Sermon

Trusting in God to manifest His Kingdom

Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons

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  1. Hi there, welcome to NECF.

  2. We're excited to share today's message with you.

  3. Don't go anywhere, stay with us to the end for some valuable resources to enrich your

  4. faith.

  5. Here's today's sermon.

  6. John 14, verse 1 says, let not your heart be troubled.

    John 14:1

  7. You believe in God, believe also in me.

  8. The me there is Christ.

  9. Jesus Christ is the one speaking.

  10. Just stay there, let not your heart be troubled.

  11. This is Jesus Christ's admonition, his disciples, because there are things that will cause you

  12. to be troubled.

  13. There are things that will cause you to be worried.

  14. There are things that can cause you to be stressed.

  15. But the focus is that you want to place that trust, that belief and confidence in the one

  16. who is instructing you.

  17. Praise God.

  18. I'm saying this, I think we've already gotten that charge and there's a whole lot that has

  19. been said that you will see it always point down to your trust, your trust.

  20. The reason why you stay in on something is because you're persuaded.

  21. The reason why you start your first year, you want to run away, but you're persuaded

  22. or you'll be persuaded.

  23. Praise God.

  24. You'll be persuaded too.

  25. There's something that keeps you in there.

  26. There's something that keeps you running.

  27. There's something that keeps you going.

  28. There's something that encourages you to stay strong, to stay true.

  29. And it's hard, praise God.

  30. It's difficult.

  31. When everybody was sharing four years at first, I was concerned people, what helped them

  32. through is that they were not sure what was happening before they could get a grip of

  33. themselves.

  34. They were already in the middle.

  35. Praise God.

  36. But things will get us to be troubled.

  37. But the encouragement here is to believe in God, believe in God, believe in God, believe

  38. in God, believe in God.

  39. I'm saying this again and again so that it will resound to you.

  40. And that word believe is the Greek word pistuo.

  41. I'll spell it.

  42. P-I-S-T-E-U-O.

  43. P-I-S-T-E-U-O.

  44. It's pronounced pistuo.

  45. And that word is used a lot of times in scripture.

  46. It's used scattered all through scripture.

  47. You see the word believe, believe, believe.

  48. Even in today's day and age, we call ourselves believers.

  49. Praise God.

  50. Believers.

  51. Believe, believe, believe.

  52. The word pistuo means to be persuaded of, to think of to be true and to place confidence

  53. in.

  54. To place confidence in.

  55. Be persuaded of to think of to be true and to place confidence or to place confidence

  56. in.

  57. That is what the word there means.

  58. And when it says believe in God, it says, it means place your confidence in God.

  59. Be persuaded of.

  60. Know Him to be true.

  61. Praise God.

  62. Know Him to be true.

  63. Know God to be true.

  64. Because one thing that stays consistent is God.

  65. Every other thing will change.

  66. Career will change.

  67. The way the world is moving, it will change.

  68. Seasons, times will change.

  69. The word stays consistent is God.

  70. He says believe in God.

  71. This is Jesus Christ speaking.

  72. Believe in God.

  73. And if there's anything that sounded so strong for most of the persons that are speaking

  74. or most of the persons that spoke or shared testimonies, is the fact that when they were

  75. troubled or they weren't sure, they sought God.

  76. They didn't just seek.

  77. And seeking God, seeking people, all of those things are very interconnected.

  78. You showing up here on a Sunday, something has to persuade you.

  79. Right?

  80. There's some things you do because of habit.

  81. Oh, you're persuaded.

  82. I don't believe.

  83. If I come to service today, I'll be blessed.

  84. I can't help but just go to what one of the sisters said.

  85. I think that is it?

  86. N-A-R-H-E, your name sounds very...

  87. She said she had gone to places where her heart wasn't there.

  88. She was persuaded.

  89. Her heart wasn't there.

  90. And we use words and that's one of the things we want to.

  91. And that's what showing up in church teaches us to do.

  92. It teaches us to learn, to be trained.

  93. We come to church service to be taught and we are also trained.

  94. And that's why when you skip services, you are missing an opportunity to grow.

  95. You're missing an opportunity to be trained.

  96. You're missing an opportunity to learn.

  97. I've seen many persons come.

  98. You can never stay the same when you're in an environment where you're being trained.

  99. Because every now and then something is dropping.

  100. Even those that show up and they're not participating, but you're learning something, praise God.

  101. You're growing in some shape or form.

  102. How you used to see God's Word before changes over time because you are continually...

  103. It's not a one-time event.

  104. You don't come to school one time and graduate.

  105. If that was it, most of us would have just been taking degrees, falling in and out of

  106. degrees.

  107. But you stay through it, even when you don't feel like it, you still stay through it to

  108. the very end.

  109. But this is what you are called into for the long haul.

  110. Praise God.

  111. Believing in God, staying in Him is what you are called into for the long haul.

  112. If you call yourself a believer, there's responsibility, there's commitment, there's trust.

  113. But sometimes we...

  114. Circumstances and situations around us will make us lose trust, lose confidence in.

  115. And the apostle John, who wrote the book, uses it much more times than any other.

  116. John uses the word a lot of times and is used.

  117. Note that if I'm talking to someone who is not a believer and I'm explaining to them

  118. the Word of God, what I'm trying to get them to do is to be persuaded of what exactly it

  119. is I'm saying.

  120. I'm talking to someone who doesn't believe, I am talking to them so that they can become

  121. what I am, which is a believer.

  122. Note that if I don't teach you, if I don't explain to you, you can't just fall into this

  123. thing.

  124. You can't fall into a relationship with God.

  125. Something persuades you that this is true, this is real, there's something in this.

  126. Praise God.

  127. The same way I'll be encouraging someone, you will not make any progress if you're not

  128. persuaded.

  129. Praise God.

  130. You will never make any meaningful or substantial progress if you're not persuaded.

  131. Just imagine, you enter, you sign up for the course, you start the first day, you're not

  132. interested, you're not even confident in what you're going to become after you're at the

  133. other end of the certificate.

  134. You will just be falling in and out of it, your studies will stop at some point and sometimes

  135. some people are very drastic, you just end it and move on.

  136. Some people will have to do several to get there but note that there's something about

  137. believing that ensures that you stay true to what exactly it is you are in.

  138. Praise God.

  139. And believing is very key.

  140. We started this year, we said the team of the year is manifesting the kingdom of God,

  141. the team of this year is manifesting the kingdom of God.

  142. You can't even manifest what you don't understand.

  143. That's why we started off by helping us to understand what the kingdom of God is.

  144. And yes, you know that coming into the kingdom there's the union you have, that's what brings

  145. you into this kingdom.

  146. That's what brings, we understood from the teaching and I want us to go there very quickly

  147. so that I will, we'll start from there in Luke 17 verse 20 to 21.

    Luke 17:20–21

  148. Luke 17 20 to 21.

  149. It says, now when he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, when the

  150. kingdom of God will come.

  151. Note that you asking somebody of something means that there's a bit of, yeah, we're

  152. curious, we want to find out, there's an expectation.

  153. Want to find out.

  154. And he answered them and said, the kingdom of God does not come with observation.

  155. Other translation would say it's not something that is visible.

  156. It's not something that you can see going to the next.

  157. It says, nor will you, will they say, see here or see there for indeed the kingdom of

  158. God is within you.

  159. In other words, the kingdom of God is among you and we're taught that first and foremost

  160. for you to be able to not misunderstand what has been said, you have to understand what

  161. has been said.

  162. Praise God.

  163. And the understanding there is that when you hear the word kingdom, what comes to mind?

  164. This we are in this earth, physical is what hits you first.

  165. Kingdom we should be speaking about a physical location.

  166. That's basically what comes to mind.

  167. But what he was saying there is not because we look at the word, we're taught that the

  168. word there is the word Basilea, right?

  169. Which means what?

  170. Which could mean authority, which could mean dominion, which could mean rule or royal power.

  171. Praise God.

  172. So that in itself gives you an understanding of what is being said.

  173. Means that if you're talking about a kingdom, you will not be expecting to see a physical

  174. location.

  175. And that is basically one thing that has been established and one thing that you should

  176. bear in mind.

  177. It says you can't, it's not something that is physical.

  178. It's not something that is physical, but note that the influence can be seen.

  179. Praise God.

  180. The influence can be seen.

  181. And believing the same way when we talk about believing in God.

  182. Not that when somebody says you can't see that belief, there's no way it registers

  183. in your forehead and percentages and then you can be able to see where exactly it is

  184. to scale it.

  185. But note that a person that believes there is a result, there's an action.

  186. There's the things that he do that say this person is truly a believer.

  187. And let me put it to you.

  188. You start your first year, a strong part of you believes that this course, I'll see it

  189. to the very end.

  190. But there's the responsibility you have to stay to the very end.

  191. And once you finish that, note that there's the confidence that you can take on anything

  192. else after that, right?

  193. But there's also the fear of what to do next.

  194. But for someone that doesn't just believe in the course that they studied, but believe

  195. in the God that has seen them through that four years.

  196. And I think I was just writing to Pastor Fred that during the graduation, he said something,

  197. I think the picture of his own graduation way back.

  198. And he said that looking at the picture, there's a lot of memory that runs through.

  199. And then the other brother that was there with us, that the picture carries a lot.

  200. It's sweet, sour, a mixture of things.

  201. And some of them were sharing tears, because there's a lot that you had to go through to

  202. get to that very finish line.

  203. But you were persuaded that we will see this thing to the very end.

  204. Does that believe, that trust?

  205. And note that you don't trust in those, like courses will change, all of those things will

  206. change, but you trust in the God that has seen you from that time to this very point.

  207. And you're trusting in him for what to do next.

  208. And we have been saying this in this church, don't just do life aimlessly.

  209. If you want to get something done and done properly, you want to trust God for how to

  210. do it.

  211. You don't just go and say, oh, and most of the times we have good ideas.

  212. We have a lot of things that want to do.

  213. Most of the times it doesn't work.

  214. You have everything you have planned it out.

  215. Sometimes the plans fail.

  216. But what shouldn't fail is your faith and your belief and your trust in God to see most

  217. importantly, his kingdom manifested through whatever it is that you do.

  218. Because you are a conduit.

  219. You are not living for yourself.

  220. You know, what used to happen is that we turn God to an ATM, right?

  221. When we need something, we go there, you know, you know, you put in the codes, the amount

  222. of money you want, it comes out, you collect and then you move.

  223. You only think of money, when you think of money, you think of ATM, you think of bank,

  224. all of those sources and you go there because you need that.

  225. But it's going to be hard for you when it's like that, because now you have nowhere else

  226. to go to, right?

  227. Then he becomes an option.

  228. But for a believer that has always been there, he knows what to do.

  229. He knows what to do.

  230. He's not confused.

  231. He's sure of what exactly.

  232. In fact, he's confident in the fact that the direction, he has it already.

  233. What he will be doing now is knowing what the direction is.

  234. He's confident because he knows that he has the God that has brought him in at first and

  235. he's confident that same God is going to lead him through to what should be done next.

  236. And please, please don't follow the crowd.

  237. You are not the crowd.

  238. Your name is not crowd.

  239. Please God, praise God.

  240. Your name is not crowd.

  241. You have a name.

  242. You have something that, yes, if it so happens that the direction you're headed is the direction

  243. of it, go for it.

  244. You don't go to the bus stop and then just say any bus, any bus, any bus.

  245. When you go, when you do life like that, you will land anywhere.

  246. Praise God.

  247. So you want to pray about what you need to do and become, because when you pray, you're

  248. not telling God what should happen.

  249. What is, you are now confident of what God, because you're, you know, some people say

  250. I'm praying to hear what the will of God.

  251. No, you're, you're praying to listen, right?

  252. To listen and have direction.

  253. The direction is there all along.

  254. You're just not paying attention.

  255. Praise God.

  256. And you want to be able to do that and be convinced.

  257. Don't jump into the next thing, not being convinced.

  258. Praise God.

  259. And this applies to everything that we're going to be doing this year.

  260. You don't want to jump in and look confused.

  261. Even if you're confused, let, just shorten the, the time frame of your confusion.

  262. And the only way you can shorten the time frame of your confusion is by going to God,

  263. trusting Him and believing in Him for direction.

  264. So let's look at John.

  265. John 20, 31.

  266. Remember I said that John uses the word believe a lot.

  267. And it says, but this are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.

  268. Believe what?

  269. What are we believing?

  270. That Jesus is the Christ.

  271. So it means that the things that we're reading, God's word is written that we might believe

  272. that Jesus is the Christ.

  273. And it says the son of God and that believing, that believing you may have life in His name.

  274. This is very important.

  275. Two things I want you to take.

  276. That what is written, God's word, what it leads to is to us believing.

  277. That's why I say that first.

  278. Someone that's not saved hears the word of God and then becomes saved.

  279. Praise God.

  280. And then it says, and note that in that believing you'll have life.

  281. And we know that if I'm talking to someone that's alive and I'm telling them that they

  282. will have life, what it means is that there's something about the life that you now have

  283. that's different from the life that you once had.

  284. Praise God.

  285. There is a big difference between the two lives and have life in His name, that's in

  286. His authority.

  287. Praise God.

  288. And He uses that word like that there because if you look at it now, this whole thing will

  289. be speaking to a believer or non-believer.

  290. Because if I'm talking to you now, I'm saying that, okay, this is written for you to believe,

  291. right?

  292. For somebody who has believed, will that be an information to them?

  293. Would that be news?

  294. That will not be news, right?

  295. Because they know and they have.

  296. Praise God.

  297. They know and they have.

  298. But look at how John uses it in 1 John 5 verse 13.

    1 John 5:13

  299. I want us to see it in NLT, because of New King James, NLT 513, but we can go back to

  300. New King James later.

  301. So in NLT he says, I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of

  302. God.

  303. Now he says, so that you may know, so that you may know, not so that you will believe

  304. again.

  305. He says, so that you may know.

  306. So when you believe, what keeps you going is the knowledge.

  307. And that's why fellowship is important, because no matter how you know, you know what's happened,

  308. you can forget.

  309. You know when you blink, you're like, I'm not sure.

  310. You know, there are things you are very confident, you think you have it all together and then

  311. all of a sudden you seem like you're forgotten.

  312. You know when they say, what's your name?

  313. You have put your watch together, you know, you have said, okay, my name is this.

  314. They give you the microphone.

  315. But there's how you have known something to the point where even when they wake you up,

  316. you're very sure.

  317. You know, there are some people that you don't even mess with them when they're sleeping,

  318. because when they wake up, they are still alert.

  319. They can put their watch together.

  320. Some people are very good like that.

  321. They are very, it's almost like they were never sleeping.

  322. Praise God.

  323. He says, so that you may know, not, and he, even the first line tells you that I'm writing

  324. this to you who believe in the name, who is not like the first one where he says that

  325. you may believe.

  326. He says, who believe in his name?

  327. And the reason why I ask that we see from any of these that in the New King James is

  328. longer, in New King James is longer.

  329. And in this church, I think we have taught us about majority texts and NU and all of

  330. that.

  331. So we know that in this, this is the NU while in the majority texts, it adds something.

  332. I just want to show just so that we, you know, you're not wondering what happened to your

  333. Bible or why, why didn't we read it to that end?

  334. So just go to the King James of the same text.

  335. So now it says, these things I written unto you, sorry, New King James, I was wondering

  336. where I was saying unto.

  337. So these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the son of God, that

  338. you may know that you have eternal life.

  339. And then the and now is what we know that is omitted in because it says and that you

  340. may continue to believe in the name.

  341. That's why that now is saying because, because note that what happens afterwards is that

  342. you have believed what you just now need to do is to know.

  343. And guess how we know.

  344. And that's why what we have been, all that has been happening is just reemphasizing the

  345. importance of training, the importance of showing up.

  346. And he didn't even know that that was even part of what I was going to say.

  347. He says it a lot of time, Pastor Victor says a lot of times.

  348. How why are you surprised that someone that spent a number of years in the seminary should

  349. know more than someone that has spent all their life studying the same exact thing that

  350. the person in the seminary should be?

  351. Why should that be?

  352. It's because we have gotten it wrong.

  353. We actually have gotten it wrong.

  354. And some of us that are reading the book that has been shared or the other book, not the

  355. book, there's in any safe train set of you know, there are books now and there are books

  356. coming.

  357. Praise God.

  358. And that is what training is.

  359. Praise God.

  360. Some of us we show them we have never read, we have never read a book before.

  361. And I'm like, this is new to me.

  362. But guess what happens when you read?

  363. You grow.

  364. You know, when brother kindness was talking, I was like, let this boy not go and say, and

  365. you know, everything.

  366. See, I have, I don't use the library because the library doesn't work for me.

  367. If I go to the library, I end up greeting everybody in the library.

  368. So because because I will enter the library and say, hello, sir, and there's some and

  369. some people don't understand that you want to concentrate.

  370. They will still come and say, okay, sir, how is it?

  371. And then you like, can't you see it's in the library?

  372. Wait for me.

  373. I'll say, oh, let's just do it quickly and then move on.

  374. So library doesn't work for me.

  375. So I can't I've never if I go to libraries, because I have to maybe pick a book or use

  376. or there's I want to see the information decks or something, but I don't use the library

  377. because I will always see the young man at the other at all the times I've entered the

  378. library.

  379. We just seemed that was even how I knew he uses glasses, because I never knew he uses

  380. glasses.

  381. I was like, oh, you use glasses.

  382. I was like, some people they just hide uses when they want to.

  383. And as I knew, he's business.

  384. Praise God.

  385. There's work for any good thing you see.

  386. There's work any solid believer you see.

  387. There's work and you're not doing it because you saw somewhere that you're going to be

  388. a past.

  389. No, most of us didn't get that memo.

  390. Praise God.

  391. You're training yourself so that you'll be solid.

  392. You know, when a person is solid, when a person is solid, in fact, that should be the testimony

  393. of everyone that calls themselves a believer because you have no choice but to be.

  394. Praise God.

  395. And it's very important that we understand that the this action is consistent.

  396. You show up not because you feel like it.

  397. You are tired.

  398. You still come because teaching is not a single event.

  399. It's continuous and it is a comprehensive process because you're hearing it here.

  400. You're hearing it again.

  401. And some of the things you'll be hearing, you've heard it before, but you're hearing

  402. it differently and it just keeps coming to you, coming to you until you know for a fact.

  403. And you know, you can have a knowledge of something here, but there's there's how when

  404. it hits you again, it's like, I didn't understand this thing until now.

  405. Praise God.

  406. And that is why coming and and he says, and where else can you grow?

  407. You can't grow.

  408. And I want us to just read first Timothy, first Timothy 3, 15 and then we'll see 16.

  409. First Timothy 3, 15, 16.

  410. I'll just find somewhere and then we'll close because that's not even I'm not going anywhere.

  411. Just find somewhere we're close.

  412. So first Timothy 3, 15 and 16 and he says, but if I am delayed, I write.

  413. So if you notice, there's the uses you see this write, write, this write is you see it's

  414. kind of you.

  415. That was a means of communicating, right?

  416. You write to assure the person to be confident.

  417. You know, there was no, you know, when you say someone should come and see you, you know,

  418. if you don't know where the person should come and see you want to be confident where

  419. you're going.

  420. So there's this communication that you have to do to pass information in to and fro so

  421. that you can be able to get clarity.

  422. So you're sure because you know that you're sure that the person is in this building.

  423. That's what even gives you the confidence to go at first.

  424. But if you're not sure you'd be like, I'm not, you just be wandering around except if

  425. someone leads you or someone guides you.

  426. Praise God.

  427. And that is why writing is done so that you may know.

  428. And you see that word that that communication so that you may know communication so that

  429. you may know because communication for you to know helps you to be confident, to be persuaded

  430. of something.

  431. Praise God.

  432. And then it says that you may know how you ought to conduct yourselves in the house of

  433. God.

  434. It says which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of truth, the pillar,

  435. the other word there is the foundation of truth.

  436. So it means that if there's anywhere that you as a believer would grow is in that place

  437. where the truth is being taught.

  438. How many of you know that there's lies that is taught even in the same because and we

  439. and one thing I will explain to us is going back to what our sister said is that when

  440. you're reading a text of scripture, you want to be very, you want to take your brain along

  441. with you because sometimes we can read things mindlessly.

  442. When you look at the text, you want to understand, okay, why, what, what does this mean?

  443. How does this apply?

  444. What is the person trying to say?

  445. Those things will avoid, will make you avoid making mistakes, right?

  446. Will make you avoid it making mistakes because if you go back to that text we read, it says

  447. if a kingdom is coming to you, if that kingdom is a physical location, how does it move from

  448. where it is to where you are?

  449. Praise God.

  450. Thinking is what will get you to come to that place where you, okay, what's going on here?

  451. This will not be speaking of something physical, right?

  452. Because in the text of scripture, we'll see, I don't know whether we will be able to stop.

  453. We see that even Jesus Christ in, let's just look at it very quickly, Jesus Christ in Luke

  454. and John, John 15 verse 25.

    John 15:25

  455. I just want us to see 25 and 29 because Jesus Christ speaking to his disciples, he used

  456. figurative language and if you're, yeah, so it says, but this happened that the word might

  457. be fulfilled 16, not 15, 16, 25, John 16, 25.

  458. He says, these things have spoken in, spoken to you in figurative language.

  459. If you look at the NLT, it will say it's figures of speech.

  460. We use figurative language that you, that by the time is coming that you may no longer

  461. speak Ramayana no longer, that says I will no longer speak in figurative language, but

  462. I will tell you plainly about the father.

  463. Go to 29, just jump to 29.

  464. It says his disciples said to him, see now you are speaking plainly, plainly using no

  465. figure of speech.

  466. Praise God.

  467. Because if someone is using a figure of speech and I'll give you some for you to, when someone

  468. is speaking metaphorical, metaphorical means that it's not literal, means that if I tell

  469. you of, if I'm, I can use the word there, but what I'm saying is not something that is literal,

  470. not something that should be taken literal because if I said that, like take for example

  471. this, I think I was looking at my time, this and I think I was Mark 3 25, that was the,

  472. that was the Bible verse for this that flashed to my, okay.

  473. It says, so if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

  474. So just think about this.

  475. If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

  476. Is it a literal house?

  477. Is it a house that the house just start dividing against itself?

  478. So, so obviously the house is divided against itself.

  479. The house definitely wasn't the house in the first place.

  480. Praise God.

  481. He's, the house there will be pointing off and that word there is okia, which is what

  482. we look, what we'll see, like just give you a slip.

  483. So, so you understand that certain words shouldn't be taken literally.

  484. Let's say I'll give you the keys.

  485. How many of you have keys?

  486. Yeah, yeah, so you have, yeah, yeah.

  487. So your house keys, as your house keys.

  488. So when it says I'll give you the keys, so you don't want to be reading, let's go back.

  489. So it means that when Jesus Christ was speaking to his disciples, he said certain things that

  490. if you take them literally, you'll be lost.

  491. You will still keep asking questions until you understand what is being said.

  492. And he was speaking to them and say, oh, now I get you now because you're not, you're not

  493. no longer speaking.

  494. So it means that even us now, when we are reading, we don't read it.

  495. We really wouldn't understand that this can be figurative, right?

  496. The one that is very interesting is in John, right?

  497. Still John, I think was John, is that scripture again?

  498. Yeah.

  499. Look, look 1426, look 1426 says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and

  500. his mother, wife, children, nobody's left out in this.

  501. Children, brothers and sister.

  502. Yes, I see even yourself and his own life also.

  503. He cannot be my disciple.

  504. So now you read this and then you go, is this Jesus speaking or someone else?

  505. He says hate, he means just be a hater.

  506. Just everybody knows, some people they say they have enemies, enemies, enemies.

  507. You just hate everybody and then come and follow me.

  508. Is that what he's saying here?

  509. No, but what he's saying there, the word there hate is Miseo.

  510. The word means the hate is hate.

  511. It's not something else.

  512. Praise God.

  513. The hate, that word hate is the word hate.

  514. But what if you now decide that you're going to be hating everybody?

  515. You see family, you will not have it.

  516. Are we clear?

  517. So what it means there is that it's a metaphor for you to, he's saying in essence that you

  518. love less and make this more.

  519. The same way somebody says you go to the market and you choose to pick water.

  520. I think Pastor Victor has said this before.

  521. You go to the market and the fact that you chose water doesn't mean you hate Jews.

  522. Some people's juice is their standard temperature and pressure.

  523. But thank God you got some insights into what the Jews companies are doing to you and then

  524. you say, no, they will not chop my money anymore.

  525. And then you know, but not that something informed you, right?

  526. And then you decide it doesn't mean that you hate it, but now you have made the choice

  527. to prioritize this over that.

  528. So he says, what he's saying there in essence is that love them less than you do me.

  529. And if you thought, if you're in doubt that that's what he's saying, let's look at Matthew's

  530. account of the same account.

  531. Matthew 10 37.

  532. And that is how you clarify that what he's saying is that it doesn't mean hate your family

  533. members because you'll be family less.

  534. There's any word like that.

  535. So it's 10 37.

  536. 10 37.

  537. 10 37 says he who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

  538. The week, the week get that it says you're loving your father and mother more than me

  539. is that you should prioritize him overdose.

  540. Do you notice that your father and your mother are there?

  541. You see them every day.

  542. You deal with them.

  543. You know, that is going to be hard for you to just sit daddy and mommy.

  544. I will choose God over you.

  545. God you cannot see.

  546. You know that that takes some level of trust to be able to say, I see you.

  547. I know you have best interest for me, but I know I'm persuaded that this is what I need

  548. to do.

  549. So the thing is, it's like your parent tell you don't go to church or just go to like

  550. what God was saying, where you say, don't do it.

  551. You know that that is not the problem, right?

  552. You know that that's not the problem.

  553. The problem is not just I had, I was speaking to someone who said, see, you know, the reason

  554. why I'm not committed in church is that, you know, I'm very busy.

  555. You know, I'm doing biomedical engineering and I have certain responsibilities.

  556. He's here.

  557. He's here.

  558. I think he's here.

  559. I have certain responsibilities.

  560. And I looked at him, I say, if I use me as an example, the example will not make sense.

  561. But we have medical students.

  562. We have people that are doing multiple degrees.

  563. And they are serving, you know, they're not just, they are serving.

  564. You know, when you're the head of department or you're, these guys, they're not, you know,

  565. we're just saying, just serve in church.

  566. We're not saying be the head of the department.

  567. Praise God.

  568. And know that in all of these excuses you're making, I told him one thing.

  569. I say, see, if your house is flooded, no matter how busy you are, you will mop the house.

  570. You say, I'm very busy.

  571. I don't have time.

  572. But because your house is important to you, you will do what needs to be done.

  573. Praise God.

  574. You will do what needs to be done.

  575. Praise God.

  576. So, let's not make excuses.

  577. The fact that you are not confident in something doesn't mean that it can't change.

  578. What you must seek to do is to trust God and trust that you are in his family.

  579. You are a member of his family and he will not leave you stranded.

  580. All that you need is in his word.

  581. Trust his word.

  582. In this season we are saying, read your Bible.

  583. We are forcing you.

  584. You know, some people, they say we are forcing you, say, sir, this thing is hard.

  585. Read me the Bible.

  586. Now we have entered the book, now that the part of the Bible where it's not, it's not

  587. even, I was enjoying Genesis.

  588. We enter Exodus now.

  589. We're not going to all those things.

  590. But it's Exodus now.

  591. I don't, I don't really understand what is going on here.

  592. You have not even started.

  593. When you get to Numbus, Lewis Coast, you, you, it will need, you will need the grace.

  594. You need grace and you're not, it's not, you need great grace to be able to pull through.

  595. But you know the beautiful thing is that, you know, those of us that ended it last year

  596. were like, I did it.

  597. Finally, I was able to complete it.

  598. You are a believer.

  599. You have never read, you have never read your Bible from, and then you're wondering why

  600. or what, why certain things are flying over your head.

  601. Praise God.

  602. So I want us to be confident in what the church is doing.

  603. Please trust not just God, but also the leaders that God has given to you.

  604. Know that we have your best interests at hand.

  605. Some people were sharing, they were like, ah, they heard it, but they still grew.

  606. And now their growth is going with them.

  607. I was telling our brother, I say, you know how to take pictures now.

  608. Not that the pictures you can take, you will not drop it.

  609. You will not pass it.

  610. You will not carry it and just give it to somebody and then leave without it.

  611. You're going to go with it.

  612. Any job you're getting, when you tell them, I have a BSc in this, but I also have an experience

  613. in photography.

  614. You know, when you add that to your, you know, yes, that's to, to pad it.

  615. Even if, even if you did not get the three point that we've been telling you to get,

  616. to get, to get, to get, you know, not to offset certain things.

  617. Praise God.

  618. We have to offset certain things because you are going to add value.

  619. Praise God.

  620. So know that in this church, we encourage you and we keep encouraging you.

  621. Don't just be a passerby, right?

  622. Don't just be someone that shows up and just marks attendance and services.

  623. We have midweek services.

  624. We have cell meetings.

  625. All of those are avenues for you to grow.

  626. Praise God.

  627. I want you to just close your eyes and just thank God and just give God all the glory,

  628. give God all the praise.

  629. Thank Him for, just say, God, I trust you.

  630. Thank you for listening to today's sermon.

  631. Your journey matters to us.

  632. Let's keep walking together.

  633. Visit our website for more resources and follow us on social media to stay updated.

  634. Feel free to check the show notes for additional insights.

  635. If today's message was a blessing, share it with a friend.

  636. Until next time, be blessed.