Sermon

How real is the Gospel to you Galatians 1 vs 11-24

Omega Church NZ

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  1. You've tuned into a mega church. We are people hungry to

  2. encounter God through worship and His Word being witnesses to

  3. the world around us. We pray this teaching blesses

  4. you and trust God will reveal Himself to you in a new way

  5. today. And if you need prayer for

  6. healing or breakthrough, or to find out more about Omega, get

  7. to our website or Facebook page through the links below.

  8. So we continue our study of book of Galatians we have done until

  9. verse 10 last week. We'll go on from 11.

  10. I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is

  11. not something that man made-up. That's verse 11.

  12. Now I was thinking about this one verse whole day.

  13. I was just stuck about this verse.

  14. You know, at the end of the day I said, ah, I spent the whole

  15. day studying just one verse. Now what I have discovered here

  16. is the whole passage is transformation of Saul becoming

  17. Paul. The one who was persecuting

  18. becomes a pursuer. He began to pursue Jesus with a

  19. zeal unparalleled. When I say unparalleled, it

  20. exceeds even the other 11 disciples really how they served

  21. Christ compared to Paul. It just fades before his zeal

  22. and his ministry and the outcome of his ministry.

  23. And he is the one who was committed to destroy the church.

  24. And at the end he gets destroyed.

  25. The old Saul gets destroyed and a new Paul is born from out of

  26. that. Like a sphinx, he rose up out of

  27. his ashes. You know, that's just amazing in

  28. itself. I cannot just the more I thought

  29. about Paul, the more I was saying, oh, this is he set up an

  30. ideal. It's so far high I may never

  31. come anywhere nearer to it. You know, one lifetime is not

  32. enough to achieve what Paul achieved in his life.

  33. And you see he writes to the Corinthians and says in chapter

  34. 15, verse one. Now brothers and sisters, I want

  35. to remind you of the gospel I preach to you.

  36. He's talking about the gospel he preach to the Corinthians, which

  37. you received and on which you have taken your stand.

  38. And then listen carefully. By this gospel you are saved.

  39. If you hold firmly to the word, I preach to you.

  40. What kind of courage is that? What kind of boldness is that?

  41. Hey, I have preached, you have believed.

  42. Stand on it. You deviate from it, you are

  43. going to be doomed. You will go to hell.

  44. What is the kind of courage? Where does it come from?

  45. Where does this courage to say? The gospel I preach is the Word

  46. and there is nothing you can add to it, you cannot subtract from

  47. it. And that is it.

  48. And that is what is going to save you.

  49. That is what is going to take you to heaven.

  50. And I tell you guys, you don't do it.

  51. You are going to lose it. Wow.

  52. I said this is courage in the purest form, the passion for the

  53. gospel, the commitment for the gospel, and how firmly he knows

  54. that. He knows that.

  55. He knows that the gospel he has preached is the only gospel that

  56. is that assurance. Before that assurance, I had to

  57. salute him and say, hey, this is Paul.

  58. The kind of thing that you are exuberating, the kind of thing

  59. that you are showing out what is woozing out of you is amazing.

  60. That confidence in the gospel is amazing.

  61. And he says, hold firmly to the word.

  62. I preach to you. Otherwise you have believed in

  63. vain. You have wasted your life, Huh.

  64. This has to be more certain. Can anybody be more certain

  65. about the gospel than Paul himself?

  66. My question is, how much do you believe the gospel in your own

  67. life? What is the certainty you have?

  68. Are you sure this is the only way?

  69. Amen. Amen.

  70. Yeah. If you believe it, that will

  71. show in your life. That will show in your life.

  72. You cannot just hello just people to walk past you.

  73. Other day I went to buy some Chinese fried rice and I see a

  74. Sri Lankan man come there and order some Chinese fried rice

  75. and he was waiting there and the lady said one the price was

  76. there and it was $1.00 extra. I said what is the price?

  77. She gave the right price but he charged me $1.00 extra.

  78. You wanted it spicy, so it's $1.00 extra.

  79. So I talked to, hey, this man was smiling.

  80. So I look, he also ordered spicy rice.

  81. So I said, hey, you're from Sri Lanka or India.

  82. He said I'm from Sri Lanka. Oh, I guessed it right.

  83. And I said, oh, come, come sit here.

  84. And then I told him briefly, 1 1/2 minute gospel, you know, I

  85. want to have more opportunities like that.

  86. It's just one person. One in a week is just not good

  87. enough. But when you are a pastor and

  88. you don't have a secular job, that's the problem.

  89. You have to go out to meet people and that's that's the

  90. challenge. And then you look at this thing

  91. for I received OK, verse three, he says for I for what I

  92. received. I passed on to you as a first

  93. importance that Christ died for our sins according to the

  94. Scriptures. That is what the confidence that

  95. Paul has about the gospel. Where does it come from?

  96. Ask your neighbor where does it come from?

  97. Before I launch into that, I will give you one more verse he

  98. writes to Thessalonians. First Thessalonians chapter 2.

    1 Thessalonians 2 chapter mention

  99. When you received the word of God, which you heard from us,

  100. probably a team of people, he must have gone with one of us is

  101. the first missionary journey. You accepted it not as a human

  102. word, but as it actually is the word of God, which is indeed at

  103. work in you who believe it is the word of God, and you have

  104. accepted as the word of God, not our word.

  105. So how do we receive the gospel? Do we say this is the word of

  106. God? No, we have diluted the gospel.

  107. You know, sometimes you get used to it.

  108. After five years of being a believer, 10 years of being a

  109. believer, somewhere it loses the power.

  110. You, you just accept it. You are a believer.

  111. That's it. What does it mean for you in the

  112. present, today, today? What does it mean to you?

  113. What will it mean to you tomorrow?

  114. That gospel, that is how we had to live.

  115. It has to have a grip on your heart.

  116. It has to grip your mind. It has to grip your soul.

  117. It has to, it is it has to propel you.

  118. It has to compel you, and it has to push you to do things the way

  119. that you don't want to do. You say no, no, no, that's not

  120. my comfort zone, but it's going to compel you to come out of the

  121. comfort zone. And that is when we know that

  122. you believe the gospel. So where does it come from?

  123. First He says Jesus died. I pass on to you as a first

  124. importance. That crash died for our sins.

  125. Accord to the scriptures. Everybody says scriptures.

  126. Where did he get the scriptures from?

  127. Where did he get the scriptures from?

  128. Jewish boy growing up in a home he is acquainted with Book of

  129. Genesis to the last book Malakai.

  130. But what is special about Paul is he went to study at the feet

  131. of a famous man called Gamaliel. Gamaliel was one of the a part

  132. of the son Hedren, highly recognized for his authority on

  133. the knowledge of the scriptures. If you want the best teacher,

  134. during Paul's time it was Gamaliel.

  135. So he had the best teacher teach the scriptures, so he went and

  136. learned from him. But it raises some questions.

  137. If Gamaliel was living in Jerusalem and Paul was learning

  138. from Gamaliel in Jerusalem, how did he not see Jesus?

  139. How he did not hear about Jesus? How did he escape Jesus?

  140. Notice I have no answer for it. I only raised a question.

  141. But what he learned from Gamaliel is that the scriptures

  142. are the final thing. You cannot add to it.

  143. You cannot subtract from it. The scriptures have to be

  144. fulfilled. Messiah is going to come and

  145. when the Messiah has come, he is not the Messiah.

  146. They are thinking they want to wait.

  147. Let's see what's going to happen.

  148. At one point when the Christians are being persecuted in the book

  149. of Acts, Gamaliel is the first guy who tells the sun headed,

  150. hey guys, don't go after them. Don't put them to death.

  151. Why? If this movement is from God,

  152. you cannot stop it. You will be fighting God, but if

  153. it is not from God, it is going to die by itself so you don't

  154. have to do anything. A very passive and non

  155. aggressive approach to solving the problem.

  156. But Saul went one step ahead than his own master and he says,

  157. if this is the Scriptures and this is how we know that the law

  158. Israel, the Lord your God is 1 and this man is saying I am the

  159. son of God. You cannot have a son to the God

  160. for God. And that makes two people gods

  161. because you cannot just son means less than God, it means

  162. equal to God. You cannot have more than one

  163. God. So he said, I want to finish

  164. this, I want to nip it in the bud.

  165. I don't want it to progress. I don't want to take roots.

  166. So I am going to finish it. He took it into his hands and he

  167. started going from synagogue to synagogue, going into the homes

  168. of the people, dragging men, women and children and arresting

  169. them and putting them in the jail.

  170. And this man was actually the word used here is ravaged.

  171. What is the word ravaged actually mean?

  172. The word ravaged actually is used in in terms of war.

  173. When you have a band of people attacking another people who are

  174. living in peace, you are going to attack that place and you are

  175. going to demolish everything. And after you capture the

  176. people, you take away all the good things from the homes and

  177. you walk away. And what you leave is ruined

  178. place that is ravaged. And he was doing it for the

  179. church. He was ravaging the church by

  180. his zeal. By the way, the word zeal comes

  181. from the word zealotis, the Greek word that is.

  182. It is like when you unleash a dog and you wanted to go on to

  183. chase and fire. I mean catch a rabbit or some

  184. other animal. What kind of ferocious he's

  185. going to show. It's like a hunter going after

  186. his price, whatever he is hunting for.

  187. So zeal is that is the kind of a driving force it is.

  188. It is more than just let it. You do not let anything survive.

  189. It is you who will have a supreme authority and you will

  190. show, use your power, your strength to obliterate the

  191. object that is before you. You are going to kill it and

  192. take it. Was there anybody among the

  193. among the disciples of Jesus who is called a zealot?

  194. There was a man among the 12 There was one called Simon the

  195. Zealot. What is basically it means is he

  196. belonged to a group of people who were jealous for the word of

  197. God, Simon the Zealot. Do you hear anything about his

  198. zeal? Probably three years of staying

  199. with Jesus must have bellowed him down, and that zeal died.

  200. He must have become a normal guy.

  201. But here is Saul who is demonstrating what zeal is to be

  202. a zealot. He exceeded one who is born or

  203. belonged to a particular group committed with that kind of a

  204. zeal. He exceeded it.

  205. He exceeded, He says, I have exceeded far more than my

  206. contemporaries, those who are of my age, those who belong to my

  207. age, I have exceeded them. He exceeded in zeal, even

  208. Gamaliel Zeal his master. So he learned the scriptures

  209. from him. Now what has to be done is that

  210. has to die. You cannot have two masters in

  211. your life. You cannot have to give a hifer

  212. to your neighbor. Say you cannot have two masters

  213. in your life. So here is Saul who has one

  214. master, the scriptures, and he has the the culture, he has the

  215. traditions, he has the fathers, he has so much behind it.

  216. And now that cannot, that cannot be allowed to exist.

  217. It has to die first. So that's what happened when

  218. Saul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, That Saul had

  219. to die, that Gamaliel's influence has to die, that

  220. revelation, whatever understanding he had, that

  221. understanding has to be replaced.

  222. That understanding has to be demolished, uprooted.

  223. Otherwise the gospel cannot survive in that heart.

  224. The gospel to have the supreme attention that it requires,

  225. supreme allegiance that it requires, and supreme obedience

  226. is required. For the gospel cannot survive in

  227. a heart if it is committed to something else.

  228. Jesus has to be supreme. All I was singing today was just

  229. after that. He has to be supreme in our

  230. mind, otherwise we will not exalt this Jesus through our

  231. life. It's difficult.

  232. Why there are so many Christians who are so cool, Cold, rather

  233. not cool, they are cold is because they don't understand

  234. the uniqueness of the gospel. We have to understand the

  235. uniqueness of the gospel and demonstrate in our life first,

  236. our family should be impacted by it and demonstrated in such a

  237. way that our neighbors are impacted, our relatives and

  238. friends are impacted, and then it goes into the community and

  239. its community is impacted. So there is a necessity for us

  240. to revisit our understanding of scriptures.

  241. We need to understand the scriptures so that scriptures he

  242. knew it so well, but that needed to be fine-tuned that needed to

  243. be some you had to shine the torch on the scriptures and give

  244. new light has to come upon it and that happens when he that

  245. happened when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus.

  246. So. So Saint Paul had has bordered

  247. us beyond belief. He claims in one Corinthians the

  248. Gospel. I preach to you, by this gospel

  249. you are saved. Can we fathom the depth of his

  250. understanding of the gospel? He commands the Thessalonians

  251. Church for believing the gospel as a word of God.

  252. How can a frail human being make such a claims?

  253. Such claims and people believe it and follow it.

  254. OK, here is Paul going from town to town, city to city, and he is

  255. saying this is the gospel, you need to be saved.

  256. Why should they believe that man?

  257. Why should they believe they are not his friends?

  258. He is not one of their friends. He is not maybe a relative,

  259. probably because he is a Jewish man, otherwise nothing more.

  260. So why would people believe the gospel?

  261. Because He does not preach it from just his mind.

  262. He preaches from his heart and by the power of the Holy Spirit

  263. and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

  264. And when you do that, I share crush with so many people.

  265. They just don't care. They don't listen.

  266. Question is where is the passion?

  267. Question number 12, are you filled with the Holy Spirit?

  268. Let that message come by the power of the Holy Spirit, and

  269. then that man, whoever you speak to, it cannot just walk away.

  270. This babbler said something. I am not going to think about

  271. it. I'll just carry on with my life.

  272. No, he cannot do that, because you are going to arrest him by

  273. the power of the Holy Spirit, who is dwelling in you.

  274. What is the source of his boldness?

  275. How can a man sell all his possessions to buy the field in

  276. which he found a Pearl of great value?

  277. You know, we have a parable, a parable where a man finds a

  278. Pearl and then he goes and sells all the fields and everything he

  279. had and brings the money and buys that field because there's

  280. a Pearl hidden inside. He wants to legally possess it.

  281. Now, so many times I used to wonder if you found a Pearl, why

  282. does he have to go and sell everything and he can just take

  283. it and walk? No, he wants to legally possess

  284. it. So he sells everything he has

  285. and buys the to buy the Pearl. To possess the Pearl, he buys

  286. the land where he found it. So Paul, Saul, he found a Pearl

  287. of great value, and he considers everything that he possesses,

  288. his qualifications, his achievements, his knowledge,

  289. everything as dung refuse for the knowledge of the gospel of

  290. Christ. Maybe we have not received the

  291. gospel in that way we don't see as the one supreme thing that

  292. should be consuming our desire, our mind or emotions, our

  293. desire. I mean, that's not really

  294. propelling us or compelling us to live life.

  295. We don't think that this gospel deserves that kind of attention

  296. like Saul did. And then you have another one.

  297. How can a man count all his credentials and all his

  298. achievements as done compared to the knowledge of Jesus Christ?

  299. So all these things have to go first.

  300. So it happened on the on the road to Damascus when he was

  301. going to find people who believe in Jesus the the way the ones

  302. who they were following the way he wanted to arrest them, but he

  303. was arrested there. The bright light shone around

  304. him and he heard the voice saying Saul, Saul, why do you

  305. persecute me? He said, who are you Lord?

  306. That word, when he said, who are you, Lord?

  307. He already was surrendered. That light made him blind and

  308. pushed him to the ground. And then he opens his eyes, he

  309. gets nothing, but he has a voice.

  310. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

  311. You know there is an organic unity between Jesus and the

  312. church. Nobody can touch the church

  313. without touching Jesus. You cannot touch any member of

  314. the body of Christ and put throw an insult at him, speak a harsh

  315. word at him and Jesus is not feeling about it.

  316. It is not possible. Why?

  317. He is the head. We are the members of his body.

  318. So the church is organic unity in organic.

  319. It is an organic unity with Jesus himself and we need to

  320. know who we are because the gospel is what is going to make

  321. you is you give value to the gospel.

  322. It becomes the center of your life.

  323. That's only when you appreciate who you are in Christ.

  324. So here is the encounter, and that encounter has so much to

  325. change this man. And when he said, Lord, who are

  326. you? He was yielding to the one who

  327. has encountered him, who stopped him on the way.

  328. He's saying, OK, I'm pursuing the way, but who are you

  329. stopping me? I am Jesus whom you are

  330. persecuting. Oh, I didn't even know I was

  331. persecuting you. I was just going after a handful

  332. of people who are just teaching what you are about you.

  333. And that is a big lesson he learned there.

  334. Saul's first big lesson was that this Christ cannot be separated

  335. from the church. And when you see in One

  336. Corinthians chapter 2 verses 12 to 13, we have not received the

  337. spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we

  338. may understand what God has freely given us.

  339. And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human

  340. wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual

  341. truths in spiritual words. Its all about the Holy Spirit,

  342. Its not about the intellect, its not about fluency of words, its

  343. not about mesmerizing people with oratory skills.

  344. It is none of these things. It is the power of the Holy

  345. Spirit. So what are the three things

  346. that are making this man bored? His knowledge of scriptures and

  347. his encounter with Jesus. And in that encounter, complete

  348. transformation happened. Complete transformation.

  349. It was very brief, maybe one minute, 2 minutes.

  350. How long does it take to say all those things?

  351. 2 minutes of encounter. But he becomes a Newman after

  352. that. He was fasting for three days,

  353. and then he he was, he was told, OK, go into the city.

  354. You'll be told what he should do.

  355. He goes into this man's house and staying there, fasting and

  356. praying, probably repenting of all his how many people he has

  357. tried to kill, how he was standing as a witness when

  358. Stephen was being stoned. Everything must be coming before

  359. his mind. My Lord, I'm so sorry.

  360. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

  361. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

  362. Hey, I have forgiven you. I have.

  363. I am washing in my blood. God, I cannot overcome this

  364. guilt that is coming against me. Don't worry, my blood is tensing

  365. you. And then he speaks to another

  366. man. Ananyas, go and pray for him.

  367. He's waiting for you. He has seen a vision in which

  368. you are going and laying hand. All those things have happened.

  369. But he says I have not received his gospel from any man.

  370. It doesn't have an origin in man.

  371. It is directly a revelation and by the grace of God, I had few

  372. moments of revelation few times in my life.

  373. I cannot say every day, but I had some distinct experience

  374. with the Holy Spirit and I subscribe to the Bible as the

  375. Word of God. 100%. There are no portion.

  376. You show me what about this? That's the Word of God, this

  377. list of people, that's the Word of God.

  378. There is a specific function for everything.

  379. So I am sold out to this word because of the revelation.

  380. But when you don't have the revelation, what happens is that

  381. we are lukewarm towards this word.

  382. So everyone of us needs revelation about the Scriptures.

  383. The Holy Spirit is the one who can give you the revelation.

  384. And if you say I never had any supernatural encounter with the

  385. Holy Spirit, if that's what you're saying this morning, I

  386. would say begin to fast and pray, fast and pray.

  387. Say God, I need your mercy, I need your mercy, I need your

  388. love, pour it out. I need that encounter.

  389. I want to hear your voice. I want to know that this

  390. Scripture is God breathed. All of us know the Scripture.

  391. Timothy 316. Oh, the Scripture is God

  392. breathed given for this. This is purpose.

  393. We all know that. But when the Holy Spirit

  394. ministers to you and gives you the revelation of a word, then

  395. it makes sense. Then that Bible is no longer a

  396. black and white things spattered on the white pages.

  397. No, it is life. So these are the things that

  398. happened to Saul. He knew the Scriptures, but

  399. there's no power in it. In that encounter, life is

  400. released to the Scriptures that he had.

  401. That encounter removed the scales from his eyes.

  402. Physically it removed and spiritually much more.

  403. And he saw Christ and his glory. You know, there is a great

  404. luxury of all the the 12 disciples he started with.

  405. There is a great luxuries. They stayed with him, they ate

  406. with him, they slept with him. They were with him for three

  407. years. And that was not the case with

  408. Saul. He didn't have the luxury of

  409. moving with the Lord for three years.

  410. So how does it, how does God compensate after this encounter?

  411. He did not consult anybody. It didn't go to anybody.

  412. Hey, I had an encounter. Is it true?

  413. Did I have a true experience? I don't know.

  414. Maybe it may not be. No, he knew he is an encounter.

  415. He knew that Jesus is God. He knew that he is the Son of

  416. God and he knew beyond any any question in his heart that there

  417. is no other gospel. This is the gospel.

  418. And because he knew it so well, he he laid his life as a

  419. sacrifice upon it. He could say I wish my my life

  420. is poured out like a liberation on your faith to somebody and to

  421. somebody says I may be accursed. Maybe I become anathema.

  422. Let me be cursed so that you can be a blessing that God may

  423. encounter you with this gospel because I want you to be saved.

  424. Even expense of himself being lost.

  425. He wants others to be saved. That is what is Christ like love

  426. that is what is passion like. Christ is you know, it is just

  427. beyond words so many times sitting in the chair and looking

  428. at the computer and trying to study the word, but it just

  429. comes like a like a big wave hitting you and and then you say

  430. nothing. Nobody in my in my house see me

  431. what is happening to me when I'm studying the word.

  432. Do do John see what do you see me why anything happened to me?

  433. I tell inside I am burning with that word because that is how it

  434. should supposed to operate in your life.

  435. Anything less you don't value this book.

  436. If this is the book that you value, it should be your breath,

  437. it should be your life, it should be your light, it should

  438. be your bread. And I tell you, you will not

  439. treat this book lightly and you will feed on that word which

  440. will sustain you. Man shall not buy bread alone,

  441. but by every word that is come out of the mouth of God that

  442. will become your experience. So Paul's personal revelation

  443. received supported that Jesus Christ died according to the

  444. scriptures. Secondly, he had an encounter

  445. with Jesus Christ which he which had destroyed his understanding

  446. of scriptures received from Gamaliel and a new perspective

  447. planted by Jesus Christ. And thirdly is taught by the

  448. Holy Spirit expressing spiritual truth with the words taught by

  449. Spirit. These are three things that I

  450. have chained the man saw into Paul, the man who was

  451. persecuting to be 1 persecuted. He becomes the object of

  452. persecution and rejection and what exactly was trying to do is

  453. it is done to him rest of his life.

  454. People wanted to get rid of Paul from the face of the earth,

  455. anything they hated. They didn't want to see him at

  456. 1.30 or 40 of them. They made a vow to kill him

  457. before he gets to the place where he's going to be tried.

  458. They've made a vow they are not going to eat food that touch

  459. anything until he is killed. And when that news goes to a

  460. little boy who was his sisters son and he goes to Paul and says

  461. this is what I hear these people are saying.

  462. And he says OK, go to the commander.

  463. He calls the commander. He, this little boy, has

  464. something to say and then he tells you what is the matter.

  465. Then he gives a full army to support him and take him safely

  466. to other place. Why did people hate him?

  467. Why did Paul was hated so much? Because he believed that there

  468. is no other way other than this gospel of Jesus Christ.

  469. That gospel is the only way and when he preached it, lived it.

  470. People hated him because of that.

  471. There are many people sometimes I hear they say because I

  472. believe in Jesus, I have no relationships, no relative

  473. around me. Some people say I have no

  474. friends because I believe in Jesus.

  475. You know, when I was in India, people came to know that I am a

  476. Christian and from a Hindu background.

  477. So they look at me always like this guy is like a missing sheep

  478. from a flock. They'll talk to you nicely, but

  479. in their heart they are drawn the line.

  480. You cannot become this side. In one family, my classmate, I

  481. used to go and study together. We both study.

  482. They are allowing me into their house and sometimes because I'm

  483. there studying, his mom would say hey have some food because

  484. you are here and I eat the food with they sit there and eat the

  485. food, but I came no later that the plate they gave me is

  486. separate even though I am from the same community.

  487. They separate the plate and the glass that I drink from.

  488. Why I am not one of them anymore?

  489. I had the treatment in many places like that.

  490. I am not bothered. Why this gospel deserves any

  491. mistakement you ever get in this life.

  492. You know when you are persecuted for the sake of the gospel, you

  493. are compensating for anything that is lacking in the

  494. sufferings of Christ. That is how Paul viewed it.

  495. That is how Paul would suffering for the gospel because

  496. meaningful when you appreciate what this gospel is all about.

  497. And when Jesus himself said in John Chapter 7, Jesus answered,

    John 7 chapter mention

  498. My teaching is not my own. It comes from one who sent me.

  499. Anyone who can chooses to do the will of God will find out

  500. whether my teachings come from God or whether I speak on my

  501. own. Whoever speaks on their own does

  502. so to gain personal glory. But he who seeks the glory of

  503. the one who sent him is a man of truth.

  504. There is no nothing false about him.

  505. Ha, when I read that, I said this is true about Paul.

  506. He's not glorifying himself. He's laying down his life, he's

  507. glorifying the one who chose him and he chose him.

  508. Later on, he says God chose me. Even even before I was born,

  509. when I was still being formed in my mother's belly, God chose me.

  510. So between his choosing and between his conversion on the

  511. road to Damascus, there's so much has happened.

  512. So why did he become why did you so much a bad in his life and no

  513. answer to that. We all have gone through many

  514. bad things we have done between the choosing and between the

  515. saving. We go through it, but Jesus

  516. covers us with his blood and says you are clean because my

  517. blood has cleaned, cleansed you. You are my son, you are my

  518. daughter. All the past just goes away.

  519. You know, the depth of this understanding the gospel is what

  520. consumes me now and how he can write to the core.

  521. This is behold, all things all have passed away.

  522. Everything has become new. Is that power of the gospel?

  523. You cannot say anything in any other words, but question is, do

  524. we have this insight that this man Paul had about the gospel?

  525. How deeply it can penetrate your soul, How deeply it can change

  526. your spirit? How deeply it can cover your

  527. sin? How deeply it can change you

  528. from a Wildman, a wicked man to become a St.

  529. So Paul is clearly following the Lord Jesus Christ, emulating

  530. him, following him, imitating him.

  531. He doesn't claim his own authority, gives glory to the

  532. Lord who encountered him and changed his life.

  533. He seeks the glory of the one who sent him.

  534. We are to seek the glory of the Father and the Son of the Holy

  535. Spirit. That should become our motto of

  536. life. That should become the object of

  537. our life. That should become the desire of

  538. our life. That should be the propelling

  539. factor in our life is to glorify God, nothing else.

  540. So not the glory of God am I proceeding anywhere.

  541. So he says I did not receive from any man, nor was I taught

  542. it. Rather I received it by

  543. revelation from Jesus Christ. And then what he says is you

  544. have heard by way of life and all that he talks about.

  545. And then he says how intensely I persecuted the Church of God,

  546. persecuted the Church of God. Verse 13 where is it here was

  547. studying intensely persecuted Greek word is DEA Co like a

  548. hunter pursuing his catch used sometimes positively and also

  549. negatively. In both cases it means pursue

  550. with haste in order to overtake in order to overtake.

  551. Imagine a running race. If there's a 400 meters running

  552. race. The everybody is running, but

  553. there's somebody who is take overtaking another and he

  554. overtakes the another until there's nobody else there.

  555. When the when they touch the tape.

  556. What kind of passion is the in the in the sprinters heart that

  557. makes him run, run, overtake, overtake, overtake.

  558. This is Saul trying to be better than anybody of his generation.

  559. He was persecuting the church. He was pushing his like an

  560. athlete and he was pursuing it with so much of zeal that he

  561. overtake everybody. He overtook everybody, he says,

  562. persecuted it, the Church of God, and tried to destroy it.

  563. The word destroy is in Greek portheo.

  564. That simply means destroy. Ravage.

  565. Waste is a picture of an invading force, and this he

  566. tried to ravage. It ravaged him.

  567. Look at it in verse 23. The man who formerly persecuted

  568. us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy what he

  569. tried to ravage. It ravaged him.

  570. Now what he was trying to destroy has destroyed him, but

  571. in the process he gains life. In the process you gain life,

  572. eternal life. So what we see here is many

  573. other things you can see but he says in verse 15, But when God

  574. who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace was

  575. pleased to reveal his Son in me, everybody say he reveal his son

  576. in me. What does it mean If there's

  577. anything that ever you want to go away today from, you know,

  578. from this morning session and you I want you to walk away with

  579. this one thought. God wants to reveal his son in

  580. you and in me. So what does it mean?

  581. What does it mean for his Son to reveal his son in me?

  582. Basically he wanted to live in such a way that only Christ will

  583. be seen in him. His eyes are eyes of Christ.

  584. His hands are hands of Christ. His feet are feet of Christ.

  585. His heart is a heart of Christ. He says in in Galatians.

  586. In Galatians 220, he says, I just disappeared from my mind.

  587. OK, ah, it is no longer I that Christ is no longer I live, yet

  588. I live but not me. It is the Son of the living God.

  589. He lives and reigns in me. So to the point where he says,

  590. well you see, me living, this flesh has life which not me.

  591. It is Christ who is living in me.

  592. That is when his name will be revealed in you through you,

  593. when it becomes a passion, when it becomes the one goal for life

  594. when it becomes the breath of your life is to breathe out the

  595. gospel to see people saved, healed, delivered.

  596. I tell you that is how you live for Christ.

  597. That is how live for Christ. So the one who this whole change

  598. you know great and wonderful turn around.

  599. He exhibited. He exhibited his life.

  600. This how he turned around from persecutor to the one who

  601. persecuted, the one who wanted to destroy the message became a

  602. carrier of the message. He was a messenger of the

  603. message. And then it is not self reform

  604. but divine intervention. All that happened in source life

  605. is not reform. OK, I need to become a better

  606. man. I need to become a Goodman.

  607. I will stop doing this. I stop saying this.

  608. No, it is an intervention where God had changed him into a

  609. Newman and that's what supposed to gospel to do with each one of

  610. us. That's what the gospel is

  611. supposed to do, each one of us. As the world tries to obliterate

  612. the church, it becomes stronger in witness.

  613. The persecuted has its own role. You know Jesus said when he is

  614. come, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, he shall be my

  615. witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, to uttermost

  616. parts of the earth. But how did he do it?

  617. He used persecution because of the persecution.

  618. Church became strong because of persecution that run for their

  619. life as they went different places because they are being

  620. persecuted as they went, they were spreading the gospel as

  621. well, sharing the gospel as well.

  622. So the seed is scattered in a long larger area.

  623. So you have got a massive harvest happening because you

  624. have scattered everywhere. So within the gospel is.

  625. Intricately woven is the concept of persecution.

  626. You cannot separate the gospel from persecution.

  627. Sometimes the church in the West, church in New Zealand, is

  628. not flourishing, is not having a rich harvest, because we are not

  629. being persecuted. Final victory belongs to the

  630. lamb. Final victory belongs to the

  631. Lamb through this all. The Lamb is a is the 1 He is The

  632. gospel is about the Lamb. And ultimately you will see a

  633. Lamb in heaven as if it is slain with the seven eyes and seven

  634. horns. And you got the four living

  635. creatures surrounding and the 24 elders falling on their knees

  636. and worshiping holy, holy, holy. You deserve a God because of the

  637. Lamb that has taken away the sin of the whole world.

  638. As you fall down and worship this Lamb that is in the future.

  639. But you have to do it now in this world.

  640. It is not. Sometimes we think the worship

  641. is for future. No worship is for the present.

  642. You worship now for revelation. You worship now.

  643. To have life, you worship now. To have that zeal to worship

  644. now, to have that passion for the gospel, to worship, you

  645. become a living person. How much time do we have for

  646. worship? Sometimes when I start praying,

  647. I always make sure that I first worship, whether it's 3 minutes,

  648. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, I give, I don't ask anything straight

  649. away. I just worship and sometimes I

  650. apologize. God, you know, this is very less

  651. time. I'll give another time to

  652. worship, but now I need to pray. This is I don't have much time.

  653. I'm going to pray about it. Please forgive me for that

  654. because that is how you have to come.

  655. Worship is #1 in your life, if this gospel has changed you, you

  656. will be a worshipper. So authentic zeal springs from

  657. invaling spirit, not fleshly ambition.

  658. The zeal that that Paul had, that comes from the invaling

  659. Holy Spirit. Secondly, it fixes on God's

  660. glory, the edification of His people and obedience to His

  661. Word. This is how it is going to

  662. change you. Then the manner in which it

  663. happens is it is regulated by love, humility and wisdom is not

  664. rash, it is not rough. It is no, it is just humility

  665. and love and outcome is it multiplies good works strengthen

  666. the church, exalts Christ. Is it all true about Paul?

  667. Yes, it is all true about Paul. The question is we need to ask

  668. is, are we anywhere nearer to living like Saul who became

  669. Paul? So he was set apart from his

  670. mother's belly. Acts 13, Two, when they prayed

  671. in Acts 13, two, when they prayed, the Holy Spirit said

  672. set, set apart for me, Saul and Barnabas.

  673. So when was he set apart? When was his mother's home?

  674. When is the Holy Spirit confirming it?

  675. After many, many years, persecution encounter of the

  676. Damascus, and then he was trying to preach the gospel, rejected,

  677. goes into Arabia, comes back, and now the Holy Spirit says set

  678. him apart for the work that I have.

  679. So between the choosing and the actualization of the choosing,

  680. there will be many things. Much water has to pass from the

  681. Avon River. There is not much there anyway

  682. before it happens. So that is how it is.

  683. So in Matthew 1349, this is how it will be at the end of the

  684. age. Angels will come.

  685. Sorry, sorry, I'm running into it.

  686. So setting apart continues in two parables.

  687. Angels of God will separate the sheep from the goats.

  688. So the this this word setting apart is used not only to

  689. describe his destiny, but is also used in the context of the

  690. church where you have two parables that explain it.

  691. And one of them is Acts. I mean, Matthew 1349.

  692. This is how it will be at the end of the ages.

  693. Angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous.

  694. All people will be gathered before the throne of God.

  695. God is on the throne and he's going to say, OK, this black

  696. man, this yellow man, this white man, this red man, OK, come on

  697. my right. You are my sheep, OK?

  698. What I am trying to make it is humorously put in the word he

  699. chooses from every nation, tribe, tongue and tongue and

  700. language. And those who love him, He knows

  701. he is like come on my right, you are my sheep.

  702. And those who are opposite Kingdom come on my left.

  703. You are the goats, and the goats will go to hell and they go to

  704. be with him forever. This is how it is that choosing

  705. is happening in an individual life, and this is how it happens

  706. in a larger scale at on the human, human race.

  707. The choosing is going to separate.

  708. Are you on this side, right side, or on the left side?

  709. If you are on the right side, rejoice, because good things are

  710. going to come. OK.

  711. And Matthew 25 verse 31 when the Son of Man comes in his glory,

    Matthew 25:31

  712. and all the angels with him, He will sit on His glorious throne.

  713. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate

  714. the people one from the another. As a shepherd separates the

  715. sheep from the goats, He will put the sheep on His right and

  716. the goats on His left. Revelation is not self attained,

  717. is divinely bestowed. You are not chosen because of

  718. your hard work. You don't choose, He said in

  719. John 15 I had chosen you. So how blessed it is to be

  720. chosen. Flesh and blood has not revealed

  721. this to you In one time when he was talking to Simon, he, Simon

  722. Says you are the Son of the living God.

  723. He says flesh and blood has not is revealed this to you, but my

  724. Father in heaven. So the revelation comes from the

  725. Father. So worship the Father through

  726. Jesus Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit on your knees as

  727. you worship Him. Revelation will come.

  728. And I tell you, if you have not had revelation in the last one

  729. month, its time to begin to pray now.

  730. Because if you don't have revelation that means your

  731. Christianity has gone down the drain.

  732. How do you know a Christian is with fire when he moves in

  733. Revelation? No revelation.

  734. You are part of the Levodician Church.

  735. Lukewarm. Lukewarm.

  736. That is how you know, a live Christian and a compromised

  737. Christian, or a dead Christian, or a cold Christian or whatever

  738. you call it. God was pleased to reveal his

  739. Son in Paul. He is the same God who wants to

  740. reveal his Son in you, through you, and through me and in me.

  741. Shall we bow our heads in prayer?

  742. Father, we thank you again for helping us to focus a little on

  743. Your Word. There's so much more, but we

  744. praise You and we worship you for speaking to us this morning.

  745. This is Your desire to reveal Your Son in us, through us.

  746. We thank you, Lord. Let this gospel Incarnate in us

  747. again. Let the passion be lit up in us

  748. again. Let that fire for the gospel be

  749. lit up on it again, that we may look at people who are perishing

  750. and long for their salvation. And that will compel us to open

  751. our mouth and share the gospel at the cost of being rejected

  752. and persecuted. Thank you, Lord, Thank you,

  753. Lord, thank you, Lord, thank you, Jesus.

  754. I don't want to give actually kind of a altar call, but you

  755. know, I feel right now in my spirit that I need to give you

  756. this opportunity. If you want to commit yourself

  757. to this gospel, if you want to live like Paul, consumed by the

  758. desire to carry this gospel, if you want to serve this gospel,

  759. just stand where you are. And I want to pray for you

  760. Saravan the sakrono Marshall sakurno riba renimanahandraste

  761. sakarana sastaroni riba shaktaroni ho rabba cinema rasi

  762. sama rasakundo risanamanda sakuroni.

  763. In the name of Jesus. I thank you for children who are

  764. responding to say this gospel shall dominate my life.

  765. This gospel shall propel me. This gospel is the one I want to

  766. live for. I want to breathe and eat this

  767. gospel in the name of Jesus. I pray that the power of the

  768. Holy Ghost will come upon the children to set them up, impart

  769. that kind of passion, impart that kind of power in the name

  770. of Jesus, that they will not be ordinary Christians, but they

  771. will be extraordinary, and they will turn the world upside down

  772. to the glory of your name. May your favor come upon them,

  773. may your countenance shine upon them, and may your peace rest

  774. upon them this morning. Thank you again for your

  775. children who love you. My Master, I praise you.

  776. Lord, look at me as well. I want to be consumed by this

  777. passion for the gospel. In the name of Jesus, we yield

  778. all this to you. You reign supreme in our hearts

  779. to the glory of your name. Thank you Lord, let a Kingdom

  780. come read. It will be done.

  781. I know that this is heaven to the glory of your name.

  782. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord.

  783. Thank you Lord. Oh my Father, I can be standing

  784. here saying thank you to the whole day.

  785. It will not be enough because this comes from your mercy and

  786. your grace. Oh, we thank you.

  787. It is divinely bestowed. It's not earned.

  788. So I praise you for your visitation.

  789. That's happening to some of us here and I worship you Lord

  790. Father, in Jesus name we ask Amen.

  791. Amen. Thanks for joining us at Omega.

  792. If you need prayer for healing or breakthrough, or simply to

  793. find out more, please head to our website or Facebook page in

  794. the links below.