Sermon

259 ~ WORTHY IS THE LAMB ~ Palm Sunday

We Are Zion - Sermon Podcast

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. A very warm welcome to the We Are Zion Sermon Podcast.

  2. We are a church based out of Chennai, India.

  3. We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will

  4. be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.

  5. Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of

  6. purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.

  7. The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess

  8. our promise. This Palm Sunday we fix our eyes

  9. on the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.

  10. He isn't a weak and inadequate creature, but a mighty

  11. conquering King who was the sufficient sacrifice for

  12. everyone of us. We pray that you will worship

  13. the Lamb and seek Him in greater measure as we enter Holy Week.

  14. Hi Church, this is a joy and a privilege to be able to bring

  15. God's word to you today. And for those of you who are

  16. watching and listening, I pray that God will be able to speak

  17. even as we celebrate Palm Sunday all across the world.

  18. I believe we all get to welcome the King of Kings, the Lord of

  19. Lords into our lives today. We get to worship Him for who he

  20. is, that He is God over everything.

  21. He is God over everyone. He is God of all.

  22. And I pray that even as you listen into the sermon, that God

  23. will be able to work in and through you.

  24. Over the last couple of weeks in the season of Lent, we've been

  25. meditating on Leviticus and seen Jesus in Leviticus.

  26. And even as we've been looking at that, one of the evident

  27. things that we've seen is there were glimpses that Jesus had

  28. given his people and he came and fulfilled it once for all.

  29. And so even as we go into this Holy Week, which they call

  30. between Palm Sunday to Easter, I believe we need to be waiting

  31. for God to do something in our lives every year.

  32. You know, it's something pivotal that God does.

  33. Two years back on Palm Sunday is when we moved into this hall.

  34. And every year I've been praying and asking God, God, let not

  35. just Easter be an other passing day where we remember you

  36. resurrected, but may that evidence of that power be

  37. working in and through US. And so even today, as we just

  38. partake of Palm Sunday and see what God is calling us to do,

  39. I've titled my sermon today called Worthy is the Lamb.

  40. Worthy is the Lamb. And you might be like Geshum,

  41. the palamsandi is not about the lamb, it's about the donkey.

  42. I believe the narrative of how Jesus entered, yes, was

  43. important, but today He is the lamp of God seated on the

  44. throne, and he is worthy. He is worthy, worthy of

  45. everything that we have. There's nothing you can say He's

  46. not worthy of this. He's worthy of everything.

  47. And so even today as we meditate, I just want to go back

  48. to that passage of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem

  49. from Matthew chapter 21. As we read that, let's envision

    Matthew 21 chapter mention

  50. what the people around him would have felt of this Messiah

  51. walking into Jerusalem. The disciples went and did as

  52. Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the

  53. colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

  54. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others

  55. cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

  56. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed

  57. shouted Hosanna to the Son of David.

  58. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the

  59. highest heaven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem,

  60. the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this?

  61. The crowds answered, This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth

  62. in Galilee. One of the things that we see is

  63. there was miracles that happened before and then Jesus was

  64. entering into Jerusalem. He was getting his disciples

  65. prepared, saying this is where I'm going to lay down my life,

  66. you know, and all these things as they're happening in

  67. preparation, it's evident that they missed out on who Jesus

  68. was. Jesus was their Messiah.

  69. Jesus was what they were waiting for.

  70. The form didn't match who he was.

  71. The very entry didn't match who they wanted him to be.

  72. And so today, as we are all here today in 2025, seated and

  73. listening, my prayer is, is Jesus real to us or is he

  74. another passing prophet that's just going by today as they

  75. missed out. They missed out on who?

  76. They missed out on the King of Kings.

  77. They missed out on the person who was called, who was sent

  78. down to earth to be one with mankind who would redeem us from

  79. all our sins. Yet they did not receive him.

  80. They quickly turned in a week's time.

  81. They quickly turned to asking the person who would fight for

  82. their freedom then and there. And so today the question is,

  83. what is our worship today looking like?

  84. Because if the if we have to say worthy is the Lamb of God, it

  85. comes down to a posture of worship today.

  86. Are we just so bound by what our outward worship is, or are we

  87. also really concerned of what our inward worship is like?

  88. Because that's where when our inward worship matches our

  89. outward worship, it will transform us and make us see

  90. things differently. I want to read from John chapter

    John 1 chapter mention

  91. 1, verses 10:50. This is from the message version

  92. and this is what it says. He, that is Jesus Christ was in

  93. the world, and though the world was made through him, the world

  94. did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His

  95. own, that which belonged to Him, His world, His creation, His

  96. possession, and those who are His own, His very own people.

  97. The Jewish nation did not receive and welcomed Him today.

  98. This verse as I read can be very true.

  99. As I was meditating on this, I was reminded His very own

  100. creation, everything that He's created, everything that

  101. belonged to Him, His possession, everything.

  102. All of us. Yet we did not recognize Him.

  103. How bad is that? Today you and I are in that same

  104. place. Are we not recognizing God?

  105. Because if we don't recognize Him, we will give up when tough

  106. times come. And mind you, as followers of

  107. Christ, tough times will come. That's what the early church

  108. kept stressing on. Hold on to your faith.

  109. Today. You and I are in that same place

  110. where suffering will come, turmoil will come, things will

  111. topple. But are we ready to worship

  112. Jesus for who He is? Do we see Him as a Redeemer?

  113. Do we see Him as our edema, as we see in Leviticus time and

  114. again? It just became an outward

  115. worship. Everything that they did was so

  116. talked about and may do of the outside that they missed inside.

  117. And the New Testament is all about what happens in the inside

  118. because when it gets fixed in the inside, the outward changes

  119. because the inside is fixed. And so today as we look into

  120. these aspects, I want to come to a place where we realize the

  121. Lamb of God is everything to us. There are glimpses of the Lamb

  122. of God. In fact, as I take you across in

  123. this sermon, I want to give what it looked like in the Old

  124. Testament. What did it look like in the New

  125. Testament? What did it look like for us

  126. when we see him face to face? I want to read from John chapter

    John 1:29–34

  127. 1, verses 29 to 34. And this is where John the

  128. Baptist testifies about who Jesus is.

  129. A John the Baptist is the cousin of Jesus, and this is what he

  130. says. The next day John saw Jesus

  131. coming toward him and said, look, the Lamb of God who takes

  132. away the sin of the world. As we read this, we see John

  133. emphasizing who Jesus was. Mind you, John the Baptist was

  134. the one who was sent ahead of Jesus to go prepare the way.

  135. What was he preparing? He was preparing the people to

  136. say, people, would you start looking at yourselves?

  137. You say you're doing sacrifices, you say you're doing this, but

  138. your heart is not there. You're just doing it for the

  139. outward appearances. And there was this nature that

  140. was very much ingrained, intertwined with people that he

  141. was calling them, that you need to let go of this.

  142. And the more I meditated, I realized it's one of our very

  143. own nature that we all struggle with, irrespective of what age

  144. you're living in. And that stubbornness, that

  145. stubbornness that my pursuits are important than his pursuits.

  146. My affections are important than his affections.

  147. My love is more important than what God's love is.

  148. And so today can we move? He was saying, prepare.

  149. I'm come here to prepare the way of the Lord.

  150. What is it to move stubborn hearts to a place of receiving

  151. Jesus as the true Saviour of the world today?

  152. What is our stubbornness causing us to do?

  153. It's stubbornness in this day and age in 2025, All my life in

  154. fact, has made me get what I want, how I want it, when I want

  155. it. And so today I want you to come

  156. to a place and see where Lord, am I missing it out?

  157. Is my stubbornness not causing me to see You for who you are?

  158. He is the Lamb of God. He is the Redeemer.

  159. He is wanting. Is my stubbornness causing me to

  160. just constrict my idea of worship?

  161. Is my stubbornness causing me to derail some of the promises that

  162. were meant for me because I am struggling to believe with it?

  163. Today the people of Israel welcomed them with cloaks on

  164. their ground, palm leaves in their hand.

  165. But your heart's missed welcoming Him.

  166. Hearts missed welcoming him. Today, as we meditate on the

  167. Lamb of God, are our hearts open to receive Him as God and

  168. Saviour of our life? One of the things we read from

  169. Leviticus chapter 4 about the Lamb is the fact that there was

    Leviticus 4 chapter mention

  170. innocence with regard to the Lamb.

  171. When you read from Leviticus 432 to 35, this is what it says.

  172. If someone brings a lamb as their sin offering, they have to

  173. bring a female without defect. They have to lay their hand on

  174. the head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where

  175. the burnt offering is slaughtered.

  176. Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering

  177. with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the

  178. burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of

  179. the altar. They shall remove all the fat

  180. just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship

  181. offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of

  182. the food offering presented to the Lord.

  183. In this way, the priest will make atonement for them for the

  184. sin they have committed and they will be forgiven.

  185. Today Jesus has come and because we don't go through this

  186. gruesome process of seeing blood being spilt, innocent blood

  187. being spilt, of seeing it being put there on our behalf, we take

  188. the after effects of sin. Likely we say, you know what,

  189. I'm forgiven and I move on and I commit that same signal again.

  190. God is saying if we are worshipping Him, we won't take

  191. His grace for granted, we won't take His forgiveness for

  192. granted. We would participate in this

  193. fully. We would participate in this

  194. holy. We would participate in this and

  195. see Him bring wholeness to our lives today.

  196. What is our eyes getting so caught up in?

  197. We are such bound by culture. We are so bound by what we'll

  198. miss out here that we are stubborn like God.

  199. I can't miss out on this. I'll become irrelevant.

  200. I things won't make I'll, I'll, I'll be cut out of this chase.

  201. I can't climb the corporate letter, but God saying, if I am

  202. the one you're worshipping, don't I hold the future in your

  203. hands. And I want to speak this to some

  204. of you who are probably in this chase and you're feeling tired,

  205. worn out, literally on the words of being shred and giving up.

  206. Jesus is saying I'm here to give you rest.

  207. I hold your future in your hands.

  208. Would you come and submit and yield to me?

  209. There are three things I want us to think about with regard to

  210. the lamp of God. The first thing is, is the lamp

  211. of God less attractive to us? Is the lamp of God less

  212. attractive to us? Is that the reason why I am

  213. missing out on God? Because there are many other

  214. things that are attractive. Mind you, we're living in a day

  215. and age where man is constantly in this marketing frenzy, trying

  216. to make everything attractive to us.

  217. The food that we eat, the things that we wear, the things that we

  218. have to do, the places we need to go, everything looks

  219. attractive. But God's asking us, am I not

  220. attractive enough for you that you may just be with me?

  221. Isaiah chapter 53, verses 7 to 9, This is what it says.

    Isaiah 53:7–9

  222. He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word.

  223. And like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep

  224. being sheared, he took it all in silence.

  225. Justice miscarried and he was led off.

  226. And did anyone really know what was happening?

  227. He died without the thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody

  228. for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked,

  229. threw him in a grave with the rich man, even though he'd never

  230. hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true.

  231. As we read this, we're reminded this was prophesied of who Jesus

  232. was. What happened because they

  233. didn't find it attractive enough.

  234. We too can be people like that. When Jesus went into the

  235. synagogue and when he read the scriptures and said this is

  236. fulfilled, they failed to see it.

  237. When Jesus came into Jerusalem, they missed seeing who their

  238. Redeemer was. Today, in 2025, we too can miss

  239. seeing a Redeemer because he's not packaged attractive enough

  240. for us. He's not looking at.

  241. It might look like an ordinary thing that's going by.

  242. It might look like an ordinary prayer meeting.

  243. It might look like an ordinary sermon.

  244. It might look like an ordinary worship.

  245. But it's in that grind that God changes us in the inside.

  246. It's in that in that space, he comes as a Redeemer to the

  247. people. Isaiah was talking at that time.

  248. It was a prophecy. They were waiting expectantly,

  249. but at the when Jesus came, they missed out on the person who was

  250. prophesied. And so today our worship stems

  251. from this place where we are not moving from places to places

  252. because of the attraction of worship.

  253. We are moving because this is where God is.

  254. This is where we stay. Our worship stems from what He

  255. has done. What did he do?

  256. He died on the cross, as Isaiah said.

  257. He was bruised, He was broken, He was humiliated, justice was

  258. not given. He was crushed for our

  259. inequities. That's where our worship stems

  260. out of, from ultimate obedience He had when he was on this

  261. earth. And that's where our worship

  262. comes from to say God, you who came in human form submitted to

  263. the will of the Father, May I submit to you.

  264. A lot of us are worshipping him because we have A to do list to

  265. be done. There is a motive.

  266. But today if we have to come to a place of worshipping him, he's

  267. bigger than your To Do List. He's bigger than the list that

  268. you have for your future. He's bigger because that's agree

  269. that our list will keep adding on.

  270. If you're single, you're like, I want a good spouse.

  271. The spouse comes in, Oh, I want a good marriage.

  272. The marriage happens. Oh God, I want to pray thee.

  273. Oh, I need to settle this or I need to travel.

  274. The list will keep adding on, but word which we read

  275. constantly says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and

  276. forever. He's all-encompassing.

  277. So if we are not there with Him right now, we will miss out on

  278. who He is. What does this mean for us

  279. today? What does the world have to say

  280. today to us in 2025? If you have to become an

  281. attractive person, it says with regard in 2025.

  282. I just, you know, did a Gemini of this and checked your face

  283. should have a should smile often.

  284. You should stay hydrated. You should create a skin care

  285. routine. You should start mewing for

  286. jawline. Apparently, if you have a good

  287. jawline, that's a big thing today.

  288. What does the world have to say about 2025?

  289. It says expect a blend of maximalism, bold colours,

  290. ethereal aesthetics in fashion and beauty with data-driven

  291. skills and a focus on global issues shaping this year.

  292. If we are attracted to Jesus, we will go by what the world

  293. dictates because attraction is always on the outside.

  294. Attraction. For those of you who are in the

  295. beauty side of things, realize that you know to be attractive,

  296. you put on make up. But the minute you remove that

  297. make up, it shows the real and I think we have subconsciously

  298. cultivated this narrative that that is true beauty.

  299. But the God saying no, I want the real you.

  300. I want the real you. He's come for the real us today.

  301. What is freedom If Lamb of God is not evident in our worship,

  302. if he's not seen his sacrifices, is not made known to us, we will

  303. be worshipping because God. I don't feel anxious anymore.

  304. But the truth is we're living in a world where it will be driven

  305. by anxiety. We have to be overcomers today.

  306. Today, which means we realize the Lamb of God is in with me

  307. and I'll take that next step. I'll take that next step.

  308. What is our response to all of this?

  309. Yes, attraction is not what will keep us close to Jesus.

  310. It says there that we'll need to dwell with him, DWELL, dwell

  311. with him. Which means irrespective of

  312. whether I get anything from you or not, God, I'm dwelling with

  313. you, I'm dwelling with you. I'm comfortable being with You.

  314. I'm comfortable being in Your presence.

  315. Psalm 27, verses 4 to 6. One thing I ask from the Lord.

    Psalms 27:4–6

  316. This only do I seek, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord

  317. all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord, and

  318. to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble He

  319. will keep me safe in His dwelling.

  320. He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me

  321. high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted

  322. about the enemies who surround me at His sacred tent.

  323. I will sacrifice with shouts of joy.

  324. I will sing and make music to the Lord.

  325. I will sing and make music to the Lord.

  326. So today what does this this entire verse talk about dwelling

  327. in the House of the Lord Does dwelling in the House of the

  328. Lord mean I don't work, I just sit by I just go through life.

  329. No dwelling in the House of the Lord helps you understand God is

  330. above everything. Dwelling in the House of the

  331. Lord knows that the beginning and the end.

  332. God controls everything. Dwell in the House of the Lord

  333. is He knows what is best for me, and I get to enjoy the plan and

  334. the will that He has for me because I'm dwelling in the

  335. House of Lord. Dwelling in the House of the

  336. Lord is not a seasonal listening to His Word, but a daily

  337. meditating on His word. It's not a seasonal worship, but

  338. a daily worship. It's not a seasonal surrender

  339. but a daily surrender. In fact, when you read in Psalm

  340. 27 verse one, it talks about that light and in the passion it

  341. beautifully says Yahweh is my revelation light and the source

  342. of my salvation here. No one, I'll never turn back and

  343. run for you. Yahweh surround me and protect

  344. me and this word revelation light caught my attention

  345. because he has to be everything for us.

  346. When I dwell in the House of the Lord, suddenly when I'm giving

  347. everything to Jesus, what happens?

  348. I'm not attracted to him, but because I'm staying there, I'm

  349. allowing him to speak to me. His revelation light puts.

  350. Understanding into what my plan and purpose is right now.

  351. His revelation right tells me what I'm going through right

  352. now. His revelation right tells me

  353. these are the skeletons that I need to address.

  354. These are the demonic forces that are acting against me.

  355. These are the things that I pull down in the name of Jesus.

  356. That is what happens when I dwell in the House of the Lord.

  357. That doesn't come from a place of attraction.

  358. What happens when attraction emotions are heightened?

  359. You make choices emotionally. You're not able to think

  360. clearly. You're not able to think long

  361. term, would think surface. There are only surface level

  362. issues because when the rubber hits the road is when you start

  363. feeling the pleasure of anything that you're attracted to.

  364. But when Jesus, when you start dwelling with him, he cleans us

  365. inside out. He takes the scalpel, He starts

  366. cutting off all those extra chunks that have happened

  367. because of bruises, of issues of growing up, things that I've

  368. been struggling with, all that starts taking shape and God

  369. cleans it inside out. John chapter one verse 5 says

  370. the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not

  371. overcome it. Praise God, Amen.

  372. That is the promise that we have when his light comes, darkness

  373. cannot overcome it. However dark the room is, if

  374. there's a small hole where your light can shine through, where

  375. Jesus can shine his light through you, he will come

  376. through. And so today, no matter of

  377. darkness should cause you to pull back, but rather invite him

  378. in. I was having a conversation with

  379. a friend a couple of days back and he was eventually into this

  380. new city to do certain things. And in the midst of everything

  381. he kept saying God. And I'm just doing this because

  382. I can see God calling me to do this.

  383. And many a times that is all that we have with us.

  384. That is all that we have, that small light that is there.

  385. And as we run towards it, everything starts becoming

  386. brighter. As we run towards it, everything

  387. starts clearing up. As we run towards it, darkness

  388. starts moving away. So the first thing we saw is to

  389. combat an attraction is to dwell.

  390. The second thing is the lamp. Is the lamp of God less integral

  391. to us today? The when we look at Palm Sunday,

  392. Jesus coming in as the Messiah was the need of the earth.

  393. They wanted freedom from the Romans, but was that the

  394. integral part of being of Jesus actually coming in?

  395. They missed out entirely. And I believe a lot of us many

  396. at times don't go to the integral part as to what God is

  397. doing in and through us. What is our worship towards God?

  398. Because if our end outcome is something we're just looking at

  399. him as a problem solver. But God's saying, no, I want you

  400. to rise above, rise above. Because what happens is doubt

  401. gets set in. Things that have to be done out

  402. of the sincerity of the heart become mechanical.

  403. And then suddenly faith just becomes mechanical.

  404. And this is what Jesus came to talk to.

  405. He confronted the Pharisees about that.

  406. In fact, when we see John the Baptist, the Pharisees came and

  407. said, who are you doing this for?

  408. Why are you doing this? Anything that took attention

  409. away from them, they questioned. They missed out on who Jesus

  410. was. And today that is where the

  411. Spirit of God will work in and through us.

  412. If we are doing certain things mechanical, He will come in and

  413. move us to a place to be authentic so that we'll be able

  414. to do what He's calling us to do.

  415. Even as we read from Matthew chapter 23, there are a couple

    Matthew 23 chapter mention

  416. of things I wanted to highlight. And many a times we remove the

  417. integral part of who Jesus is. He came to seek, save and the

  418. lost and bring salvation to mankind and then move us to a

  419. place of living in obedience according to His will so that we

  420. will be able to see Him face to face.

  421. But the beauty we have all created, we do these mechanical

  422. things and eventually what happens, we have a Pharisees and

  423. a Sadducees attitude that sets in.

  424. We suddenly are becoming like the east where we're like, no,

  425. this is how it is done. This is how we need to move to a

  426. place of repentance to say, Lord, I want to keep the main

  427. things main. Matthew 23 we see in verse 13,

  428. it's he talks to the Pharisees. You shut the door of the

  429. Kingdom. You don't allow anyone to.

  430. You don't allow anyone to enter in.

  431. You travel over land and see to win a single person, and when

  432. you succeed, you make him twice as bound.

  433. You don't give him the freedom to live his faith out.

  434. He says you're like blind guys. If anyone swears anything by the

  435. temple, it means nothing, but if they swear by the gold of the

  436. temple, it means something. He moves on to the place that

  437. they've defiled, the name of God.

  438. Nothing in the name of God is taken serious, but only

  439. importance is given is to money, he says.

  440. Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold

  441. sacred to many? The money of that time became

  442. important. You can see all these patterns

  443. trickle down all these hundreds of years.

  444. Even today this is something that has become so important

  445. that we missed out on the lamp of God because is He the one

  446. who's important to us? For those of you who give a

  447. tenth of your spices, mint, dill and cumin, but you've neglected

  448. the most important matters of the law, which is justice, mercy

  449. and faithfulness. In fact, in one stage he says

  450. you give all your tithes, but you fail to look after your very

  451. own parents, He says, and he condemns them.

  452. He says you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside

  453. you're full of greed and self indulgence.

  454. You're like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful in the

  455. outside, but in the inside you're full of bones of the dead

  456. and everything unclean. On the outside you appear

  457. righteous, but in the inside you're full of hypocrisy and

  458. wickedness. As Jesus mentioned this, he was

  459. walking into Jerusalem towards this, towards a temple which

  460. valued gold more than the temple and the sanctity in itself.

  461. That's why he went and turned the tables over.

  462. If there's one thing we'll have to understand is we are living

  463. for the outside versus we are not living from the inside.

  464. And I pray that if the Lamb of God is an integral part of our

  465. faith, we will live from the inside.

  466. We won't live for the outside. The law always dealt with the

  467. actions of the art. And so when we committed sin, we

  468. went, but Jesus when he came, he took it a further.

  469. He said, even when you start conceiving all this, you will

  470. be, you can approach me because I'm ready to deal with the heart

  471. issue. And that's what is very

  472. important for us to develop a healthy understanding of moving

  473. towards God, towards receiving His favour and grace because we

  474. need Him to work in and through our heart issues.

  475. In and through our heart issues, He came so that He will save us

  476. from the mess that's happening in the inside of us.

  477. Because the outworking of the mess is what causes us to sin.

  478. And He wants to deal with that. He wants to take every route

  479. that we are born into sin out and set us free once and for

  480. all. When John sees Jesus and when he

  481. says this is the lamp of God in verse 29, he says the next day

  482. John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, look the lamp of God

  483. who takes away the sin of the world.

  484. This is the one I meant when I said a man who comes after me

  485. has surpassed me because he was before me.

  486. I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptising with

  487. baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.

  488. Then John gave this testimony. I saw the Spirit come down from

  489. heaven as a dove and remain on him.

  490. And I myself did not know him. But the one who sent me to

  491. baptize with water told me, The man on whom you see the Spirit

  492. come down and remain is the one who'll baptize with the Holy

  493. Spirit. I have seen and I testify that

  494. this is God's chosen 1. He was an integral part of God's

  495. plan. He was an integral part of

  496. humanity's plan. He's an integral part of my own

  497. life. And So what is that response

  498. today? Yes, he should be integral.

  499. So which means I have to give myself to the Holy Spirit who

  500. will renew me every day, renew me every day.

  501. If my heart has to change, it happens only when there is

  502. renewal every day. Not renewable when the altar

  503. call happens, not renewable when I have this big event and then I

  504. decide that's where no renewal happens every day.

  505. A friend of mine keeps telling this phrase.

  506. I ask him how things are going. He says one day at a time.

  507. And I remember that phrase catching on to me.

  508. And God was reminding me As a follower of you, as a Jesus

  509. follower, can I be renewed one day at a time?

  510. One day at a time? What is God changing my thought

  511. process today? Because that's very important

  512. because what we're fighting is not in the natural, it's in the

  513. spiritual. What you're fighting is not the

  514. outworking of what the enemy is doing, but it's with those

  515. principalities of darkness. In Two Corinthians chapter 10

  516. versus 3 to 4, this is what it says.

  517. For although we live in natural limb, we don't wage a military

  518. campaign employing human weapons, using manipulation to

  519. achieve our aims. Instead, our spiritual weapons

  520. are energized with divine part effectively dismantle the

  521. defenses behind which people hide.

  522. We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and

  523. breakthrough every arrogant attitude that is raised up in

  524. defiance of the true knowledge of God.

  525. We capture the prisoners of war every we thought and insist that

  526. it bow down in obedience to the anointed 1 Can I repeat that

  527. again? We capture the prisoners of war

  528. every thought and insist that it bow down in obedience to the

  529. anointed one. Since we are armed with such

  530. dynamic weaponry, we stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion

  531. as soon as you choose. Complete obedience, a response

  532. to renewal by the Holy Spirit is that we have dynamic weaponry

  533. and that dynamic weaponry will come will be activated when

  534. there's complete obedience. When there's complete obedience,

  535. what does it say? When I read that verse again,

  536. what did it say? Take every prisoner of what

  537. every captive thought and submit it.

  538. Bring it into a understanding that you are a defeated for you

  539. have to submit to the anointed one to the Lamb of God.

  540. And So what is this dynamic weaponry?

  541. So when you go, when you see an, a soldier going into a, a

  542. battlefield, he's going with a particular weapon to target an

  543. enemy. When he has that weapon, he can

  544. target it. But what if the enemy is of is

  545. camouflaging and is looking different?

  546. He can't go with that weaponry. But the Holy Spirit is saying

  547. when you're waging war with my help, you have dynamic weaponry,

  548. which means it will change to how the enemy looks.

  549. It'll change. A lot of us are trying to beat

  550. anxiety by staying in closed doors and being bound.

  551. But you can only beat anxiety with the help of the Holy Spirit

  552. from a place of being an overcomer.

  553. You have to rise up. That is where faith kicks in.

  554. That's when everyday obedience, surrender and dependency happen.

  555. That's what renewal is about. Renewal is basically obedience.

  556. Lord, I surrender to you now. I'm dependent on you.

  557. I'm dependent on you. So as we do this, I pray the

  558. lamp of God will become an integral part for us.

  559. He won't just be an other isolated thing far off, but the

  560. dynamic weaponry will be so active in us.

  561. We are all foot soldiers in His Kingdom.

  562. We all have our battles, but far too long we're trying to buy

  563. fight those battles with the wrong weapons.

  564. I pray that God will give us the grace and the strength to rise

  565. up. The third thing we see is, and

  566. the question which I want to give lay in front of you is, is

  567. the lamp of God less eternal to us?

  568. Is he less eternal to us because many a times with Jesus coming

  569. with us, celebrating his birth, reminder after reminder, is

  570. eternity a far off thought or is it less important to us?

  571. The movie look at the Book of Revelation.

  572. In fact, yesterday when we prayed here during our open

  573. heavens, we had repented of what the seven churches that were

  574. mentioned in Revelation talked were talked about of what their

  575. heart positions where. And today even as I'm mentioning

  576. some of that, I want to come to a place.

  577. Are we complacent? Are we OK with status quo?

  578. Have you come to a place where we abandoned our love for

  579. Christ? Have you come to a place where

  580. we are unable to remain faithful because of the amount of

  581. persecution and struggles that are happening?

  582. Are we compromising on our beliefs because we think you

  583. know what God, the culture is so important, I might miss out on

  584. it. Are we following false prophets,

  585. people who speak what our itching ears want to hear?

  586. Are we spiritually that they're like God?

  587. You know what? We've been part of the system.

  588. We know the game. We know.

  589. Are we patiently enduring everything and giving up hope?

  590. Today I want to be encouraged. Our church, I want to encourage

  591. you all. May we live with such a fire

  592. that is fanning a flame, such fire that's fanning him.

  593. Because I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to be like that,

  594. where we come expected every week after week because eternity

  595. is set. We are going to be spending

  596. eternity with Him. For all those who've confessed

  597. Jesus as Lord and Savior, who believed with their heart,

  598. who've confessed with their mouth and acknowledge Him as

  599. Lord and Savior will spend eternity with him.

  600. But if we don't have that as our ultimate goal, we will be

  601. chasing many other things. Revelation chapter 5 verses 5 to

    Revelation 5:5–7

  602. 7 says this. And I saw in the right hand of

  603. him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the

  604. back seal with 7 seals. Then I saw a strong Angel

  605. proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll

  606. and to lose it's seals. And no one in heaven or on earth

  607. or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at

  608. it. So I wept much, because no one

  609. was found worthy to open and read the scroll and to look at

  610. it. But one of the elders said to

  611. me, Do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of

  612. Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and

  613. to lose its seven seals. And I looked and behold, in the

  614. midst on the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in

  615. the midst of the elders, to the Lamb, as though it had been

  616. slain, having 7 horns and seven eyes, which are the seven

  617. spirits of God, sent into all the earth.

  618. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand and of him

  619. who sat on the throne. Now when you had taken the

  620. scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell

  621. down before the Lamb, each having a harp and a golden bowl

  622. full of incense, which are the prayers of the Saints.

  623. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take

  624. the scroll and to open its seals.

  625. For you are slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood

  626. out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have

  627. made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the

  628. earth. Then I looked, and I heard the

  629. voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and

  630. the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 * 10,000, and

  631. thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the

  632. Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and

  633. strength and honour and glory and power and blessing, and

  634. every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under

  635. the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in

  636. them. And I heard blessing and honour

  637. and glory and power be unto him who sits on the throne, and unto

  638. the Lamb forever and ever. I don't know about you, but when

  639. I read this, I'm always amazed that I get to be seeing this.

  640. He was the Lion of Judah. He is the Lion of Judah.

  641. We are going to worship the Lion of Judah.

  642. He is from the root of David. He prevailed.

  643. Eternity is real. Don't move.

  644. Let not people, let not culture, let not people move you to a

  645. place of thinking. You know what eternity is not we

  646. what we do. Eternity is real.

  647. Our living of life will set us up for eternity.

  648. I don't want to move my faith to a place where I've lost my first

  649. love. That I will be end up in

  650. eternity. No, or when I've been

  651. complacent. I don't want to live lives where

  652. I've given up on my faith 20-30 years later when it doesn't make

  653. sense now. I want to keep eternity as my

  654. end goal. That is what I live for.

  655. That is what I see. That is who I worship.

  656. So if I am unable to worship today amongst other people,

  657. amongst people from different tribe, language and tongue, if

  658. I'm unable to see that, how will I worship in heaven?

  659. Because all of creation will be worshipping them, not just a

  660. select but all of creation. As I conclude, I want to ask us

  661. today, what is our response? Because today what is not

  662. eternal is temporal and the needs of temporal are very

  663. heavy. The needs for temporal are very

  664. heavy. But we need to know what is what

  665. is it that God wants us to keep our eyes on the eternal?

  666. What is a response like? As we saw, we have to be renewed

  667. everyday is to be expectant. And that comes when the Holy

  668. Spirit is in and through our lives, is working in and through

  669. our lives. It's part of our lives.

  670. You know, there's a parable that Jesus talked about Matthew in

  671. Matthew 25, the parables of 10 virgins.

  672. And the story goes like this, where ten of them are waiting to

  673. see the bridegroom. Five of them calls foolish, five

  674. of them are wise. They all end up there and

  675. they're waiting. And as they're waiting through

  676. the day, their lamb gets exhausted.

  677. The they sleep, the five who are wise have brought extra oil with

  678. them. They refill, they're ready, and

  679. then they're able to go and be with the bridegroom when he

  680. comes. But as the remaining 5 go in

  681. search of oil and they miss out and then they go and knock and

  682. the bridegroom says, we can't allow you and go away.

  683. I don't even know you. And the reason why I'm taking

  684. this parable is because a lot of us are like the 10.

  685. We are waiting. We are waiting.

  686. Some waited without that oil, some waited with extra oil, and

  687. I believe as we wait with that extra oil, it'll pay off.

  688. The Greek word for that oil is Elion, and it's a spiritual

  689. meaning of the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit?

  690. He does is consecrates us. When He works inside out, what

  691. does He do? He consecrates us, He sets us

  692. apart. In fact, the entire of last year

  693. we saw that was our theme. He sets us apart.

  694. So he set these 5 apart. What did he set them apart?

  695. He set them apart. Their thought and their word and

  696. their action and the way they lived.

  697. And so today as you're waiting there, as you wait there, maybe

  698. be consecrated. When I allow the Holy Spirit to

  699. consecrate my everyday, He works in me, He does not he, it's not

  700. like he one day empties of my entire house.

  701. No, He takes bits and pieces. He takes OK anger is an issue,

  702. let's work on this for the next 6 months.

  703. And he tears that slowly by slowly and that's this painful

  704. process. Yet it's a liberating process.

  705. The tears are hurtful but yet He brings healing into it.

  706. What happens as he does that? My sin and my wounding gets

  707. healed. I'm assured that Jesus is the

  708. healer and I start living out a healed life which means I live

  709. by what the Holy Spirit says and dictates.

  710. So in my anger if my response is something I depend of it because

  711. that's not the working of the Holy Spirit and I become alert

  712. to what he's doing. I just want to read a a a a

  713. quote which I came across and it says I do not consecrate myself

  714. to be a missionary or a preacher.

  715. I consecrate myself to God to do His will where I am, be it in

  716. school, office or kitchen, or wherever He may in His wisdom

  717. send me today. If eternal is a focus, He will

  718. consecrate us everywhere, anywhere, for anything.

  719. Consecration. As the mayor says, this

  720. consecration is only possible when we give up on our will

  721. about everything, about everything.

  722. So as we wait today, we are expecting for what?

  723. For the Holy Spirit to do his work because when he

  724. consecrates, it brings healing and when you're poured out,

  725. you're healing to the nation's. I pray that I mean, Isaiah pose

  726. these three questions. Is it attractive?

  727. Is it integral? Is it eternal?

  728. May our responses be one that we're able to dwell with him,

  729. may be able to experience his renewal everyday, and may be

  730. expectant to see Jesus face to face because it's in that

  731. consecration we realize God is very real to us.

  732. That day will come and we will be able to worship him in all

  733. honesty, in the spirit and truth across all nations, tribe and

  734. tongue and say be glorified, be honoured.

  735. Church, can I pray with you that as you receive and celebrate

  736. Palm Sunday today, you will receive the King of kings into

  737. your lives. You'll receive the Lord of Lords

  738. into your lives. He won't just be someone who

  739. passes by, but he'll be everything for you.

  740. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world will be

  741. your portion fully. Let's pray our loving heavenly

  742. Father, Lord, we thank you Lord for this time.

  743. I pray that Lord, even as we heard your word made fall into

  744. the good portions of our heart made work.

  745. I pray Holy Spirit, for those of us who've been in this phase of

  746. attraction, maybe move to a place of dwelling.

  747. Lord, learn to abide with you no matter what.

  748. I pray Lord for those Lord who have not made you an integral

  749. part, who made you an add on and who Lord been moving here and

  750. there. Lord Jesus, keeping so many

  751. things important. I pray we'll move to a place

  752. where we'll allow you that to be the one who renews us every day

  753. to see us in everything. Lord Jesus, I pray, Lord, for

  754. those of us who have not lived with that eternal perspective,

  755. that we worship a God who in turn, in the final, we'll be

  756. worshipping him with all of creation.

  757. I pray our expectancy will change.

  758. We will move to a place of learning to be consecrated by

  759. the Holy Spirit. Lord, we will learn to wait

  760. well. Like those five virgins who

  761. waited with the Holy Spirit, we will wait well so we'll be able

  762. to enter into the doorway of life.

  763. Be with us. I pray Your blood covering over

  764. each and everyone, Your protection, Your hand of grace

  765. upon everyone, strengthen everyone.

  766. I pray everyone will experience you more than ever before.

  767. They'll see your Kingdom come, Your will be done.

  768. In and through their lives, Lord, be glorified, honored and

  769. praised. I pray that Lord, your peace

  770. will abound in their lives. And as we celebrate this Holy

  771. Week, I pray supernatural things will start working in and

  772. through our lives. Lord, be glorified.

  773. Be honored. In your most holy name we pray,

  774. Amen. Amen.

  775. Pray as you step out this week, I pray.

  776. Let's believe and pray and wait expectantly for those of you

  777. believing and praying for a miracle.

  778. Hold on. We are praying that this Good

  779. Friday, Easter, something remarkable will happen.

  780. God will move through because we believe the supernatural has to

  781. be evident here so that He's glorified.

  782. The word of our testimony brings many to the saving knowledge of

  783. Him. I pray His protection and peace.

  784. O you have a blessed week. God bless you all.

  785. Thanks for listening to this message.

  786. We hope you were blessed to hear more messages like this.

  787. Make sure to subscribe and check out our podcast channel for past

  788. episodes. If you like what you are

  789. hearing, consider rating us, subscribing and even sharing it

  790. with friends. That would really help us.

  791. For more content from Via Zion and to connect with us, go to

  792. Via Zion dot in. Remember, whoever finds Jesus

  793. finds life.