 1:25:34 from whom the entire body grows with a growth which is, it says in the margin, of God. From whom the entire body grows with a growth which is of God. Like we heard, real growth comes only from God. 1:25:53 It is God who has to give us that growth. And if we have a heart longing for that growth, God will give us that growth. God will bless that life of Jesus which is in us and he will give us the growth. And 1:26:11 we we see that uh we we heard also that God wants to wants us to have that growth in our individual lives and also in us as a body as a church. God longs to see that life grow in us as a body 1:26:27 also. And we see that God comes to check if that growth is there in us. Year after year, God comes to see how we are doing, how we are growing. And we can read this parable in Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. 1:26:53 verses 6-9. We read here, he also spoke this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came 1:27:09 seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper, to the gardener of this vineyard, "Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground?" But the 1:27:27 gardener answered and said to him, "Sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit well, but if not after that you can cut it down. Here in this parable, the the owner of 1:27:46 the vineyard is picturizing God as we can see and the the fig tree is us. And we see here that God comes to check how we are doing. God comes to see if there there is fruit, if there is life in us. And he comes to us year after year to 1:28:04 see uh and he comes with a longing every year hoping that it is better than the previous year. Hoping that we have grown from the previous year. And that's that's what God wants to see in us brothers. Every year a growth in us. 1:28:20 Every year us coming up higher. How much it'll delight God's heart when he sees that growth. uh every year we can pray even if we have made mistakes in the past we can pray Lord when you come to me Lord this year I want you to see a 1:28:38 growth in my life I want you to be happy Lord with by seeing that growth in my life help me Lord I want to really make your heart uh happy and we also heard that we can we can really uh you know be benefited by other brothers and sisters in the body of 1:28:58 Christ. God has given us a body to help us. One member alone, we cannot grow by ourselves. We need every brother and sister in the church to grow. That's why God wants us to value everyone in the church. And I was thinking of some uh examples 1:29:17 uh we God has given us in the Bible. Uh I was thinking about Cain and Abel. When they offered that sacrifice, Abel's sacrifice was accepted and Cain could have gone to Abel and said, "Abel, I see that God has borne witness to you. 1:29:35 Can you tell me the secret? Tell me Abel, how is it that you have pleased God?" And if Cain had that attitude, it would have been a different story. Cain could have been saved. thought of David's brothers. They could have 1:29:49 learned so much from David when he was chosen as when he was anointed by Samuel. They could have asked David, "David, tell us, David, what have we missed? How is it that God was able to pick you up? Tell us, David. We want to 1:30:04 know more." And also, uh, uh, Moses, all these, you know, they were the youngest. Abel was the youngest, David was the youngest, Moses was the youngest. And you know, Miriam and Aaron instead of criticizing Moses, 1:30:23 if they had gone to Moses with a humble attitude, Moses, teach us, Moses, how is it that you have found favor with God? How is it that God speaks to you face to face? They could have been blessed. And in the same way we can go to other 1:30:37 brothers and sisters in our midst and we can ask them brother tell us tell me how is it uh tell me from your life how God has given you growth. Tell me brother and different brothers can share with us and sisters can share with us how God 1:30:53 has helped them and that can contribute to our growth in the Lord. God wants all of us to grow and it is his longing each year when he comes to see how we are doing that that growth is there. May God help us and may God put that longing in 1:31:08 all of our hearts. Lord give me this growth that comes from you. Amen. Yeah. This morning we want to welcome all those who are visiting us for the 1:31:26 first time.
