0:01 [Music] Dear heavenly father, I ask for your voice to speak Lord. When you speak, we get faith and faith is the only way we can overcome the world. So speak to us today, Lord, at this time 0:22 as you have been speaking today and you will continue to speak. I pray that every one of us sitting here will not hear earthly words or the words of any man or even a cute idea but a voice from heaven saying come up higher. 0:38 A voice from heaven that says that your plans for us are for our welfare to give us a future and a hope. May we have years to hear what you are saying. Not we what we think, what others have said, not our own ideas and trying to fit what 0:57 we hear into our preconceived notions. But give us ears to hear what you are saying through the Holy Spirit to the church and build your church, Lord, through us, every single one of us. I pray especially for these young people 1:10 that they will be men and women who are pillars in your church. Thank you, Father, for this time. we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay. I would um like us to begin by turning to a verse 1:29 in Matthew chapter 13. When I think of fruitfulness, we're speaking about fruitfulness. I think about the seed that Jesus 1:49 talked about and more importantly the soils. The seed is the same. The same seed was planted. It was the same sewer who planted but the soils were different. And it could be the case here today that the same seed is going to be sown. The 2:07 same sewer is speaking that's Jesus Christ. But each of us has different soil. And I hope our hope through these gatherings partly why we only invite a few of you it's invitation only is we're looking for those who have a desire whom 2:25 we think at least that we know of who have a desire for to have one common type of soil and that's the soil in verse 8 that yielded a 100fold. If you have the kind of soil in your heart that you're happy to hear something and then the birds of the air 2:43 take it away or you have the kind of soil in your heart where you receive it with joy but then when the afflictions come you're like no it's not really for me. Or if you have the kind of soil in your heart where you allow other things to 3:01 come up like the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, then you're wasting your time here. If you're the kind of if you have the kind of soil in your heart that wants to produce a 30% Christianity, then this conference is not for you. If 3:20 you have the kind of soil in your heart that wants to produce a 60% Christianity for God, I want to tell you this conference is not for you. We have we have one goal and that is that the fruit of your life will be what said in Matthew 13:8 yielding a 100fold 3:37 fruit. I want for my own life, my desire increasingly over the last number of years has been that I get 100% return and maybe I'll tell you that wasn't the case for me for many years and probably has not been the case for 3:56 you for many years. Maybe even up to today you feel like Lord I've given you 60%. That's better than 50%. It's more than half. That's good. But I hope you leave this conference with a passion that the fruit of your life will be 4:10 100%. That's the only acceptable outcome. We're not told much about why some of the sea good soil produced 30fold or 60fold. In fact um um it says that the soil was good in verse 4:30 8 30% 60% 100%. So the 30% yield was good soil. Jesus said it was good but it's not my destiny. I don't believe it was Jesus goal that anybody should settle for good 30% 4:49 produce. The others had 0% produce, but our goal is 100fold. Paul said it this way. If you turn with me to Colossians chapter 1, we're thinking about being fruitful. Fruitful for me, 5:07 30% is not an acceptable fruitfulness. 60% is not an acceptable fruitfulness. I hope that you will set as a target for your life 100% and nothing less than that. Paul said in Colossians 1 verse 28 5:24 that the reason he preached and the reason he corrected that's what admonishing means and he did that for everybody whether they were friends of his whether they were his relatives or his co-workers. It 5:40 doesn't matter who it was. He proclaimed Christ and he corrected everyone. Admonished. Admonished is a strong word. It's the closest thing I can think of is spanking. Verbal spanking. Paul gave verbal spankings. I'm quite 5:57 sure he gave it to Deus. We know he gave it to Timothy. You can read about it. Strong words. He gave the elders in the church in Ephesus strong words. He said, "People are going to come in and deceive you elders." He wasn't afraid of what they thought of 6:14 him. And I believe he gave strong admonishment to Deeus. That's why Deeus fell away, got offended, fallen to somebody else who would not be as strong with him. But go Paul goes on to say, "Teaching, proclaiming Christ, admonishing everyone, and teaching 6:31 everyone. For what reason? that we may present everyone 100% yield complete in Christ. That's our goal. I thought about this verse as I was getting ready to speak that our goal is that not a single one of you sitting here listening to this 6:50 message will end up at the end of your life with anything less than 100% return because that's your destiny. That's what fruitfulness really means. That's why if you turn with me to Acts 20 in what he told the church in 7:06 Ephesus, the elders in Ephesus for the last time he saw them, these were elders that he had appointed, elders that he had invested time with. For three and a half years, he for three years he stayed with them and spoke to them day and night. 7:24 And here's how he described it. Acts 20 27 I did not shrink from declaring to you the 100% purpose of God. Not 60% or 30%. Paul preached the entire council of God. 7:43 He preached everything. And the reason that's on my heart is that I've come across many Christians, many people who have come to RLCF, to our conferences, and many who have even sat in your seats. And by that I mean have attended youth 8:02 conferences and singles conferences over the years who after some period of time I hear them say, you know, I I started going to this other church and they teach the same thing. It's yeah, it's not not much different. And I'm not going to make this message 8:19 about why we are have everything right and everybody else has everything wrong. Please make make I hope I make it clear that that's not what I'm going to say now. But there is something that's different about what we believe and what 8:34 we seek to live and what we teach. And it saddened me that for many young people who have sat in these conferences that after all of that time, they haven't really seen that there is a difference between what we teach and what we especially what we seek to 8:53 live and teach. If that wasn't the case, honestly, let's just go to one of the other churches in this area or you pick a church in your area that probably has more money to do things more comfortably and uh have more 9:11 activities and everything more nice nicer from an earthly standpoint and more people a larger group of people if there isn't really a difference. Now, it's easy for us to see the difference between worldly Christian that's blatantly worldly, 9:30 people who look just like the world, talk just like the world, live just like the world, but come and act holy on a Sunday morning that you can probably see. But it's the ones that are closer. If you don't see the difference between 9:44 white and off-white, you could be deceived. And I'm not here to say that uh CFC is the only church that's pleasing to the Lord. But there's a reason that I'm a part of RLCF. There's a reason that we've invited you all who have made a commitment to be in 10:02 fellowship with our like-minded churches for this reason that we emphasize certain things that other churches don't. And I wonder how many of you are here at the CFC North America singles disciplehip 10:22 gathering for that reason. If not, I hope you'll know it after this session that what is it that's distinctive about what we emphasize? I want to state again and reiterate. We don't believe that we are the only pleasing 10:40 believers or pleasing church to God in this world. In fact, it's quite possible that some people sitting in our churches are not pleasing to the Lord. I don't believe that everybody who sits in a church that has that's affiliated with 10:55 CFC is necessarily pleasing to the Lord. And I also don't believe that everybody who's pleasing to the Lord is sitting in CFC affiliated churches. But based on what I the verses that I just read, we have a responsibility to 11:09 present to you all dear especially dear young brothers and sisters the whole council of God. Because what I see in Christryendom is many churches that are presenting some of the council of God, even most of the council of God, but not the whole 11:26 council of God. And I'm not even going to say that we have the whole council of God. There's much more that we are still to learn. But I'll say this what I've said in our church quite often and I'll say it unashamedly that everything that I see 11:42 in the New Testament, I see our sisterhood of churches practicing. Everything that I see in the New Testament, there may be things I haven't seen yet that once I once we see it, we'll do it. But everything that I see in the New 11:58 Testament is what we uh seek to live out and teach. And everything that we live out and teach, I see in the New Testament. If that's not the case, if you can say, "Stosh at RLCF, I noticed that you do this. Can you show me why 12:15 you do that? Show me from the New Testament why you do that?" Any church that you go to, whether it's has an affiliation with CFC or not, anything that they do, if you see that it's not in the principles of the New Testament, 12:31 you ought to be able to go to those leaders and say, "Why do you do this? Is it just because we noticed that that other church went from 100 to a thousand by doing this? So, we want to do the same thing. Let's do that." or we 12:45 stopped doing this even though it's written in the scriptures because we won't be able to draw as many people. I'll give you a simple example. Many churches that used to practice the head covering for women have gone away from 12:57 that because it's not popular in Christendom anymore or not popular in the world anymore or in Christendom and yet it's clearly written in the New Testament. So that's a simple example. And again, I'm not here to say that they 13:11 are disobeying God or they're not pleasing to God. I just want to make sure that I'm pleasing to the Lord and that you all who have entrusted yourself into our care as spiritual elders also know what it means to live a life that's 13:26 pleasing to the Lord. And so I thought I would express to you 12 things that I see as distinctives in the in our churches which all of it you'll see in the New Testament. I'm going to put them up on the screen so that you can see it. 13:42 I'll share it with you later on but feel free to write your own notes in your own words so that you understand that. The first is this. Um let me go here. Yeah. To be Jesus disciple, you must be detached from your family, 13:59 from pleasing yourself, and from all worldly things. Let's turn to Luke 14. As I've been saying, I believe that true fruitfulness means that I have a radical 14:16 commitment to 100% of what Christ has said. Not going to leave out anything. I'm not going to add anything 100%. Luke 14, we read in verse 26, first of all, Jesus said this to a large crowd that came to him. Large crowds 14:34 were going along with him. And he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." 14:53 To be Jesus disciple, you must be detached from your family. If there's anything that's holding you back from obeying Christ, following him because of attachment to family. Oh, but my mom this or my dad this, my brother this, my sister this, my 15:12 children this, you don't have children, but whatever it might be, attachment. What will they say? And the devil will come to you with, "Oh, but they took such good care of me and I'm going to what will happen to them if I if I forsake everything and 15:26 follow Christ? Jesus didn't give give any explanation and he didn't give any wiggle room for special cases of people who have uh reasons for why they don't have to obey it. In one time Jesus somebody came to Jesus and said uh let me go first bury 15:44 my father and uh Jesus reply to that was almost harsh let the dead bury the dead. This was the radical attitude that Jesus had towards detachment from family. And think about it is the church that you're attending, the church that you 16:03 want to be a part of emphasizing this that we're not attached to our family. That includes in-laws. Verse 27, whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. You cannot be a a disciple of Jesus if you are not detached from 16:20 pleasing yourself. If the reason you go to a church is out of something that you'll get out of it, a self-pleasing, the reason that you um buy certain things or spend your time on certain things, if it's because I will feel good if I do that, you cannot 16:40 be a disciple of Jesus. Verse 33, so then none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. What does that mean practically, dear young brothers and sisters? If you do not have a mentality that God can actually take away, 16:58 actually, I don't mean um theoretically, philosophically, actually take away everything that you have. If there's anything that you have in your life that you're not willing for God to take away in order for you to be his disciple, then that's a possession. 17:18 God wants you to give it up. What is a possession? A possession for me, the definition that I've seen in studying the scriptures and in knowing Christ is this is something that I actually don't cannot afford for Christ to take away 17:32 from me. Whatever that might be for some of you like me who came to the United States on a work visa and now seek permanent residency here and such, it could be that I want to be able to live in this country. What will happen if I 17:44 lose my job and then I have to go back? Or for those of you who don't have that problem with visa, it could be something else. You want to marry somebody. You want a particular job. You want a a particular life that you see somebody 17:56 else have. Lay it on the altar today. Dear brother, dear sister. Don't hold on to it anymore. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus if you're holding on to your family or to pleasing yourself or to anything in this world. Okay. Number two, the secret to freedom 18:16 from all insecurities is to know God as your father personally. The secret to freedom from all insecurities is to know God as your father personally. John 17 verse 23. John 17:23, I in them and you in me, 18:45 that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you have loved me. Jesus was the most secure person that ever lived on the face of this earth. I'm sure you would agree with that. And 19:04 yet he never got married. And yet he had the temptation to want to be married. Do you believe that? I believe it. He had to be tempted in all points as we are. I believe Jesus knew that his calling in life was to not be 19:21 married. And I want to be careful that I don't delve too much into the inner thoughts of Christ that we don't know that much about. But he was tempted in all points as we are. That means if we and you all now I was when I was single 19:35 but you all as single who are who have this desire to get married he had it too I believe and then the but he knew from the father no this is not for you and he willingly said not my will but yours be done and yet I just 19:52 use that as an as an example Jesus lived the most secure life that was ever lived on the face of this earth And yet Jesus had less money than any of us has. Jesus lived in a far poorer society than 20:10 we live today. You talk about job uncertainty. It's a it's a little bit of an uncertain time job-wise for a lot of people. I think it was a lot worse in Jesus' time. Certainly Jesus had to be tested in that area as well. Amidst all of those things 20:26 that cause uncertainty and insecurity in your life, Jesus was the most secure person that ever lived on the face of this earth. And that's simply because he knew he was loved by the father. That's it. God didn't have to solve his 20:43 problem. God didn't have to give him the job that he wanted or get him married to the person he wanted to get married to to solve the insecurity. And I say that because the devil will get you to think if only God would solve this problem for 20:56 me, I will find security in life. If I had enough money in the bank account or if I knew that I could get this job or what what my future holds, then I would be secure. No, that's a lie of the devil. The only way you will find 21:10 security in life is if you come to know your father's love, your heavenly father's love for you. What is it, dear friend, that the devil is trying or your flesh, let's not blame the devil for everything. It's often our flesh that is 21:24 the problem, is trying to tell you will solve your problem of insecurity. Something else besides God, your father, it will never solve it. Ask the richest man in the world. Sometimes the richest people in the world are the most insecure. Just watch 21:40 their Twitter feed. You'll see they're quite insecure and you know they're insecure. Insecurity doesn't come from being a billionaire or getting married or having a secure job or getting permanent residency and citizenship. 21:53 These are things in this world that are passing away. Insecurity comes when one security comes from one place and one place alone. That is knowing that your father in heaven loves you personally. Okay. Number three, true Christianity is 22:11 to live exactly as Jesus lived on this earth. No exception. 1 John chapter 2. As I say these things, as these are going through your mind and as you write them down, the time may come when you will have to evaluate things like, let 22:30 me just uh step aside for a second and and talk about this. You'll have to make decisions on the kind of person you will marry. on the kind of church you will be a part of and uh the kind of relationships you will invest in. And I encourage you, I 22:47 urge you, my dear brothers and sisters, to use these criteria, these things that I'm talking about here as a guide for who you will get married to, if the Lord has marriage for you, for what kind of church you will choose to be integrated 23:00 into and be a part of. Because if they're not emphasizing these things, not going in this direction, one day it will lead you astray from the whole council of God. 1 John 2 verse 6 says, "The one who says he abides in him, that is abides in 23:17 Christ, must walk in the same manner as Christ walked, must and the living Bible says must live exactly as Christ lived on this earth. And by that we don't mean that we must all be carpenters. We must all go live 23:36 in Nazareth and then in Capernaam or wherever. We must all wear the same kind of clothes that Jesus wore. Uh we must all have the same kind of ministry. The devil will get you sidetracked with an emphasis on these outward things. It's 23:49 in the inner life. You must have the same inner attitude in everything that you do that Jesus had. That's what it really means to be a Christian. that you must have the same attitude in the inside towards everybody and everything 24:06 on this earth that Jesus had. True Christianity is to live exactly as Jesus lived on earth. Okay. Number four, your life must be a witness of Christ. Let's pause there for a moment. Your 24:24 life must be a witness of Christ. People must be able to look at your life. I think we heard that already in some of the testimonies and in the message earlier this morning already. Your life must be a witness of Christ. Somebody 24:38 ought to be able to say there's something different about her. There's something different about him. It's got the taste of Christ in it in him. In her. So your life must be a witness of Christ. Not just your words. It's being a witness. Turn to Acts 24:55 chapter 1. Jesus spoke about bearing witness. The Holy Spirit does that in us and we also do that. We bear witness to who Jesus is. We are witnesses of his resurrection. Uh the disciples proclaim 25:15 that. And we also are witnesses of who Jesus is. That he's the Lord of heaven and earth. That he's risen from the dead. We are witnesses of Jesus. We are bearing witness of him. But we're also we are witnesses. We speak with our tongue bearing witness 25:33 of Christ. But we must also live it out in our life. And that's why somebody who doesn't who can't speak, let's say somebody's mute, not unable to speak, they can still be a witness of Christ without being able to speak. 25:45 But in order to do that, you can only be a witness of Christ if you are filled with the Holy Spirit. You know what that ought to do? What that did did for me a few years ago is I realized that if I was living a life not filled with the 26:00 Holy Spirit, which up up to that point in time I wasn't. I wasn't I didn't have a burden or a passion to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It was sort of like, oh, the church that I go to says I should be filled with the Holy Spirit. 26:10 Yeah, let me seek for I guess it would be a nice thing to have. But it wasn't a I cannot take one more step forward until you fill me with the Holy Spirit because I realized that whatever I was doing, being a Christian, thinking I was a 26:26 Christian, speaking about Christ, wasn't really bearing witness to him because it didn't come from the fullness of the Holy Spirit. You can only be a witness of Christ if you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 1 verse 8 says, "You 26:42 will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Then you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." I hope if nothing else, this point causes us, drives us all to our knees to 27:01 say, 'Lord, whatever I've been doing up to this point, if I'm not been filled with the Holy Spirit, whatever I've been doing up to this point has just been an empty thing. I haven't really been a witness for you because you haven't 27:13 filled me with the Holy Spirit. And the disciples knew good well enough that they ought not to go out into I mean you know that these same disciples at least many of them if not all of them you know these among them I think among 27:28 the 120 were some of the 70 who were sent out 72 that Jesus sent out right two by two they had gone and borne witness and baptized and cast out demons and done miracles. You read about it, Luke 10, I think. Um, and went to 27:42 different places. You know what Jesus was saying? That stuff that you did, that wasn't really bearing witness of me. That was something good you did. Yes, I sent you, but now that I'm ascended up to heaven, the only way you can be a witness of me 27:57 is if you are filled with the Holy Spirit. And you read in Luke 24 that they uh Jesus told them, "Go and shut yourself up in the city." and recently that let me show you that verse Luke 24 49 similar words Jesus said Luke 24:49 28:24 Jesus said I'm sending forth the promise of my father upon you and we know in Acts 1:8 that was so that they would be witnesses of him and then he said you are to stay in the city until you receive this power And recently the 28:38 Lord's been convicting me about it's not physically a city anymore but in my mind and in my ambitions and in my goals and in ministry or certain things that I do there are other cities that I'm traveling to other work other things that I do and 28:56 and and the Lord was calling me especially to say Santo stay in the city stay in that city in your mind as it were with me until you receive this power for that next city I'm going to send to send you to. And before you do 29:10 anything, let's say you wake up, you're you're falling, you you you're waking up tomorrow morning and you're about to like, okay, we got to get to Burch's house by 8:00. And before you even do that, before you go to that next city, 29:23 think about that next city, like the next day, stay today until you receive power for that next day. That's how the Lord applied it to me. Before you go into that next city, before you go into that next project, before you go into that next adventure, 29:38 that next chapter of your life, before you take that next decision, stay until you receive power. Stay there until you receive power. You your life must be a witness of Christ. Otherwise, you're wasting your life. But you can only do that if you are filled 29:53 with the Holy Spirit. Number five, you are fully cleansed and justified when you are born again. You are fully cleansed and justified when you are born again. And for many churches, many good churches, perhaps many churches that you've been a part 30:12 of, the message ends there because it's fully, it sounds complete. It sounds like the full council of God because you're fully cleansed and fully justified when you're born again. And yet God wants to sanctify you while you 30:27 are here on earth so that you can become a partaker of his divine nature. Yes, you're fully cleansed. That doesn't change. Yes, you're fully justified. That doesn't change either. But there's something more God wants to do. He wants 30:41 you to be become a partaker of his divine nature. And in order to do that, he must sanctify you. That's why the moment we're born again, he doesn't take us up to heaven. Our work on earth is not ended when we're born again. In fact, I heard one 30:59 preacher once say that I'm as perfect as I'm ever going to be because of Christ. That's a halftruth. I'm as perfect in cleansing and I'm as perfect in justification as I ever will be. You can't be more cleansed than fully 31:13 cleansed. You can't be more justified than fully justified, but you must be being sanctified if you are to know the full counsel of God. Second Peter chapter 1 verse 4 31:33 or verse three. God has given us his divine power and that divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. 2 Peter 1:3 through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. 31:50 Because by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises. that is by his the grace and the peace uh and the knowledge of God verse two and the divine power through all of these he's granted to us 32:09 his precious and magnificent promises so that by all of these together this is the ultimate goal you become a partaker of his divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust so you're fully cleansed and fully 32:25 justified but God has promised you something more. There is a a work that's still to be done by the Holy Spirit in your life. And that's why God has left you here on this earth. Yes, you're as cleansed as you'll ever be. You're as 32:42 justified as you'll ever be. But God wants to sanctify you and cleanse more and more and more of your life so that you can become a partaker of his divine nature. And the divine nature cannot exist in an unsanctified area of your 32:58 life. Remember this that God cannot pour his divine nature into. He wants you to for every part of your being to have his divine nature in it. the way you speak, the way you think, your attitudes, your motives, your goals, when you're caught off guard 33:15 suddenly and your gut reaction or your instinctive reaction, all of that. God wants that to be his divine nature. But he cannot do that until he has sanctified that area of your life. God wants to sanctify every area of your 33:32 life. This is what the Bible calls sanctification. Sanctification just means mean means being set apart. wants to take that area and say that used to be Santos did whatever he wanted to do in that area. Now it's set apart for 33:44 Christ to do what he wants. Every every every single area you're fully cleansed and justified when you're born again. But God wants to sanctify you because this is the whole council of God. You can be a partaker of his divine nature. 34:00 Recently, dear young brothers and sisters, this has become so precious to me that I can be a partaker of his divine nature. I'll tell you why. I heard this phrase when I was a little boy and it was a big word and I heard it 34:12 and heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it and it just became, yeah, I'm a partaker of his divine nature. But recently, I've stopped and broken that down. God's divine nature is the most valuable thing in the world. You you you think 34:26 about being a billionaire, trillionaire, quadrillionaire, whatever it is, that's nothing. The divine nature of God, this is the most precious thing. I mean angels have been around it for millennia and they would love they long to look it 34:39 says they would love to say I would love to have a little bit of God's divine nature and to think that fallen human beings like us who messed up so much and who still do that God would say I'm going to give you that and it just breaks me sometimes when I 34:57 think about it that wretched me God would say I'm going to give you my divine nature you'll partake of it with me. There will only be a few forever, for all eternity. There will be only a few. I really believe Jesus said 35:13 only a few will find the way to become partakers of divine nature. There will be God who before time and forever will always have its divine nature. We'll never lose it. The father, the son, and the holy spirit. And then, believe it or 35:25 not, mystery of mysteries, there will be some others, a few others, a select few. who will have God's divine nature in them. I hope you want to do have that. I hope that ignites a passion. Lord, I want to be in that number and I want as 35:42 many as as I can bring along with me to be a partaker, not just to get to heaven. And I hope you know that there will be in heaven some who have not fully partaken of God's divine nature. I see it's written all over the book of 35:53 Revelation, the multitudes of people who are rejoicing with the bride and the lamb. That's not my destination. that's not yours. That shouldn't be the destination of the church you're a part of or the person you want to get married to. No 36:08 matter how attractive they are and how nice everything else seems, our destination, dear brothers and sisters, is to be a partaker of his divine nature. Number six, true Christianity, if this is the way you want to go, what I've been 36:23 describing is to walk the way of taking up your cross every day. Luke chapter 9 verse 23. Luke 9 verse 23. 36:57 He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." You know what taking up your cross means? True Christianity is to walk the way of taking up your cross 37:13 every day. If you saw somebody in Jesus day taking up the cross, walking with a cross, you knew there was only one thing that lay ahead of them. They were going to die. That's it. Today's equivalent would be watching somebody being led out of their prison 37:30 cell to the death chamber. There's a chamber in which they they uh they strap you to a garnney and they inject this whatever the chemical is that puts you to sleep permanently. 37:47 Walking into death chamber. True Christianity is to walk the way of going into the death chamber every day. That's what Jesus was if he was today if he was speaking. That's the analogy he would use. Imagine a man walking out 38:04 with strapped with, you know, chained handcuffs, walking out of his prison cell into the death chamber about to get and they put him into that chair and they he's strapped down and what what all is going through his mind? Is he thinking, "Oh, I 38:19 want to get married. Oh, I I could make a little bit more money today. Oh, I wish I could get that job. I wish I could get a green card." No. There's one thing on his mind is I've got seconds left to live. This is what it means to walk the way of 38:35 the cross every day that okay, Lord, if you give me this thing that I think would be helpful, that's great. But I don't want what I want. I want what you want. What Santos wants is about to be put to death. And you ought to we ought to be walking 38:52 around like that. People about whom it said that what they want, what I want, what they want is be about to be put to death. That's what it means to walk the way of the cross. Lord, everything that I want, you're about to take it. You're 39:06 I'm laying it down on the altar. I don't want not my will, but yours. True Christianity is to walk the way of this taking up your cross. Not just once, not just when you take water baptism. Every day, tomorrow morning when you wake up, 39:24 picture yourself getting up, walking into the death chamber. What is the death chamber? It's what Santosh wants to do. What you want to do, what would be good for me. I'm going to make decisions based on what I like and what will feel good for me. And I'm 39:38 going to talk to this person and talk to that person, and I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm going to impress people by how I look by dressing this way or make putting my making my hair a certain way or talking this way 39:47 to that person. All that is going into the death chamber from today onwards. That's true Christianity. Is that the kind of person you want to get married to then? Somebody else who's walking into death row or do you want 40:01 the handsome boy and the beautiful girl who's not walking into death chamber? Number seven, truly knowing Jesus means that you will increasingly come to a life of overcoming all conscious sin. 40:19 Truly knowing Jesus means that you will come increasingly, it won't happen overnight, but increasingly come to a life of overcoming victory over all conscious sin. 1 John chapter 3 verse 4. Everyone who practices sin also 40:43 practices lawlessness and sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin. So, no one who abides in him sins, and no one who sins has seen him 41:00 or knows him. You ought to I think we ought to meditate on this verse much more than we have. 1 John 3:6, no one who sins has seen him or knows him. That means the next time you choose 41:17 willfully to go and sin and commit sin in that particular area, there's something about this verse that is true. And I'm not here to judge you or condemn you or to tell you that you're not really born again or anything like that 41:29 because I know I have sinned after I was born again. And it doesn't mean that we will never fall into sin. But there must be a radical attitude towards sin as radical as me saying, "Lord, I don't think I've even seen you because I just 41:43 went and said that and did that and looked at that on my phone or treated that other person that other way or had this sinful thought. I don't even think I know you, Lord." And I tell you brothers and sisters, my honest 41:55 testimonies after years and years of struggling in different areas, falling in different areas, the moment I took it as seriously as this, God started to give me the experience of this verse, increasingly coming to a life of 42:11 overcoming all conscious sin. Truly knowing because it says that's what it means to know him. A lot of Christians say, "I know Jesus." Do you know Jesus? People on the street will ask you, "Do you know Jesus?" Sometimes 42:26 on the plane, you'll get somebody says, "Do you know Jesus?" I think it's a good question to ask. Yeah. But do you really know him? The test is what's your attitude towards conscious sin? I say conscious sin because if anyone says he 42:39 has no sin, he deceives himself. John also says, so we all have areas of unconscious sin. God doesn't judge us for that. But the areas that he's shown you that you know our sin if you don't have a radical attitude towards it where 42:52 you say Lord I've been deceiving myself that I know you or have seen you because of how lacks an attitude I had towards this sin. Help me to take it seriously. Now the context of this I want you to see brothers before and sisters before I 43:05 move on is this chapter verse one. See how great a love the father has bestowed upon us that we would be called children of God. He's not pointing at you says, "Hey, you don't know me or seen me." He says, "I want you to know me. I want you 43:20 to see me. See how great a love the father has bestowed upon us that we can see him and know him as our father and be his children that we would be called the children of God." And verse two, we are the children of God, but it has not 43:34 appeared as yet what we will be. But we know this that when he appears, we will be like him. We will be partakers of his divine nature. like I was just saying because we will see him just as he is. We will re we will know that we have 43:49 really seen him. And so if you have this hope, leave this meeting with hope. Dear brothers, dear sisters, even if you've been defeated by the same sin for 10, 20, 30 years, I don't know, however long it is, however long you've been 44:03 defeated, leave this meeting with hope that you when he when you see him, you will be as he is. And so verse three, purify yourself just as Christ is pure. Ask God to cleanse you and ask God to bring you to a life of victory. Because this is 44:22 what it means to truly know Jesus. This is how you really know that you know him. You increasingly come to a life of overcoming all conscious sin. If you have been defeated by the same sin for 10 years and there isn't a grieving in 44:38 your heart, no matter how long you've been waiting for, if there isn't a you're carrying around this grieving, Lord, I want to be free. I want to be free. I want you to set me free. And that's the thing that preoccupies your 44:49 mind more than making a little bit more money, more than getting married, more than uh all having a ministry. Lord, I want you to set me free. Then you will be free. I think it's so sad that so many people who have entered into ministry, whether 45:04 it's preaching or music ministry or something else, gotten married perhaps, but they haven't had this radical attitude towards sin, they carry that sin into their marriage and they carry that sin into their ministry. That's why 45:15 you hear about so many well-known singers and preachers falling into adultery, falling into find sins with money, loving the approval of men, seeking the honor of people and uh seeking all that is great, compromising with the world. Why? Because there 45:31 wasn't a radical attitude towards sin. Number eight, loving God means being freed from worldliness and the love of money. This is what it means to love God. is being freed from worldliness and the love of money. 45:51 1 John 2 just a few verses before that he says 1 John 2:15 do not love the world nor the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him does it get any more plain than that 46:09 if anyone anyone doesn't matter if they say say they sat in CFC or they did this and did that and preach this and preach that or whatever it might be if anyone one loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. Why do you do whatever it is that you're 46:28 doing? I'm not here to point a finger and say this is what is the world is. That is what the world is. The world is a way of thinking. It's not wearing these types of clothes or that type of hairstyle or anything like that. It's a 46:41 way of thinking. So ask yourself why do did you decide to do that thing? You know what I find is becoming popular nowadays is Christian tattoos. Now I'm not here to make this a sermon about tattoos. Please understand that. But I 46:55 you know and is becoming increasingly popular more and more Christians I see who didn't have tattoos when they came to know Christ. Now they're getting all getting them. Why? I wonder. I don't know. I don't have any tattoos. So I'm 47:07 and I'm not here to judge anybody who does. But the question I would ask is why. And why does your tattoo look just like everybody else's in the world? Are you becoming more like the world? Is it because you love the world and you love 47:21 how that sleeve tattoo looks on that person? So you thought, I think I could do that. Just write Jesus on it instead of whatever it is they put on it. Do not love the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not 47:34 in him. Dear brothers and sisters, take this seriously. Examine your heart. Don't shove it off. Don't sweep it under the carpet. Say, "Oh, Santoshi's a little legalistic. He's too radical. He's preaching legalism. Yes, I know 47:47 I've been accused of that before and probably will be. But I'll tell you this. I hate legalism. I hate it even more than worldliness, but I do hate worldliness, too. And I examine my heart and say, why is it that I make the 47:57 decisions that I make? Is it because I want a little bit of the world? I want to look a little bit like the world. I remember reading an article that really transformed my way of thinking about this by an atheist um who wrote once, he said a statement. 48:12 He wrote an whole article about this about the hypocrisy in Christendom and about you know in the context of somebody some well-known singer had fallen into sin and adultery and he wrote an article about this and I was really struck by it. Sometimes atheists 48:26 speak to me more than even Christian preachers do cuz they're honest and he said in this article he says if you Christians are so busy trying to get us to be a part of your kingdom why is it that you're starting to look more like 48:37 us? Why is it that you're starting to dress more like us and talk more like us and your music sounds more like ours? If your kingdom is really that good, wouldn't you want me to leave this and join that? I've never forgotten it. 48:52 Never forgotten it from an atheist. I believe it's the Lord speaking through him. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not him. Luke not in him. Luke 16 verse 13. Loving God means being freed from 49:10 worldliness and the love of money. And the love of money, oh, it sticks to you, sticks to us like so easily. And the love of money is like layers of an onion. You think you've dealt with the love of money, you'll find some other thing you did that 49:26 secretly there was a little bit of the love of money. And I thank God that my dad especially has preached so much against the love of money because Jesus said Luke 16:13, "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one 49:40 and love the other." That means you either hate money and love God, or else he will be devoted to money and despise God. You're loving one and hating the other. That's it. And the two are God and Mammon. That's it. You cannot love God 49:56 and Mammon. cannot serve God and mammon and wealth. This is very serious. I mean, I remember, you know, recently a year or two ago, my dad spoke to us elders about something as simple as registries, registries in uh weddings, registries 50:13 and baby registries and things like that. And you might think, well, you know, everybody does it. What's wrong with that? But as I talked with my dad for hours, we talked about it and read the things he wrote and u discussed it. 50:24 I started to see more and more and I tell you um it it revealed deeper layers of the love of money and realized that this whole um why don't you get it for me? And I'm not here to judge people's motives on it and or anything like that, 50:38 but simply this, it I love that in our circle of churches, we dig deeper into the love of money, even if people accuse us of being legalistic. I'd rather be free of the love of money than worry about, am I going to be legalistic in 50:52 it? And I tell you, I say it again, I hate legalism. I want nothing of it. But worldliness is dangerous, and the love of money will stick to you. Number nine, a disciple of Jesus will be freed from discouragement, fear, and anxiety. 51:09 A true disciple of Jesus will be freed from all discouragement, fear, and anxiety. Romans chapter 8 verse one says, "Therefore, because verse 25 of chapter 7, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. On the 51:29 one hand, I myself with my mind, I'm serving the law of God. On the other, with my flesh, the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ Jesus, there's no 51:42 condemnation. Why? Because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which you are, which is now operating on you or should be operating on you, has set you free from the law of sin and death. If you are subjecting yourself to 51:56 the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, if you're asking God to fill you with the power of this spirit of life in Christ Jesus, then there's no condemnation. But if you're careless with your life and you still are sub 52:09 allowing yourself to be subject to the law of sin and death, then there probably is condemnation. But if you are in Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is now operating on you. No condemnation. 2 Timothy 1 verse 7. God has not given 52:27 to us a spirit of fear. Any of you if you deal with if if you find that there's an oppressive spirit of fear in your life, always afraid what's going to happen, somebody's going to take advantage of me. A lot of sisters, you 52:39 probably deal with that. Maybe there were men who took advantage of you or other situations that you were you grew up in an atmosphere of fear perhaps in your homes. I don't know. But regardless, if you're in Christ, you're 52:50 a new creation. The old things have passed away. All things have become new. And what's new? There's no more of the spirit of fear. So be done. Fight that. Ask God to set you free from the spirit of fear because he's not given to you a 53:03 spirit of fear. The spirit of fear is not of God. Instead, the spirit of God is full of power and love and discipline or a sound mind. So freedom from discouragement, freedom from fear. And Philippians 4:6, be anxious for nothing. 53:21 Be anxious for nothing. That means you're never allowed any anxiety at all. Whatever it might be, but you say, "But Santos, it looks like there's absolutely no hope." Yes, don't be anxious. That's all I can say. I don't know how it's all 53:32 going to work out or if it's going to work out the way you want it to work out. But one thing I know, don't be anxious. That's the universal rule for those who are in the kingdom of God. Be anxious for nothing. There's absolutely 53:46 no situation in your life ever in the past, the present, or the future that should you should ever have any reason to be anxious. But when you feel that temptation to be anxious, go and pray supplication. Go and lock yourself and say, "Lord, I I 54:03 I'm I'm sensing anxiety coming in. I don't I'm not before I even ask you to deal with a problem. I'm asking you to deal with my anxiety. Lord, remove this from me. You told me not to be anxious." By prayer and supplication with 54:16 thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Number 10. To be a disciple of Jesus means total obedience to all of Jesus commands. To be a disciple of Jesus means total obedience to all of Jesus commands. Matthew 28 54:35 verse 19. Jesus gave us this great commission. Matthew 28:1 19 or verse 18 he says first of all all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth therefore go and make disciples of all the nations there's a 54:54 reason that we call this the singles disciplehip gathering it's a gathering of those who want to be disciples that means those who want 100fold not 99fold or 60fold or anything less than that like less than 100 a gathering of 55:07 disciples not a gathering of people who want to have a good time And yes, talk about the Bible and pray and have good conversation and fellowship, play a little volleyball and some soccer. No, a gathering of disciples. That's who we 55:17 are foremost. That's why we're we're doing this gathering, this conference out of obedience to Matthew 28:1 19. That you all would be disciples. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And 55:31 here's what it means to be a disciple. Teaching them to observe or obey all that I commanded you all. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. If there's a single command in the New Testament that you're 55:45 not obeying, take it seriously, brother, sister. This is what it means to be a disciple. To total obedience to all of Jesus commands. See the hundfold. You'll notice in a lot of these things that I wrote, there's the hundfundfold. There's 55:58 words like total, all, everyone. There's no room for okay, one exception or anything like that. This is a hundfold. Number 11. Every child of God must have the faith that God will do for us everything that he did for Jesus. 56:15 Every child of God must have the faith that God will do for us everything that he did for Jesus. Romans 8:29, you know, verse 28, but 29 is actually uh more of my favorite verse than verse 28. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that God causes 56:34 all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Because why does God cause all things to work together for good?" Because when you because you love him and are called 56:46 according to his purpose, that purpose which God planned for you because he forneew you. And we're told what that purpose is is to become conformed to the image of his son. So that Jesus would be the firstborn among many brethren. That 57:05 Jesus would be the eldest brother of many brothers and sisters. Which means what the father did for the oldest brother, he will do for all the younger brothers and sisters as well. You are as entitled to the divine nature 57:19 as Jesus is. Not being God. Jesus is God in identity, in person, but you're as entitled now to the divine nature. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Does that excite your heart as it does mine? You're as entitled to the divine nature as Jesus 57:35 is. Is Jesus entitled to the divine nature? Of course, that's a no-brainer. But now I'm his younger brother. That means I can ask for the divine nature. The same thing that the father gave Jesus. The father has life in himself, 57:47 Jesus said, and he's given to the son so that the son can give it to whomever he wishes. John 5. And so, brother, sister, if you're a child of God, you are entitled to the divine nature as much as Jesus was. What God did, what the father 58:02 did for Jesus, he'll do for you. John 14 verse 12, truly truly I say to you, he who believes in me, John 1:12 says, he's given the right to become the sons of God. And he goes on to say, "The works 58:21 that I do, he will do also." Why? And greater works than these he will do because I go to the father. Every child of God must have the faith that God will do for us everything that he did for Jesus. And number 12, finally, Christ is uniting his disciples 58:38 into one body. Sorry, there's a few grammatical errors. I was quickly putting this into a slide uh before the session um so that I could have it ready. Christ is uniting his disciples into one body represented by local expressions of that body. Christ is not 58:56 just calling you to be a disciple that is a standalone disciple when there's a local body that he's calling you to be a part of. And I know it's become popular now to kind of uh join on Zoom and things like that. If you don't have a 59:07 local op option, that's great. But uh but the goal should be Lord build integrate me into a local expression of your body. Because I'll tell you this, when you simply join online, and I tell this to people who join RLCF meetings 59:21 online, is your flesh is really not going to be tempted by mine. Because the flesh, the temptation doesn't travel across the internet. Unfortunately, they haven't figured out how to find personality conflicts to rub across the 59:33 internet. Maybe a little bit. I'm sort of being tongue and cheek there, but when you actually have to walk in fellowship and look with somebody that you have to deal with week in week out and you have to see that person and the 59:43 way they talk and the way they act and their quirks and all of this and that unfinished circumstance that you're in, that's where God wants you to unite you. And that can happen to some extent over the internet, over remote meetings. But 1:00:00 really, brothers and sisters, pray that God will plant you into a local expression of his body, into an imperfect body, a body that doesn't look perfect, that isn't finished, to imperfect elders. This is God's will. Christ is uniting 1:00:14 his disciples into one body represented by local expressions of that body. Okay, I will share these points with you later. I didn't come up with these on my own. I hope you know that. If you read CFC's website, you will find an article 1:00:27 called our vision. I think you'll find it called the truth that we about us, the truth that we believe. And then there's a deeper a longer article that my dad has written called what is our vision? And in that he talks about some 1:00:38 of these things, these 12 things I think if I remember correctly. Uh and I've just taken that and expanded on it tried to show you from scripture. And so I I leave you dear brothers and sisters with this that this is what we're 1:00:53 seeking to do through these gatherings. A lot of people ask us hey can can I invite my friend or so and so heard about this sounds like a good gathering. Yeah, a lot of other churches do great youth conferences and we used to do 1:01:03 those in the years past and God has given us a different vision to emphasize these things and to gather a group of people who want to go this way, who want a 100fold yield, who want the whole council of God preached to them, 1:01:17 experiencing it in their life and teaching others to live this way. I hope you'll follow Christ and follow our example as we follow Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I ask for your grace for all of us, Lord, that we will not 1:01:28 just understand these things intellectually, but that that it'll become something that you write through your Holy Spirit on our hearts. I thank you for each of these dear brothers and dear sisters. I pray, Lord, that you 1:01:38 will build your church, a church that emphasizes and stands for these things through these people, every one of them. Lord, that not one of them will be lost, that everyone will be perfect, presented perfect in Christ, and that every one of 1:01:51 us will receive will experience a 100fold fruit in our lives. We thank you, you bless you and praise you, Lord. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. We pray as we've already acknowledged, Lord, we can't do this except that you 1:02:03 fill us with your spirit. And let us see Jesus, Lord, exalted above all the Jesus, the head of the church who fulfills all of this in us, all of this in us. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
