Sunday Message - Pastor Tony (July 2, 2023) | Life Bible Church

We have got something special for you this morning.

And it's my honor when we have missionaries that

come in that we have faithfully supported over

the years to turn the pulpit over in honor to

them. And because we want to hear from them,

they rarely get here. And it's been a while since

Pastor... augustus anthony he goes by pastor

tony he really is a bishop of the churches it's

called assembly of believers churches in india

you guys have been supporting their ministry

as life bible has tagged on with them for at

least now almost 17 18 years uh it's been an

incredible journey He now oversees 1 ,100 churches

that have come out of his work. Come on, let's

give the Lord a big praise for that. Amen. And

today, he brought with him his son, who is an

overseer, Rocky, and his grandson, Aaron, who

is part of their worship team and training to

be in the ministry. So three generations, will

you welcome the... Pastor Bishop Tony, Aaron,

and Rocky as they come to the stage real quick

this morning. Thank you very much. It's an honor

for me to worship with you. I'm not here to tell

you something. I'm here to worship with you.

Because I believe that's what we are made for.

Is it true or not? We have been made to worship

our Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank God. I thank

the Lord for all your prayers. And thank you

for praying for our family, our ministry. And,

you know, it means a lot. Your prayers really

mean a lot. At times we pray and we think, you

know, is something happening or not? But when

you pray, prayer has power. And your prayers

are one of the reasons why I'm standing here

in front of you this morning. It's a privilege

for me, my father, and my son. You know? I see

both sides of the coin. Being a father and being

a son. And I thank God that the Lord has kept

me in such a family that serves the Lord. And

nothing better. Nothing better than serving the

Lord. I just want to thank you for your prayers.

The work in India is growing leaps and bounds.

Not because of us. We are no ones to do anything

for the Lord. But it is His grace that He has

chosen us to be of some value to His kingdom.

And I often see where the Lord has got us. It's

the 50 years celebration this year. We are completing

50 years of our church. And you know, God has

been good. And it is only his grace that we were

able to complete this 50 years. A lot of things,

good and bad, came. But I thank God that he enabled

us to be faithful to him. You know, God is always

faithful. He is. Is he not? He is. But I think

the main thing is, are we faithful to him or

not? A lot of things come our way. Some are very

good. And we rejoice. Some of them are not very

good. But still, we need to rejoice. Because

that's the word the Lord says. Rejoice in the

Lord. Always. No matter you are happy or you

are sad. Things are going the way you want them

to go or not. But all the Lord wants to see in

us is, are we still happy in the things that

are not going our way? You know, two years from

now, 2020, the first COVID wave had just hit.

And it was a Sunday morning. It was Father's

Day. June 21, I think. And my wife... had got

a special secret birthday cake for me and my

father to cut. And because it was COVID, the

churches were physically closed and we were worshiping

online. It was my job in the church to start

the online service. And I got up, took a bath,

got ready. And as I opened my laptop to switch

on the online service, I was... Not able to type

in the password very correctly. I thought, what's

happening? I called my son. Hey, come on here.

He came in and he tried to do it. He did it.

But I felt there was something not right in my

right hand. And it was a stroke. I called my

wife and she immediately knew that there was

something not right. She just... Called my mom.

Both of them prayed. And I was. By the grace

of God we live in a place. Which has a lot of

Christian people around us. And they took me

right away to the hospital. And my right side.

Was not working. I was in the ICU. For five days.

And on the third day. Doctor came. See, I only

know this because of what I'm told. I did not

know anything what was happening that time. So

the doctor came to my wife and said, we have

tried two medicines, they are not working. We

are unable to get his blood pressure down. We

are trying the third and last one. If they don't

work, we are going to do a blood transfusion.

And my wife said, doctor, you try the third medicine

and the Lord will heal him. People all over the

globe were praying. You prayed? And I thank God

that the medicine worked. And after five days,

I was out of the ICU. And right now, I'm holding

the mic in my right hand, lifting up my hand

to glorify his name. I'm speaking clearly. Why?

Because God still does miracles. In those days,

especially times when, you know, I got healed,

but it took time for my right side to get on

working again. A lot of things happened. I played

the keyboard, and my therapist came to know that

I play keyboard. He told my mom and my wife,

why don't you have a keyboard in this room? He'll

play, he'll exercise his hands. And, you know,

the first time I did that, I put my hand on the

keyboard, and it did not sound. Because there

was no strength in my hands. And that time, God

told me one thing. You know, my worship is not

just what I do to the Lord. Sometimes we are

very good at some things. But when we are unable

to do those things that we are very good at,

it's not good. I'm very good at preaching. Sometimes

we might not be able to preach. But the Lord

told me, even if I'm not able to sing, even if

I'm not able to preach, even if I'm not able

to play an instrument, my worship is not what

I do. My worship is from my heart to my Savior.

And you know, from that point onwards, whenever

I now lead worship, or even when I'm just standing

and worshiping God, and I lift my hand, it has

a different meaning altogether. Because I know

what it is not to be able to lift your hand.

I know what it is not to be able to sing. And

all I pray to the Lord is, Lord, whatever I do,

wherever I am, let your worship always go from

my heart and bless your heart. Because I believe

that's it. And I thank the Lord that I'm not

here alone. I'm here with my son. And it's a

blessing to worship God with my whole family.

And whatever I do, I just want to praise him

for he is worthy of all my praises. Hallelujah.

It's my joy and I'm glad to be here once again

after seven good years. You know, when we were

in the communion, Pastor Bad quoted this verse.

It was 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 25. And

1 Corinthians 11:25

it said, in the same way, after supper, he took

the cup. Saying, this cup is the new covenant.

And I want to stop right there. You know, we

are not the people. Of the old testament. We

are not the people. Of God's old covenant. We

are the people. Of the new covenant. And you

know. We are not just the people. Of new covenant.

We are a chosen people. A holy people. And as

it says in 1 Peter 2 .9. But you are a chosen

race. And a royal priesthood. Come on somebody

say with me. Royal priesthood. And you know the

Bible says. His plans for us. Is okay we are

in this world. We are doing multiple things.

We want to do. We are doing our jobs. We are

doing our businesses. But you know what we are

made for. Is to be his royal priesthood. Whatever

we are doing, that's a job because we have to

do this on our journey on earth. But you know,

there's something even bigger planned for us

in the eternal life. I want to take your attention

to Daniel. Daniel chapter 6 and verse 16. It

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

says, so the king gave the order and they brought

Daniel and threw him into the lion's den. All

of you know this story. We have read it many

times. I have read it many times. And you know

what? In situations and circumstances like this,

in which Daniel is, what he is facing, what his

friends faced, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,

what his nation of Israel faced under slavery.

It is not easy to remember that we are the chosen

ones. And you know, the circumstances we are

facing right now and the circumstances which

we will fail, it will not be easy for us to remember

and to know that we are the chosen race. Trust

me. In India, things are going... They're going

according to Bible. You know, it's written and

it will happen. But that doesn't mean that it's

going to be good. You know, there are a lot of

things written in the Bible and they are going

to happen. But it's our responsibility to remind

ourselves as well as the people of God that we

are, and I quote, a holy nation of people for

his own possession. And it says, when it continues,

1 Peter 2, 9, it says, that you may proclaim

the excellencies of him who called you out of

darkness. He just didn't call us out of darkness

and left us. It says, called you out of the darkness

into his marvelous light. And we are chosen,

not just... to go out of the darkness and god

is for me god is for myself and we are done you

know we are called to bring people out of their

darkness into his marvelous life somebody say

amen and you know when daniel's daniel is in

lion in the lion's den we know the story how

god miraculously saved him and then the king

comes in the morning and he says to daniel May

your God, whom you serve continually, rescue

you. What I read, what I've heard, Daniel used

to serve the king in the palace. Daniel used

to work for the king as a slave, as his counselor.

But the king here clearly knows. the god whom

you serve continually you know it's not about

our jobs where we work at what we do but in every

step of our life we have to show by dan daniel

did not say king oh king i serve the lord daniel

was like he is my god and even when i'm not serving

him i am serving him And you know the king knew

without Daniel telling him that oh my God will

rescue me. Daniel did not say that. But the king

himself said may your God whom you serve continually

rescue you. That means the one who is putting

him in that place. The one who is putting him

in that dark situation clearly knows that he'll

get out of it. And I want to tell you when dark

situations come. When circumstances are not so

good. The people who are putting you in that,

they are doing that because they know you will

get out. And people are afraid because the gospel

will spread. And I am witness in India, gospel

spreads more when there is persecution. As in

the first century church. And as I close, I want

to tell you. Gospel will spread through us and

it is our responsibility to be the chosen race

and to sustain ourselves as a holy nation. May

God bless you. What a great joy to serve the

Lord with the entire family, grandfather, father,

and son. I just want to appreciate the Lord.

Thank you very much, church, for having me, for

allowing our family to come and worship with

you. we have come as a part of this church to

just worship the Lord who is worthy of all the

worship. We were friends, especially because

you are LBC, Life Bible Church, and we were Lucknow

Bible College. LBC. But now, The relationship

has been added as ABC Sonny has married LBC Stephanie.

So we are not only friends, but we are family.

Wow, what a great blessing. I just appreciate

the Lord. And thank him for what he's doing and

excited about what he's going to do in the days

to come. Here in Life Bible Church and there

with ABC. Thank you for your prayer. I want to

begin with my key scripture that you will find

Psalm 91 verse 11. Psalm 91 verse 11. There is

Psalms 91:11 Psalms 91:11

something very special David is saying. Listen

to this one. Yes. For he will command his angels.

Yes. Read it again, please. For he will command

his angels concerning you to guard you in all

your ways. Wow. Many people will say, I've never

seen this. Angels never came to my house. I was

never guided. I was never protected. I had an

accident. God never gave me money. I never saw

the hand of God upon us. If you haven't, let

me tell you, all the blessings of God are conditional.

You fulfill the condition and you see heaven

broken on you. Now, what's the condition to have

angels guard over me and my house and my life

and my business? Proverbs 3, 6 is the answer.

Proverbs 3, 6 is the key. When you take the key,

you can open the blessings of God through the

key. And 3, 6 of Proverbs reads like this. In

all thy ways, acknowledge him. You want the angels

to come to your house? You want the protection

of God to fall upon you? The key is in all your

ways. You want angels and God's protection to

be there in all your ways? In all your ways,

acknowledge God. Acknowledge God in all your

ways. It doesn't say that only when you get a

message from God or you get a song from God or

you get a music. No, in all your ways, in your

business, in your husband and wife relationship,

when a child is born, when your daughter gets

a gold medal, when your son gets a new job, acknowledge

him. It's very important to acknowledge. Many

times we don't have the visitation and protection

of angels and the hand of the Lord upon us because

we fail to acknowledge God in everything you

do. We acknowledge our brain. We acknowledge

our friends, our business. We acknowledge our

skill. But we don't acknowledge God. But important

to acknowledge God. Accept God. And believe God.

Recognize God. And receive God. The angels will

come. Angels start coming. From today, if you

start acknowledging God today, I want to take

you to a few places how men of God acknowledged

and how they didn't. Psalm 118 verse 13. Psalm

Psalms 118:13 Psalms 118:13

118 verse 13. Listen to this one. Yes. I was

pushed back. Have you ever been pushed back?

People... People are people. I know the people

are people. Same in India and same here. People

have tendency to push you back. Everywhere. Don't

tell me in America we don't push anybody. No,

everywhere people push people. Pastors push pastors.

Leaders push leaders. People push each other.

This is the tendency of people. Man of God said,

I was pushed. Listen to this. I was pushed back.

And I was about to fall. Everyone many times

was about to fall. I don't know about you, but

I was about to fall many times. But listen to

this. What he said? My intellect, my intelligence,

my skill. I did this and I did this. What he

said? Listen to this. I was about to fall because

I was pushed back. Listen to this what he said.

But the Lord helped me. It's not because of your

strength. It's not because of your own skill.

It's not because of your money and business.

It's because of God. I thank God for this man

who acknowledges God for not falling. He protected.

God is protected if you continue to acknowledge

him for not... letting you fall. Next time also,

when people push you or the enemy pushes you,

when you're about to fall, when you're about

to make a mistake, God's angel will visit you

and they will protect you in all your ways. Let

me go to the next place. Genesis 31, 5 and 6.

First book. Genesis 31, verse 5 and 7. Listen

Genesis 31:5

to this. He said to them, I see. Oh, attitude.

Big problem. Many times people invite us in their

house, but attitude is very bad. And you decide,

I'm not going to go there anymore. Attitude.

A lot of times people come to church, their attitude

is very bad. Well, I came because my husband

wanted me to come. Attitude. This guy sees the

attitude, and now this is his father -in -law.

Sorry, forgive me all the father -in -laws. I'm

not against father -in -laws, but Bible tells

us this, that I see the attitude of your father,

my father -in -law. What? Toward me? Oh, it's

changed. Have you seen people's attitude change

through you? They were so good to me, but not

anymore. This is world. It used to happen thousand

years ago. It still happens today. People's attitude

will change. But listen to this. But God of my

father has been with me. Seventh verse. Listen

to this seventh verse. His acknowledgement there

that my father -in -law's attitude changed. My

people's attitude changed. But God, I acknowledge

God that he didn't allow him to harm me. Listen

to this. Yes. Yes. He cheated me. Ten times.

Anybody cheated you ten times? That's too much.

He's been cheated 10 times. Folks, don't worry.

You just acknowledge God. You just allow the

angels to come to your house. And I have given

you the key. Open the blessing of God and heaven

by those keys. And he said, he has cheated me

10 times. However, God, he is not saying, I was

so intelligent that I didn't allow him to cheat

me. No. This guy said, I made a mistake. I lied

to my father. I cheated my brother. I had to

leave my house in the night. Couldn't even take

my suitcase. There was no pillow to put under

my head. I didn't know where I'm going. I didn't

even have GPS at that time. I was going to my

mother's brother's place and any animal would

have eaten me on the way. I had no idea where

I was going. I didn't know about my future. I

don't know if my relatives will let me stay in

their house. But you know what he said? He said,

God of my father was with me. Even at that time

in the wilderness. He said God you are with me.

And folks this guy has a great experience. Even

though he made mistakes. But when he looked to

God. When he saw that ladder going to heaven.

And he believed in God. And he started acknowledging

God. He came back to his brother. And there he

acknowledges God. What does it say? Same book.

Genesis. It says 32nd chapter, 10th verse. 32nd

chapter, 10th verse. He's coming back. He's a

great man now. He's got a lot of cattle, a lot

of gold, a lot of silver. Amazing blessing is

received. He comes back. He meets his brother.

Brother says, oh, how rich you are. How did it

happen? But what did he tell there? Listen to

this. I am unworthy of all the kindness, of faithfulness.

Oh God, this is all because of you. This is not

because of my intelligence. It's not because

of what I've done in my life. I will stand this

morning here in this church. And I want to acknowledge

the blessing of the Lord on ABC. We started a

church with nothing. With 33 people. And now

we are more than 100 ,000 people in India. 100

buildings have already been completed. 100 church

buildings. doing five buildings right now. And

I'm here to acknowledge some of you. All of you

as a church, you have prayed for us. You stood

with us. You helped us. You released people from

the church to come to India. Help us. The ministry

of worship was nothing in India. We didn't know

anything. Nobody could play guitar. Hundreds

and thousands of people play musical instruments.

We put up big concerts. I'm here to acknowledge

your faithfulness. I want to acknowledge the

faithfulness of Smugglers for India. I want to

acknowledge. I want to acknowledge the faithfulness

of Duane and Leanne. I want to acknowledge the

faithfulness of Ken and Lisa for being faithful.

I want to acknowledge the faithfulness of Pastor

Brad and the pastors. but team with him. I want

to acknowledge the faithfulness of your office.

And Deanna, how faithfully she's worked. But

all and above all of these things, I want to

acknowledge the faithfulness of God for them.

He had a very small army. Zerah, the Ethiopians

came with double army and wanted to fight. He

had half the army than Zerah, Ethiopian. He went

to the battlefield. He settled the battle. I

am not against if you set things in order. But

before starting the battle, he knelt down and

he looked to God. He said, God, in your name.

We go against this multitude. It is nothing for

you to give victory with a small army like ours.

And you know what Bible says? Bible says, and

the Lord smote Ethiopians. Who did? Lord, angels

used to come in those days. Angels still come

today. You can have God fight your battle wherever

in battlefield you are. Do your business. Work

hard. Do things right. Invest your money. Go

to the bank. Do whatever you feel like. But before

starting the battle, kneel down and acknowledge

God. I cannot win this battle without you. America

was formed on in God we trust. They trusted God

and banked on God, acknowledged God, and God

blessed this country over every other country

in this world. America, you continue to acknowledge

God, and God will continue to bless you and make

you a blessing for the entire world. First time

in life, yesterday, me, my son, and my grandson

were able to ride Tesla. We only used to hear

in India, Tesla. We're sitting in Tesla. We came

to know many things about Tesla. But I discovered

that after going 300 miles, you got to go to

charging station. And if you don't, it will not

go any further. I know you guys are very famous

and popular like Tesla, but don't you drive more

than 300 miles without going to the charging

station. I was so blessed this morning when I

went to priest service prayer. There is a charging

station. I was sitting there and the guys were

praying. I don't even know what's the name of

this guy. But he came and put his hand upon me.

And I felt like charging is coming through me.

And I was all charged. I'm standing before you

because even though I'm Tesla, I had to go to

that God's charging station. I preached the gospel

thousands of times. 57 years I've been preaching,

but I needed to go there and acknowledge God.

God, without your blessing, I cannot preach.

You have good PA system. You have good pulpit.

You have a great congregation, great worship,

but I couldn't preach without the unction of

the Holy Spirit. Hannah. Hannah brought her son,

and she simply wanted to acknowledge God. She

said, God, I could not have a son. I could not

have a child. My husband was not potent to give

me a child. I came to this house, and you gave

me a child, and I have got the child in my lap,

and I brought him to your house just to acknowledge

you did it. You did it. You did it. And you know

what happened? You read that book again. God

gave Hannah half a dozen children after that.

You want to be blessed? You want angels to come?

You want to be guided in all your ways? Wherever

you go, you simply do one thing. Simply acknowledge

God. Acknowledge God. Now, Solomon. The son of

David built an amazing house of God. He imported

stones from other countries. Wood. Craftsmen

from other countries. They built a beautiful

house. They put the foundation of that house

of precious stones. They used the best of the

wood. Overlaid it. With pure gold. Ceiling had

gold. Walls had gold. Overlaid with gold. And

the floor was overlaid with gold. Great building.

Whole world is talking about this building. It's

going to be inaugurated. Kings came from far

and near. Every eye is fixed. Where is Solomon?

Solomon comes out. He made a brass stage. Not

gold. Brass. jumped on the stage, and he knelt

down before God. And before the opening of the

building, he said, God, until your presence comes

in this, it is nothing. Kings, thank you very

much. You supplied material, gold, and craftsmen.

Thank you very much, people, you have come. But

he bowed before God and said, until your presence

comes. He acknowledged God. And so presence of

God came there in that house. And let me tell

you the great miracle that happened thousands

of years ago in that temple will happen in your

church, in your family, and angels will visit.

Acknowledge, children, acknowledge what your

father and mother have done for you. Members,

acknowledge the leaders of the church for what

you have done. Acknowledge things around you

and for every one of them, acknowledge God. And

when you acknowledge God, something great will

happen and you will see the glory come on you.

And when you acknowledge God, what will happen

is God's angel visit you. I have come here to

acknowledge God. And you who have been used by

God, may the Lord continue to bless you. If you

are interested in hearing other podcasts or contacting

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