0:00 Sing oh his wonderful love proclaim. He him highest arch of angels in glory strength and honor. Give to his holy name from the top. Praise him. Praise 0:19 him. We will praise him. Praise him. Jesus our blessed redeemer. Take his wonderful love. Jesus will guide his children 0:51 in his arms. He carries them all day long. Oh, he s the mountains of Zion. Praise him, praise him every joyful song. Oh, praise him. Praise him. Jesus our 1:16 blessed redeemer for our sins. He suffered and bled and died. He are all our hope of eternal salvation. Hail him. Hail him. Jesus the crucified 1:36 loving saviorly enduring sorrow. Crown with thorns that cruy his round once more despise the forsaken 1:54 prince of glory ever triumphant now. So let's praise praise him. Praise him. Jesus our blessed redeemer. 2:10 Heavenly mortals now with hosana's reign. Jesus savior reignth forever and ever. Crown him. Crown him. Prophet priest and 2:26 king vanquish. Death is vanquished. Tell him with joy, faithful, where is now thy victory boasting great. Jesus lives no longer that borders are 2:43 jealous. Jesus lives the mighty and strong to sing. You may be seated please. Praisees rising, 3:00 eyes are turning to you. We turn to you. Let's clap and sing. [Music] Hope is stiring. 3:18 Hearts are yearning for you. We long for you. We long for you and we see you. Cuz when we see you, we find strength to face the day. 3:37 In your presence, in your presence, all our fears are washed away. Washed away. Hosana. You're the one who saves us. You are the 3:57 God who saves us. And you're worthy of all our praises. Hosanana. Hosana. Come have your way among us. We welcome 4:19 you here, Lord Jesus. We hear the sound of hearts returning to you. We turn to you 4:43 in your kingom. Broken lives are made new. You make us new. You make us new. Cuz when we see you, we find strength to 5:04 face the day. In your presence, all our fears are washed away. Washed away. Hosana. Hosana. 5:26 You are the God who sings. You're worthy. You're worthy of all our praisees. Hosana, come have your way among us. We welcome 5:48 you here, Lord Jesus. When we see you, cuz when we see you, we find strength to face the day in your presence. 6:05 your presence. All our fears are washed away when we see you. Cuz when we see you, we find strength to face the day. In your presence, all our fears are 6:27 washed away. Oh, they're washed away. Hosan. Hosan. You are God who saves us and you're 6:47 worthy of all our praises. Hosanana. Come have your way among us. We welcome 7:04 you here Lord Jesus. [Music] Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Sweetest name I know. 7:22 Fills my every longing. You keep me singing as I go. Oh, there's within my heart a melody. There's within my heart a meloy. 7:40 Jesus whisper sweet and low. Fear not, I am with thee. Peace be still. In our love life air and flow we sing Jesus Jesus Jesus 7:58 sweetest name I know fills my every longing keeps me singing as I go the brothers sing all my life was wrecked by sin and 8:17 strife discord felt Fill my heart with pain. Jesus wept across the broken strings. Stirred the slumber again. Let's go sing. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. 8:36 For the sweetest name I know. And he fills every longing keeps me singing as I go. Sisters only sing the next verse. 8:54 Feasting on the riches of his grace, resting in his children, always looking. [Music] Let's all sing together. Jesus, Jesus, 9:14 Jesus, the sweetest name I know. Fills my every longing. Keeps me singing as I go. Congregation sing. 9:31 Though sometimes he leads through trials all across the way. Though sometimes the singers [Music] all the way. Let's all sing together. 9:49 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know. Fills my every longing. Keeps me singing as I know. the voices and sing 10:09 for soon he's coming back to welcome me far beyond the starry sky I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown and I shall reign with him on high 10:28 Jesus Jesus Jesus sweetest name I know fills my every longing. Keeps me singing as I go. And who his love 10:51 will not remember? Who can cease to sing his praise? He will never be forgotten through our hands etern. When the rest of life are answered, 11:30 he shed for us. His precious blood and who his love will not remember. Who can cease to sing his praise? He will never 11:49 be forgotten through our eternal days. On the mount. On the mount of crucifixion with fountains open 12:08 deep and wide through the floodgates of God's mercy flow of us and gracious grace and love like my rivers 12:27 flowing from above. Heaven's peace and perfect justice. Kiss the guilty world in grace. 12:44 Grace and love like mighty rivers flow in from above. Heaven peace and perfect justice. Kiss the guilty 13:03 world in love. Shall we all stand as we sing? Thank you for the cross, Lord. Worthy is the lamb seated on the throne. Oh, we crown you 13:25 now. We crown you now with many rounds. You reign victorious. I lift it up. I am lifted 13:44 up. Jesus, son of God. Oh, the fathers will love and grow. [Music] 14:06 Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. 14:25 We say, "Thank you for the cross, Lord. Thank you for the cross, Lord. Thank you for the price you 14:40 paid. You were bearing all my sin and shame. You love you gave and you gave amazing grace. 14:56 Thank you for this love. [Music] Thank you for your nail. You wash me in your cleansing flow. 15:17 I know your for worthy is the lamb. Oh, he seated 15:35 on the throne. We crown you now with many grounds. You raise victorius [Music] 16:04 of God. The father's will love and crucified. Worthy is the lamb. 16:24 [Music] Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. [Music] 16:43 Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. You are holy. You are holy. Holy are you, Lord God 17:02 Almighty. Worthy is a lamb. Worth He is a lamb. Worth He is a lamb. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. 17:23 Hallelu. Let's join in and sing hallelujah for our Lord God Almighty reignal. [Music] 17:45 Hallelujah. [Music] Hallelujah. For a Lord God Almighty reignal. [Music] 18:15 [Music] Are you mighty you are 18:41 you Our God Almighty. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Holy, you are holy. 18:57 Only the voices. Let's sing. Holy are you, Lord God Almighty. Sing it again. Worthy. Worthy is the lamb. 19:13 Worthy is the lamb. Holy. You holy [Music] are you, Lord God Almighty. [Music] 19:32 Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Amen. Amen. [Music] Sunday school children can go to Sunday school now. Yes. It's wonderful to come together 20:08 in God's presence as children of God like we sing in a song says this joy in the presence of the Lord and all our tears and sorrow must go. I hope this morning we come together in a spirit of praise 20:25 and worship and thanksgiving like we sang this morning in heaven they sing thou art holy, thou art Lord God Almighty and thou art worthy and may our hearts be in tune with heaven this morning. Let's bow down before the 20:42 Lord, brothers and sisters, and come as joy in God's presence because he loves us so much. He loves his people. He cares for us. He wants to speak to us. And before the Lord ministers to us, it's good for us to minister to the Lord 21:01 this morning. The Lord is always faithful to give us his word and feed his people and nourish his people and strengthen and encourage and comfort his people. But let's also minister to the Lord this morning and all encourage all of us, all 21:17 of us who belong to him, his house, his kingdom. And this morning, let's lift up our hearts and voices and say, Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for cleansing me. Thank you for what you've done in my 21:35 life. And thank you for giving me a place in your church. And thank you for giving us shepherds and prophets and teachers. And oh, let's all come with joy and bless the Lord this morning. Yeah, Lord. We praise you this morning. 21:48 And oh, we worship you, Lord, with all our hearts, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for your love this morning. Thank you, love, Lord. [Music] Thank you all [Music] 22:11 this morning glory. Hallelujah. [Music] Yes. Our father we come before you this morning with joy. Thank you Lord. We were far away. You brought us near Lord through your blood and through your son Lord. Thank you for your mercy and your 22:29 goodness and your grace and your love. Lord, thank you Lord for giving us your word richly in our midst. Thank you for the fellowship of the saints. And thank you Lord that you are present in our midst Lord. Thank you worthy to receive 22:43 all our praise Lord and worship Lord Jesus. You're a victor. You conquer death, sin, hell, and even Satan, Lord. And thank you, Lord, that you'll work in us to do your will and your good pleasure. And we pray this morning, 22:56 Lord, you'll mightily. We pray, Lord, you'll richly anoint your word and give us, Lord, a word from heaven and a prophetic word that will meet the needs of each and everyone here. Lord, Lord, like Samuel, we want to say this 23:12 morning, speak to us, Lord. You want to listen. We pray you'll speak to us powerfully and mightily. And Lord, bless the church this morning. We give you glory and honor and praise and worship and thanks. We bow down before you Lord 23:26 in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Please be seated brothers and sisters. I want to encourage all of us to always come to the meeting with a spirit of praise and worship and thanksgiving and also come with a to receive the word 23:45 with meekness as is written. No, we're very happy to have brother Zach with us and we invite brother Zach to come and minister God's word to us this morning. We praise God for the 24:14 freedom we have to come together and teach God's word freely in this land. We must never take that for granted. There are many countries in the world today where they cannot come together like 24:32 this where they have to meet in secret and often are persecuted. Sometimes we forget how Christianity began. 24:49 And that's why it's good for us to read, you know, that's why the acts of the apostles has been given. We looked at this verse some time ago in John 16 and verse 33. John 16:33. Jesus said 25:11 these things I have spoken to you so that you might in me you may have peace but in the world you will have tribulation. Now as I said that time that was those the last words that Jesus spoke before he went to the cross. The next is he 25:29 concluded in prayer. Imagine saying the last words to his disciples. In the world, you're going to have tribulation. But don't get discouraged. I have overcome the world. So those are the two things we must keep in mind always as we 25:46 face the future. In the world, you will have tribulation. One type of tribulation or the other. But we follow one who has conquered the world. So if we look at the world, we're going to get discouraged. But you look at him 26:03 who conquered the world, we will be encouraged. That's why he said take courage means be encouraged. We're never supposed to be discouraged. Discouragement is completely out of the will of God for his people. For myself, I never knew that in the 26:21 early days of my Christian life. But today, I see discouragement as a sin. A lot of people don't see it as a it's like going slapping somebody on the face or having dirty thoughts to be discouraged because 26:39 when I get discouraged I'm saying God is not on the throne or he's forgotten all about me. He's not my father or he's a pretty cruel father. He doesn't care about me. Or we're saying the devil's right now in 26:58 control of this world. That's why it's a sin. That's why Jesus said, "Remember, I've overcome the world. Don't ever get discouraged. Remember that." Those are the last words that Jesus spoke before he went to the cross. 27:17 Never get discouraged because I have overcome the world which includes the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life and the ruler of this world and all that he can do. If you don't have that faith, I want to tell you, you'll have problems 27:36 as you move on future even in this coming year. If we think tribulation is things like I didn't get an increment this year or I didn't get a promotion or the job I have is not good enough. 27:55 Then we haven't understood tribulation. In the days in communism in Russia they didn't allow Christian students to go to college. If you were in Russia, your children could not go to college in those days. And the only job your 28:11 children would get is to be sweepers, corporation sweepers who sweep the road. And even that is not tribulation. So what we call tribulation is not even a mosquito bite. Remember that brothers and sisters. 28:30 The apostles heard that and took it seriously. And I want to show you something in Acts chapter 14. Something about the early apostles faced. You read the acts of the apostles has been written to for us to show you how to show us how Christianity 28:48 began in the early days. We know it is very powerful and many people when they read the acts of the apostles they only see oh um lame people got up and one or two dead people were raised from the dead. Those are about the only things people 29:03 see but those are very minor compared to some other things which I don't know whether you even remember after reading the acts of apostles it is there because somehow we tend to forget things which are unpleasant. 29:22 We like to remember the things that are very pleasant. Turn to Acts 14. experience of the apostles Paul and Barnabas in a place called Lististra in verse 8. There was a man there who had never 29:39 walked from his mother's womb and Paul looked at him and saw he had faith and he said stand upright on your feet. His faith came by listening. He jumped up. 29:58 And when the crowd saw that, they raised their voice and said, "The gods have come as men." And they began to call Barnabas by the names of their Paul by the names of their gods, Zeus and Hermes. 30:17 And the priest of Zeus came and they wanted to offer sacrifice to them. Imagine they were treating them like gods. They wanted to offer sacrifice to them. But when the apostles, 30:41 excuse me. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard it, they tore their robes and rushed into the crowd saying, "Why are you doing these things?" And with great difficulty, Paul and 31:00 Barnabas says in verse 18, "Stop the crowds from offering sacrifice to them." That is how much how much the crowds worship them. But see the next verse. They the Jews came from Antioch in a 31:22 very few moments. They won over the crowds to their side and they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city to be dead. So see how quickly within one verse you just contra in 19 31:41 and see how quickly the crowds change their opinion. And then they would have remembered what Jesus said in the world you'll have tribulation. But don't get discouraged. And they had to take send Paul and Barnabas away to another city lest they 31:56 get beaten up. I mean they threw so many stones on him that they thought he was dead. This is how Christianity began. You turn to chapter 16 here again. 32:15 As long as they were preaching, okay, nothing much happened. But then one day, we read in Acts 16:16, there was a a slave girl having a spirit, a demon-possessed girl who was doing fortuneelling, 32:33 and Paul ignored her for some days and then finally commanded the demon her in verse 18. And immediately she was free. And then her master saw the their hope of prophet was gone. They dragged Paul 32:51 and Silas and brought them to the magistrate. And it says here they beat them with rods in verse 22. Struck them with many blows. Verse 23 threw them into prison and fastened their feet in stocks. This is how Christianity began. 33:11 the finest apostles preaching the gospel. And you just one more example in chapter 19, they went to another place and that was Ephesus. 33:29 And what happened in Ephesus was this time it was not somebody delivered from demons. This time it was people who heard the gospel from Paul stopped buying the little idols that were being sold in the shops. 33:46 They say, "Hey, these are not gods." And it says here in verse 24, a man named Demetrius, a silver smith who made silver shrines to this Artemis, who was bringing a lot of business to the craftsman. He gathered all the people who were making these idols and 34:05 said hey you know our prosperity depends upon this business. What will happen to us if we stop making idols? And you see not only in Ephesus almost all of Asia this Paul has gone around telling people that these gods made with 34:19 hands are no gods. Verse 26. So there's a great danger first of all that our prophet will go and also this temple will be regarded as worthless. So they gathered the crowd and there was 34:36 a lot of confusion and they dragged guys and art takers and Paul wanted to go out to them but the disciples said don't go they'll beat you up and kill you. And this is what they faced. None of us have ever faced anything like 34:54 this. So when Jesus said in the world you'll have tribulation, those apostles really were prepared for it. They knew that the light is contrary to the darkness. 35:11 I wonder if we realize that if we really shine as the light in the way God wants us to, people who don't love the light will hate us. 35:28 If you find that your witness for Christ is something that makes people admire you and say, "Oh, what a nice chap you are." That's not what they said about Jesus. They called him Beybull and prince of devils. That's not what they said about 35:45 Paul. It's not what they said about Peter. So, we need to ask ourselves, is it because we just let the light shine so much uh where we get a reputation? You know, we start out in darkness where 36:05 we've maybe bad habits and all that and then we come to Christ and our life improves externally somewhat and people begin to admire us. That is one stage. But there's another stage in the Christian life where we follow Jesus fully and then 36:25 people despise us. And usually people stop there. They say if I go that far they'll despise me. persecute me. I have tribulation. So, I better stop at this stage where they admire me and I have a good life and everybody thinks I'm a nice, sweet, kind 36:43 type of person. And I want to tell you, even those who pursue holiness, many of them stop there. Whereas the Bible says in 2 Timothy in chapter 3, see these are verses by which we need to judge ourselves. 37:03 so that we don't miss out in the one life God has given us to be what God want us to be. 2 Timothy 3:12. If you believe this to be the word of 37:21 God and if you believe that God's thoughts are not like your thoughts and the differences between heaven and earth, his thoughts and our thoughts. Listen to this verse. 2 Timothy 3:12. I think the most important word there is 37:40 which we can miss out is all. A ll. Well, not all Christians. No, that's not what it says. Not all believers. So, it may not include you, 38:01 but it will include you if you fulfill that qualification there. All who desire, who have a passion to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will, that's the other important word 38:17 there, will not might or maybe be persecuted. I remember reading that and I said Lord well that proves one thing to me that if I don't face some type of persecution 38:37 opposition these are days when I was working in the Navy that means I really don't desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus what else does it mean either I'm right or God's word is right or I can say well I'm sort of an 38:52 exception I really desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, but I won't be persecuted. Well, I suppose then God's word is wrong. Right? I was very thankful that I faced up to that verse as a young Christian and said, "Lord, if I'm just being 39:09 admired, all those who live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be admired for being so kind and so loving. They care for the orphans. They help the poor. They give money to the beggars. They're so upright in school and college and in 39:27 their place of work. But if you really go all the you will face some type of persecution 39:46 even in your office. And I found that to be true. I found it affected my career. prospects. You know, like everybody who as a young man joins any job, we have ambitions. I had ambitions to do well, to ascend, to 40:06 go up even as a Christian without compromising. But I found if I stopped at a certain point, I could continue to ascend. But if I went all the way to be 100% godly in every area, then I wouldn't be popular. I wouldn't 40:25 be accepted because the world is controlled by the prince of darkness. How can a world that is filled with darkness appreciate me? Find some darkness in me as well. And I realized that if I'm to be the light of the world, it's going to be in 40:44 contrast to this darkness and it's going to be conflict. And I'm very thankful that I realized that early in my Christian life, that my calling in life as a Christian was not to be popular, but to be rejected, despised like my 41:04 savior was, and uh misunderstood, and persecuted. And my calling was to just keep my mouth shut and live a godly life and leave it to God to decide how much 41:22 people would harass me and trouble me. I knew one thing even in those early days Excuse me. 41:42 It's not serious, by the way. Just a little noise. Uh, one thing that God will never allow me to be tempted or harassed 41:59 or troubled beyond my ability. That means if the pressure became more on the outside, there'd be more grace inside to handle it. And the grace would always be more than the pressure. Then I was okay. 42:17 And that's was a great verse in case all of you don't know it. I think most of you know it, but let me show it to you for the benefit of those who don't know it. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. the middle of that verse. Something that 42:32 all of us must remember always, always, always. It's a very comforting verse. God is faithful. In the middle of that verse, it says, 42:50 see, this is where it begins, not that we will not be tempted beyond our ability, but God is faithful. That means it begins with God who is in control, who's watching over our life, and he is faithful to ensure that I'm 43:10 never tempted beyond my ability. But when the temptation comes will provide me a way of escape. A way of escape means not that I'm don't face the tribulation. Paul faced it. But there'll be a way to overcome it. I'll be able to endure it. I'll be able 43:30 to overcome it. That I will not fall down. I'll still be standing when all those blows come at me. I'll still be standing spiritually. So that's a great verse. God will not allow me to face something 43:49 for the next rest of my life which is too much to handle. You must believe this. Now if on the other hand you got private ambitions 44:08 outside the will of God, you want to do your own thing, then you're exposing yourself to temptation which God never wanted you to face. That's why the Lord taught us to pray, 44:26 Lord, Father, lead us not into temptation. See that's the prayer of a person who recognizes his weakness. Lord please don't lead me into temptation that because I recognize there are some temptations too strong for me. 44:44 Don't let me face it. You may say well doesn't God already promise that he won't face it? That's right. But even the things God has promised he asks us to. Do you know that Jesus said, "Your heavenly father knows what you need 45:02 before you ask him." And he still tells us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Doesn't he know? Doesn't any mother know that a little child needs food? Why do we have to pray to our father? Give us this day our daily bread. 45:19 How does that agree with your heavenly father knows what you need even before you ask him? Because in in the way God deals with us, he knows what we need, but he still wants us to ask for it. He promises, "I will not allow you to be 45:37 tempted beyond your ability." But he still wants you to pray, "Oh, Father, don't let me face. Lead me not into temptation is too strong for me." It's an expression of my helplessness. That's very good. Prayer is always an 45:56 expression of my helplessness. And if you find that some of your prayers are not answered, it's either because you don't have faith or because you don't feel helpless when you pray. You pray like a strong person. 46:14 Strong people don't pray. They just go through rituals. It's not real prayer. Real prayer can only come from one who feels utterly helpless and weak. Father, please don't lead me into temptation 46:33 that is too strong for me. That man will be an overcomer. He won't fall into is the self-confident person who just repeats ritual prayers who keeps falling. So I want to say to you my dear brothers and sisters, if you're one 46:51 who's keeping on falling in particularly into the same old sins, you never seem to get victory over your anger. You never seem to overcome the dirty thoughts or internet pornography. I'll tell you why. You're a pretty self-confident person. 47:09 You think quite a lot about yourself. You're not helpless. Like I said that day, God wants to bring us down to a zero helplessness. Lord, don't lead me into temptation because some of it is too strong for me. And God sees our helplessness and he 47:27 sees, okay, here's a person who's recognizes weakness. I can give my power to him because my power is given to weak people who recognize their weakness. And why do I say that? because that is the only way 47:45 that we can be prepared for the future. We don't know what all is going to happen in the days to come. But one thing I know that if I am faithful in the little things that come my way this day to recognize my helplessness 48:03 and to really seek to live godly in my whatever the provocation from husband, wife, children, whatever the provocation, I'm going to live godly in Christ Jesus. You may face persecution. If you got a difficult wife, she may 48:20 persecute you. If you got a difficult husband, he may persecute you. That has happened. If you got difficult parents, they may persecute you. Ungodly children may you can't say. But if you really seek to live a godly life, your and you go to 48:38 work and your boss may persecute you because you're not going to tell a lie. You're not going to please him by telling a lie. Sometimes it's very difficult. What if you're sitting in your boss's 48:58 office and the phone rings and he tells you, "Pick it up. Pick it up and tell him, "I'm not here." How will you live a godly life in Christ Jesus? At that point, do you think Jesus would pick up and say, "The boss is not here." 49:18 You got the answer immediately. What you're supposed to do. Somebody asked me that question and I said, "Please tell your boss, sir. I'm a Christian. 49:37 I can't say that. Could you please ask somebody else to answer that phone? Thank you." There is a way out of every temptation if you want to. Of course, you'll displease your boss. Maybe you won't get that promotion. But you mean a lack of 49:53 promotion is what you call tribulation. You see, it's because we compromise in little little things that we never get persecuted and we never become the strong muscular Christians that we're supposed to be. And we never hear God speaking to us 50:13 like a trumpet like John heard him on the aisle of Patmos. We say, "I can't hear what God is saying." Well, you won't hear it. Your ears are deaf because of unfaithfulness, repeated unfaithfulness in your office or somewhere else where you should have 50:28 been faithful. That's the danger. We won't hear God. So, I don't want to be like that. To become spiritually deaf is one of the worst possible things that can ever happen. And I said, 'Lord, don't let that ever happen to me. I don't mind being 50:43 physically sick, but I don't want to be spiritually deaf that I can't hear what God is saying. I think a lot of a lot of us are probably more afraid of being physically sick than being spiritually deaf. Ask yourself, so this is how God makes us stronger and 51:03 stronger as time goes on. He has designed Exactly. You know, it's like he doesn't put us in all in the same class and gives us the same examination. No, I've seen that the Holy Spirit dealing with us is like a personal tuition master who's got only 51:20 one student. Think if you send some your child to a tuition teacher and he says, "You're the only student I'll take." That's how the Holy Spirit gives us personal tuition, not in a classroom. He said, "I'm going to deal with you 51:34 personally because that person's need is not the same as yours." And I've seen that. and he designs that are meant for me to make me strong to make me more Christlike. The same for you. And that's why it's very important that 51:50 we react in the right way whenever we face a situation. Turn with me to Galatians in chapter 6. Galatians and chapter 6. It says here, 52:23 verse 7, don't be deceived. Now, whenever the Holy Spirit tells a believer, don't be deceived. Some of us may think, well, we're not deceived. 52:41 We can see all through all the shallow preachers of today. We're not deceived. But yeah, be careful. Don't be deceived. Have you understood this particular aspect of deception which he's speaking of here? He's not speaking here about false preachers. 52:57 He's not speaking about false gospels or counterfeit experiences of the Holy Spirit. No, he's speaking about some other area where what a man sws 53:17 he will reap. That is an area where many Christians don't believe it. They don't believe that I will ultimately reap. I have sown. I'm deceived. No, no, no. Even if I'm a 53:36 little careless, I will still reap a good harvest. This is the deception here. That means if I'm a little unfaithful here, a little unfaithful. No, everything will still turn out all right. It will not because God cannot be 53:49 fooled. You will sow. You will reap exactly what you sow. Second Timothy 2 it says the hardworking farmer will get a rich harvest of crops first. Why? Because he was very careful about what he swed. 54:08 And he says there are two ways in which you can sow only two. One is to your own flesh. Verse eight that means to whatever yourself says. our self-centered Adamic life 54:24 a trial. Do this or compromise or keep quiet or tell the lie that he's asked you to say or small thing just sign it even though it's a bit wrong. Sign it you'll get some benefit. That is sewing to the flesh. 54:44 The other alternative is sewing to the Holy Spirit who says, "No, no, no. Don't do that. That's wrong. That's a false statement. You have to say, "I'm sorry, sir. I can't sign that. I'm sorry, sir. I can't do that. That's 54:58 against my conscience." Or the way you react to the way your husband or wife speaks to you at home. It can be according to the flesh that I'm going to react the same way. or I'm going to listen to the Holy Spirit who says, "Keep your mouth shut now. Let 55:17 me put a a bridal on your tongue. You will reap eternal life." So, one is corruption. If you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption. The other is you reap eternal life. So, there are two 55:35 alternatives. The little things you sow day by day by day by day are finally going to produce a harvest of corruption or eternal life. And that's why it's so important in the little little little things to 55:52 constantly sow to the spirit and to deny self. To say no, I will say no to myself. I will listen to the holy spirit. You know they have this saying even in the world and it is true. Everything begins in our thoughts and 56:12 attitudes. You sow a thought and gradually those thoughts become words. You know, you think long enough about something and gradually the thoughts become words 56:29 and words gradually lead to actions. It's a progression. Thoughts and then words and actions and actions finally become a habit and that habit finally becomes your 56:47 character. But it starts with thoughts. It's some little thing that you think about. It becomes words, actions, habit, and character. But it starts very small. It could be good things also. For 57:07 example, you decide, hey, I'm going to read the Bible every day. I'm going to meditate today. Okay? It'll gradually become a habit where will automatic like brushing your teeth 57:25 becomes a habit. You don't forget to brush your teeth. You don't forget to read the Bible. It becomes character. Or you say, "Well, that's not so important. I mean, I need to know what's in the newspapers." Okay. Yeah, you need to know what's in 57:41 the newspaper, too. Or you want to I think I'll watch some television today. And that it's only it starts very small but it takes away from your meditation on scripture and gradually the Holy Spirit sees that 58:00 television and worldly entertainment means more to you than God's word. But you're still coming to CFC. You're still doctrinally and all your right and you appreciate the word and you go home on Sunday saying, "Boy, that was a good 58:13 message." But it hasn't changed your habit. And the habit has finally become your character. I have to say you're going to reap what you sow. Not only reap what you sow, you're going to reap it in your children as well. 58:28 That's the other thing which is worse. I'll tell you, I thank God I have no television in my home. I I don't have time to watch it. I know so little of the Bible. I know so little 58:46 of God. Where do I have time to I I get the newspaper. I see something and that's it. Where do I have time for all this type of entertainment when life is so serious and I don't have time for God? I want to say to you, 59:04 every one of us, there's no God cannot be fooled. Every one of us reaps what we sow. And your children as they grow up are going to reap what you have sown into their heart. If you saw gossip at the dining table, you will they will reap the consequence. 59:24 Not immediately, maybe 10 years from now. Everything begins there. Think for example here earlier on also it says don't be deceived. Galatians 6 verse three. That's another place where it says deception. This is again not 59:42 false teachers or false doctrines or counterfeit gifts of the Holy Spirit. No, this is another type of deception. If anyone thinks he is somebody when he's a nobody, he deceives himself. And 1:00:03 who is here? Who's the somebody? Think of heaven. Can you tell me in heaven who is a somebody? Holy Jesus. It says everybody throws their crowns at his feet. It says, "Thou alone 1:00:22 art worthy." Not Paul, not Peter, John, you know, great guys, but Jesus alone is worthy. Many times I close my eyes and think about the time when Jesus will come in the heavens. You know, we can use our imagination. 1:00:41 We've used our imagination for a lot of filthy stuff in the old days. Why not use your imagination for some good stuff now? It's a gift imagination. And I think this is not imagining something which is not true. You know, 1:00:54 there are some preachers who say, "Imagine that you're going to get a big house and a big car." That's a lot of rubbish. I'm talking about something is going to absolutely true. Christ coming in the clouds. Is that not going to happen? 1:01:09 It's really going to happen. So when I use that from my imagin, it's a genuine thing. It's going to happen. It's not like getting a big house or a car. And I imagine Christ coming in the heaven and not millions but billions, 1:01:23 billions of people from the time of Abel and Enoch rising up from their graves. And what a crowd it'll be. It'll be it'll be so filled that I won't be able to see the sky. Millions and billions of people and 1:01:41 hear me also. I believe I'll be there going up with her along with all these people and it'll be like sand on the seashore. What is one speck of sand on the 1:01:59 seashore? Nothing. And I say, Lord, that's what I'll be that day. Today, some people may think me as an important person. I don't want to deceive myself. No, I want to think of that day when 1:02:18 I'll be just like one sand in the seashore. this crowd of people moving up and the only one who will be important that day who is a somebody will be Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you to think of that often 1:02:37 because otherwise it's very easy for you to imagine that you're a somebody just because you have some gift or some ability that other people don't have to think that you're somebody. 1:02:56 Maybe you're better than others in some area because God's gifted you that way. You don't have to be spiritual for that. You can be proud because you came first in the class. We got to protect our children, particularly if they are very 1:03:11 intelligent. What would you think of a young brother who actually said this? He actually said it. People say amazed 1:03:31 How are you so smart, so clever, so good at sports, so good at music and also spiritually minded. Now if he thought that that itself is bad 1:03:49 but when he says that to somebody you would say who can that be must be some atheist. No. A young brother who's been in CFC at least 20 years. Can you believe it? True. Absolutely true. When thinks he's a somebody 1:04:14 when he's a nobody, he deceives himself. Are you helping your children to be like that? But he says, "If you want to boast about something, verse four, 1:04:32 examine your own work and then you'll have some reason for boasting." In other words, ask yourself not how well you can play music or how clever you are or what rank you came in the class or how much people admire you. 1:04:50 Ask yourself how humble have you become. Ask yourself how low you are in your own thoughts about yourself. Ask yourself whether you planted a church somewhere instead of suddenly imagining yourself to be somebody. There a lot of people who criticize us, 1:05:14 CFC and me, but they're all people who have never planted a church in their lives. So, it's very easy for people to deceive themselves and to think they're somebody 1:05:33 when they're nobody. How did they suddenly begin to think they're somebody? For years and years they swed certain thoughts which they never thoughts thoughts thoughts. Finally it became words and it became their character. They really 1:05:49 begin to think they're somebody. What have you got which you did not receive? Please keep telling your children that. What have you got which you did not receive? Instead of that, 1:06:09 if we did what it says in Psalm 1, it says in Psalm 1, how blessed is the man. Psalm 1 who avoids the path of sinners and the 1:06:32 path of the wicked. But what does he do? Verse two, he uses his thoughts. He's also using his thoughts. Just like this young brother who was thinking how everybody thought he was so smart and so clever and so gifted and such a good I don't 1:06:49 know what he was singing, musician or whatever it was and good in his job and profession and good in studies. This guy uses his thought to meditate on scripture day and night. Now, how do you meditate on scripture day and night? He's not 1:07:08 reading the Bible the whole time. He's meditating. He he maybe read a few verses or thoughts that he's already scriptures that are already in his mind. He thinks about it frequently. In other words, his way of life is always 1:07:23 in the midst of all his work, he's thinking of scriptural principles by which I must live the whole day. And when even when he lies down in bed, he doesn't have the dirty thoughts that plague so many others because he's developed a habit of 1:07:39 meditating on scripture day and night. What's going to happen to such a person who's that will gradually become his character? And it says here, he will always yield fruit in season and his leaf will never wither 1:07:58 he there will never be one dry leaf life and whatever he does he prospers spiritually. It's not that he makes a lot of money but in God's eyes he's a prosperous person. It's all a question of what we sow. 1:08:22 And so God ordains our life step by step increasing the temptation a little bit just like in school. The examinations become more difficult in every class and we go higher and higher and higher. Turn with me to another verse in 1:08:40 Proverbs in chapter 4 and verse 12. Proverbs 4 and verse 12. It says here when you walk your steps will not be impeded. Imped means closed up. And there's a very beautiful paraphrase 1:09:01 of this verse that has helped me for many years. Proverbs 4:12. The Lord says, "As you go, step by step, I will open up the way before you." That's the opposite of when you walk, 1:09:18 your steps will not be as you go step by step, I will open up the way before you. So, what I see is like this. I'm walking your way and in front of me 1:09:33 I see a whole hund of closed doors but this is the way God wants me to walk but I'm going to walk in Jesus name and I come to the first of those doors and you know like these automatic doors as 1:09:51 soon as you come near it it opens up it's closed right up until the time you come near it as you go and you move forward. You don't stand there and say, "Oh, well, that door's closed." You go forward in Jesus' name. And the door opens up. And I've seen 1:10:10 that happen in my life numerous times. And then you go a little further and there's another closed door. And you go forward in Jesus name. It opens up. I'm not talking about advancing in life. A lot of people when they hear that 1:10:25 think of going on in their profession and becoming somebody big. No, I'm talking about going to a higher class spiritually, greater temptations, greater overcoming, tougher examinations, PhD examinations so that 1:10:42 we become more Christlike. And every time I'm going to sew faith and humility and that little by little as these doors open and we become stronger and stronger and stronger, we'll be prepared for the days to come. 1:11:02 That is how God is going to prepare us for difficult days that will come in the future. And so what I'm saying is in the little things that you face right now, my brothers, sisters, walk in humility. Make sure the thoughts you have in your 1:11:19 mind are not thoughts of how gifted you are or how popular you are or how clever you are or how smart you are or particularly comparing yourself with others. You see this young brother I told you about, he was comparing himself 1:11:36 with others. I mean if he was in the midst of a hundred young people who were 10 times better than him he would never have had such thoughts but maybe he was the others were not so smart as him and it just went to his head. 1:11:52 What is the future of such a person if he doesn't turn around and destruction? Even in the world they say pride goes before a fall. Destruction and probably hell. 1:12:12 Uh you don't believe me? Okay, I believe it. I hope such people will repent. That's why I'm not very gentle with such people. I'm very firm and hard. 1:12:33 You see, it's like if you see a man sleeping in a house which is on fire, what do you say? Sir, will you please get up? I said, can you please get up? And you tried. Oh, 10 times I spoke to him. He never got up. Let him get burnt 1:12:51 down. You don't love him. You know what I'll do? I'll turn the cot and make him fall on the floor and he'll wake up. He'll wonder what I did. And when he sees the house on fire, he'll thank me. When you love people, you do that. 1:13:09 When you don't love people, you're this foolish type of uncleness. Why do you think Jesus turned around to Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You're interested in the things of man, not the things of God." 1:13:28 He was like that because he loved Peter so much. That's how it is, brothers and sisters. We need to be firm. If you find your children going the wrong way, don't be gentle with them. be 1:13:45 firm. Correct them so that they don't miss out on God's purpose for them. So they don't miss out on what God planned for their life when he sent that little child into your home. We have such a responsibility 1:14:03 that we ourselves sow what is right and teach our children. Remember my son, my daughter, the little little decisions you take today in college with your fellow students and daily life will ultimately determine 1:14:21 what you become. I want to say to all of you who are sitting, you have today become the sum total of all the little decisions you made in the past many years. 1:14:38 I have become the sum total of the decisions I made in my life from the time I was born again. Certain decisions little little and we are making decisions every day. How to react to people, how to speak back to people, how to behave myself, 1:14:56 shall I choose this or that. We're choosing every day. And think of the millions of decisions we make in 20 years. That's what you'll become. 1:15:14 That's we are sewing thoughts, words, the way you speak to people, you're sewing something. Don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget that when you speak to your husband in certain way, you're sewing something. You're sewing something in your home, in 1:15:31 your relationship. You're sowing something that your children are going to see. They're going to learn from the way you speak to your wife. You're sowing something. What are you going to reap? You're going to No, you'll reap exactly what you've sown. 1:15:48 And your children will reap exactly what they have seen you sow into their life. It scares me, but it also encourages me that I can sew the right things and get a good harvest. And it all begins with the first 1:16:07 selfdeception I showed you in Galatians. This is the second deception that don't be deceived. You will reap what you sow. But the first one is don't think you're a somebody when you're a nobody. What have you accomplished for God in your 1:16:22 life? If you got something that God has really borne witness to you, then you got something to talk about. have that. What are you boasting about? That you earned such a good salary? That you got a post-graduate degree? 1:16:37 That you're so smart and capable and clever? Things which have no value in eternity, no value in heaven. These are the things you glory in. I find that even with preachers I find you know I find in in India in most Christian churches there's such a 1:16:55 tremendous admiration of American preachers and American song leaders and you know they watch on the internet and on television and all the way American preachers preach and I vowed in my life I'd never preach like them. 1:17:11 Most Christian song leaders, if they are honest, they'll say they're not natural. They are blindly imitating something they have seen in some video, some television of how American song leaders sung their songs. If I were a song leader, I'd 1:17:31 never do that. I said, "They're not my examples. I would like to lead singing the way Peter would lead it. not some way some American song leader leads it. I'm just not interested. And as a preacher, I would like to preach the way Paul and Peter preach, 1:17:49 not the way these Americans preach. In every area, I find there's a tremendous unconscious feeling. These are the great men. They are not. Look at Jesus. Do you know that Jesus leads songs? I'll show you that in Hebrews chapter 2. 1:18:08 Learn from him. says in Hebrews chapter 2, I say this for the benefit of all who are listening to me on the internet. It says about Jesus, Hebrews chapter 2 1:18:41 and verse 12. He says he's not ashamed to call us brethren. I'll proclaim your name to my brethren and in the midst of the church I will sing your praise. This is Jesus. 1:19:00 I say, Lord, I'd like to see how you sing praise in the midst of the church, in the midst of the congregation. That's how I want to sing. Even if I'm just standing there, not a leader, but just singing the midst of the church. I want to sing the way you 1:19:18 would sing in the midst of the church. My examples are not what I see on YouTube. No, it's what I see in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 12. 1:19:35 These are little little things, but it's a little seed that produces a harvest. It's very rare to see godly preachers who seek to preach like Jesus, godly song leaders who seek to lead like Jesus 1:19:54 would. And one mark of it would be this. They don't draw attention to themselves. That's how you know whether you're following Jesus or not. They try their best to be hidden so that people don't go away saying what 1:20:12 a wonderful preacher but they say boy what a wonderful salvation this is. They don't go away saying what a wonderful way he led the songs but oh boy that was so good singing to Jesus like that. It's very rare to find preachers and 1:20:31 song leaders like that. But we want to raise up many like that in our churches. And we want many in the congregations also to learn this way of life to sew in our thoughts. The type of thought Jesus wants us to 1:20:51 think to meditate on scripture. I often meditate on one verse of scripture that Jesus said, "The greatest in heaven is a little child." What can a little two-month old baby in 1:21:08 a cradle boast about? Is that the greatest Lord? I want to be like that. I want to have the same thoughts in my mind. Listen to me that a two-month old baby has in his mind about himself. Make that your goal. When you think 1:21:30 about yourself, not about scripture. In scripture, we must be mature. 1 Corinthians 14:E 20-22 says, "In understanding, be mature. In other things, be like children." So I say in scripture knowledge I want 1:21:48 to be the most mature person but when it comes to the thoughts about myself and we all think about ourself we all think about what other people think of us. You're a liar if you say you don't think about that. You do think about 1:22:03 what other people think about you. Then I want to be like a little child a two-month-old. What is he thinking about what other people are thinking about him? I want to be like that. So such thoughts ultimately it'll become your character. 1:22:21 One last verse. Proverbs and chapter 23. Proverbs 23 and verse 7. 1:22:39 Just a little bit of that verse. Proverbs 23:7. As he thinks inside himself, that's what he really is. What you think within yourself, 1:22:58 that is what you really are, not what other people think you are or what impression you give and all that rubbish. As you think there you discover whether you're humble or not. It's not what other people think about you. It's not the impression you 1:23:15 give with your mannerisms. But as you think in your heart when We know that the humble will always 1:23:38 receive grace for every situation, to be more than conquerors, to follow in your footsteps always until the very end. And to be prepared for any situation or eventuality that can happen in the future, that they'll be more than 1:23:54 conqueror. We want to sing the first and last verse 1:24:13 of the song. Jesus only Jesus ever Jesus in all we sing. See we sanctify your healer glorious Lord and coming king. First and the last verse. [Music] 1:24:54 Jesus only is our message. Jesus all our theme shall be. We will lift up Jesus ever. Jesus only will we see. 1:25:13 Jesus only. Jesus ever. Jesus all in all we say. Savior, sanctifier, healer, glorious Lord and coming king. 1:25:33 Last verse. And for Jesus we are waiting, listening for the advent call, but could still be Jesus only. Jesus ever 1:25:51 all in all. Jesus only. Jesus ever. Jesus all in all we say. Savior, sanctifier, healer, 1:26:08 glorious Lord and coming king. [Music] We want to praise the Lord for his word 1:26:25 and we want to raise up a generation of brothers and sisters who lift up Jesus in all that they do. Amen. Yeah. We want to greet 1:26:38 [Music] [Music] [Music] 1:27:08 Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] 1:27:19 [Music] Heat. 1:27:35 [Music] [Music] Heat. 1:27:55 [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. 1:28:31 Heat. [Music] [Music] 1:28:55 Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] 1:29:26 [Music] [Music] 1:29:43 [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] 1:30:10 Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. 1:30:19 [Music] Are those 1:31:01 [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] 1:31:36 Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] 1:32:04 Heat. Heat. [Applause] 1:32:08 [Music] 1:32:28 Heat. [Music] [Music] 1:32:53 Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] 1:33:36 Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] 1:33:54 Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] 1:34:21 Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] 1:34:44 Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. 1:35:09 [Music] Heat. Heat. Another 1:35:36 one. [Music] [Music] 1:36:14 Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. 1:36:31 [Music] [Music] 1:36:52 Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] 1:36:58 [Music] 1:37:27 [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. 1:37:40 [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. 1:38:20 Heat. [Music] Heat. 1:38:39 [Music] [Music] [Music] 1:39:12 Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. 1:39:38 [Music] [Music] Heat. 1:40:01 [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] 1:40:34 Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] 1:41:03 [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] 1:41:29 [Music] 1:41:47 Heat. Heat. [Music] 1:42:17 Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. 1:42:32 [Music]
