Sermon
259 ~ WORTHY IS THE LAMB ~ Palm Sunday
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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A very warm welcome to the We Are Zion Sermon Podcast.
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We are a church based out of Chennai, India.
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We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will
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be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.
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Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of
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purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.
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The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess
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our promise. This Palm Sunday we fix our eyes
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on the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.
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He isn't a weak and inadequate creature, but a mighty
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conquering King who was the sufficient sacrifice for
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everyone of us. We pray that you will worship
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the Lamb and seek Him in greater measure as we enter Holy Week.
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Hi Church, this is a joy and a privilege to be able to bring
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God's word to you today. And for those of you who are
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watching and listening, I pray that God will be able to speak
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even as we celebrate Palm Sunday all across the world.
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I believe we all get to welcome the King of Kings, the Lord of
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Lords into our lives today. We get to worship Him for who he
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is, that He is God over everything.
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He is God over everyone. He is God of all.
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And I pray that even as you listen into the sermon, that God
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will be able to work in and through you.
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Over the last couple of weeks in the season of Lent, we've been
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meditating on Leviticus and seen Jesus in Leviticus.
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And even as we've been looking at that, one of the evident
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things that we've seen is there were glimpses that Jesus had
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given his people and he came and fulfilled it once for all.
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And so even as we go into this Holy Week, which they call
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between Palm Sunday to Easter, I believe we need to be waiting
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for God to do something in our lives every year.
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You know, it's something pivotal that God does.
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Two years back on Palm Sunday is when we moved into this hall.
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And every year I've been praying and asking God, God, let not
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just Easter be an other passing day where we remember you
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resurrected, but may that evidence of that power be
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working in and through US. And so even today, as we just
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partake of Palm Sunday and see what God is calling us to do,
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I've titled my sermon today called Worthy is the Lamb.
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Worthy is the Lamb. And you might be like Geshum,
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the palamsandi is not about the lamb, it's about the donkey.
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I believe the narrative of how Jesus entered, yes, was
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important, but today He is the lamp of God seated on the
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throne, and he is worthy. He is worthy, worthy of
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everything that we have. There's nothing you can say He's
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not worthy of this. He's worthy of everything.
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And so even today as we meditate, I just want to go back
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to that passage of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem
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from Matthew chapter 21. As we read that, let's envision
Matthew 21 chapter mention
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what the people around him would have felt of this Messiah
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walking into Jerusalem. The disciples went and did as
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Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the
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colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.
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A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others
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cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
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The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed
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shouted Hosanna to the Son of David.
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Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the
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highest heaven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem,
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the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this?
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The crowds answered, This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth
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in Galilee. One of the things that we see is
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there was miracles that happened before and then Jesus was
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entering into Jerusalem. He was getting his disciples
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prepared, saying this is where I'm going to lay down my life,
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you know, and all these things as they're happening in
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preparation, it's evident that they missed out on who Jesus
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was. Jesus was their Messiah.
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Jesus was what they were waiting for.
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The form didn't match who he was.
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The very entry didn't match who they wanted him to be.
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And so today, as we are all here today in 2025, seated and
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listening, my prayer is, is Jesus real to us or is he
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another passing prophet that's just going by today as they
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missed out. They missed out on who?
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They missed out on the King of Kings.
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They missed out on the person who was called, who was sent
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down to earth to be one with mankind who would redeem us from
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all our sins. Yet they did not receive him.
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They quickly turned in a week's time.
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They quickly turned to asking the person who would fight for
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their freedom then and there. And so today the question is,
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what is our worship today looking like?
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Because if the if we have to say worthy is the Lamb of God, it
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comes down to a posture of worship today.
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Are we just so bound by what our outward worship is, or are we
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also really concerned of what our inward worship is like?
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Because that's where when our inward worship matches our
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outward worship, it will transform us and make us see
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things differently. I want to read from John chapter
John 1 chapter mention
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1, verses 10:50. This is from the message version
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and this is what it says. He, that is Jesus Christ was in
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the world, and though the world was made through him, the world
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did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His
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own, that which belonged to Him, His world, His creation, His
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possession, and those who are His own, His very own people.
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The Jewish nation did not receive and welcomed Him today.
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This verse as I read can be very true.
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As I was meditating on this, I was reminded His very own
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creation, everything that He's created, everything that
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belonged to Him, His possession, everything.
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All of us. Yet we did not recognize Him.
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How bad is that? Today you and I are in that same
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place. Are we not recognizing God?
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Because if we don't recognize Him, we will give up when tough
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times come. And mind you, as followers of
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Christ, tough times will come. That's what the early church
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kept stressing on. Hold on to your faith.
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Today. You and I are in that same place
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where suffering will come, turmoil will come, things will
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topple. But are we ready to worship
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Jesus for who He is? Do we see Him as a Redeemer?
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Do we see Him as our edema, as we see in Leviticus time and
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again? It just became an outward
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worship. Everything that they did was so
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talked about and may do of the outside that they missed inside.
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And the New Testament is all about what happens in the inside
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because when it gets fixed in the inside, the outward changes
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because the inside is fixed. And so today as we look into
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these aspects, I want to come to a place where we realize the
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Lamb of God is everything to us. There are glimpses of the Lamb
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of God. In fact, as I take you across in
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this sermon, I want to give what it looked like in the Old
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Testament. What did it look like in the New
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Testament? What did it look like for us
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when we see him face to face? I want to read from John chapter
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1, verses 29 to 34. And this is where John the
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Baptist testifies about who Jesus is.
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A John the Baptist is the cousin of Jesus, and this is what he
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says. The next day John saw Jesus
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coming toward him and said, look, the Lamb of God who takes
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away the sin of the world. As we read this, we see John
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emphasizing who Jesus was. Mind you, John the Baptist was
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the one who was sent ahead of Jesus to go prepare the way.
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What was he preparing? He was preparing the people to
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say, people, would you start looking at yourselves?
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You say you're doing sacrifices, you say you're doing this, but
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your heart is not there. You're just doing it for the
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outward appearances. And there was this nature that
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was very much ingrained, intertwined with people that he
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was calling them, that you need to let go of this.
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And the more I meditated, I realized it's one of our very
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own nature that we all struggle with, irrespective of what age
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you're living in. And that stubbornness, that
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stubbornness that my pursuits are important than his pursuits.
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My affections are important than his affections.
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My love is more important than what God's love is.
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And so today can we move? He was saying, prepare.
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I'm come here to prepare the way of the Lord.
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What is it to move stubborn hearts to a place of receiving
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Jesus as the true Saviour of the world today?
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What is our stubbornness causing us to do?
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It's stubbornness in this day and age in 2025, All my life in
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fact, has made me get what I want, how I want it, when I want
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it. And so today I want you to come
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to a place and see where Lord, am I missing it out?
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Is my stubbornness not causing me to see You for who you are?
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He is the Lamb of God. He is the Redeemer.
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He is wanting. Is my stubbornness causing me to
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just constrict my idea of worship?
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Is my stubbornness causing me to derail some of the promises that
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were meant for me because I am struggling to believe with it?
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Today the people of Israel welcomed them with cloaks on
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their ground, palm leaves in their hand.
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But your heart's missed welcoming Him.
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Hearts missed welcoming him. Today, as we meditate on the
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Lamb of God, are our hearts open to receive Him as God and
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Saviour of our life? One of the things we read from
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Leviticus chapter 4 about the Lamb is the fact that there was
Leviticus 4 chapter mention
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innocence with regard to the Lamb.
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When you read from Leviticus 432 to 35, this is what it says.
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If someone brings a lamb as their sin offering, they have to
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bring a female without defect. They have to lay their hand on
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the head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where
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the burnt offering is slaughtered.
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Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering
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with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the
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burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of
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the altar. They shall remove all the fat
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just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship
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offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of
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the food offering presented to the Lord.
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In this way, the priest will make atonement for them for the
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sin they have committed and they will be forgiven.
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Today Jesus has come and because we don't go through this
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gruesome process of seeing blood being spilt, innocent blood
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being spilt, of seeing it being put there on our behalf, we take
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the after effects of sin. Likely we say, you know what,
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I'm forgiven and I move on and I commit that same signal again.
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God is saying if we are worshipping Him, we won't take
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His grace for granted, we won't take His forgiveness for
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granted. We would participate in this
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fully. We would participate in this
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holy. We would participate in this and
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see Him bring wholeness to our lives today.
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What is our eyes getting so caught up in?
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We are such bound by culture. We are so bound by what we'll
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miss out here that we are stubborn like God.
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I can't miss out on this. I'll become irrelevant.
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I things won't make I'll, I'll, I'll be cut out of this chase.
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I can't climb the corporate letter, but God saying, if I am
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the one you're worshipping, don't I hold the future in your
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hands. And I want to speak this to some
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of you who are probably in this chase and you're feeling tired,
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worn out, literally on the words of being shred and giving up.
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Jesus is saying I'm here to give you rest.
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I hold your future in your hands.
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Would you come and submit and yield to me?
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There are three things I want us to think about with regard to
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the lamp of God. The first thing is, is the lamp
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of God less attractive to us? Is the lamp of God less
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attractive to us? Is that the reason why I am
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missing out on God? Because there are many other
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things that are attractive. Mind you, we're living in a day
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and age where man is constantly in this marketing frenzy, trying
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to make everything attractive to us.
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The food that we eat, the things that we wear, the things that we
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have to do, the places we need to go, everything looks
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attractive. But God's asking us, am I not
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attractive enough for you that you may just be with me?
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Isaiah chapter 53, verses 7 to 9, This is what it says.
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He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word.
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And like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep
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being sheared, he took it all in silence.
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Justice miscarried and he was led off.
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And did anyone really know what was happening?
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He died without the thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody
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for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked,
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threw him in a grave with the rich man, even though he'd never
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hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true.
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As we read this, we're reminded this was prophesied of who Jesus
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was. What happened because they
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didn't find it attractive enough.
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We too can be people like that. When Jesus went into the
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synagogue and when he read the scriptures and said this is
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fulfilled, they failed to see it.
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When Jesus came into Jerusalem, they missed seeing who their
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Redeemer was. Today, in 2025, we too can miss
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seeing a Redeemer because he's not packaged attractive enough
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for us. He's not looking at.
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It might look like an ordinary thing that's going by.
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It might look like an ordinary prayer meeting.
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It might look like an ordinary sermon.
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It might look like an ordinary worship.
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But it's in that grind that God changes us in the inside.
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It's in that in that space, he comes as a Redeemer to the
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people. Isaiah was talking at that time.
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It was a prophecy. They were waiting expectantly,
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but at the when Jesus came, they missed out on the person who was
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prophesied. And so today our worship stems
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from this place where we are not moving from places to places
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because of the attraction of worship.
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We are moving because this is where God is.
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This is where we stay. Our worship stems from what He
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has done. What did he do?
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He died on the cross, as Isaiah said.
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He was bruised, He was broken, He was humiliated, justice was
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not given. He was crushed for our
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inequities. That's where our worship stems
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out of, from ultimate obedience He had when he was on this
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earth. And that's where our worship
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comes from to say God, you who came in human form submitted to
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the will of the Father, May I submit to you.
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A lot of us are worshipping him because we have A to do list to
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be done. There is a motive.
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But today if we have to come to a place of worshipping him, he's
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bigger than your To Do List. He's bigger than the list that
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you have for your future. He's bigger because that's agree
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that our list will keep adding on.
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If you're single, you're like, I want a good spouse.
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The spouse comes in, Oh, I want a good marriage.
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The marriage happens. Oh God, I want to pray thee.
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Oh, I need to settle this or I need to travel.
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The list will keep adding on, but word which we read
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constantly says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and
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forever. He's all-encompassing.
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So if we are not there with Him right now, we will miss out on
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who He is. What does this mean for us
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today? What does the world have to say
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today to us in 2025? If you have to become an
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attractive person, it says with regard in 2025.
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I just, you know, did a Gemini of this and checked your face
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should have a should smile often.
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You should stay hydrated. You should create a skin care
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routine. You should start mewing for
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jawline. Apparently, if you have a good
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jawline, that's a big thing today.
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What does the world have to say about 2025?
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It says expect a blend of maximalism, bold colours,
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ethereal aesthetics in fashion and beauty with data-driven
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skills and a focus on global issues shaping this year.
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If we are attracted to Jesus, we will go by what the world
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dictates because attraction is always on the outside.
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Attraction. For those of you who are in the
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beauty side of things, realize that you know to be attractive,
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you put on make up. But the minute you remove that
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make up, it shows the real and I think we have subconsciously
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cultivated this narrative that that is true beauty.
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But the God saying no, I want the real you.
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I want the real you. He's come for the real us today.
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What is freedom If Lamb of God is not evident in our worship,
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if he's not seen his sacrifices, is not made known to us, we will
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be worshipping because God. I don't feel anxious anymore.
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But the truth is we're living in a world where it will be driven
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by anxiety. We have to be overcomers today.
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Today, which means we realize the Lamb of God is in with me
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and I'll take that next step. I'll take that next step.
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What is our response to all of this?
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Yes, attraction is not what will keep us close to Jesus.
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It says there that we'll need to dwell with him, DWELL, dwell
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with him. Which means irrespective of
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whether I get anything from you or not, God, I'm dwelling with
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you, I'm dwelling with you. I'm comfortable being with You.
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I'm comfortable being in Your presence.
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Psalm 27, verses 4 to 6. One thing I ask from the Lord.
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This only do I seek, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord
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all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord, and
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to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble He
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will keep me safe in His dwelling.
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He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me
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high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted
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about the enemies who surround me at His sacred tent.
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I will sacrifice with shouts of joy.
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I will sing and make music to the Lord.
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I will sing and make music to the Lord.
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So today what does this this entire verse talk about dwelling
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in the House of the Lord Does dwelling in the House of the
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Lord mean I don't work, I just sit by I just go through life.
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No dwelling in the House of the Lord helps you understand God is
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above everything. Dwelling in the House of the
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Lord knows that the beginning and the end.
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God controls everything. Dwell in the House of the Lord
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is He knows what is best for me, and I get to enjoy the plan and
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the will that He has for me because I'm dwelling in the
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House of Lord. Dwelling in the House of the
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Lord is not a seasonal listening to His Word, but a daily
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meditating on His word. It's not a seasonal worship, but
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a daily worship. It's not a seasonal surrender
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but a daily surrender. In fact, when you read in Psalm
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27 verse one, it talks about that light and in the passion it
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beautifully says Yahweh is my revelation light and the source
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of my salvation here. No one, I'll never turn back and
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run for you. Yahweh surround me and protect
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me and this word revelation light caught my attention
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because he has to be everything for us.
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When I dwell in the House of the Lord, suddenly when I'm giving
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everything to Jesus, what happens?
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I'm not attracted to him, but because I'm staying there, I'm
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allowing him to speak to me. His revelation light puts.
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Understanding into what my plan and purpose is right now.
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His revelation right tells me what I'm going through right
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now. His revelation right tells me
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these are the skeletons that I need to address.
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These are the demonic forces that are acting against me.
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These are the things that I pull down in the name of Jesus.
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That is what happens when I dwell in the House of the Lord.
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That doesn't come from a place of attraction.
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What happens when attraction emotions are heightened?
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You make choices emotionally. You're not able to think
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clearly. You're not able to think long
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term, would think surface. There are only surface level
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issues because when the rubber hits the road is when you start
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feeling the pleasure of anything that you're attracted to.
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But when Jesus, when you start dwelling with him, he cleans us
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inside out. He takes the scalpel, He starts
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cutting off all those extra chunks that have happened
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because of bruises, of issues of growing up, things that I've
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been struggling with, all that starts taking shape and God
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cleans it inside out. John chapter one verse 5 says
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the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not
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overcome it. Praise God, Amen.
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That is the promise that we have when his light comes, darkness
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cannot overcome it. However dark the room is, if
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there's a small hole where your light can shine through, where
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Jesus can shine his light through you, he will come
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through. And so today, no matter of
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darkness should cause you to pull back, but rather invite him
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in. I was having a conversation with
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a friend a couple of days back and he was eventually into this
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new city to do certain things. And in the midst of everything
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he kept saying God. And I'm just doing this because
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I can see God calling me to do this.
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And many a times that is all that we have with us.
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That is all that we have, that small light that is there.
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And as we run towards it, everything starts becoming
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brighter. As we run towards it, everything
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starts clearing up. As we run towards it, darkness
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starts moving away. So the first thing we saw is to
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combat an attraction is to dwell.
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The second thing is the lamp. Is the lamp of God less integral
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to us today? The when we look at Palm Sunday,
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Jesus coming in as the Messiah was the need of the earth.
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They wanted freedom from the Romans, but was that the
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integral part of being of Jesus actually coming in?
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They missed out entirely. And I believe a lot of us many
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at times don't go to the integral part as to what God is
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doing in and through us. What is our worship towards God?
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Because if our end outcome is something we're just looking at
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him as a problem solver. But God's saying, no, I want you
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to rise above, rise above. Because what happens is doubt
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gets set in. Things that have to be done out
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of the sincerity of the heart become mechanical.
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And then suddenly faith just becomes mechanical.
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And this is what Jesus came to talk to.
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He confronted the Pharisees about that.
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In fact, when we see John the Baptist, the Pharisees came and
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said, who are you doing this for?
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Why are you doing this? Anything that took attention
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away from them, they questioned. They missed out on who Jesus
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was. And today that is where the
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Spirit of God will work in and through us.
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If we are doing certain things mechanical, He will come in and
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move us to a place to be authentic so that we'll be able
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to do what He's calling us to do.
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Even as we read from Matthew chapter 23, there are a couple
Matthew 23 chapter mention
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of things I wanted to highlight. And many a times we remove the
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integral part of who Jesus is. He came to seek, save and the
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lost and bring salvation to mankind and then move us to a
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place of living in obedience according to His will so that we
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will be able to see Him face to face.
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But the beauty we have all created, we do these mechanical
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things and eventually what happens, we have a Pharisees and
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a Sadducees attitude that sets in.
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We suddenly are becoming like the east where we're like, no,
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this is how it is done. This is how we need to move to a
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place of repentance to say, Lord, I want to keep the main
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things main. Matthew 23 we see in verse 13,
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it's he talks to the Pharisees. You shut the door of the
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Kingdom. You don't allow anyone to.
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You don't allow anyone to enter in.
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You travel over land and see to win a single person, and when
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you succeed, you make him twice as bound.
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You don't give him the freedom to live his faith out.
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He says you're like blind guys. If anyone swears anything by the
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temple, it means nothing, but if they swear by the gold of the
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temple, it means something. He moves on to the place that
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they've defiled, the name of God.
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Nothing in the name of God is taken serious, but only
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importance is given is to money, he says.
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Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold
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sacred to many? The money of that time became
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important. You can see all these patterns
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trickle down all these hundreds of years.
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Even today this is something that has become so important
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that we missed out on the lamp of God because is He the one
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who's important to us? For those of you who give a
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tenth of your spices, mint, dill and cumin, but you've neglected
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the most important matters of the law, which is justice, mercy
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and faithfulness. In fact, in one stage he says
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you give all your tithes, but you fail to look after your very
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own parents, He says, and he condemns them.
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He says you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside
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you're full of greed and self indulgence.
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You're like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful in the
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outside, but in the inside you're full of bones of the dead
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and everything unclean. On the outside you appear
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righteous, but in the inside you're full of hypocrisy and
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wickedness. As Jesus mentioned this, he was
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walking into Jerusalem towards this, towards a temple which
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valued gold more than the temple and the sanctity in itself.
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That's why he went and turned the tables over.
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If there's one thing we'll have to understand is we are living
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for the outside versus we are not living from the inside.
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And I pray that if the Lamb of God is an integral part of our
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faith, we will live from the inside.
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We won't live for the outside. The law always dealt with the
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actions of the art. And so when we committed sin, we
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went, but Jesus when he came, he took it a further.
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He said, even when you start conceiving all this, you will
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be, you can approach me because I'm ready to deal with the heart
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issue. And that's what is very
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important for us to develop a healthy understanding of moving
-
towards God, towards receiving His favour and grace because we
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need Him to work in and through our heart issues.
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In and through our heart issues, He came so that He will save us
-
from the mess that's happening in the inside of us.
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Because the outworking of the mess is what causes us to sin.
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And He wants to deal with that. He wants to take every route
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that we are born into sin out and set us free once and for
-
all. When John sees Jesus and when he
-
says this is the lamp of God in verse 29, he says the next day
-
John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, look the lamp of God
-
who takes away the sin of the world.
-
This is the one I meant when I said a man who comes after me
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has surpassed me because he was before me.
-
I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptising with
-
baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.
-
Then John gave this testimony. I saw the Spirit come down from
-
heaven as a dove and remain on him.
-
And I myself did not know him. But the one who sent me to
-
baptize with water told me, The man on whom you see the Spirit
-
come down and remain is the one who'll baptize with the Holy
-
Spirit. I have seen and I testify that
-
this is God's chosen 1. He was an integral part of God's
-
plan. He was an integral part of
-
humanity's plan. He's an integral part of my own
-
life. And So what is that response
-
today? Yes, he should be integral.
-
So which means I have to give myself to the Holy Spirit who
-
will renew me every day, renew me every day.
-
If my heart has to change, it happens only when there is
-
renewal every day. Not renewable when the altar
-
call happens, not renewable when I have this big event and then I
-
decide that's where no renewal happens every day.
-
A friend of mine keeps telling this phrase.
-
I ask him how things are going. He says one day at a time.
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And I remember that phrase catching on to me.
-
And God was reminding me As a follower of you, as a Jesus
-
follower, can I be renewed one day at a time?
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One day at a time? What is God changing my thought
-
process today? Because that's very important
-
because what we're fighting is not in the natural, it's in the
-
spiritual. What you're fighting is not the
-
outworking of what the enemy is doing, but it's with those
-
principalities of darkness. In Two Corinthians chapter 10
-
versus 3 to 4, this is what it says.
-
For although we live in natural limb, we don't wage a military
-
campaign employing human weapons, using manipulation to
-
achieve our aims. Instead, our spiritual weapons
-
are energized with divine part effectively dismantle the
-
defenses behind which people hide.
-
We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and
-
breakthrough every arrogant attitude that is raised up in
-
defiance of the true knowledge of God.
-
We capture the prisoners of war every we thought and insist that
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it bow down in obedience to the anointed 1 Can I repeat that
-
again? We capture the prisoners of war
-
every thought and insist that it bow down in obedience to the
-
anointed one. Since we are armed with such
-
dynamic weaponry, we stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion
-
as soon as you choose. Complete obedience, a response
-
to renewal by the Holy Spirit is that we have dynamic weaponry
-
and that dynamic weaponry will come will be activated when
-
there's complete obedience. When there's complete obedience,
-
what does it say? When I read that verse again,
-
what did it say? Take every prisoner of what
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every captive thought and submit it.
-
Bring it into a understanding that you are a defeated for you
-
have to submit to the anointed one to the Lamb of God.
-
And So what is this dynamic weaponry?
-
So when you go, when you see an, a soldier going into a, a
-
battlefield, he's going with a particular weapon to target an
-
enemy. When he has that weapon, he can
-
target it. But what if the enemy is of is
-
camouflaging and is looking different?
-
He can't go with that weaponry. But the Holy Spirit is saying
-
when you're waging war with my help, you have dynamic weaponry,
-
which means it will change to how the enemy looks.
-
It'll change. A lot of us are trying to beat
-
anxiety by staying in closed doors and being bound.
-
But you can only beat anxiety with the help of the Holy Spirit
-
from a place of being an overcomer.
-
You have to rise up. That is where faith kicks in.
-
That's when everyday obedience, surrender and dependency happen.
-
That's what renewal is about. Renewal is basically obedience.
-
Lord, I surrender to you now. I'm dependent on you.
-
I'm dependent on you. So as we do this, I pray the
-
lamp of God will become an integral part for us.
-
He won't just be an other isolated thing far off, but the
-
dynamic weaponry will be so active in us.
-
We are all foot soldiers in His Kingdom.
-
We all have our battles, but far too long we're trying to buy
-
fight those battles with the wrong weapons.
-
I pray that God will give us the grace and the strength to rise
-
up. The third thing we see is, and
-
the question which I want to give lay in front of you is, is
-
the lamp of God less eternal to us?
-
Is he less eternal to us because many a times with Jesus coming
-
with us, celebrating his birth, reminder after reminder, is
-
eternity a far off thought or is it less important to us?
-
The movie look at the Book of Revelation.
-
In fact, yesterday when we prayed here during our open
-
heavens, we had repented of what the seven churches that were
-
mentioned in Revelation talked were talked about of what their
-
heart positions where. And today even as I'm mentioning
-
some of that, I want to come to a place.
-
Are we complacent? Are we OK with status quo?
-
Have you come to a place where we abandoned our love for
-
Christ? Have you come to a place where
-
we are unable to remain faithful because of the amount of
-
persecution and struggles that are happening?
-
Are we compromising on our beliefs because we think you
-
know what God, the culture is so important, I might miss out on
-
it. Are we following false prophets,
-
people who speak what our itching ears want to hear?
-
Are we spiritually that they're like God?
-
You know what? We've been part of the system.
-
We know the game. We know.
-
Are we patiently enduring everything and giving up hope?
-
Today I want to be encouraged. Our church, I want to encourage
-
you all. May we live with such a fire
-
that is fanning a flame, such fire that's fanning him.
-
Because I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to be like that,
-
where we come expected every week after week because eternity
-
is set. We are going to be spending
-
eternity with Him. For all those who've confessed
-
Jesus as Lord and Savior, who believed with their heart,
-
who've confessed with their mouth and acknowledge Him as
-
Lord and Savior will spend eternity with him.
-
But if we don't have that as our ultimate goal, we will be
-
chasing many other things. Revelation chapter 5 verses 5 to
-
7 says this. And I saw in the right hand of
-
him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the
-
back seal with 7 seals. Then I saw a strong Angel
-
proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll
-
and to lose it's seals. And no one in heaven or on earth
-
or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at
-
it. So I wept much, because no one
-
was found worthy to open and read the scroll and to look at
-
it. But one of the elders said to
-
me, Do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of
-
Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and
-
to lose its seven seals. And I looked and behold, in the
-
midst on the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in
-
the midst of the elders, to the Lamb, as though it had been
-
slain, having 7 horns and seven eyes, which are the seven
-
spirits of God, sent into all the earth.
-
Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand and of him
-
who sat on the throne. Now when you had taken the
-
scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell
-
down before the Lamb, each having a harp and a golden bowl
-
full of incense, which are the prayers of the Saints.
-
And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take
-
the scroll and to open its seals.
-
For you are slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood
-
out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have
-
made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the
-
earth. Then I looked, and I heard the
-
voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and
-
the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 * 10,000, and
-
thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the
-
Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and
-
strength and honour and glory and power and blessing, and
-
every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under
-
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in
-
them. And I heard blessing and honour
-
and glory and power be unto him who sits on the throne, and unto
-
the Lamb forever and ever. I don't know about you, but when
-
I read this, I'm always amazed that I get to be seeing this.
-
He was the Lion of Judah. He is the Lion of Judah.
-
We are going to worship the Lion of Judah.
-
He is from the root of David. He prevailed.
-
Eternity is real. Don't move.
-
Let not people, let not culture, let not people move you to a
-
place of thinking. You know what eternity is not we
-
what we do. Eternity is real.
-
Our living of life will set us up for eternity.
-
I don't want to move my faith to a place where I've lost my first
-
love. That I will be end up in
-
eternity. No, or when I've been
-
complacent. I don't want to live lives where
-
I've given up on my faith 20-30 years later when it doesn't make
-
sense now. I want to keep eternity as my
-
end goal. That is what I live for.
-
That is what I see. That is who I worship.
-
So if I am unable to worship today amongst other people,
-
amongst people from different tribe, language and tongue, if
-
I'm unable to see that, how will I worship in heaven?
-
Because all of creation will be worshipping them, not just a
-
select but all of creation. As I conclude, I want to ask us
-
today, what is our response? Because today what is not
-
eternal is temporal and the needs of temporal are very
-
heavy. The needs for temporal are very
-
heavy. But we need to know what is what
-
is it that God wants us to keep our eyes on the eternal?
-
What is a response like? As we saw, we have to be renewed
-
everyday is to be expectant. And that comes when the Holy
-
Spirit is in and through our lives, is working in and through
-
our lives. It's part of our lives.
-
You know, there's a parable that Jesus talked about Matthew in
-
Matthew 25, the parables of 10 virgins.
-
And the story goes like this, where ten of them are waiting to
-
see the bridegroom. Five of them calls foolish, five
-
of them are wise. They all end up there and
-
they're waiting. And as they're waiting through
-
the day, their lamb gets exhausted.
-
The they sleep, the five who are wise have brought extra oil with
-
them. They refill, they're ready, and
-
then they're able to go and be with the bridegroom when he
-
comes. But as the remaining 5 go in
-
search of oil and they miss out and then they go and knock and
-
the bridegroom says, we can't allow you and go away.
-
I don't even know you. And the reason why I'm taking
-
this parable is because a lot of us are like the 10.
-
We are waiting. We are waiting.
-
Some waited without that oil, some waited with extra oil, and
-
I believe as we wait with that extra oil, it'll pay off.
-
The Greek word for that oil is Elion, and it's a spiritual
-
meaning of the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit?
-
He does is consecrates us. When He works inside out, what
-
does He do? He consecrates us, He sets us
-
apart. In fact, the entire of last year
-
we saw that was our theme. He sets us apart.
-
So he set these 5 apart. What did he set them apart?
-
He set them apart. Their thought and their word and
-
their action and the way they lived.
-
And so today as you're waiting there, as you wait there, maybe
-
be consecrated. When I allow the Holy Spirit to
-
consecrate my everyday, He works in me, He does not he, it's not
-
like he one day empties of my entire house.
-
No, He takes bits and pieces. He takes OK anger is an issue,
-
let's work on this for the next 6 months.
-
And he tears that slowly by slowly and that's this painful
-
process. Yet it's a liberating process.
-
The tears are hurtful but yet He brings healing into it.
-
What happens as he does that? My sin and my wounding gets
-
healed. I'm assured that Jesus is the
-
healer and I start living out a healed life which means I live
-
by what the Holy Spirit says and dictates.
-
So in my anger if my response is something I depend of it because
-
that's not the working of the Holy Spirit and I become alert
-
to what he's doing. I just want to read a a a a
-
quote which I came across and it says I do not consecrate myself
-
to be a missionary or a preacher.
-
I consecrate myself to God to do His will where I am, be it in
-
school, office or kitchen, or wherever He may in His wisdom
-
send me today. If eternal is a focus, He will
-
consecrate us everywhere, anywhere, for anything.
-
Consecration. As the mayor says, this
-
consecration is only possible when we give up on our will
-
about everything, about everything.
-
So as we wait today, we are expecting for what?
-
For the Holy Spirit to do his work because when he
-
consecrates, it brings healing and when you're poured out,
-
you're healing to the nation's. I pray that I mean, Isaiah pose
-
these three questions. Is it attractive?
-
Is it integral? Is it eternal?
-
May our responses be one that we're able to dwell with him,
-
may be able to experience his renewal everyday, and may be
-
expectant to see Jesus face to face because it's in that
-
consecration we realize God is very real to us.
-
That day will come and we will be able to worship him in all
-
honesty, in the spirit and truth across all nations, tribe and
-
tongue and say be glorified, be honoured.
-
Church, can I pray with you that as you receive and celebrate
-
Palm Sunday today, you will receive the King of kings into
-
your lives. You'll receive the Lord of Lords
-
into your lives. He won't just be someone who
-
passes by, but he'll be everything for you.
-
The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world will be
-
your portion fully. Let's pray our loving heavenly
-
Father, Lord, we thank you Lord for this time.
-
I pray that Lord, even as we heard your word made fall into
-
the good portions of our heart made work.
-
I pray Holy Spirit, for those of us who've been in this phase of
-
attraction, maybe move to a place of dwelling.
-
Lord, learn to abide with you no matter what.
-
I pray Lord for those Lord who have not made you an integral
-
part, who made you an add on and who Lord been moving here and
-
there. Lord Jesus, keeping so many
-
things important. I pray we'll move to a place
-
where we'll allow you that to be the one who renews us every day
-
to see us in everything. Lord Jesus, I pray, Lord, for
-
those of us who have not lived with that eternal perspective,
-
that we worship a God who in turn, in the final, we'll be
-
worshipping him with all of creation.
-
I pray our expectancy will change.
-
We will move to a place of learning to be consecrated by
-
the Holy Spirit. Lord, we will learn to wait
-
well. Like those five virgins who
-
waited with the Holy Spirit, we will wait well so we'll be able
-
to enter into the doorway of life.
-
Be with us. I pray Your blood covering over
-
each and everyone, Your protection, Your hand of grace
-
upon everyone, strengthen everyone.
-
I pray everyone will experience you more than ever before.
-
They'll see your Kingdom come, Your will be done.
-
In and through their lives, Lord, be glorified, honored and
-
praised. I pray that Lord, your peace
-
will abound in their lives. And as we celebrate this Holy
-
Week, I pray supernatural things will start working in and
-
through our lives. Lord, be glorified.
-
Be honored. In your most holy name we pray,
-
Amen. Amen.
-
Pray as you step out this week, I pray.
-
Let's believe and pray and wait expectantly for those of you
-
believing and praying for a miracle.
-
Hold on. We are praying that this Good
-
Friday, Easter, something remarkable will happen.
-
God will move through because we believe the supernatural has to
-
be evident here so that He's glorified.
-
The word of our testimony brings many to the saving knowledge of
-
Him. I pray His protection and peace.
-
O you have a blessed week. God bless you all.
-
Thanks for listening to this message.
-
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