Sermon
Transformed by His presence Acts 9 1-19 Ps Theo Nayagam
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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today. And.
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If you need prayer for healing or breakthrough, Want to find
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out more about Omega? Get to our website or Facebook
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page through the links below. It is very interesting when you
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make meet connections and speak with them and you know what they
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go through. And it's such a joy.
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And I, I want to thank him, Praise the Lord that He's given
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us this grace to come to you and to speak with you this morning.
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And may the Lord be his. May through His grace, speak
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through me so that the word will become alive to all of you this
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morning. My, my message for you is that
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very simple message. And I want to go to the basics
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because it's important that we truly be connected to God, that
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we do all things through him who is in US.
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And that understanding needs to come.
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And if that understanding does not come, it's very hard for us
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to live because it is him in US who helps us to live a holy,
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separated life. And that understanding must
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really come so that we can live through him.
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It is important that that's why I chose this to say transformed
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by his presence. You know, Paul was such a
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religious person that he wanted to do everything right, but he
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was not connected to God. He was not connected to Jesus.
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The moment that he came and had an encounter with Jesus and that
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at the encounter that everything around him changed.
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And that's what I want to speak, that encounter truly, that
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encounter that you need to have with Jesus in Romans chapter 10
Romans 10 chapter mention
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and verse 10 says, for with the heart you believe.
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And when we believe with the heart, what happens is that into
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our hearts comes what the righteousness of God, which
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comes when we believe and we live by that righteousness which
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is in our hearts. And that's the most important
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thing. And then what we are able to do
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is that we are able to confess with our mouth, because what is
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in our heart is His righteousness.
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And therefore we are able to, you know, confess with our
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mouth. And we are not fearful when we
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are anywhere. We are not fearful because in US
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this is in Him. So when we are in a public
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place, we are able to confess that He is our Lord and God and
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not hide behind a skirt, because truly He is God in US.
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Galatians chapter 1 and verses 15 to 17 says, But when God, who
Galatians 1 chapter mention
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set me apart from my mother's womb and called me by His grace,
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was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach Him
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among the Gentiles. Now look at this.
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This is important. In this verse he says my
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immediate response. Whose immediate response?
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The response of whom? Paul.
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My immediate response was not to consult human beings.
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He was not interested to consult any disciple or Peter or anyone.
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But what did he do? I did not go to Jerusalem.
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He did not go but to see those who were apostles before I was,
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but I went to Saudi Arabia or I went to Arabia.
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Later I returned to Damascus. Why did he go?
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He wanted to spend time with the Lord to learn the word.
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It is important that when Yes, I know Jesus, but the to know
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Jesus is to know his word. And if we do not know the word,
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then we don't know Jesus. And then that's the change which
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has to happen and that's the righteousness which settles in
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our heart. So Paul believed.
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So for for Paul to believe he has to apply that in his life.
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To apply that you need to have the substance in you.
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If if you and I don't have the substance in US, how can we
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apply? It's important, therefore we
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have the substance in US. So there are two parts to the
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transformation that I'm talking about today and that the
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transformation is 1 is the part that we truly believe and say
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yes, God, I believe you, therefore I have the
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righteousness. It's like, you know, he paid the
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price, he took the debt and he gets given you credit.
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There is cash in your account and that's what he has given us.
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And the second is that, you know, he has given that faith so
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that we need to apply that. To apply, we need the substance
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as a faith that I'm talking about.
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I'll give you like 2 examples I want to give here.
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There was a time that, you know, the first grandbaby or we
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purchased a cot and I thought, OK, I can do this without a
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problem. And so I started meddling around
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with it and tried to fix it. I never could fix it.
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You see, it took covers because why I didn't look at the menu.
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I thought I can do it. It's the same.
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You see, you need to know the scripture to apply it.
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But when I called a person from church, the first thing that he
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took he did was he looked at the menu all and he said, OK, yeah,
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this is how it's this needs to be done.
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And he fixed it in a moment. So it think that's one thing and
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another thing is this. I'll give you another example.
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You know, we, we met some friends and they love the Lord
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and so they love the Lord. They believed in the Lord very
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much. Beautiful people and they wanted
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to buy a house and they went and saw the house.
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The house was beautiful and they claimed the house.
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They claimed the house and they said yes, this house belongs to
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us. And they prayed and they prayed
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and, and they said yes, by faith we believe.
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And and then they went on a holiday and probably after the
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holiday was the auction and they were now prepared to go for the
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auction. But the day before the auction,
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they wanted to go see the house and there was a soul board on
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the House. What I'm getting to you is that
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you can believe and believe and believe, but there is some
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substance to it that you need to apply.
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You can believe on something, but not having the substance is
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not going to give you the house. I will talk a little bit more
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when I just will come to applying the faith and how we
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need to move by it. That we it is important that we
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need to have the substance. Just blindly applying faith on
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something is not going to happen unless you have the substance to
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it. For transformation, we need
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faith. We cannot see faith because it
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is spirit. It is a spirit.
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To live in the divine nature, we need faith.
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So the currency of the divine nature is faith, but faith
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cannot be just applied unless you have the substance.
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So to live in the natural we have, you know, we have we we
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see and we hear and we have the five senses.
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But to live in the spiritual is our substance is faith is that's
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what our currency is faith and that is credited to us and we
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live by that. So the first thing that I can
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learn today and can teach you as well is this, when I am
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transformed by his presence, when I am transformed by his
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presence, I apply faith by speaking.
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I apply the faith by speaking. Matthew chapter 12 and verse 34
Matthew 12 chapter mention
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says for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
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So what's the abundant in our heart?
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The abundance in our heart is the righteousness in US and that
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righteousness keeps growing as we ponder and read and read the
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Word. As we continue to read the word,
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what happens is that the Word gets filled in our hearts to
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overflow into the soul and the soul.
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Therefore what happens is the soul is like a lever which
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guides the word coming out. Its important therefore for us
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the word. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 13 says we having
2 Corinthians 4 chapter mention
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the same spirit of faith according as it is written, I
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believed and therefore have I spoken.
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We also believe and therefore we speak the Word.
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We believe the Word and we speak the word.
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So it's important that the application of our faith comes
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by declaring our faith. The Word says I believed and
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therefore I spoke. When we believe, we also speak
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with our mouth. So faith, therefore I think it
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needs to be vocalized, isn't it? It's important.
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So to vocalize it, you need to know what it is all about.
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So therefore it is important for us to know the word to vocalize
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the faith. So Peter and John, they said
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silver and gold have I none. But he said in the name of
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Jesus, rise up and walk. I'll touch a little bit on that
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as we go on. They vocalized it, but there was
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something which happens before. When I am transformed by His
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presence, I am moved and apply my faith, I am moved.
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So when I am transformed by His presence, when I'm transformed,
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I am moved as something which happens in me and I am able to
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do. Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse 7
Hebrews 11 chapter mention
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says by faith. Noah being warned by God of the
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things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared enough to
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saving of his house by that which he condemned the world and
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became heir of righteousness which is by faith.
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So he was moved. There was a movement in his
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heart because he believed. I'll give you by an example,
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which happened in my life maybe about a couple of weeks ago.
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No, weren't you? A couple of weeks ago I heard
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about what was happening in Israel and I just watched the
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Christian news. I don't watch any other news.
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So watch the Christian news. And as I watch the Christian
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news and there was something which moved in my heart and I
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switched it off and then started praying.
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I, I started weeping and crying because it was a move by God.
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There was some movement in my heart.
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She couldn't believe what was happening because there was some
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move, because I believed in God and God moved.
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So here Nova moved, Nahimaya moved.
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Why Nahimaya heard and who caused the movement?
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God caused the movement for Nahimaya to pray and because he
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prayed what God moved in the heart of the king to give him
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everything to go and build the wall.
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So there is a movement as we believe because God knows here,
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here, here is my son whom I can believe and trust.
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So there is a movement and and through that movement that you
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can do things what God has asked for.
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And when this happens, when I move by faith, we also need to
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prepare. So when we are moved, we need to
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prepare, we need to do something.
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And that's why I'm coming back to what I spoke about earlier
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about this friend whom we knew was going to purchase a house.
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So few. So you're moved by faith, but
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unless you have a deposit, unless you go and I'm I'm sure
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Seema knows what to do for an auction, you got to go register.
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You got to register and do all kinds of things I believe.
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And if they are not done, no one will know that you want to
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purchase a house. You need to be prepared with the
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deposit which you need to put in on the day of auction and you
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need to inform the agent that you are interested in that
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house. Just looking at that house and
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believing is not going to give you the house.
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See in all good faith that is called blind faith because you
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need to believe. So the substance will allow you
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to prepare to act on faith. Do you get that?
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What I am saying, it is important for you and I to know
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that when I'm transformed by His presence, faith helps me to
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endure. When I'm transformed by His
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presence, faith helps me to endure.
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Hebrews Chapter 11 verses 27 to 28 goes by faith.
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He left Egypt not fear. In the King's anger he
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persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
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By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood so
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that the destroyer of the first born would not trust the first
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born of Israel. Beautiful, isn't it?
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This is awesome. Two things happens here.
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By faith, he left Egypt. He was brought up in a palace,
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and what made him run away from the palace?
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What made him do the things that he did to kill a Egyptian?
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What made him do all that? Because of the upbringing, it is
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important church as to how we bring up our children, how we
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teach them the statutes of the Lord.
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We were, we were on the flight and there was a lady next to us
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and, and Manju was chatting away and eventually our business is
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to talk about the Lord. And then Manju brought the topic
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of the Lord and, and we were talking and eventually we said,
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we are so and so and, and all that and, and then asked her,
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are you a Christian? And oh, you know, it came to in
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the conversation, it was obvious that we were trying to speak to
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her about the Lord. And so she said, you know, my
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grandparents, my grandparents went to church and my parents
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did not probably. And she does not know the Lord.
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You know, it is important that we teach our children.
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New Zealand in 19 sixties 80% or 85% of Kiwis knew the Lord Jesus
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Christ. Now we have maybe 10 percent,
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15% who know Jesus unless we teach our children, unless we
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speak to them and speak about the Lord.
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You know, we are not doing what God has called us to do.
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So here Moses therefore knew that his purpose, that there was
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a purpose behind, he believed. And Moses did go run away from
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Egypt because he believed. And Moses, because he believed
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he applied the blood on the doppos.
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Just imagine believing and trusting the Lord to say yes,
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not seen but believed in the Lord to say if I apply the
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blood, then you know the Angel of death will pass through.
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Two things that we can learn here is this 1.
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He knew the Lord. He had a close communication
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with the Lord too. Because he knew the Lord, he was
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able to hear exactly what the Lord was saying to him.
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And that is what is to us for us to hear.
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The Lord is the Word, and because we know the word that we
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can apply the word, therefore that He applied the blood to
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say, yes, the first born of Israel will be saved.
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It was not a blind faith. It was knowing the Lord and
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applying it because He knew the word.
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Pages are not moving because of the cold.
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I think when I'm transformed by His presence, fate helps me to
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adhere. Faith helps me to adhere.
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Hebrews Chapter 11 verses 8 and 9 goes like this.
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By faith Abraham and called to go to a place he would later
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receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went even though he
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did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the
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promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.
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He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were hears with
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him of the same promise. You know, obedience is something
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which is very important for our walk with the Father.
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When the Lord calls us to do something.
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We need therefore to obey and to walk in the way that God has
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called us. If we do not obey by faith, we
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cannot move forward. Everything mentioned above will
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happen if you truly obey and walk as God has called us to do.
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Manju and I, when we were called to come to New Zealand 25 years
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ago, there was a prophecy by a man and he said God is going to
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take you into a country with four stars on the flag.
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The man did not know about New Zealand, He never knew, but he
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said it's volcanic and he said it there are two islands and so
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on and so forth. 1997, we had our permanent residency,
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residency, but we procrastinated.
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Procrastinated until such time we came here in 1999 and you
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know, and then and then we wanted to postpone our coming
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and I went to the immigration and and and the immigration and
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she said, I still remember this. He said many are wanting to come
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into New Zealand. Why are you just going up and
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down and if you don't come by this time, we will cancel your
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visa and you will not able to come to New Zealand.
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And then we quickly packed our bags within two months, sold
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everything and we were here in 2001.
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Now what I'm saying is this, I was disobedient to what God had
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called me until such time. God just forced us out to say
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yes, I want you there. We should have moved in 1997,
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but it took us such a long time to move because we were
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disobedient. God wants us to obey.
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God wants us to obey His Word. If you know His Word, you will
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obey His Word. How does then transformation
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happen? At the beginning of the message
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I said we need to have faith and also know the Word.
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This would be the confirmation, I said, But there's much more,
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something a little more than that, that we need to know.
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If you look at 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 to 10, it gives us an
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insight to the foundation. What we need to have the
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foundation of faith. The Word says is divine power
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has given us everything we need to a godly life through the
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knowledge of Him. So the divine power of God comes
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upon us. If we truly know Him, that's
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when the power can come upon us. There are two things which
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happens in our lives. One, when we know Him, that we
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have the authority of Him because we are His sons and
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daughters. We have the authority, and with
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that authority that we can do all things.
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And if we continue to know the word, then with that authority
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we have that power as well. And that's when faith can move
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through the substance which is in US.
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And the word goes on to say, who called us by his own glory and
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goodness. Through this he has given us his
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very great precious promises. So because of we come in to know
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Him, what has He given us? He has given us great promises,
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and the promises are the Word. The promises are in us.
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Through the Word. He has given us His divine
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precious promises, so that through them, through the
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promises, that's when we can live in the divine nature.
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Do we get that? So living in this world is
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different to living in the divine nature.
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It is different. We do not seek for things of
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this world, but we seek for things of Him of the divine
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nature, which gives us satisfaction, joy and peace.
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The world just gives us pleasure, which will just last
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for a moment. How many times see you can buy a
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purchase a beautiful car and you we would have spent 50,070
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thousand 100,000 and the car looks so good and and you drive
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it and OK the first day is nice. And when you park it, you go and
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take it, park it in a corner where no one will, you know,
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bend the door, you know, so the car won't get stretched And, and
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you do all that you see, you do that.
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And and then weeks pass by and months pass by and, or when it
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rains, you park the car inside the house.
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The car shouldn't get wet and you know, but after some time
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there is no joy. You know, it's another car.
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It's another car in the carpets get dirty and then you know that
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that pleasure goes out. But transformation, living in
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the divine nature, you know there is continuous joy in your
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heart. It can never wither and that's
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the difference. So if you want to spend
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everything and that pleasure only for a moment, yes, you can
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do that. But if you invest in the
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promises of God, spending time with the world, then there's
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continuous joy. Isn't it two things?
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You can spend time with the world, and that joy won't last
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all the time, but spending time with the world will give you
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more joy. Isn't it beautiful?
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So having escaped the corruption of the world caused by evil
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desires, so the word gives us the strength to escape the evil
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desires. I'm coming to the bottom line.
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I'm just going to land. The plane is almost there just
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to you can see the runway now we're just about to land.
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So for this very reason, make every effort to add to your
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faith. This is where I'm coming to.
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So to add to this substance of foundation, OK, that's what I'm
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calling. That's not blind faith, OK, To
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faith you need to add these promises which God has given
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you. What are these promises?
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That is your goodness and, and to goodness, knowledge and to
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knowledge, self-control and self-control, perseverance and
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perseverance and godliness and brotherly kindness and love and
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all this purity, all in increasing measure, so that you
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will not be ineffective or unproductive in the knowledge of
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God. So that when a person who is
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driving a 30 kilometer speed in a 60 kilometer, 60 kilometer, I
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see some smiles, yes, we go and somebody you want to get to the
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airport on time, you're running late.
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And there is the 60 kilometre speed limit and there is a
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person driving at 30 kilometres. Oh God, where is my self-control
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and patience? It has gone through the window.
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It happens to me as well. These promises have to be
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planted with faith. You add knowledge and
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self-control and patience and godliness and brotherly kindness
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and love. And that's why the Lord said, if
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a person beats you on one shake, give the other as well.
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Don't sit on offenses and talk about the offenses that this man
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said this and that man said this, and he is this and that
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and so on and so forth. No Live by the promises of God.
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So foundation alone is not enough.
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Transformation happens when we use the right material to build
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a house. The foundation is of faith in
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Jesus, which we will draw as close to God.
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So transformation happens just like Jesus said, he said there
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are two people who built the house in Matthew 7 and verses 24
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and 27. He said, therefore everyone who
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hears his words of mine hears his words, words what hears the
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words, his word of mine and puts them into practice is like a
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wise man who built his house on the rock.
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So you hear the word, you listen to the word and apply the word
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into your lives. You apply the promises.
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And that's why when you apply, you apply the faith through
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apply it in your lives. Then the rain will come, the
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streams will rise, and the winds will blow, and we will beat
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against the house, and it will never fall because it is founded
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on Jesus. But everyone who hears these
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words, you can hear these words and go out and say, oh, it's
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another Sunday, let's go. Have do what we desire to do in
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pleasure. But everyone who hears his words
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of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish
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man who built his house on sand. The rain came down and the
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streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house and
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hit a big crash. So what we are trying to do this
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morning is this. So what does it mean to build a
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house on the sand? Building a house on the sand
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would be a form of godliness, I would think.
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You know, you're fooling everyone to say I'm a godly
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person. I know the word, I know the
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promises. And you know, but Huma, you're
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fooling. You're fooling yourself.
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A form of godliness, the so OK just a minute of prayer because
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I know I need to pray. So let let me just pray you know
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for a minute. The Bible is another reader.
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Bible is another reader just another reader.
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Bible is just another book. If the author does not reveal
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the word to you, it's just another, another comic or
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whatever, but the word, the author should speak to you.
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When you read the word, then that's when the transformation
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happens. When you open the book you
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desire because the author, there is somebody speaking to you from
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the word, That's the author. In no other book you'll get that
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other just because another reader it's important church.
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So for a man or a woman who builds the house is like a man
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who does not fear God. We move with the crowd but are
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seen in church. We like to be seen with the in
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crowd who does does everything wrong.
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But yes, I like to be seen on in church on Sunday as well.
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A life of compromise, holding on to grudges and and no
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forgiveness. Love a love, a life of pity.
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Party about yourself. OK thinking about yourself.
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Yes. Did this happened to me and that
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happened to me and everyone pointing everything towards you
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and enjoys gossip. This I would say is building the
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house on the sand. The house on the rock is of
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faith with God's love and promises being built on having
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patience and kindness and gentleness and self-control,
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purity all in increasing measure.
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Church, I brought you a message from my heart.
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It speaks to me first when I bring this message, it speaks to
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me that I need to be transformed.
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I truly need to be transformed. That I need to live a life, a
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holy life separated for Him with the promises that He has given
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me and given you. Today would be a day for you to
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say, Lord, help me to know the promises that you have given me,
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that you have given me that faith.
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And Lord, to the faith I want to add goodness and knowledge and
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self-control and patience and godliness and brotherly kindness
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and love and purity and holiness.
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Lord, I want to add this, oh God, so that this will be in
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increasing measure in me. God, that's what I desire to do.
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Would you do that in my life, God?
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And that would be be your answer.
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Would that be your answer today, this morning?
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If that is so, would you stand up?
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Would you stand up? Would you stand up this morning
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and say, Lord, I want to live by the promises that you have given
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me, God, Lord, I find it very hard to live sometimes, oh God.
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But today I say, Lord, I want to walk in these promises so that
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these promises will be embedded in me, God, and will flow out,
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Godfather, embedded in me. That's what I desire, Lord.
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Would you say that today, this morning and say, Lord, fill me,
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Fill me to overflow. I desire you.
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I desire you that my house will be built on the rock and the
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rock the foundation of Jesus. Oh God, that I will be an
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influence when people see me that they will see see me and
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they can see the fruit in me and that they will be decide to have
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the fruit that you have when they see you.
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Would you be that when you walk out of this place, when you go
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anywhere, would they see the fruit in you?
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And would they come to you and say, you know, I see something
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different in you? Why?
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Because you know there is that beauty in you, that joy in you
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that you want to pass on to others.
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Let me pray for you, Lord. We thank you, God.
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We want to praise you. We want to worship you.
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We want to honor you. We want to exalt you.
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We want to glorify you because you are God, because you're
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mighty, because you're victorious.
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God, everyone of them, Father, oh God, including me, we are all
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standing, Godfather, today, oh God, because we want to make a
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declaration to you, Father, a declaration to you that we want
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to stand on your promises. We want to stand on your faith
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of God, to build a house on the rock.
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Oh God, I want to build my house on the rock, Godfather, on your
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word, on your promises, so that, Lord, out of my heart will flow
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your word into the soul, God, Jesus, so that my heart will
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pump out, Oh God, your word. Wherever we go, Father, we pray,
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Lord, as a church we declare today.
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We declare decree today, God in your name, Jesus, that that we
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will walk in your promises, that our house will be built on the
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rock, that you will be glorified God and all said Amen.
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Thanks for joining us at Omega. If you need prayer for healing
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or breakthrough, or simply to find out more, please head to
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our website or Facebook page in the links below.