0:00 Heat. Heat. N. [Music] 1:55 A very warm welcome to all of you. Shall we all unite our hearts, bless his name together, let's all stand and even as we celebrate our 40th anniversary as a church, let's join together and be thankful for making us members of his 2:12 family, his body and his body over here, CFC Bangalore. Let's bless his name. Come people of the risen king who delight to bring him praise. Tune your hearts to sing to the morning star of grace. Rejoice. Let every tongue rejoice 2:26 with one heart and one voice, oh church of Christ, let's rejoice. Let's clap and sing. Okay, join with us. Come people of the risen king who 2:46 delight to bring him praise. Come all and tune your hearts to sing to the morning star of grace. From the shifting shadows of the earth, 3:03 we will lift our eyes to him. Where steady arms of mercy reach together, children. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. 3:21 Let every tongue rejoice. One heart, one voice. Oh church of Christ, rejoice. [Music] So come those whose joy is God's own 3:45 son. And those weeping through the night. Come those who tell battle run. And those struggling in the fight. For his perfect love will never change. 4:03 And his mercies never cease. but follow us through all our days with a certain hope of peace. So rejoice, rejoice. 4:20 Let every tongue rejoice with one heart and one voice. Oh judge of Christ, rejoice. [Music] Come young and old from every land. Come 4:40 young and old from every land. Men and women of the faith. Come those with full or empty hands. Find the riches of his grace. 4:57 Over all the world his people sing. Short to shore we hear them call. The truth that cries through every our God is all in it all. Rejoice. So rejoice. 5:16 Rejoice. Let every tongue rejoice with one heart and one voice. Oh church of Christ. Rejoice again. Sing it for rejoice, rejoice. 5:36 Let every tongue rejoice. One heart, one voice. Oh church of Christ, rej. May be seated, please. We lift him up. His name be lifted 5:58 higher. Exalt his holy name. So lift him up. His name be lifted higher. And lift him up. Exalt his holy 6:13 name. Lift him up. His name be lifted higher. Exalt his holy name. Let's sing it again. Lift him up. Lift him up. His name be lifted higher. Lift 6:29 him up. Exalt his holy name. Lift him up. His name be lifted higher. Exalt his holy name. I will come into your presence, Lord, 6:49 with a sacrifice of praise. With a song I will exalt you, Lord. Blessed be your holy name. I will give you all the glory. 7:07 You deliver me from shame. I'm created in your rightuousness. Blessed be your holy name. Lift him up. His name be lifted higher. 7:26 Lift him up. Exalt his holy name. Lift him up. His name be lifted higher. Exalt his holy name. Lift him up. So lift him up. His name be lifted higher. Lift him 7:45 up. Exalt his holy name. Lift him up. His name be lifted higher. Exalt his holy name. Exalt. Exalt his holy name. One more time. 8:04 Exalt his holy name. And joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love, a heart on full 8:23 like flowers before thee, opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness. Light the dark of doubt away. 8:40 Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day. Okay, only the sisters sing. All thy works rejoice around me. Run and 9:00 heaven reflect thy ways. Stars and angels sing around me. Center of the join and sing. field and forest, veil 9:16 and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea, shouting bird and flowing fountain, call us to rejoice in thee. Only the brothers sing. Thou art giving and forgiving, 9:41 everlasting, ever blessed, wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of heaven. all together. Thou our father, Christ our 9:58 brother, all who live and love our God. Teach us how to love each other, lift us through thy joy divine. [Music] 10:18 Mortals join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began. For love divine is raining for us. Finding all within it. 10:37 Ever singing march we onward victors in the midst of strife. Joyful music leads us onwards in the triumph song of life 10:56 [Music] and sitting at the feet of Jesus. [Music] Oh, what words I hear him say. 11:16 [Music] Happy place on so preious. May it find me there each day. Let's sing it slowly. standing 11:32 at the feet of Jesus. I would look upon the past for his love has been so gracious. It has won my heart and love. Sisters 11:55 sing at the feet of Jesus. Where can be hopeless? I lay my sins and sorrows. 12:15 [Music] Let's all join in. Heading at the feet of Jesus. There I love to weep and pray. 12:36 [Music] While I from his fullness gather grace and comfort every day. Brothers only sing. Bless me, oh my savior, bless 12:55 me as I sit low at thy feet. Oh, look down in love upon me. Let me see thy face. 13:15 Let's all sing together. Give me Lord the mind of Jesus. [Music] Keep me holy as he is. May I prove I've been with Jesus 13:37 who is all my righteousness. He's all my righteousness. Yes, he is all my rightousness. What a glorious comfort it is. The Lord's righteousness is ours. This is a 13:56 new song we want to sing. We think about the time to come when I stand before your throne. [Music] Trust in glory not my own. What a joy I'll sing upon that day. No more tears, no broken dreams. Forgotten is the minor 14:15 key. Everything as it was meant to be. We'll worship forever in your presence. We will sing and it'll be an endless hallelujah to the King. Join with us. When I stand before your throne, dressed in glory not my own. 14:35 What a joy I'll sing of on that day. [Music] No more tears or broken dreams. Forgotten is the minor key. Everything 14:50 as it was meant to be. And we will worship worship forever in your presence. We will sing. 15:09 We will worship worship you an endless hallelujah to the king. Let's all stand and think about his goodness, his grace 15:28 to lead us home. When I stand before your throne, glory not my own. Let's sing that again from the top. When I stand before your throne, dressed in glory not my own. What a joy. Sing of on 15:45 that day. No more tears or broken dreams. Forgotten is the minor key. Everything is it was meant to be. 16:02 We will worship worship forever in your presence. We will sing. We will worship worship you 16:23 and endless hallelujah to the king. Sing the second verse. I will see you as you are. Love you with unsettling heart. See how much you paid 16:42 to bring me home. [Music] Not till then, Lord, shall I know. Not till then how much I owe. Everything I am before your throne. We'll worship. We 17:00 will worship worship forever in your presence. We will sing. We worship. We will worship. 17:17 We worship you. An endless hallelujah to the king. No more tears. No more tears. No more shame, 17:33 no more sin and sorrow. Never know again. No more fears, no more pain. For we will see you face to face. 17:52 See you face to face. And we will worship worship [Music] forever in your presence. We will sing. 18:11 We will sing. We will worship. We'll worship you. An endless hallelujah to the king. An endless hallelujah. An endless hallelujah 18:30 to the king. Here we are. Here we are. We're lifting our hands to you. [Music] 18:49 Here we come giving you thanks for all you do as praise as we praise and we worship your holy 19:10 name. You are here. Oh, you are here. You're dwelling within our praise. For every answered prayer. For every 19:29 answered prayer. For every answer prayer. For always being there. For always being there. For love that hears us when we call. forearms that lift us when we fall. 19:53 For you have always been right beside us, leading us all along the way. We've made it through. 20:11 [Music] because of you. Let's raise our voices and sing. And here we are. We're lifting our hands to you. Here we are 20:33 [Music] giving you thanks for all you do [Music] as we praise and worship your holy name. 20:52 You are here. You are here dwelling within our praise. You are here. Yes, you are here [Music] 21:10 and you're dwelling within our praise. Just an announcement even as we go on. There's a gray activa with no number plate. You need to please remove it. It's a gray activa. It's obstructing the 21:30 traffic. So, parking attendants have said that you need to remove it. [Music] [Music] Okay. We have uh children go to Sunday school now. Yeah, we want to praise the Lord for 22:02 this wonderful morning and we want to remember how the Lord brought us together from various backgrounds many years ago and built us together and you know if you take time to think about it this morning, 22:22 we are all scattered here and there without any hope. And God in his great mercy and love picked us up and brought us together and the Lord's been building us together. And I believe it's only right that we come before him with a 22:40 deep spirit of thanksgiving. Just think where you would have been if if CFC was not here. Think about it, brothers and sisters. How much the Lord blessed us with his word. How much we've been blessed with 22:59 fellowship. How much we've been preserved from all the schemes of the devil. Oh, may there be a fragrance of praise and thanksgiving this morning. And I believe we should not even have a smell 23:16 of complaint against CFC. The Lord's been so good to us. And let's fill our hearts with praise and thanksgiving. And how much we received from the Lord and as a token of our thanksgiving, we just want 23:36 to sing that chorus. He has done great things. He has done great things. And oh, as we sing that chorus, let praises and thanks swell from your heart. Say, Lord, truly you've done great things for us. And 23:54 after that, you also want to sing the chorus. We are together again just praising the Lord. Oh brothers and sisters, this morning, what a happy occasion to come and praise the Lord and say, Lord, thank you for giving me a 24:09 place in the church. Thank you for giving me grace to be part of what you're doing in these last days. Gathering the humble and the lowly and the obedient ones together. And oh may we just praise the Lord this morning. Come brother. He has done great 24:27 things. He has done great things. After that we are together again just praising the Lord. [Music] He has done great things. 24:51 He has done great things. [Music] He has done great things. Bless his holy name. [Music] has done great things. [Music] 25:09 He has done great things. [Music] He has done great things. Bless his holy bless. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, 25:29 and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. All together. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me. Bless his 25:56 holy [Music] name. He will do great things. He will do great things. He will do great things. 26:12 He will do great things. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, 26:28 and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. [Music] We want to praise the Lord together this morning as we want to sing. We are 26:48 together again just praising the Lord. Something good is going to happen. Brothers and sisters, let's come with expectation and faith this morning. Say, Lord, do something new in our midst. Lord, move by your spirit. Thank you for 27:02 giving us shepherds of your own heart. Thank you for giving us your word. Thank you for the brothers and sisters you've given us. And thank you for all the good things you've done so far. And still we say, Lord, we want you to do something 27:17 new in our midst. And so say we're going to praise the Lord together. We're together again [Music] just praising the Lord. 27:35 We're together again in one accord. Something good is going to happen. Something good 27:57 is in store. We're together again. Just praising the Lord. We're together again. We're together again. Oh, just praising the Lord. 28:16 We're together again in one. Something good is going to happen. 28:33 Something good. is in store. We're together again just praising the Lord. Ask and for what the Lord has done, we 28:51 will praise him for what the Lord has done. [Music] And for what the Lord has done for us, 29:07 has done for us. has done for us. And for what the Lord has done for us, we'll praise him through eternity. And for what the Lord will do for us, he 29:31 will do for us. Will do for us. and for what the Lord will do for us. We'll praise him for for eternity. [Music] 29:51 This note shall swell. This note shall swell. This note shall swell. And above the rest, this note shall swell. [Music] My Jesus has done all things well. My 30:10 Jesus, My Jesus has done all things well. My Jesus has done all things well. Yeah brothers and sisters let's lift up 30:30 our voices and just bless the Lord from the depth of our heart this morning. Yes Lord we want to praise you Lord with all our hearts. Thank you Lord you picked me up too Lord. Oh I was lost Lord. Oh Lord I want to thank you Lord. You picked me 30:46 up. You brought me Lord Jesus to the church. Oh that I can hear the living word Lord. We praise you Lord. I want to worship you this morning. want to give you glory and honor Lord establishing us. We praise you Lord. We worship you this 31:03 morning. Yes Lord we want to remember what you've done for us in this past years Lord. Thank you Lord. You gathered us from various places like we sing in this song. We did not know any of the saints of God before. Now our hearts delight in them. Thank 31:22 you Lord for all the brothers and sisters your brothers to the church here and thank you Lord for the way you've led us guided us and shepherded us and thank you Lord for giving us the living word of God in the church. Thank you for 31:38 giving us shepherd of your own heart and thank you for the rich fellowship that you tasted here Lord. Thank you for the peace and harmony and unity in our midst Lord and thank you Lord that you have been magnified in this place. Thank you, 31:51 Lord, that we've been able to see your glory in this past years. Lord, we just praise you, Lord, and worship you this morning. Truly, we pray that your name be honored, that your name be glorified, and you, Lord Jesus. We just want to 32:06 thank you, Lord, for the good work you've done in our brothers and sisters lives, Lord. Oh, we truly praise you, Lord. We just want to worship you this morning and thank you for blessing us and making CFC blessing to many around 32:23 the world. Oh, we praise you, Lord. Truly, our hearts rejoice this morning and what you've done and what you're doing and what you'll do, Lord. And truly, we can say, Lord, you've done great things for us. Thank you for the 32:36 powerful testimony that's gone forth from here, Lord, in this place. Oh, we worship you, Lord. Truly this morning, we want to bless your name and we pray that you will give us grace to remain in deep thankfulness in these days for all 32:50 that you've done for us, Lord. Yeah. We thank you for our children, Lord. We thank you for our young people. We thank you for all the couples, Lord. We thank you for the older brothers and sisters, Lord. Thank you, Lord, that 33:02 we've remained as a family all these years. And thank you that you have blessed us abundantly, Lord. Truly, we bless your name. And this morning we pray you will do something new in our midst, Lord. Yes, Lord, as we sang. 33:17 Oh, we pray that you will give us your word from heaven. Yes, Lord. Give us a surprise blessing this morning and satisfy the need and hunger of everyone here. Lord, manifest your presence. Magnify your word and build the body of Christ and 33:36 glorify your name. Thank you. will do beyond asking and thinking Lord in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Please be seated brothers and sisters. We want to hear God's word from Robson this morning. It's a great joy to think back 40 years 34:06 ago. Nearly 40 years ago, 39 we close 39 years and we enter into our 40th year. Next Sunday the 17th. It was interestingly the 17th of August 1975 34:23 that brother Zach preached his last message in the denominational church that we were part of. That message is still a available the moment of crucial decision and uh we came out 34:42 because uh the church we were part of didn't want the preaching the teaching of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So it was the Holy Spirit that led us out and we didn't know what we were going to do. We never had any plans to start a church 34:58 and not even once did brother Zach discuss it or mention it. So just few of us and I think only probably one person is here this morning. 40 years. Danny, you're here. 35:15 Yeah, he's there. Yes. Sorry. My wife both of us. Yeah, there were about six families that came out and I think Danny's family is the only one that's left here and of course my family, brother Zach's and 35:34 brother Nan also came in later. But uh that's how it was. It was on the 17th of August. We are entering our 40th year next week and we have a celebration. We want to thank the Lord. And that evening 35:51 we we said we did not know what we were going to do. We'll seek the Lord. And we had a mighty powerful prayer meeting that evening. And I believe that evening the church was born. It was not planted or established. The church was born and 36:08 it's just gone on from then from strength to strength, from faith to faith and from glory to glory. And here we are today. We thank God. We want to be preserved as a family. That's how it was in the beginning. That's how we've 36:22 sought to do it through the years. And so we thank the Lord for helping us to preserve ourselves, the family, to build the body of Christ that God has called us to do in this part of Bangalore. I want you to listen to a video clip 36:38 before I share what is on my heart. And uh it's a song that is a very blessed song that has blessed uh thousands and thousands of people and uh I listen to it and then I'll tell you a little more about it. 36:55 Can we have it on the screen please? This is a song written by Fanny Crosby uh who is she was not born blind. We'll we'll read and hear a little bit 37:13 more about her the story of her life. Just go back to that. But this is her testimony. And before we hear the song, he says, "Oh, what a happy soul I am. Although I cannot see, I am resolved 37:30 that in this world contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't to weep and sigh because I'm blind. I cannot and I won't. What a 37:46 testimony. Frances Jane Crosby and a song that has been a blessing to thousands of people all over the world and still is. And we just hear a little bit of it and you can 38:05 follow the words on the screen. It's so apt to the way the Lord has led us all the way. My savior leads me. [Music] 38:21 All the way my savior leads me. What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy 38:37 who through life has been my guide. Heavenly peace, divinest comfort here by faith in him to dwell. For I know 38:56 what beforeall me. Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what before me. Jesus doeth all things 39:13 well. All the way my Savior leads me. Cheers each winding path I tread. 39:29 Gives me grace for every trial. Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weery steps may falter and my soul 39:47 of thirst may be gushing from the rock before me is a spring of joy I see. 40:01 Gushing from the rock before me is a spring of joy I see. [Music] 40:15 All the way my savior leads me. all the way. [Music] 40:33 That's what we can say that all all the way that Jesus has led us what can we ask beside and and that has been so true 40:49 and this song has a life behind it and like I said Fanny Crosby she was not born blind and this song was a result of prayer. there and uh 41:06 you can look at the story and I'll read it to you about her life. It says that she struggled financially because she desperately needed some money. As her usual custom, Fanny began to pray. 41:26 A few minutes later, a gentleman offered her $5, the exact amount she needed. Later recalling the incident, she said, "I have no way of accounting for this except to believe that God put it into the heart of this good man to bring the 41:45 money." The poem she wrote afterward became, "All the Way My Savior leads me." And as both a songwriter and a woman of faith, Fanny Crosby serves as an example to all. And when she died in 1915, Fanny Crosby had written hymns in a 42:04 large variety of different pen names. And on her tombstone lies a line from one of her many hymns, Blessed Assurance, Jesus's Mine. That's a hymn also that she wrote and that's on her tombstone. Oh, what a foretaste of 42:21 glory. divine. All the way my savior leads me is one of the most beloved of her song writing work. And like I said that she was not born blind. It was 42:40 a doctor that botched up a surgery on her eyes that she became blind. But what a woman she was. What a woman of faith and you know she's written over 8,000 Christian hymns and despised the 42:58 handicap she struggled with during her life. It says an inep doctor left Fanny without her sight at 6 weeks of age just when she was 6 weeks a baby after a botch procedure. She said, "If perfectly, listen to this, if perfectly earthly sight were offered 43:17 me tomorrow, I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me. All the way my savior leads me is one of her songwriting masterpieces." 43:35 And this song would never been born if she was not blind. That's why she said that if she was offered perfect sight, she wouldn't accept it. There's something that can that blesses our hearts when we think back 43:53 these 40 years that God has led us as a church. The word on my heart that I have been thinking, I want you to look at it is in Deuteronomy chapter 8. It's a word that we have looked at 44:08 quite a few times in past years and the number 40 is a very significant number in the Bible. Many things, you know, many things uh happened. 40 40 years they wandered in the build in the wilderness 44:26 and 40 years uh Moses was on the mountain, you know, in fellowship with God when God gave him the commandments. 40 days Jesus fasted and prayed. There's so much there. So, I believe it's very significant as we enter into our 40th 44:43 year. And it says here in Deuteronomy in chapter 8, you know, in verse two, it says, "You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years." That's a command, not a suggestion. 45:01 And there are many things in the Bible that God asks us or commands us to remember. If you get time, take a study of it. It's very, very edifying. There are over a hundred things that God commands us to remember 45:19 and these are just few of them which God says here. Not a suggestion but a command to remember. You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years that he might humble you, testing you to 45:36 know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manner which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you understand, that man does 45:53 not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything or every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years. 46:10 Stop a moment there and think of that. 40 years they wore the same clothes now. 40 years ago I was 34. I couldn't s fit into my wedding suit a few years after that. I think very few people here would fit into their wedding 46:30 suit. Just imagine that itself is a standing miracle. Their clothes did not wear out for 40 years. So what does that infer? Either one of two things that they grew into those clothes that as they grew older, the clothes fit them. 46:49 So if they needed a shirt that was 32, they grew into it and later they became 42. It's a miracle. your clothes did not wear out all these 40 years or whatever clothes they did take I don't think we don't see it very clearly 47:09 there in scripture they brought out of Egypt they just had to come out in a hurry with their kneading bowls and you know put their sandals on their feet and leave so that itself was a miracle a standing miracle and amazing that they 47:26 didn't even realize iz that that the clothes that they had on their body did not wear out for 40 years. Just think of it. Yet we see the hardness of man's heart. And you know that's why the Lord says he he says that he humbled you and let you 47:43 get hungry. And it says there your clothing did not wear out on you nor did your foot swell these 40 years. Imagine, you know, walking in the desert just in sandals in the hot desert sand for 40 years. Then their foot did not 48:03 swell, their feet did not crack for 40 years. That itself must get us to stop and think. So that there's a reason God did that. that you are to know in your heart, listen to this, that you are to know in your heart that the Lord your 48:22 God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son, not punishing you, but disciplining you to wear the same clothes day after day for 40 years. It's a discipline. And to walk and walk and walk through the desert, that's a discipline. 48:41 Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs flowing forth in 48:56 valleys and hills and so on and so on. You can read on there. And when you have eaten, verse 10, and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you. There it was a physical land 49:10 for us in the under the new covenant. It is a spiritual land. My brothers and sisters, we are to bless the Lord for all the way he has led us. We are to bless the Lord for all that he has done for us in our homes, in our family life 49:25 and with us as as the family of God. We are to bless him. But the sad thing is that when God moves, you look at church history and we see that God moves. He raises up men to fulfill his purpose. But decline comes in in the second 49:44 generation. By the time it's the third generation, it's just a religious congregation. And that's what we have tried to to fight against in this church that we keep from becoming a religious congregation. And so it's good to remember all the way 50:02 that the Lord has led us these 40 years. And some of you are not here. Like I said, there's only just couple of families who have been in this church for 40 years. But some of you have come in much later. Some of you have come in just over the 50:16 recent past. But to think back and to be thankful and grateful for CFC. We're not a perfect church. We never will be. We are not perfect elders. We never will be. 50:34 There are flaws. There are weaknesses in us, but we seek to press on to perfection. And we seek to bear with one another. We are alert, like it says in the Message Bible, of noticing differences, but 50:53 quick at mending fences. That must be our testimate. Alert at noticing differences. I see that, you know, I'm not the same. My brother can't be like me and he can't and I can't be like him. And so there can be situations where we 51:10 come into where we are a little abrasive. We rub one another in the wrong way. But we are quick at mending fences. We don't let our differences bring discord. And we thank God by his grace that we as the elders here have 51:24 worked together in you. There's never been a strife of discord between us. Four of us now. We work together in h. We are all each all four of us different but never been a smell of discord never been a smell of strife that is the 51:40 lord's doing all the way my savior leads me what have I to ask beside and that's something that we can remember this morning and these as we enter into the 40th year I believe that there's a wonderful life awaiting for us 51:57 I believe that God has like we sang a little while ago the very best is yet to come not just a new building. I hope that that's not what you're looking for. We thank God that we'll have more space. We won't have these three levels and that we can all meet on 52:13 one floor and there'll be many other facilities there. But that's not the good land that God is promising us. in my business in 35 years. I was just saying to a member of the family last night when I made something good and I 52:26 knew it was only God's hand and you know my clients were so satisfied, so happy and I looked at it and and I would say Lord this is just you beautiful pieces of furniture, beautiful work. It turned out it was only God's grace. But there 52:42 was a word that came to me many years ago that it's I think it's somewhere in the minor prophets in Nahm that nations toil for fire that everything that I do even the very best I do in this in this world will be burnt up one day. I hope 52:58 you realize that the very best that you can build or make or whatever it is if you're good in programming or whatever it is is all going to be burned up one day. And the buildings also we have will be burned up one day. When the disciples 53:13 pointed out to Jesus the stones in the temple the beautiful stones you know they they said look at this how beautiful it was beautiful but Jesus said well not one stone will be left upon another. That happened that's not standing today 53:31 in in that in that same generation that temple was torn down. Jerusalem was burned. So we don't glory in buildings. Jesus said, you know, destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days. They thought they were he was 53:48 speaking about a building, but he's speaking about the temple of his body. And that's what God has done. He's raised up a body, my brothers and sisters among us. Everything else will be destroyed. It's a body that he will take from this 54:02 earth, not buildings. So when we move in a few weeks time into our m new building, let's remember that one day not one stone of that building will be left on another. Everything is going to be burnt up. The very elements of this 54:15 earth are going to be burnt up all by fire. That day is not far off. But we glory that God has made us into a body, made us part of the family of God. That he has led us all these years. Like I said, we are not a perfect 54:32 church, but God has made us a family. God has made us a body. And that's what Jesus is going to take from the earth. So I want you to see this. There are three things here that I want you to see when we look at, you know, what God said 54:44 there. You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness. Like I said, it's a command. And many things that Jesus says that God says and Jesus says we are to remember 55:00 Lot's wife. Jesus said don't look back when we break bread. Do this in remembrance of me. Remember the Lord's death till he comes. So many things like that. But that's not what I speaking on this morning. That's not what's on my 55:15 heart. But what has come to my own heart is what is here in what we have just read in Deuteronomy in chapter 8. It says there, he says there that he says that he led you in in this wilderness these 40 years that he might 55:30 humble you. That's the first thing that God seeks to do. That's what I could say in my own life in the 40 years that I've been in the church that the different situations the brothers and sisters God puts me together with is only to teach 55:46 me to humble myself that he might humble you. And this is what God seeks to do in in every one of us. In every one of us who has become part of the family of God. And he finds it difficult to do this sometimes. You know that's the most 56:02 difficult thing for God to do to teach us humility to teach us true humility. Not you know not a composure but a humility of heart. It's sometimes one of the most difficult things that God finds to do in a man and a woman. 56:19 It takes a long long time sometimes for God to be able to do this to humble us. It took 40 years for him to do it to Moses. Moses was a very capable man. 40 years in Pharaoh's palace made him a very strong, capable, intelligent, 56:39 efficient man. But that was of no use to God, you know, for for him to fulfill God's purpose. our talents, our gifts, our efficiency, our ability are of no use to God. God, we God can harness it. But when it comes to building the body 56:57 of Christ, they're of no use. And so God had to teach Moses humility, he had to send him, he had to run away. He had to send him to his father-in-law. And 40 years with his father-in-law looking after sheep made Moses a 57:15 different man. It's interesting to see that father-in-laws sometimes, you know, can bring about a humility and a breaking in our lives. Jacob had a father-in-law 57:31 who really was more shrewd, more cunning than he thought he was. And he was broken. And for a woman, for a young sister, it may be a mother-in-law. 57:49 But everything is to teach us humility. Father-in-laws can break a son-in-law. Mother, mother-in-laws can break a daughter-in-law if we have the right attitude. And it should not take long for God to break us, my brothers and sisters. 58:09 But unfortunately sometimes it takes a long long time. And I want you to understand that through the years that God has sought to teach us this in the church that it's broken men and women that he needs, not capable, efficient, 58:25 intelligent men and women. It's broken men and women. And God uses different circumstances. Like I said, it may be a father-in-law, it may be a mother-in-law, may be a brother, it may be a sister, maybe a member of the family, it may be a boss, 58:39 it may be a wife. Many husbands think they have difficult wives. They don't see how difficult they are, that there are difficult husbands. But all this is to teach us humility. And if we if we look at it that way that God wants to humble me in all the 58:59 situations of life, I think we have learned something on this earth. But if we don't learn it, we'll wander around in the wilderness like these people. Why did they have to wander around for 40 years? They didn't realize the clothes 59:11 on their body was a standing miracle. They grew into those clothes. They didn't realize their feet didn't swell. They had good health and all the miracles that when they when they needed food, God provided for them supernaturally. When they needed water, 59:26 God provided for them supernatural. But just imagine all this and all that they that God did for his people in the wilderness did not break them. So we can experience, we can see signs, we can see miraculous answers to our 59:42 prayers, we can receive miraculous healing, but that doesn't break people. that doesn't break breakers. It's difficult circumstances, situations that God allows into our lives. It may be a sickness. It may be a financial 59:57 difficulty. Maybe some problem that we face that doesn't seem to go away quickly. It's only to teach us humility. My brothers and sisters, that's the first thing. And I believe that right from the very beginning of this church that that's 1:00:13 what God sought to teach us to leave the denominational church and come out was a humiliating thing. It was a humbling thing. Brother Zach was a famous preacher called to speak at big conventions and all that and then to be asked when he 1:00:32 offered to step down to and the church offered to accept his proposal to step down and when I had to leave and we had just the roof over our head and not even one month's salary it was a humbling thing cuz I didn't know what I was going to 1:00:49 do. We were just few families. We didn't we I didn't know how I would support myself. I was willing to like I said at one time to even drive the toy train because that's all the experience I had. But I knew that God would not fail me. 1:01:03 He never failed me before that in the 8 n years I served him as a full-time Christian worker. He humbled me. And that's what I can testify to my brothers and sisters that God used circumstances and situations. You don't know that even in in our 1:01:20 working together in our working together with each other there's not been a smell of strife but God has used situations and circumstances to teach me humility to make me humble myself. But I want to say to you my dear brothers and sisters, 1:01:37 the number of years that is determined that we live in the wilderness is the number of years that it takes for God to humble you and me. The longer it takes, the longer we are in the wilderness. If we submit to him, we will come out of the wilderness and 1:01:55 enter into into what we have read here. We'll enter into into a good land. We'll enter into a good life. So if we can decide that if in the different situations in our in whatever number of years you've been in 1:02:14 the church you've not yielded to God I want to encourage you this morning yield to him whatever you're facing in your workspot in your home in relationship with other people relationship with relatives in relationship with the 1:02:27 brothers and sisters just yield to him allow him to humb humble you. Allow him to humble me into breakers because God needs broken men and women. My brothers and sisters, many of you young people are very talented and 1:02:45 gifted. But I want to say it is of no use to God. Allow him to break you and see what he will do in your life and see what he will bring forth from your life. See what he brought forth from this sister's life, Fanny Crosby. 1:03:01 because she was a broken woman. God used blindness to break her. That she said if perfect sight was offered to her, she wouldn't accept it. That today what she's written, the poems she's written, the songs that we sing are from a broken life. It's broken men 1:03:20 that can bless people. It's broken women that can bless others. Let's really seek to yield to God. That's the first thing he teaches us. And then the second thing I want you to see there, the second he says there, 1:03:37 testing you. Testing you there in the middle of verse two, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. That's the second thing that God seeks to do. He tests us to know what is in your heart. God 1:03:55 already knows what is in your heart and mine. He doesn't need to know that. He knows your heart and mine, but so that we would know what is in our heart. Testing you for you to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep 1:04:09 the commandments of God or not. And so that's why he humbles us and he puts us in situations where he tests us so that I see I'm not really humble as I think I am. I discovered that I not discovered that but I keep discovering it all the time 1:04:25 even while driving to the meeting this morning when just we think this is one of those days mad days when everybody's just you know driving as they like and then and the Lord shows us you know you're not as humble as you think you 1:04:44 are there a lot more that I need to do in you that even in driving on the road that you be a little more humble and courteous. It's amazing how God seeks. He tests us to know what is in our heart. So even in 1:05:04 driving our vehicles that we can see what is in our heart. I'm not as humble as I think I am. May God help us. That's why it says in Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. 1:05:23 Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart. I test the mind even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. The heart is more deceitful, it says, 1:05:39 than all else. desperately sick and God says, "I search the heart. I test the mind." God shows us of life so that he can show us what is in our hearts. Not to condemn us, not to humiliate us, but so that we will cry 1:05:58 out to him. That's what he did to his people in the wilderness. But they just didn't see it. They all these miracles, the clothes they wore was a standing testimony to them. But yet they hardened their hearts. They were obstinate. They 1:06:10 were stubborn. They didn't see that all that the time when God God knew that he they're not going to die of starvation. And we can get into situations. You can lose your job. You can be in your situation. I know we were in situation 1:06:25 like I have testified before. We didn't know. We didn't have money to give our child the next feed of milk. God, you mean to say that God will let our children starve? It says that God will never the righteous will never suffer hunger and 1:06:42 his seed will not beg for bread. Your children, my children will never beg. We may lose jobs. We may put in we may be put into difficult situations. But you'll never beg. You'll never starve. There'll be food on the table. Whatever 1:06:56 may happen in the days to come. So God was testing them to show them what's in their heart. And these 40 years the Lord has led us. And the preaching here, the prophetic word in the church is to show us what is in our hearts, not what is in my wife's heart 1:07:12 and not in what in your husband's heart and what is in your children's heart. What's in my heart? We have heard that many times through the years that God is not speaking to the walls and somebody goes and asks a preacher, 1:07:25 no, were you referring to me this morning? He says, yes, you. Who else? I was not speaking to the walls. like I want God to speak to my wife, so I bring her to church. I bring her to the meetings. I want God to speak to my 1:07:40 husband, then come to CFC. God wants to speak to us. He wants to show you and me what's in our hearts, my brothers and sisters. Leave your wife alone. That's not your business. Leave your husband alone. Not your business. 1:07:52 Leave your children alone. Let us see what's in our hearts. Otherwise, we're just warming the seat here. Make it look at that verses 4 to 7. We see that there. Exodus 16:4-7. The Lord said to Moses, 1:08:13 "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, listen to this, whether or not they will walk in my instruction. on the sixth day when they prepare what 1:08:29 they bring in. It'll be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, "At evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for he 1:08:44 hears your grumblings against the Lord. And what are we that you grumbled against us when there was, you know, he says to them, you're testing the Lord." God gave a command there. Go every morning you'll get food. On the sixth 1:09:01 day there will be double twice as much because on the seventh day I will not send you any food from heaven. Gather as much as you can. On the sixth day it'll be enough for you to eat on the seventh day. But do you think they listen to 1:09:15 that? God commanded them they should not go out on the Sabbath. But yet they went out. They went out to see. Do you see the heart, my brothers and sisters? What Jeremiah says, what the Holy Spirit 1:09:31 speaks to Jeremiah is desperately sick. And if I can see the condition of my heart continually, not to not to feel condemned, not to feel humiliated, but so that I can go to God and say, "Lord, cleanse me, cleanse me, teach me, humble 1:09:47 me, break me, make me, make me, give me a soft heart, me what is in my heart so that I would go to him and say, Lord, help me. Take out this hard heart. Take out this stony heart. put in me a heart of flesh. 1:10:07 And I believe that that's why God has raised up CFC, my brothers and sisters, to teach us humility, to test us, show us what is in our hearts, not to condemn us and humiliate us, but only to make us more like himself by taking out the hard 1:10:22 heart from us and giving us a heart of flesh. You know, Hezekiah says he was left alone in 2 Chronicles chapter 32:31. You know the story. We don't have time to look at it. But he was healed miraculously. God gave him 15 years more. It says even 1:10:42 in the matters of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon was sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land. God left him alone only to test him that he might know all that was in his heart. God left him alone. You 1:10:55 know, God leaves us alone. Sometimes you may feel like that. You may feel you know God is I don't feel the nearness of God. It's only to test us so that we may know what is in our hearts. And Jesus many times you know when Jesus 1:11:13 saw a crowd and he gave orders for them to go to the to the other side and there was a storm at the sea. It was to test them to see how they would respond. He knew what would happen. He was not going to let them drown. It's to test 1:11:30 them. When there was when he had to fe feed a multitude, he said to Philillip, "Where can we buy bread to feed these people?" And he says that that he said it to test him. He knew what he was going to do, but he just said it to test 1:11:44 him. So God allows us in certain situations. God allows people to say things to us. You know that God is in control of man's mouth. God allows people to say things to us only to test us, to show us what is in our heart. Why do I get upset? Because 1:12:03 somebody said something against me or against my family. God allowed him. David said that under the old covenant when Jo when Joab wanted to cut off that man's head, you know, he stopped him. God told him to curse David. Let him 1:12:17 curse. If God curses you, if God you tells your bos your boss gives you, you know, gives you a real good blasting, God allowed him to do that. So many things that we could see that that God is in control of man's mouth. 1:12:35 God is in control of man's tongue. He never let the tongue of a dog bark when 600,000 people left Egypt. Do you know that? Not a dog bath. That was the word that God gave me when one of my children were born. No surgeon can put a scalpel on you 1:12:51 unless God gave permission. Your hand is not in the hand of that surgeon. Your hand is not your your life is not in the hand of that surgeon or that doctor. It's in the hand of God. If I can recognize that that nothing nothing 1:13:10 absolutely nothing can ever happen in my life on this earth if I'm part of God's family. I'm part of the body of Christ unless God gives permission. Whatever it is, I thank God that God has sought to teach me that through the years I've been in 1:13:27 the church and he's still teaching me that nothing can ever happen. We need that in the coming days, my brothers and sisters. And whatever may happen that God is in control. You know in revelation in chapter 2:e 10 1:13:44 he said he said to this uh this leader of this church do not fear what you're about to suffer. Behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison. So you will be tested and you will have tribulation for 10 days. 10 days means 10 days but you will 1:14:02 be tested. The devil has got permission to put you into prison. Don't get don't panic. I've allowed it only to test you, God says. And you'll have tribulation 10 days. And when 10 days is over, it's over. Nobody can add one day more. Be 1:14:21 faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. God says there. And he says in Revelation then chapter 3 in 10 and 11 because you've kept the word of my perseverance I also will keep you from the hour of testing that hour which 1:14:38 is to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly hold fast what you have so that no one will take your crown. That's a word that has come to me again and again. Thank God for peaceful times. 1:14:54 Thank God for peace. Thank God that we have freedom and liberty to build the church. We have not really undergone persecution. But God says here, he warns us, the Holy Spirit warns us in Revelation 3. He says, "Because you've kept the word of 1:15:10 my perseverance, I will also keep you from the hour of testing. That hour which is about to come upon the whole world, the whole world. And no country is free from that, my brothers and sisters. We cannot run anywhere. We heard last 1:15:29 week Jonah thought that he can, you know, get out of it by going away to to Tarsus. You can't go out from the presence of the Lord. David says, "If I even make my bed in hell, you you're there." So that hour of testing is to come upon 1:15:48 the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. And Jesus says, "I'm coming quickly. Hold fast what you have so that no one will take your crown. And finally the third thing he humbles us. He tests us to show us what is in 1:16:03 our heart. That's what he has sought to do these 40 years. He will seek to do till he comes. And the last thing there he says so that you will learn that we will understand. He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manner 1:16:16 which you did not know did to your fathers know. Verse three, that he might make you understand that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything or every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the 1:16:32 Lord. And that is what we are to live by my brothers and sisters. So the Lord allows us to face some need in our lives. Here for it was hunger. Here it was a need of bread. It may be a financial need. It may be a 1:16:51 physical need to get the word from God's mouth. That's what we live by. Just like we live by bread. That's why when the people came after him because they were fed, he says, "You're not coming after me because you, you know, you want to 1:17:07 become godly. You want to see God. You're coming after me because your bellies were full. I fed you. You got something from me." He says, "Don't waste your time. Don't labor for that which for the food which perishes. Labor 1:17:18 for that which you can for the food that is that will produce eternal life. And that is the word of God. The word from God's mouth. It says in Isaiah 50 that he awakens my ear morning by morning, morning through morning. 1:17:34 To get the tongue of a disciple. My ear has to be awakened morning through morning. Not just I have my quiet time in the morning, morning through morning, morning from one morning to the next morning to get a word. God speaks to us 1:17:46 during the day in all the different situations. I can get a word from God's mouth and I can live by it just like man lives by bread. That's how Jesus lived. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God's 1:18:02 mouth. And this is the result when we are humbled and tested. My brothers and sisters, we'll seek for that word that comes from God's mouth in the different situations. Lord, speak to me. Give me a word. I know the different situations. 1:18:18 And you get a word from God's mouth. It's only those who hear a word from God's mouth that can give God's word to others. The word that comes from his mouth. If I don't get a word from God's mouth, I'll just preach sermons. 1:18:33 I'll I I'll just vomit out all the clever things I've learned in the Bible. But a word from God's mouth, that is the need in this church. That's what we to have a year to hear what the spirit is saying first of all to me and through me to others and 1:18:50 through me to the church. To have a ear to hear. Jesus said many times, "Let him who has a ear to hear." It's not physical hearing. May God give us such a sensitive heart that we can get that word from God's 1:19:09 mouth. I was reading something that somebody commented on this you know that just as God has ordained you know bread food for sustenance for a physical life it takes a little thing for God to do it 1:19:27 differently. God is not obligated. He's not tied that you know that we get our life our physical life from food. And this person was saying that he can do that with air. God can so sanctify the air by the word that you and I can 1:19:45 have health just by breathing air. We don't need bread. So God is not tied to the elements of the earth. He uses it to provide. But that's what Jesus that's what Jesus was gripped with. That's why he could say to the devil when Satan 1:20:02 said, "Command that these stones be made into bread." And Jesus says, "Command these stones to make to be made into bread." What what need of that? Why do I need that? My heavenly father can keep me alive without bread. That's what he said to 1:20:16 Satan. Man shall not live by bread alone. My heavenly father can I don't need bread. My father can keep me alive. That spoke a lot to my heart. And that's how we are to live. My brothers and sisters, may God help us. May God raise up in 1:20:36 this church men and women who' hear a word from God's mouth. May God raise up in this church those who can understand man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. 1:20:55 And so as we enter into the 40th year, may God raise up young people to take the torch forward to carry the baton forward of those who would let God humble them. of those who will let God test them and 1:21:14 show them what is in their heart and cleanse their hearts and of those who will hear a word from God's mouth so that they can speak that word to others. That's why Peter says 1 Peter 4:1 and closing. Whoever speaks, it says 1:21:30 whoever speaks, we had this up here on the pullpit some time back, whoever speak is to do so as the one who speaking the utterances of God. Isn't that awesome? Whoever speaks is to do so as one who speaking the utterances of 1:21:49 God. Whoever serves is to do as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies. So that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. May God raise up among us my brothers 1:22:08 and we have heard the utterances of God in this church in 40 years. I know I have. And not just through brother Zach. I want to tell you you don't know. Some of you get up and and testify. I've said this many times before and I don't 1:22:22 ever tire of saying it that God has spoken to my heart. I've got light through people who hardly speak sometimes. So God doesn't just speak through the elders. He speaks to us through one another. And if I when I speak when I 1:22:40 speak the utterances of God, I can only do that if I hear a word from God's mouth. I want to encourage you. Forget about everything else. May God through his Holy Spirit grip you with this. Man does not live by bread 1:22:57 alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God or the mouth of the father. That's the bread people are hungering for, my brothers and sisters. That's the bread that people have come to this church for through the 40 years. 1:23:15 May we say like those people, Lord, ever more give us this bread. Amen. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you've blessed us through the years, Lord Jesus. You've led us. You've been our shepherd. You've 1:23:34 fed us. You've been the bread of life to us, Lord. And we thank you for all that you seek to do in humbling us to teach us true humility. Keep us from conceit and pride and arrogance 1:23:54 from becoming high-minded. Lord, thank you for all the situations you use and pray that you'd help us to yield to you more and more. Forgive us for the stubbornness and hardness of our hearts. Forgive us that we are so slow to learn. 1:24:12 Take out this hard stony heart. Put in us a heart of flesh through your Holy Spirit. And when you test us and show us what is in our heart, Lord Jesus, help us not to shrink back and help us not to hard in our hearts but to 1:24:31 seek you for a deep cleansing. And we thank you that you give us the word from your mouth. May we continue to hear that and continue to bless others. We thank you Lord. I want to thank you personally. The blessing that has come to me and my 1:24:50 family, dear Lord, all these 40 years. I can truly say all the way my savior leads me. What have I to ask beside? Thank you Jesus. Amen. Yeah, we want to thank God for his word. 1:25:17 And if all of us can recollect brothers and sisters, one of the wonderful things about CFC is not music, not of offerings, but we've always heard the word of God in our midst. 1:25:36 And not only that, we've also been taught to be faithful in the trials. And that you don't hear in many places. And all those who have been faithful in trials, they progressed. Not just all those who came to the meetings, 1:25:53 but all those who have been faithful, humbled themselves and pass the test. And that's what we have been teaching here. Pass the test, brothers and sisters, in the time of temptation. Then you grow. And oh, may the Lord help us to be 1:26:10 faithful in every temptation and pass the test and grow. And then you get a word from God to give to others. What a wonderful way to live on earth. Oh may God give us grace not only to humble ourselves but to pass every test every day and then every day 1:26:29 becomes wonderful. So we want to sing the song that we heard this morning. All the way my savior leads me. Shall we stand up and sing this song and say Lord thank you for the way you led me and in case you failed the test don't get 1:26:43 discouraged say Lord from today I don't want to be failing in my test I want to pass and like Francis Crosby said Fanny Crosby said how she got grace for every trial. Oh, 1:26:58 like the song says verse two, give us grace for every trial. That should be a testimony. And oh, shall we sing this from our heart all the way my savior leads me. [Music] All the way my savior leads me. What 1:27:33 have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy? Who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace divine is comfort 1:27:53 my faith in him to dwell for I know what be before me Jesus do with all things well 1:28:07 for I know what befall me Jesus doeth all things Well, all the way my savior leads me. Choose each finding 1:28:26 part I tread. Gives me grace for every tri feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter and my soul 1:28:45 and thirst may be gushing from the rock before me. Low a spring of joy I see. Gushing from the rock before me. Love a 1:29:03 spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me. Oh, the fullness of his love. 1:29:18 Perfect rest to me is promised in my father's house above. And my spirit clothed immortal wings its fly to realms of day. 1:29:37 This my song through endless ages. Jesus led me all the way. This my song through endless ages. Jesus led me all the way. 1:29:56 [Music] Please be seated, brother. During the week, think about the way the 1:30:15 Lord led you all these years and find out of whether you humbled yourself, whether you passed the test. And whether you honored God's word in your life and and with this failure, we can repent 1:30:36 and say, "Lord, I I missed all the opportunities, but I'm not going to waste it in the coming year, and I want to be faithful in the trials, and I want to honor your word." And that's what we have sought to do to raise up a 1:30:50 generation who will honor God's word and be faithful to God in the time of temptation. Amen. Yeah. And we want to welcome all those who are visiting us for the first time. If you are visiting us, [Music] 1:31:37 Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. 1:32:22 [Music] Heat. Heat. 1:32:38 [Music] 1:33:30 [Music] 1:34:42 Heat. Heat. [Music] 1:35:23 Heat. Heat. [Music] 1:35:56 Oh yeah. [Music] Heat. Heat. 1:37:07 Hey, hey, hey. [Music]
