Sermon
How real is the Gospel to you Galatians 1 vs 11-24
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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You've tuned into a mega church. We are people hungry to
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encounter God through worship and His Word being witnesses to
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the world around us. We pray this teaching blesses
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you and trust God will reveal Himself to you in a new way
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So we continue our study of book of Galatians we have done until
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verse 10 last week. We'll go on from 11.
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I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is
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not something that man made-up. That's verse 11.
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Now I was thinking about this one verse whole day.
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I was just stuck about this verse.
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You know, at the end of the day I said, ah, I spent the whole
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day studying just one verse. Now what I have discovered here
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is the whole passage is transformation of Saul becoming
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Paul. The one who was persecuting
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becomes a pursuer. He began to pursue Jesus with a
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zeal unparalleled. When I say unparalleled, it
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exceeds even the other 11 disciples really how they served
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Christ compared to Paul. It just fades before his zeal
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and his ministry and the outcome of his ministry.
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And he is the one who was committed to destroy the church.
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And at the end he gets destroyed.
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The old Saul gets destroyed and a new Paul is born from out of
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that. Like a sphinx, he rose up out of
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his ashes. You know, that's just amazing in
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itself. I cannot just the more I thought
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about Paul, the more I was saying, oh, this is he set up an
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ideal. It's so far high I may never
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come anywhere nearer to it. You know, one lifetime is not
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enough to achieve what Paul achieved in his life.
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And you see he writes to the Corinthians and says in chapter
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15, verse one. Now brothers and sisters, I want
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to remind you of the gospel I preach to you.
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He's talking about the gospel he preach to the Corinthians, which
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you received and on which you have taken your stand.
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And then listen carefully. By this gospel you are saved.
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If you hold firmly to the word, I preach to you.
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What kind of courage is that? What kind of boldness is that?
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Hey, I have preached, you have believed.
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Stand on it. You deviate from it, you are
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going to be doomed. You will go to hell.
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What is the kind of courage? Where does it come from?
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Where does this courage to say? The gospel I preach is the Word
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and there is nothing you can add to it, you cannot subtract from
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it. And that is it.
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And that is what is going to save you.
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That is what is going to take you to heaven.
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And I tell you guys, you don't do it.
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You are going to lose it. Wow.
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I said this is courage in the purest form, the passion for the
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gospel, the commitment for the gospel, and how firmly he knows
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that. He knows that.
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He knows that the gospel he has preached is the only gospel that
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is that assurance. Before that assurance, I had to
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salute him and say, hey, this is Paul.
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The kind of thing that you are exuberating, the kind of thing
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that you are showing out what is woozing out of you is amazing.
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That confidence in the gospel is amazing.
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And he says, hold firmly to the word.
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I preach to you. Otherwise you have believed in
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vain. You have wasted your life, Huh.
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This has to be more certain. Can anybody be more certain
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about the gospel than Paul himself?
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My question is, how much do you believe the gospel in your own
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life? What is the certainty you have?
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Are you sure this is the only way?
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Amen. Amen.
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Yeah. If you believe it, that will
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show in your life. That will show in your life.
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You cannot just hello just people to walk past you.
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Other day I went to buy some Chinese fried rice and I see a
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Sri Lankan man come there and order some Chinese fried rice
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and he was waiting there and the lady said one the price was
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there and it was $1.00 extra. I said what is the price?
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She gave the right price but he charged me $1.00 extra.
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You wanted it spicy, so it's $1.00 extra.
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So I talked to, hey, this man was smiling.
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So I look, he also ordered spicy rice.
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So I said, hey, you're from Sri Lanka or India.
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He said I'm from Sri Lanka. Oh, I guessed it right.
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And I said, oh, come, come sit here.
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And then I told him briefly, 1 1/2 minute gospel, you know, I
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want to have more opportunities like that.
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It's just one person. One in a week is just not good
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enough. But when you are a pastor and
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you don't have a secular job, that's the problem.
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You have to go out to meet people and that's that's the
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challenge. And then you look at this thing
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for I received OK, verse three, he says for I for what I
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received. I passed on to you as a first
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importance that Christ died for our sins according to the
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Scriptures. That is what the confidence that
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Paul has about the gospel. Where does it come from?
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Ask your neighbor where does it come from?
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Before I launch into that, I will give you one more verse he
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writes to Thessalonians. First Thessalonians chapter 2.
1 Thessalonians 2 chapter mention
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When you received the word of God, which you heard from us,
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probably a team of people, he must have gone with one of us is
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the first missionary journey. You accepted it not as a human
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word, but as it actually is the word of God, which is indeed at
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work in you who believe it is the word of God, and you have
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accepted as the word of God, not our word.
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So how do we receive the gospel? Do we say this is the word of
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God? No, we have diluted the gospel.
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You know, sometimes you get used to it.
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After five years of being a believer, 10 years of being a
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believer, somewhere it loses the power.
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You, you just accept it. You are a believer.
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That's it. What does it mean for you in the
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present, today, today? What does it mean to you?
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What will it mean to you tomorrow?
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That gospel, that is how we had to live.
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It has to have a grip on your heart.
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It has to grip your mind. It has to grip your soul.
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It has to, it is it has to propel you.
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It has to compel you, and it has to push you to do things the way
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that you don't want to do. You say no, no, no, that's not
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my comfort zone, but it's going to compel you to come out of the
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comfort zone. And that is when we know that
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you believe the gospel. So where does it come from?
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First He says Jesus died. I pass on to you as a first
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importance. That crash died for our sins.
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Accord to the scriptures. Everybody says scriptures.
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Where did he get the scriptures from?
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Where did he get the scriptures from?
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Jewish boy growing up in a home he is acquainted with Book of
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Genesis to the last book Malakai.
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But what is special about Paul is he went to study at the feet
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of a famous man called Gamaliel. Gamaliel was one of the a part
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of the son Hedren, highly recognized for his authority on
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the knowledge of the scriptures. If you want the best teacher,
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during Paul's time it was Gamaliel.
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So he had the best teacher teach the scriptures, so he went and
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learned from him. But it raises some questions.
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If Gamaliel was living in Jerusalem and Paul was learning
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from Gamaliel in Jerusalem, how did he not see Jesus?
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How he did not hear about Jesus? How did he escape Jesus?
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Notice I have no answer for it. I only raised a question.
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But what he learned from Gamaliel is that the scriptures
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are the final thing. You cannot add to it.
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You cannot subtract from it. The scriptures have to be
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fulfilled. Messiah is going to come and
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when the Messiah has come, he is not the Messiah.
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They are thinking they want to wait.
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Let's see what's going to happen.
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At one point when the Christians are being persecuted in the book
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of Acts, Gamaliel is the first guy who tells the sun headed,
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hey guys, don't go after them. Don't put them to death.
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Why? If this movement is from God,
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you cannot stop it. You will be fighting God, but if
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it is not from God, it is going to die by itself so you don't
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have to do anything. A very passive and non
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aggressive approach to solving the problem.
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But Saul went one step ahead than his own master and he says,
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if this is the Scriptures and this is how we know that the law
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Israel, the Lord your God is 1 and this man is saying I am the
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son of God. You cannot have a son to the God
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for God. And that makes two people gods
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because you cannot just son means less than God, it means
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equal to God. You cannot have more than one
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God. So he said, I want to finish
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this, I want to nip it in the bud.
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I don't want it to progress. I don't want to take roots.
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So I am going to finish it. He took it into his hands and he
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started going from synagogue to synagogue, going into the homes
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of the people, dragging men, women and children and arresting
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them and putting them in the jail.
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And this man was actually the word used here is ravaged.
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What is the word ravaged actually mean?
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The word ravaged actually is used in in terms of war.
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When you have a band of people attacking another people who are
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living in peace, you are going to attack that place and you are
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going to demolish everything. And after you capture the
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people, you take away all the good things from the homes and
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you walk away. And what you leave is ruined
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place that is ravaged. And he was doing it for the
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church. He was ravaging the church by
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his zeal. By the way, the word zeal comes
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from the word zealotis, the Greek word that is.
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It is like when you unleash a dog and you wanted to go on to
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chase and fire. I mean catch a rabbit or some
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other animal. What kind of ferocious he's
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going to show. It's like a hunter going after
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his price, whatever he is hunting for.
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So zeal is that is the kind of a driving force it is.
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It is more than just let it. You do not let anything survive.
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It is you who will have a supreme authority and you will
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show, use your power, your strength to obliterate the
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object that is before you. You are going to kill it and
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take it. Was there anybody among the
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among the disciples of Jesus who is called a zealot?
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There was a man among the 12 There was one called Simon the
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Zealot. What is basically it means is he
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belonged to a group of people who were jealous for the word of
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God, Simon the Zealot. Do you hear anything about his
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zeal? Probably three years of staying
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with Jesus must have bellowed him down, and that zeal died.
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He must have become a normal guy.
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But here is Saul who is demonstrating what zeal is to be
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a zealot. He exceeded one who is born or
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belonged to a particular group committed with that kind of a
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zeal. He exceeded it.
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He exceeded, He says, I have exceeded far more than my
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contemporaries, those who are of my age, those who belong to my
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age, I have exceeded them. He exceeded in zeal, even
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Gamaliel Zeal his master. So he learned the scriptures
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from him. Now what has to be done is that
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has to die. You cannot have two masters in
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your life. You cannot have to give a hifer
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to your neighbor. Say you cannot have two masters
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in your life. So here is Saul who has one
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master, the scriptures, and he has the the culture, he has the
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traditions, he has the fathers, he has so much behind it.
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And now that cannot, that cannot be allowed to exist.
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It has to die first. So that's what happened when
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Saul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, That Saul had
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to die, that Gamaliel's influence has to die, that
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revelation, whatever understanding he had, that
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understanding has to be replaced.
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That understanding has to be demolished, uprooted.
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Otherwise the gospel cannot survive in that heart.
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The gospel to have the supreme attention that it requires,
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supreme allegiance that it requires, and supreme obedience
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is required. For the gospel cannot survive in
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a heart if it is committed to something else.
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Jesus has to be supreme. All I was singing today was just
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after that. He has to be supreme in our
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mind, otherwise we will not exalt this Jesus through our
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life. It's difficult.
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Why there are so many Christians who are so cool, Cold, rather
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not cool, they are cold is because they don't understand
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the uniqueness of the gospel. We have to understand the
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uniqueness of the gospel and demonstrate in our life first,
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our family should be impacted by it and demonstrated in such a
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way that our neighbors are impacted, our relatives and
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friends are impacted, and then it goes into the community and
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its community is impacted. So there is a necessity for us
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to revisit our understanding of scriptures.
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We need to understand the scriptures so that scriptures he
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knew it so well, but that needed to be fine-tuned that needed to
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be some you had to shine the torch on the scriptures and give
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new light has to come upon it and that happens when he that
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happened when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus.
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So. So Saint Paul had has bordered
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us beyond belief. He claims in one Corinthians the
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Gospel. I preach to you, by this gospel
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you are saved. Can we fathom the depth of his
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understanding of the gospel? He commands the Thessalonians
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Church for believing the gospel as a word of God.
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How can a frail human being make such a claims?
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Such claims and people believe it and follow it.
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OK, here is Paul going from town to town, city to city, and he is
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saying this is the gospel, you need to be saved.
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Why should they believe that man?
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Why should they believe they are not his friends?
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He is not one of their friends. He is not maybe a relative,
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probably because he is a Jewish man, otherwise nothing more.
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So why would people believe the gospel?
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Because He does not preach it from just his mind.
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He preaches from his heart and by the power of the Holy Spirit
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and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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And when you do that, I share crush with so many people.
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They just don't care. They don't listen.
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Question is where is the passion?
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Question number 12, are you filled with the Holy Spirit?
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Let that message come by the power of the Holy Spirit, and
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then that man, whoever you speak to, it cannot just walk away.
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This babbler said something. I am not going to think about
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it. I'll just carry on with my life.
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No, he cannot do that, because you are going to arrest him by
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the power of the Holy Spirit, who is dwelling in you.
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What is the source of his boldness?
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How can a man sell all his possessions to buy the field in
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which he found a Pearl of great value?
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You know, we have a parable, a parable where a man finds a
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Pearl and then he goes and sells all the fields and everything he
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had and brings the money and buys that field because there's
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a Pearl hidden inside. He wants to legally possess it.
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Now, so many times I used to wonder if you found a Pearl, why
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does he have to go and sell everything and he can just take
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it and walk? No, he wants to legally possess
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it. So he sells everything he has
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and buys the to buy the Pearl. To possess the Pearl, he buys
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the land where he found it. So Paul, Saul, he found a Pearl
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of great value, and he considers everything that he possesses,
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his qualifications, his achievements, his knowledge,
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everything as dung refuse for the knowledge of the gospel of
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Christ. Maybe we have not received the
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gospel in that way we don't see as the one supreme thing that
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should be consuming our desire, our mind or emotions, our
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desire. I mean, that's not really
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propelling us or compelling us to live life.
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We don't think that this gospel deserves that kind of attention
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like Saul did. And then you have another one.
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How can a man count all his credentials and all his
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achievements as done compared to the knowledge of Jesus Christ?
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So all these things have to go first.
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So it happened on the on the road to Damascus when he was
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going to find people who believe in Jesus the the way the ones
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who they were following the way he wanted to arrest them, but he
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was arrested there. The bright light shone around
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him and he heard the voice saying Saul, Saul, why do you
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persecute me? He said, who are you Lord?
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That word, when he said, who are you, Lord?
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He already was surrendered. That light made him blind and
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pushed him to the ground. And then he opens his eyes, he
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gets nothing, but he has a voice.
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Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
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You know there is an organic unity between Jesus and the
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church. Nobody can touch the church
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without touching Jesus. You cannot touch any member of
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the body of Christ and put throw an insult at him, speak a harsh
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word at him and Jesus is not feeling about it.
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It is not possible. Why?
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He is the head. We are the members of his body.
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So the church is organic unity in organic.
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It is an organic unity with Jesus himself and we need to
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know who we are because the gospel is what is going to make
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you is you give value to the gospel.
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It becomes the center of your life.
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That's only when you appreciate who you are in Christ.
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So here is the encounter, and that encounter has so much to
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change this man. And when he said, Lord, who are
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you? He was yielding to the one who
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has encountered him, who stopped him on the way.
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He's saying, OK, I'm pursuing the way, but who are you
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stopping me? I am Jesus whom you are
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persecuting. Oh, I didn't even know I was
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persecuting you. I was just going after a handful
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of people who are just teaching what you are about you.
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And that is a big lesson he learned there.
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Saul's first big lesson was that this Christ cannot be separated
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from the church. And when you see in One
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Corinthians chapter 2 verses 12 to 13, we have not received the
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spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we
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may understand what God has freely given us.
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And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human
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wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual
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truths in spiritual words. Its all about the Holy Spirit,
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Its not about the intellect, its not about fluency of words, its
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not about mesmerizing people with oratory skills.
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It is none of these things. It is the power of the Holy
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Spirit. So what are the three things
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that are making this man bored? His knowledge of scriptures and
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his encounter with Jesus. And in that encounter, complete
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transformation happened. Complete transformation.
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It was very brief, maybe one minute, 2 minutes.
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How long does it take to say all those things?
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2 minutes of encounter. But he becomes a Newman after
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that. He was fasting for three days,
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and then he he was, he was told, OK, go into the city.
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You'll be told what he should do.
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He goes into this man's house and staying there, fasting and
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praying, probably repenting of all his how many people he has
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tried to kill, how he was standing as a witness when
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Stephen was being stoned. Everything must be coming before
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his mind. My Lord, I'm so sorry.
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I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
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I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
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Hey, I have forgiven you. I have.
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I am washing in my blood. God, I cannot overcome this
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guilt that is coming against me. Don't worry, my blood is tensing
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you. And then he speaks to another
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man. Ananyas, go and pray for him.
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He's waiting for you. He has seen a vision in which
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you are going and laying hand. All those things have happened.
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But he says I have not received his gospel from any man.
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It doesn't have an origin in man.
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It is directly a revelation and by the grace of God, I had few
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moments of revelation few times in my life.
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I cannot say every day, but I had some distinct experience
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with the Holy Spirit and I subscribe to the Bible as the
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Word of God. 100%. There are no portion.
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You show me what about this? That's the Word of God, this
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list of people, that's the Word of God.
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There is a specific function for everything.
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So I am sold out to this word because of the revelation.
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But when you don't have the revelation, what happens is that
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we are lukewarm towards this word.
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So everyone of us needs revelation about the Scriptures.
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The Holy Spirit is the one who can give you the revelation.
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And if you say I never had any supernatural encounter with the
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Holy Spirit, if that's what you're saying this morning, I
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would say begin to fast and pray, fast and pray.
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Say God, I need your mercy, I need your mercy, I need your
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love, pour it out. I need that encounter.
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I want to hear your voice. I want to know that this
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Scripture is God breathed. All of us know the Scripture.
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Timothy 316. Oh, the Scripture is God
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breathed given for this. This is purpose.
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We all know that. But when the Holy Spirit
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ministers to you and gives you the revelation of a word, then
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it makes sense. Then that Bible is no longer a
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black and white things spattered on the white pages.
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No, it is life. So these are the things that
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happened to Saul. He knew the Scriptures, but
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there's no power in it. In that encounter, life is
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released to the Scriptures that he had.
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That encounter removed the scales from his eyes.
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Physically it removed and spiritually much more.
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And he saw Christ and his glory. You know, there is a great
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luxury of all the the 12 disciples he started with.
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There is a great luxuries. They stayed with him, they ate
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with him, they slept with him. They were with him for three
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years. And that was not the case with
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Saul. He didn't have the luxury of
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moving with the Lord for three years.
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So how does it, how does God compensate after this encounter?
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He did not consult anybody. It didn't go to anybody.
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Hey, I had an encounter. Is it true?
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Did I have a true experience? I don't know.
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Maybe it may not be. No, he knew he is an encounter.
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He knew that Jesus is God. He knew that he is the Son of
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God and he knew beyond any any question in his heart that there
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is no other gospel. This is the gospel.
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And because he knew it so well, he he laid his life as a
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sacrifice upon it. He could say I wish my my life
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is poured out like a liberation on your faith to somebody and to
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somebody says I may be accursed. Maybe I become anathema.
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Let me be cursed so that you can be a blessing that God may
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encounter you with this gospel because I want you to be saved.
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Even expense of himself being lost.
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He wants others to be saved. That is what is Christ like love
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that is what is passion like. Christ is you know, it is just
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beyond words so many times sitting in the chair and looking
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at the computer and trying to study the word, but it just
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comes like a like a big wave hitting you and and then you say
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nothing. Nobody in my in my house see me
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what is happening to me when I'm studying the word.
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Do do John see what do you see me why anything happened to me?
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I tell inside I am burning with that word because that is how it
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should supposed to operate in your life.
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Anything less you don't value this book.
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If this is the book that you value, it should be your breath,
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it should be your life, it should be your light, it should
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be your bread. And I tell you, you will not
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treat this book lightly and you will feed on that word which
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will sustain you. Man shall not buy bread alone,
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but by every word that is come out of the mouth of God that
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will become your experience. So Paul's personal revelation
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received supported that Jesus Christ died according to the
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scriptures. Secondly, he had an encounter
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with Jesus Christ which he which had destroyed his understanding
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of scriptures received from Gamaliel and a new perspective
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planted by Jesus Christ. And thirdly is taught by the
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Holy Spirit expressing spiritual truth with the words taught by
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Spirit. These are three things that I
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have chained the man saw into Paul, the man who was
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persecuting to be 1 persecuted. He becomes the object of
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persecution and rejection and what exactly was trying to do is
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it is done to him rest of his life.
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People wanted to get rid of Paul from the face of the earth,
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anything they hated. They didn't want to see him at
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1.30 or 40 of them. They made a vow to kill him
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before he gets to the place where he's going to be tried.
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They've made a vow they are not going to eat food that touch
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anything until he is killed. And when that news goes to a
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little boy who was his sisters son and he goes to Paul and says
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this is what I hear these people are saying.
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And he says OK, go to the commander.
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He calls the commander. He, this little boy, has
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something to say and then he tells you what is the matter.
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Then he gives a full army to support him and take him safely
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to other place. Why did people hate him?
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Why did Paul was hated so much? Because he believed that there
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is no other way other than this gospel of Jesus Christ.
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That gospel is the only way and when he preached it, lived it.
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People hated him because of that.
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There are many people sometimes I hear they say because I
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believe in Jesus, I have no relationships, no relative
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around me. Some people say I have no
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friends because I believe in Jesus.
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You know, when I was in India, people came to know that I am a
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Christian and from a Hindu background.
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So they look at me always like this guy is like a missing sheep
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from a flock. They'll talk to you nicely, but
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in their heart they are drawn the line.
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You cannot become this side. In one family, my classmate, I
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used to go and study together. We both study.
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They are allowing me into their house and sometimes because I'm
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there studying, his mom would say hey have some food because
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you are here and I eat the food with they sit there and eat the
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food, but I came no later that the plate they gave me is
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separate even though I am from the same community.
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They separate the plate and the glass that I drink from.
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Why I am not one of them anymore?
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I had the treatment in many places like that.
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I am not bothered. Why this gospel deserves any
-
mistakement you ever get in this life.
-
You know when you are persecuted for the sake of the gospel, you
-
are compensating for anything that is lacking in the
-
sufferings of Christ. That is how Paul viewed it.
-
That is how Paul would suffering for the gospel because
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meaningful when you appreciate what this gospel is all about.
-
And when Jesus himself said in John Chapter 7, Jesus answered,
John 7 chapter mention
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My teaching is not my own. It comes from one who sent me.
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Anyone who can chooses to do the will of God will find out
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whether my teachings come from God or whether I speak on my
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own. Whoever speaks on their own does
-
so to gain personal glory. But he who seeks the glory of
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the one who sent him is a man of truth.
-
There is no nothing false about him.
-
Ha, when I read that, I said this is true about Paul.
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He's not glorifying himself. He's laying down his life, he's
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glorifying the one who chose him and he chose him.
-
Later on, he says God chose me. Even even before I was born,
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when I was still being formed in my mother's belly, God chose me.
-
So between his choosing and between his conversion on the
-
road to Damascus, there's so much has happened.
-
So why did he become why did you so much a bad in his life and no
-
answer to that. We all have gone through many
-
bad things we have done between the choosing and between the
-
saving. We go through it, but Jesus
-
covers us with his blood and says you are clean because my
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blood has cleaned, cleansed you. You are my son, you are my
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daughter. All the past just goes away.
-
You know, the depth of this understanding the gospel is what
-
consumes me now and how he can write to the core.
-
This is behold, all things all have passed away.
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Everything has become new. Is that power of the gospel?
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You cannot say anything in any other words, but question is, do
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we have this insight that this man Paul had about the gospel?
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How deeply it can penetrate your soul, How deeply it can change
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your spirit? How deeply it can cover your
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sin? How deeply it can change you
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from a Wildman, a wicked man to become a St.
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So Paul is clearly following the Lord Jesus Christ, emulating
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him, following him, imitating him.
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He doesn't claim his own authority, gives glory to the
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Lord who encountered him and changed his life.
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He seeks the glory of the one who sent him.
-
We are to seek the glory of the Father and the Son of the Holy
-
Spirit. That should become our motto of
-
life. That should become the object of
-
our life. That should become the desire of
-
our life. That should be the propelling
-
factor in our life is to glorify God, nothing else.
-
So not the glory of God am I proceeding anywhere.
-
So he says I did not receive from any man, nor was I taught
-
it. Rather I received it by
-
revelation from Jesus Christ. And then what he says is you
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have heard by way of life and all that he talks about.
-
And then he says how intensely I persecuted the Church of God,
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persecuted the Church of God. Verse 13 where is it here was
-
studying intensely persecuted Greek word is DEA Co like a
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hunter pursuing his catch used sometimes positively and also
-
negatively. In both cases it means pursue
-
with haste in order to overtake in order to overtake.
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Imagine a running race. If there's a 400 meters running
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race. The everybody is running, but
-
there's somebody who is take overtaking another and he
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overtakes the another until there's nobody else there.
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When the when they touch the tape.
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What kind of passion is the in the in the sprinters heart that
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makes him run, run, overtake, overtake, overtake.
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This is Saul trying to be better than anybody of his generation.
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He was persecuting the church. He was pushing his like an
-
athlete and he was pursuing it with so much of zeal that he
-
overtake everybody. He overtook everybody, he says,
-
persecuted it, the Church of God, and tried to destroy it.
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The word destroy is in Greek portheo.
-
That simply means destroy. Ravage.
-
Waste is a picture of an invading force, and this he
-
tried to ravage. It ravaged him.
-
Look at it in verse 23. The man who formerly persecuted
-
us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy what he
-
tried to ravage. It ravaged him.
-
Now what he was trying to destroy has destroyed him, but
-
in the process he gains life. In the process you gain life,
-
eternal life. So what we see here is many
-
other things you can see but he says in verse 15, But when God
-
who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace was
-
pleased to reveal his Son in me, everybody say he reveal his son
-
in me. What does it mean If there's
-
anything that ever you want to go away today from, you know,
-
from this morning session and you I want you to walk away with
-
this one thought. God wants to reveal his son in
-
you and in me. So what does it mean?
-
What does it mean for his Son to reveal his son in me?
-
Basically he wanted to live in such a way that only Christ will
-
be seen in him. His eyes are eyes of Christ.
-
His hands are hands of Christ. His feet are feet of Christ.
-
His heart is a heart of Christ. He says in in Galatians.
-
In Galatians 220, he says, I just disappeared from my mind.
-
OK, ah, it is no longer I that Christ is no longer I live, yet
-
I live but not me. It is the Son of the living God.
-
He lives and reigns in me. So to the point where he says,
-
well you see, me living, this flesh has life which not me.
-
It is Christ who is living in me.
-
That is when his name will be revealed in you through you,
-
when it becomes a passion, when it becomes the one goal for life
-
when it becomes the breath of your life is to breathe out the
-
gospel to see people saved, healed, delivered.
-
I tell you that is how you live for Christ.
-
That is how live for Christ. So the one who this whole change
-
you know great and wonderful turn around.
-
He exhibited. He exhibited his life.
-
This how he turned around from persecutor to the one who
-
persecuted, the one who wanted to destroy the message became a
-
carrier of the message. He was a messenger of the
-
message. And then it is not self reform
-
but divine intervention. All that happened in source life
-
is not reform. OK, I need to become a better
-
man. I need to become a Goodman.
-
I will stop doing this. I stop saying this.
-
No, it is an intervention where God had changed him into a
-
Newman and that's what supposed to gospel to do with each one of
-
us. That's what the gospel is
-
supposed to do, each one of us. As the world tries to obliterate
-
the church, it becomes stronger in witness.
-
The persecuted has its own role. You know Jesus said when he is
-
come, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, he shall be my
-
witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, to uttermost
-
parts of the earth. But how did he do it?
-
He used persecution because of the persecution.
-
Church became strong because of persecution that run for their
-
life as they went different places because they are being
-
persecuted as they went, they were spreading the gospel as
-
well, sharing the gospel as well.
-
So the seed is scattered in a long larger area.
-
So you have got a massive harvest happening because you
-
have scattered everywhere. So within the gospel is.
-
Intricately woven is the concept of persecution.
-
You cannot separate the gospel from persecution.
-
Sometimes the church in the West, church in New Zealand, is
-
not flourishing, is not having a rich harvest, because we are not
-
being persecuted. Final victory belongs to the
-
lamb. Final victory belongs to the
-
Lamb through this all. The Lamb is a is the 1 He is The
-
gospel is about the Lamb. And ultimately you will see a
-
Lamb in heaven as if it is slain with the seven eyes and seven
-
horns. And you got the four living
-
creatures surrounding and the 24 elders falling on their knees
-
and worshiping holy, holy, holy. You deserve a God because of the
-
Lamb that has taken away the sin of the whole world.
-
As you fall down and worship this Lamb that is in the future.
-
But you have to do it now in this world.
-
It is not. Sometimes we think the worship
-
is for future. No worship is for the present.
-
You worship now for revelation. You worship now.
-
To have life, you worship now. To have that zeal to worship
-
now, to have that passion for the gospel, to worship, you
-
become a living person. How much time do we have for
-
worship? Sometimes when I start praying,
-
I always make sure that I first worship, whether it's 3 minutes,
-
5 minutes, 10 minutes, I give, I don't ask anything straight
-
away. I just worship and sometimes I
-
apologize. God, you know, this is very less
-
time. I'll give another time to
-
worship, but now I need to pray. This is I don't have much time.
-
I'm going to pray about it. Please forgive me for that
-
because that is how you have to come.
-
Worship is #1 in your life, if this gospel has changed you, you
-
will be a worshipper. So authentic zeal springs from
-
invaling spirit, not fleshly ambition.
-
The zeal that that Paul had, that comes from the invaling
-
Holy Spirit. Secondly, it fixes on God's
-
glory, the edification of His people and obedience to His
-
Word. This is how it is going to
-
change you. Then the manner in which it
-
happens is it is regulated by love, humility and wisdom is not
-
rash, it is not rough. It is no, it is just humility
-
and love and outcome is it multiplies good works strengthen
-
the church, exalts Christ. Is it all true about Paul?
-
Yes, it is all true about Paul. The question is we need to ask
-
is, are we anywhere nearer to living like Saul who became
-
Paul? So he was set apart from his
-
mother's belly. Acts 13, Two, when they prayed
-
in Acts 13, two, when they prayed, the Holy Spirit said
-
set, set apart for me, Saul and Barnabas.
-
So when was he set apart? When was his mother's home?
-
When is the Holy Spirit confirming it?
-
After many, many years, persecution encounter of the
-
Damascus, and then he was trying to preach the gospel, rejected,
-
goes into Arabia, comes back, and now the Holy Spirit says set
-
him apart for the work that I have.
-
So between the choosing and the actualization of the choosing,
-
there will be many things. Much water has to pass from the
-
Avon River. There is not much there anyway
-
before it happens. So that is how it is.
-
So in Matthew 1349, this is how it will be at the end of the
-
age. Angels will come.
-
Sorry, sorry, I'm running into it.
-
So setting apart continues in two parables.
-
Angels of God will separate the sheep from the goats.
-
So the this this word setting apart is used not only to
-
describe his destiny, but is also used in the context of the
-
church where you have two parables that explain it.
-
And one of them is Acts. I mean, Matthew 1349.
-
This is how it will be at the end of the ages.
-
Angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous.
-
All people will be gathered before the throne of God.
-
God is on the throne and he's going to say, OK, this black
-
man, this yellow man, this white man, this red man, OK, come on
-
my right. You are my sheep, OK?
-
What I am trying to make it is humorously put in the word he
-
chooses from every nation, tribe, tongue and tongue and
-
language. And those who love him, He knows
-
he is like come on my right, you are my sheep.
-
And those who are opposite Kingdom come on my left.
-
You are the goats, and the goats will go to hell and they go to
-
be with him forever. This is how it is that choosing
-
is happening in an individual life, and this is how it happens
-
in a larger scale at on the human, human race.
-
The choosing is going to separate.
-
Are you on this side, right side, or on the left side?
-
If you are on the right side, rejoice, because good things are
-
going to come. OK.
-
And Matthew 25 verse 31 when the Son of Man comes in his glory,
-
and all the angels with him, He will sit on His glorious throne.
-
All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate
-
the people one from the another. As a shepherd separates the
-
sheep from the goats, He will put the sheep on His right and
-
the goats on His left. Revelation is not self attained,
-
is divinely bestowed. You are not chosen because of
-
your hard work. You don't choose, He said in
-
John 15 I had chosen you. So how blessed it is to be
-
chosen. Flesh and blood has not revealed
-
this to you In one time when he was talking to Simon, he, Simon
-
Says you are the Son of the living God.
-
He says flesh and blood has not is revealed this to you, but my
-
Father in heaven. So the revelation comes from the
-
Father. So worship the Father through
-
Jesus Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit on your knees as
-
you worship Him. Revelation will come.
-
And I tell you, if you have not had revelation in the last one
-
month, its time to begin to pray now.
-
Because if you don't have revelation that means your
-
Christianity has gone down the drain.
-
How do you know a Christian is with fire when he moves in
-
Revelation? No revelation.
-
You are part of the Levodician Church.
-
Lukewarm. Lukewarm.
-
That is how you know, a live Christian and a compromised
-
Christian, or a dead Christian, or a cold Christian or whatever
-
you call it. God was pleased to reveal his
-
Son in Paul. He is the same God who wants to
-
reveal his Son in you, through you, and through me and in me.
-
Shall we bow our heads in prayer?
-
Father, we thank you again for helping us to focus a little on
-
Your Word. There's so much more, but we
-
praise You and we worship you for speaking to us this morning.
-
This is Your desire to reveal Your Son in us, through us.
-
We thank you, Lord. Let this gospel Incarnate in us
-
again. Let the passion be lit up in us
-
again. Let that fire for the gospel be
-
lit up on it again, that we may look at people who are perishing
-
and long for their salvation. And that will compel us to open
-
our mouth and share the gospel at the cost of being rejected
-
and persecuted. Thank you, Lord, Thank you,
-
Lord, thank you, Lord, thank you, Jesus.
-
I don't want to give actually kind of a altar call, but you
-
know, I feel right now in my spirit that I need to give you
-
this opportunity. If you want to commit yourself
-
to this gospel, if you want to live like Paul, consumed by the
-
desire to carry this gospel, if you want to serve this gospel,
-
just stand where you are. And I want to pray for you
-
Saravan the sakrono Marshall sakurno riba renimanahandraste
-
sakarana sastaroni riba shaktaroni ho rabba cinema rasi
-
sama rasakundo risanamanda sakuroni.
-
In the name of Jesus. I thank you for children who are
-
responding to say this gospel shall dominate my life.
-
This gospel shall propel me. This gospel is the one I want to
-
live for. I want to breathe and eat this
-
gospel in the name of Jesus. I pray that the power of the
-
Holy Ghost will come upon the children to set them up, impart
-
that kind of passion, impart that kind of power in the name
-
of Jesus, that they will not be ordinary Christians, but they
-
will be extraordinary, and they will turn the world upside down
-
to the glory of your name. May your favor come upon them,
-
may your countenance shine upon them, and may your peace rest
-
upon them this morning. Thank you again for your
-
children who love you. My Master, I praise you.
-
Lord, look at me as well. I want to be consumed by this
-
passion for the gospel. In the name of Jesus, we yield
-
all this to you. You reign supreme in our hearts
-
to the glory of your name. Thank you Lord, let a Kingdom
-
come read. It will be done.
-
I know that this is heaven to the glory of your name.
-
Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord.
-
Thank you Lord. Oh my Father, I can be standing
-
here saying thank you to the whole day.
-
It will not be enough because this comes from your mercy and
-
your grace. Oh, we thank you.
-
It is divinely bestowed. It's not earned.
-
So I praise you for your visitation.
-
That's happening to some of us here and I worship you Lord
-
Father, in Jesus name we ask Amen.
-
Amen. Thanks for joining us at Omega.
-
If you need prayer for healing or breakthrough, or simply to
-
find out more, please head to our website or Facebook page in
-
the links below.