257 ~ FINDING JESUS IN LEVITICUS - PART 3

Hello, a big welcome to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.

We are a church based out of Chennai, India.

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

be refreshed, revived and energized by what you hear.

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

purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.

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

our promise. As we seek to find Jesus in

Leviticus, our hope is that we will fall deeper in love with

him and pursue him more. We look at Leviticus 22 today to

find that each of us are called to holiness and none of us who

find ourselves in Christ are disqualified.

Hi Church, it's such a joy and a privilege.

We're bringing God's Word to you today and I consider it an

honour even as we take some time to go into God's Word.

We've been going through the series called Finding Jesus in

Leviticus, and over the last two weeks we've gone through Part 1

and Part 2. And I just wanted to kind of

like just recap some of the key themes we saw in Part 1 and Part

2 because they're all intertwined as we see Jesus in

Leviticus. The first part I'd emphasize

specifically on beholding his glory and we become whole.

And I think that's a central theme around the season of Lent

as to why we take some time, why these 40 days as Jesus went

towards the cross, as we remembered that time when he

went to the cross, lay down his life for you and me.

I think it's for us to behold his glory because there's so

many areas in our life which read wholeness than ever before.

And as we move closer to him, those areas which need can only

be filled, rectified, He, we go back to the Potter so that he

can mould us and shape us. And we saw that we approach him

daily. We saw that we live eternally

redeemed and we are able to enjoy that eternally redeemed

because you're submitting to him every day.

You know, we are not going like how they did earlier on and once

a year, you know, having a goat there and confessing all their

sins on the goat and then sending the goat out.

That doesn't happen. The price has been paid for you

and for me once and for all. And we saw last week, which was

very crucial because it talked about the blood of the Lamb,

every blood that was shed in the temple, you know, equated to

Jesus dying on the cross for you and me.

And so that blood today has breath, has life.

And so even as you and me call on the name of the blood of

Jesus as we apply it on our lives, we saw last week how it

is to apply. We just don't just say it, but

we intentionally believe and we apply it.

We see things happen. We see we are marked out.

We see that we are, you know, there's a wall of protection

around us because we are marked by the blood of Jesus.

And even as we are living in this new covenant today, you and

I can tap into Jesus and call on his name.

That's what it makes sense, part of the church.

We gather here in person, but there's a part of you who

gathers online. And even as I'm speaking to you

all, I'm reminded that God can move in and through you even as

you hear His Word. His word has life.

And I pray that as we meditate that we'll draw deeper in.

As we're meditating today, we're going to be looking at Leviticus

Leviticus 22 · chapter mention

chapter 22. And one of the key themes about

Leviticus 22 is that there's a constant repetition of God

telling I am God. And the reason why this

reckoning theme occurs is for the people of God to realize all

that he's asking us to do, all that he's asked the people of

Israel to do, all that he's asking them to abide by and

follow and make sure they follow.

It is so that it will please God.

We're doing it for God. He's saying God is giving the

instruction. It's not a man made instruction.

And so even as we meditate, I want you to keep your eyes and

your ears open because I believe God wants us to take some of

these themes and apply it. A lot of times we have so many

things in those places of God and God's telling.

I want you to reorient everything and say I am your

God. So Leviticus 22, verses 31 to

Leviticus 22:31–33

33, this is what it says. You must faithfully keep all my

commands. We're putting them into

practice, for I am the Lord. Do not bring shame on my holy

name, for I will display my holiness among the people of

Israel. I am the Lord who makes you

holy. It was I who rescued you from

the land of Egypt that I might be your God.

I am the Lord. And so God talks here to the

people of Israel, saying he's brought them out of Egypt.

He's calling them to live a life that is set apart, a life that

is different from where and what the surroundings look like.

And often times this is what a Christian battle is all about.

We are trying to blend in and we struggle to be in this place of

being set apart. And what does that look like?

Like the Israelites were struggling to keep God's word.

And even as they received all these different commandments,

it's would have seemed heavy. It would have seemed quite

jarringly like they don't want to mess it up because if they

mess it up, God will get angry. But he says an interesting line

here in verse 31. He says you must faithfully keep

all my commands by putting them into practice.

There are two aspects faithfully keep it, which means every day

you just keep going back to Jesus.

You reorient your thinking. Everything is moved from moving

it from the eyes of looking at others.

You're reorienting your vision to only God.

And the second thing is you're also keeping and putting it into

practice because God will enable you to overcome those other

things which do not occupy space.

As I've over the last couple of months, as we've been going

through this entire series with the years theme of being

positioned to possess the promise.

One of the things that keeps coming to my attention and the

foremost thing is always about God's holiness.

I think in this day and age, we sing about it a lot.

There are beautiful songs that have come out and in fact, one

of the songs that resonates very deeply with me with regards to

God holiness is about holy forever.

And that word holy forever, kind of like just stuck with me

because if God's wanting and preparing us to be holy here,

eternity is going to be all about holiness.

You know, when you read the Book of Revelation, you see the

elders, you see the angels, you see everyone who's gathered

who's saying holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

And there's this beauty about His Holiness.

And the more we as his created beings out of the free will that

he's given us when we move towards that holiness, he's

delighted. And so as we look into this, God

is reminding the Israelites to say I am a holy God.

And that's why I want you to faithfully practice it every

day. That's why I want you to

faithfully follow my commands and practice it every day.

As we read Leviticus 22, you need to go back a few chapters

to realize what are these commands that he gave you in

Leviticus 18, He talks all about sexual relations.

He talks about what is permissible, what is allowed.

Don't you know? He gives a whole set of

instructions and those become the guardrails for everything

with regard to our everything that could our lustful eyes are

physical beings and he's giving a guard over there saying these

are things you shouldn't do. These are things you should do.

These are things which will bring unholiness and these are

things will keep you holy. And so he says that in Leviticus

19, we see how we need to live our everyday.

In fact, the relationships that we have outside of our spouse

with others around the neighbors and do not covet and all those

other different laws he gives. And then we see in Leviticus 20

the consequences of those sins and how it has to be dealt with

is what he talks about. And in 22, he talks specifically

to the priests of how they have to serve.

And so with all these commands given, one of the bigger themes

that come out of this, which any person who listens to this or

reads this will be that the holiness that he's requiring us

is not possible. I don't qualify for.

That's why I'm the, the immediate thing I'll feel is

disqualification. And this word kind of caught my

attention as I was preparing because today a lot of us are

disqualifying ourselves in running the race.

God's called us to do running the race or instead of running

the race, we're trying a lot of other things.

And I want us to come to a place of when we meditate on God every

day, when, as I mentioned earlier, when we faithfully

follow his commands and when we practice every day.

What we're doing is we are moving.

We are pivoting our eyes and our gaze solely to His Holiness,

which will say, which will cause us to realize why we're doing

what we're doing. And today I want us to come to a

place. If you've been disqualifying

yourselves, no, you have a part at this.

God's asking you. Will you be able to join with me

on this journey? The holiness should not scare us

away, but rather should draw us to hurts Him.

And it's interesting a lot of us are trying to find these things

that will work for us. Take your step, give up what

God's asking you to give up and move towards it.

Don't worry what others are doing, don't worry what others

around are thinking. You move towards this, you know,

the when I think about the wear and tear of Christian life, you

know, we, for those of you who have already been on the

seasoned Christian journey, it's like these cars that we have.

You know, for those of you who are used to changing the tires,

if we change, we change them in sets.

We don't just change one tire at a time and the wear and tear

that happens usually is because you are travelling on roads that

are different. If I have to use it as an

analogy, you'll see that in life, our pathways all have

different Rd. structures. Some are good to drive at,

you're able to cruise through, you're able to go at a

particular speed. Some are bumpy, some just have

potholes and you have to be very careful.

And so you're, it's like this and, and the weight of it, what

is the weight like when you're going in a full car, you realize

you can't just go past these speed bumps and the potholes at

that speed. You need to really slow it down.

You need to really maneuver correctly.

And I believe that this wear and tear that happens, we always

have to come back, move it, move our gaze to God and say, God, I

am moving towards you. I want to faithfully follow your

commands. Yes, it is getting tiring.

Yes, it's getting hard. Yes, some of the things that I'm

walking through seem difficult, but God saying, you know, I want

to move, come along with you. And so we suddenly see, even as

the weight in the car increases, the journey becomes enjoyable.

And so a lot when even as I was reading up what has to do with

these wear and tears and especially with cars and these

heavy trucks, 1 is the weight. Second is the road conditions.

You know, with different road conditions, the tires tend to

have it's and the the other one is frequency of stops.

And so as they're travelling, you can see a lot of damage

happens on the road, pebbles and other things, scratches and the

different road conditions. And in all of that, I came to an

understanding that our Christian walk goes through a lot of wear

and tear. But if you have to faithfully

follow His commands, which means we'll have to move to a place of

solely looking at God and no one else.

As I talked about the word disqualify, I want us to come to

a place. For those of you who are already

on this Christian journey, probably you've been in this for

some time and now you're feeling the heaviness of it and you're

thinking, you know what, this journey is not for me.

I would rather just disqualify myself.

I would rather just go with what others are doing around.

Or probably you've not even started this journey and some of

you are listening to this and like what you're talking seems

so heavy. Why should I enter into this

path? You enter into this path because

you love God. You enter into this path because

you solely are amazed in the fact that he has saved you.

It says that in that verse, verse 33, it says because I

brought you out of Egypt. I was the one who brought you

out. And so I am your God.

And so as we move towards that, we should move to a place of not

disqualifying ourselves, but moving to a place of saying God,

I'm here. I I feel totally unworthy, but

as I pursue you, can you give me the joy that is needed for this.

The problem with a lot of us, why we tend to why we a lot of

us disqualify ourselves in our minds in our heads, even before

we had disqualified physically in running and living out this

Christian life is because when you look at these Olympic races,

you know there's a set of rules that they have to abide by these

athletes. One, they have a regiment health

check up. They need to, you know, all

their vitals have to be good, their vitals have to show that

they have not taken any supplements.

So there's definitely a inside check that happens.

There's also an exterior check that happens where they are

required to wear certain kind of shoes.

You know, I was just watching article about a video about how

they it's, it's as it's a big industry.

They had the shoes, which gave a bit of an acceleration for these

runners who were running. And the committee had to come

back and ban it because it was not fair on others who had to

run. And so there's this constant

movement up in there with regard to the what they wear and how

they run and all those other aspects.

But nevertheless, they're called to run in their own track and

not on another person's track. So the minute they move to

another person's track, they get disqualified.

And so as these, as I was just seeing the different things that

can disqualify an athlete, I realized the race that your

culture is similar to this. God wants us to run our tracks,

just our tracks. What does that look like as we

run that? God's also doing an internal

work in and through US. He's checking what are you

taking in? Because where I spend my most

time is what I'm feeding off is what really is nourishing me.

And that's what I'm acting out of.

And so if I'm taking these other kind of shortcuts thinking this

will benefit me, it may not. I might be disqualified from

this race. And then this other aspect of

wearing wrong things just to take those shortcuts.

And we we soon realise we're just burning out way too fast.

And I pray specifically that as we all make this effort to run

this race, which God's calling us to run, that disqualification

primarily happens because we want to run and finish on our

terms within a particular stipulated time, within a

particular framework, and we want to enjoy the merits of it.

But God saying, I have a season marked out for you.

And as you follow this, I want you to know that in that every

step, I am your God. Every step, I am your God, every

step, I want to acknowledge my holiness.

And the reason why this emphasis is even more is because if we

don't realize that you're pursuing His Holiness, we will

soon realize you're pursuing so many other things that may not

even fit the bill that you're called to follow.

The Israelites came out of Israel wanting freedom.

God gave him the freedom, but it came at a cost of following His

ways because He's the one who brought them out.

But they constantly were going back to saying, God yours.

What you have doesn't seem like freedom.

And the biggest battle isn't that we have been saved today by

Jesus Christ. And as we walk, maybe rise above

from those pleasures that cause us to discount the freedom that

we've received. So even today, there are a

couple of things that we see that are happening here in this

entire chapter. There's this offering that's

been offered. One is it's intentional.

The offerings that God's calling the priests to offer is one of

intentionality. When they had to choose a

particular animal, he just didn't ask them.

In fact, when you read the start of Leviticus 22, it talks

entirely about what animal had to be brought in.

You know, they couldn't bring a handicapped animal, they

couldn't bring one which is diseased.

They couldn't bring something which was which had gotten hurt.

It had to be an animal which was clean, which was in good health,

which was flourishing. And there was a lot of

intentionality as they brought that animal for sacrifice.

The second thing was it's time consuming because when you want

to offer something to God, it involved being the best, which

means you had to grow a herd in a particular way.

You had to keep watch over it. You had to give time and effort,

you know, and all this for a sacrifice.

That's where God is asking us. It was time consuming.

And the third was it would it, the cost of it was quite a lot

like for example, when you have a good stock in cattle and when

they don't have any blemishes and they are sturdy, strong,

they actually become good breeders.

Literally they, you could use them for breeding more.

But God said those are the ones which I want and those often

times are the ones which could have been kept for those other

purposes. They were the ones which are

getting ready for sacrifice. And so the God was telling the

reason why I'm asking you to do all this is so that you will be

able to acknowledge me, acknowledge me and me.

And it's, it's like putting a price to holiness.

But the truth is it won't even come close.

And the, the ask was so heavy. That's why if you notice the

people's stance always towards God was not forward, but rather

take a step backward and send someone else.

They said, Moses, you go and talk and they always took a step

back. The reason being they felt was

way too much. But God's here in the new

covenant, He's saying, come towards me.

Come. All those of you are weak and

heavy laden and I'll give you rest.

Come towards. He's wanting us to draw near Him

so that we can let go of all these things.

Reading through all this is a reminder that the weight of

following God is truly heavy. As we are reading through, it's

a reminder the weight of following the true and living

God is heavy. Following Jesus comes at a cost

and it's tough, but God's saying, can I walk and journey

with you? The first thing I wanted us to

kind of like emphasize over here because I taken the theme of

disqualifying because I strongly feel a lot of you today are

disqualifying yourselves, even me.

Many times I tend to disqualify myself and God has to remind me,

no, I am with you and so I've chosen you.

And so I want to address that theme because this can seem too

heavy that we disqualify ourselves.

So the first thing is when there's a defect, it gets

disqualified. But Jesus bought everything and

that's why we are qualified. And that's the first thing which

I wanted to emphasize. The reason is because when the

Levitical priests were actually getting ready for sacrifices,

anything that had a defect was disqualified and couldn't

participate in worship. And in the new covenant we see

when Jesus comes in, because he bore all of our sin, we get

qualified to commune with him. And so today I don't know what

what are some of the defects that you think you have in your

life? And when I say defects, these

are probably some of the things that you think God made a

mistake. Could be with regard to who you

are, the way you are physically, the way you the family you were

born into or the way you look, the, the, the some of the skin

ailments you're having or the, some of the struggles that you

personally have been going through physically in terms of

your health. And you're probably thinking,

you know what? God, I think made a mistake.

And then God is going to remind you that all of that was what

you feel is real, but that's not to disqualify you, but rather to

move you towards Him. In Leviticus chapter 22, verses

Leviticus 22:20–21

20 to 21, this is what it says. Do not bring anything with the

defect because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

When anyone brings from the heart of a flock of fellowship

offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or a free will

offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be

acceptable. As we read through this, we are

able to see that there's a clear theme.

The priests were allowed to offer only a select group.

Outside of this, there was no participation.

But what we see happening with Jesus is everyone could

participate. When we see Jesus in the New

Testament, it looks like he just came for those who are sick, for

those who are broke, and he came for everyone.

But his heart was moved towards compassion for that because he

wanted them to realize that they're not disqualified without

blemish was only the requirement which God had actually given

them as a command to be accepted.

And Jesus came in and said you guys all come because when I set

right your hearts, you are ready to participate in everything.

Jesus became that sacrifice once and for all.

Just imagine every time they had to go and offer a sacrifice that

equates to Jesus becoming the true sacrifice once and for all,

all of the world's sin, not only till his but till the end of the

world. He's taken that and he's broken

the yoke of sin today. So without blemish, if you have

to look at ourselves without blemish can only happen because

Jesus is in us, the one who was without blemish, who walked on

this earth, who died on the cross.

He came into our lives and because of him being that we now

can participate today. What does it say in One Peter

chapter 1 verses 17 to 21 it says, since you call on a father

who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time

as foreigners here in reverent fear.

For you know that it's not with perishable things such as silver

or gold that you were deemed from the MTV of life handed down

to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of

Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

He has chosen before the creation of the world, but was

revealed in these last times for your sake.

Through Him you believe, who raised Him from the dead and

glorified Him so that your faith and hope are in God.

It says you'll live in reverent fear in this temporary place.

This is temporary. And so as we live here, we live

well. I'm not saying, you know, you

just go by living in a cave. No, live well.

Live it for God because you were just not bought at a price that

was of negligible cost. You were bought at a price that

cost the entirety of mankind. And so as you and I accept Jesus

into our lives, whatever offering, he's paid it all.

And so today we can participate. And when we go to God, we are

going to him with full access in God.

I'm here. Do with me what you may.

A lot of us today have just stuck to certain rhythms of God

because we're scared of His Holiness.

I would say move to a place of enjoying His Holiness.

Move to a place where it's like a outlet where he'll be able to

deposit. He just keeps dropping in those

things. What are some of the things

he'll show you? What are some of the things

generationally has plagued your family?

He'll show you What are some of the things that you can course

correct from some of the things you've actually allowed into

your life early on in your life. He'll be able to His Holiness

will move into you seeing things for your future so that you'll

be able to say, Lord, this is what I desire.

But as I'm meditating on you, thank you for giving much

clarity. He will His Holiness will will

cause you to pace. His Holiness will cause you to

understand what is temporary and what you don't have to, you

know, run after. His Holiness will show you what

some of the things are precious for him that you will need to

hold it close to your heart. Jesus nullified sin once and for

all. He conquered sin today.

What happened on the cross for you and me is one done.

The man who knew no sin when he was crucified on the cross, he

bore the entirety of sin and he broke the power of sin.

Even as we saw last week, the power of the blood is because

innocent blood was shed and it breaks everything.

God himself in human form when he died.

No other person here in this earth has ever done that where

they have laid down their life for the entirety of humankind.

Hebrews chapter 4 verses 15 to 16 says this.

Hebrews 4:15–16

He understands humanity for as a man, a magnificent king priest

was tempted in every way. Just as we are in conquered sin.

So now we draw near freely and boldly to where grace is

enthroned to receive mercy's kiss and discover the grace we

urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.

So today, if you're like, I have a whole bunch of weaknesses,

invite His Holiness in, invite the power of His Holiness in.

What will happen? It'll tell you that you can

overcome this. It'll tell you what to cut off.

It'll tell you how to move next. It'll tell you what the next

steps are. Because he has overcome sin and

the power of sin, you can no longer say that governs it.

That, that, that that's the thing which is causing me to do.

Because the very person who's inside now is one with grace,

with confidence. When we read in an IV, it says,

let us approach God's throne of grace with conference so that we

may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

So I pray today that if you've disqualified yourselves because

of some of the sins you've committed, move to the place of

saying, God, here I am. Give your whole heart to him

you're like you know what, but the the the offering that I have

the very body that I have the very I've my body has gone

through sin, My heart has gone through sin.

I've conceived a lot of evil. My mind has gone through sin

because I've I've I've I've coveted I've my mind is just,

you know, for time and again has been in that place.

Take everything. When Jesus came, he came for you

and me. When Jesus died, he died for you

and you and Jesus rose again. He died for you and me, which

means he can handle everything. Take everything, your heart,

your mind, your soul. As you take it there, your

spirit will yield to him to say, Lord, I receive your forgiveness

today. I receive your forgiveness and

move to a place of living it out with His grace.

Every weakness will be turned to strength.

The only problem is we aren't moving in that direction because

we are discounting ourselves. We are disqualifying ourselves.

And today, let's let us not break under the weight of what

His Holiness looks like. A lot of us sometimes have been

discounting His Holiness because of what backgrounds we've come

by. Lot of us are having a wrong

idea of His Holiness because it felt imposed, it felt, you know,

it talked down, it felt like it was unachievable.

No holiness is something where you enjoy being at in the

presence of God. And so today as we see from

Leviticus 22 and when we see 18/19/2020, 1:22 that entire

series, the whole book of Lord Jesus saying follow me, the

rules are there, I will work alongside with you.

I will work alongside with you. I love what it says in Isaiah 53

because this is where it talks about who Jesus was and why he

was coming to the world. Yet it was Lords will to crush

him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his

life and offering for sin, he will see his offspring and

prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his

hand. After he has suffered, he will

see the light of life and be satisfied by His knowledge.

My righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear

their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a

portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the

strong, because He poured out his life unto death, and was

numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sins of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

So today, as you and I look to Jesus, He's the one who bore the

sins of everyone and he's caught, moved to a place where

he's interceding on our behalf. So today when you go to Jesus,

you're just not going there to say God, but he's going to

intercede on our behalf to the Father saying help this person,

help this child of mine who's asking me to help.

If it's any addiction, if it's anything, he wants you to move

to a place If the outcomes of those are causing you to not go.

I would say take a step in faith because it's in that when you

move with boldness, with the call that Jesus gives you, every

disqualification will turn to a place of realizing God, I'm

here. Let your Holiness move in and

through my life. As we Live Today, we are those

who were defected because of sin, hence we feel disqualified.

Jesus, who conquered sin, is now qualifying us so that we can

walk this Christian life to receive mercy and grace and help

us in time of need. Don't let anything out of sin

that's come out of sin disqualify you because sin does

not have the final say. Jesus has the final say.

Sin is defeated. If sins power was broken with

the cross, it doesn't have the final say.

The one who's living today has a final say.

The second thing, you know, when we think about disqualifying

ourselves, as I mentioned, the first thing was when we realized

we're defected and we disqualify ourselves, we have to have a

renewed understanding of who Jesus is because he qualifies us

for this Christian life. The second thing is we will be

able to run this race and not disqualify ourselves if we have

a attitude of daily Thanksgiving.

There's this beautiful thing that have in Leviticus 22, we'll

talk about free will offering and you know, vows that were

committed and then we go and give an offering for that in

Leviticus. And, and it talks about what

kind of sacrifice you have to give and these things in terms

of Thanksgiving. And there were so many festivals

that the Israelites celebrated and they were periodically kept

just so that they won't forget. You know, it happened once in

three months, once a quarter, you know, and all these things

were done so that they will not forget who God was.

But the ask for us in the new covenant in Jesus time after he

came was to do it daily. And so my second point is daily

Thanksgiving. Leviticus 2229 to 30.

When you sacrifice a thank offering to the Lord, sacrifice

it in such a way that is accepted on your behalf.

It must be eaten the same day. Leave none of it till morning.

I am the Lord. There's a clear indication of

when someone gives a tank offering to God.

It must be done in a such a way so that it's accepted.

But second thing, it was meant to be finished by end of day.

And today when you look at it, it's the same thing with our

Thanksgiving. We need to go to God every day

with Thanksgiving. So today I want to ask you, what

is it that's on your lips? Is it complaints or is it

Thanksgiving? Is it doubt or is it

Thanksgiving? Is it fear or is it

Thanksgiving? Because today you can turn

everything that you're feeling into a Thanksgiving and God will

work his way through. If is it lack, maybe

Thanksgiving. I won't tell you a testimony

even as I'm preaching this and I told you remind repeatedly the

this is going to be a third year as we've moved into the space.

And the way it works is we the space is rented by the church

for running the Sunday services, but we've taken the lease as a

company. And one of the things which

happened as I was thinking about this entire journey three years

back is we've never build something like this.

And so there was always this constant fear, constant God, how

do we do this? It felt like I had to strive.

It felt like I had to like plan all these things.

But I realized the more I sought after His Holiness, things

started happening. And so church, I'm here talking

out of just two years, three years of experience that I have

started seeking him. And as I've started seeking him,

I can only see he's taking my 10 picks and putting it farther

away to say accommodate more. He's only saying do this, he's

causing me because it has nothing to do with my strength.

It has nothing to do with my abilities.

It has everything to do with him.

And so daily Thanksgiving moves us to a place where we will not

just give thanks occasionally, but we'll give thanks every day.

What does that look like? Thanking him with our hearts

that we'll be grateful, which what happens every time we start

thinking about it, it moves to our hearts.

God, I'm so grateful. What moves from there is moves

to our lips. Lord, I'm so grateful.

I'm thanking you, God, thank you for everything.

What moves into that? It starts moving into our hands.

We start doing things, thanking God for what all He's done, and

before we know it, we are also moving places because our legs

have started moving. Legs have started moving.

So today, church, if anything, we will do a daily Thanksgiving.

We won't make it seasonal, occasional, but daily.

If the Old Testament it said it had to be consumed daily, which

means every day that whatever was offered had to be eaten and

then the next day they have to burn it literally because

nothing could be, it will be dishonouring of the sacrifice.

I would say God wants a daily Thanksgiving sacrifice from us.

Proverbs 21 three says it pleases God more when we

demonstrate godliness and justice than when we merely

offer him a sacrifice. A lot of us must be thinking,

when I come every Sunday, I sing his praise.

I go back, yes, but then today, is it translating into your

hands? Is it translating into your

legs? Are you moving to spaces as your

hand, doing things out of a place of Thanksgiving?

One Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16 to 22 says this.

Always be joyful, never stop praying, be thankful in all

circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to

Christ Jesus. Do not stifle the Holy Spirit,

Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said.

Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of

evil. Even as Paul is concluding his

first letter to the Thessalonians, he is telling

them always be joyful. What is always being joyful

means no matter what, seek God's joy in your life.

This happens only when you have His word in your in your hands.

You're looking at it, you're meditating on it.

Pray at all times. What does it mean?

Everything can be committed to prayer.

Even when you look at the Greek word here, it says pray without

ceasing in fact, which means the Greek word here means

uninterpretedly without omission, which means you don't

have to omit certain things. Everything can be brought into

prayer. If it's too personal, bring it

to God. If it's too wide, bring it to

God. If it's too insane, bring it to

God. Bring everything to God and

according to his will, it'll happen.

Be thankful in all circumstances.

Everything that happens in our life happens because God is

sovereign. Nothing happened because God was

not sovereign. Or you might say this happened

and I think I have a no God was sovereign over everything, the

good, the bad, the ugly. He is sovereign over everything,

and I want us. Therefore, this is God's will

for all those who belong to. If you look at the early church

and their response to what was happening, they didn't.

Their idea was not to pursue the wealth of the They knew this

life was temporary as we read, But what did they pursue?

They pursue Jesus and they lived out their life knowing that when

they close their eyes, they'll see Jesus.

When they close their eyes, they'll be with Jesus.

When they close their eyes, eternity was secure with Jesus.

And I want to come to the place where it says do not stifle the

Holy Spirit. Don't box him in.

Move away from all the different markers that have marked you in

your life. For those of you from

Pentecostal backgrounds, for those of you from evangelical

backgrounds, whatever your backgrounds are, don't let this,

don't stifle the Holy Spirit. Let him have a clean rain.

It says here, do not scoff at prophecies today.

I know we're living in a time and age where prophecies are

being spoken over and told. Be discerning, and that comes

only when you're reading the Word.

You're reading the word. I've had a lot of people come

and prophecy over us and some of them were direct continuity to

whatever happened in my life. But that still doesn't discount

the Holy Spirit. Learn, come to a place of

knowing what you need to do. Hold on to what is good, hold on

to what is good and stay away from every kind of evil Today,

move to a place of asking God for discernment in daily

Thanksgiving. He'll give you clarity of

thought in daily Thanksgiving is where you'll be able to

appropriate His blood over you and everything that you have so

that you can experience God. As I conclude, I want us to come

to a place as Leviticus 22 comes to a close it you can see that

the ask for the people was something heavy.

I mentioned it that it can be like a heavyweight of men

following God. He's brought us out of Egypt.

He's saying I am your God and this all feels heavy.

The Israelites missed it because they thought it was performance

driven. But God's asking would you be

God honoring and relationship driven?

God honoring and relation, which means I honour God, I love God

and because of that I'll do this.

Because of that, I'll do this. There are so many instances in

my life when I go back and I realize why have I done certain

things is because I had a deep love for God and yet did I fail?

And so many things I did fail. Did I have did I make decisions

wrong? Yes.

And I had to go back to God and ask for forgiveness.

But it's in that relationship that I'm able to do that, else I

would have discounted myself, disqualified myself way long

back in this journey, Billy Graham says is the thing that

has hindered the progress of the church is not much of our talk

and our creeds, but it's been our walk, our conduct, our daily

living. We need a revival of Christian

example. And that can come when professed

followers of Christ begin to practice Christian discipline.

Christian discipline, what God's called us and given to us.

It is not something for us to say, this is too difficult to

follow, but to say, Lord, this is so that you will be God and

no one else. This is so that you alone can be

at your rightful place. Not my career, not my wishful

ideas and my wanting to be an entrepreneur.

No, it'll come to a place of realizing this is who God is and

I'm God honoring him. Leviticus chapter 22, verses 31

Leviticus 22:31–33

to 33 says he must faithfully keep all my commands.

We're putting them into practice as I read earlier, for I am the

Lord. Do not bring shame on my holy

name, for I will display my holiness among the people of

Israel. I am the Lord who makes you

holy. It was I who rescued you from

the land of Egypt that I may be your God.

I am the Lord. And as I conclude, I just wanted

to leave a few thoughts with you because I believe a lot of us

are disqualifying ourselves because of certain limitations

in the physical. This Christian life has nothing

to do with our physical limitations, but rather has

everything to do with who God is doing what he's doing in and

through us. In verse 31, it says live what I

tell you I am God. So today, if we have to move

into this place, we just have to live.

As for what God's telling us, what has been God telling you to

do? What has he told you to give up?

What has he told you to hold on to do?

That holy reverence, which means we realize anything we do

because of him, following him, that presents him, showcases

him, speaks of him. So maybe have a holy reverence.

He's the one who makes us holy, not a doing and a showing up.

No, He makes us holy. And so as he makes us holy, we

we move towards him, we do our life with him.

And so as I, I'm concluding, I, I thought of this parable, I

thought of this incidents that happened in Jesus life.

And he was here when he was ministering.

He healed this man who was blind in John Chapter 9.

John 9 · chapter mention

And I want to read that verses one to four.

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.

His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sent this man or his

parents, that he has been born blind.

Neither this man nor his parents sends to Jesus, but this

happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me.

Night is coming where no one can work.

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

And this understanding that a lot of us have and we think is

you know what probably my sin has caused me this, my sin has

caused me this ailment, my sin has caused me this.

We don't. There are certain aspects which

are outside the bounds of sin. There are consequences of sin.

What are the consequences of sin?

If I who am married, if I intentionally go and break my

marriage vows by doing something else with someone else outside

of my marriage than my spouse and running after that, I am

willfully breaking the the the vows and I'm sinning and what

happens because of that Because of that, I have to face the

consequences of that. What are the consequences of

that? That could be different

consequences that happens because of the same thing

happens because of my selfishness I or because of my

unability to curb my desire for certain things I wound up in

debt. These all happen because of

consequences of my own choices. But this didn't have to be dealt

with something that we may be all are sinners, yes, but when

we have these physical limitations, all of us have

certain limitations. There's no one in this world you

can say does not have any limitation.

We always have thought of this narrative where, OK, if you have

enough money, if you're like a billionaire, probably there

won't be any limitation. No money can buy.

Money can definitely get you certain things, but it can't get

you everything. And so today when we look at

this understanding, we look at Jesus from a perspective that he

alone can see us. He alone can heal us, He alone

can give us and qualify us for something.

This very man was disqualified in that day and age by the

people who are religious, were disqualified thinking that he

was what he happened, what happened to him.

His blindness was because of his parents sins and the sins of his

generation. The truth is Jesus rewrote that

and said no, it's for the glory of God.

And I pray that we'll be available like that for Jesus to

come and expose us to his glory. His our physical limitations

will expose. And so today if if you are

having a physical limitation, I would say move to a place of

exposing it. Don't disqualify yourself from

that. What happens here?

He Jesus had compassion. He spat on the mud.

He applied the mud, told him to go wash it in the pool.

He washes it. He's able to see the very people

who are around that pool said isn't this guy who was a beggar

who was there before who was blind.

Someone said this looks like him.

He tells him no, it is me. They don't believe him.

And So what happens he's been called to the Pharisees and then

they question him. They turn to the blind man.

What have you to say about him is what they ask him verse and

he says it was your eyes he opened the man replied he's a

prophet. His eyes were only open.

That's all he knew he did. He probably heard a lot of

commotion a lot of things around, but all that he knew was

God opened his eyes. His parents response.

What was that they called him to check.

Is this true they and what happens they they says they were

scattered. They'll be, you know, removed

from their group of being there in the in the temple that they

just said he he was born blind, but now he can see anything.

He's come of age. You can ask him they they

spawned him off there. The man's second response is

what caused he said now this is remarkable verse 30.

You don't know what he, you don't know where he comes from,

yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen

to sinners. He listens to the godly person

who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening

the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God,

he could do nothing. And I love to the sailor Pride.

You were steeped in sin at birth.

How dare you lecture us in through it.

So today I want us to come to a place where we are not a loving

people to dictate what qualifies us before God or where we move

to a place of saying God. I want to come to a place of and

this is purely because of the physical limitations that he

had. It's been talked about sin and

the very nature of sin that he's born into, but he has a clear

understand that God opened my eyes, I can see.

And so the very person people that disqualified him today

Jesus says you're qualified now go live and Jesus meets him.

He asks who do you think this man is?

Is he the Son of man? And he says, yes, he is the Son

of man. I would like to see him.

You're seeing him right in front of me is what he says.

So today the gospel does not disqualify us.

It rather renews us so that we can experience the wholeness of

Jesus and in turn, we too can experience whole.

So I pray today we'll move to a place of renewal, renewal.

And that's why the second point is so important, Daily

Thanksgiving, because it's a daily renewal.

The after effects of my pride have to go through a daily

renewal because otherwise that'll keep creeping up.

And I pray that we will find that.

We will find that as this man found his eyes open, when his

eyes were shut, he was disqualified.

But when his eyes opened, when the light came, he was

qualified. And I pray we will all have that

experience where we'll be qualified because of the light

of the world was Jesus. Pray I want to repeat this.

The gospel does not disqualify us.

It rather sets us up so that we can experience holiness with

Jesus because it renews us every day.

The gospel renews us every day. One Thessalonians chapter 5,

verses 23 to 24. May God himself, the God who

makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put

together in spirit, soul and body, and keep you fit for the

coming of our Lord Jesus. The one who called you is

completely dependable. If he said, he'll do it, and I

want to leave that promise worse with you.

May God Himself, the God who makes everything whole and holy,

make you holy and whole, put you together, spirit, soul and body,

and keep you fit for the coming of our Master Jesus, so that the

one who called you is completely dependable.

If he said it, he'll do it. And the worst which ends in

Leviticus 22, it says I was the one who rescued you from the

land of Egypt, that I may be your God and I am the Lord and I

pray today that he has rescued us.

Where do you need rescue from today?

Probably you're going through certain things in life where

you've not thought about it, but then suddenly this glaringly

thing has become obvious because you started following Jesus that

you need rescue from this. It probably from can be from a

negative mindset. It could be from anxiety.

It could be from a dependency over dependency or people and or

probably those couple of people that you have.

Or it could be things that are unspoken requests which you

don't want to share about. But it's just between you.

God is saying I we can rescue you from that and be your God.

Would you allow him to do that because Jesus came to seek save

the lost and even as you've heard this message, I believe

he's seen you, but the response is left to us will be moved

towards him. Can I close today's service and

pray our loving heavenly Father. Lord, we thank you for this

time. Thank you, Lord, for all that

you've been doing, Lord Jesus, in and through our lives.

And even as we heard this, I pray especially, Lord, for all

of us who constantly go through this battle in our minds where

we are disqualifying ourselves. I thank you for your word which

says so that you rescued us, Lord Jesus, as you rescue the

people of Israel from Egypt, You have rescued us.

And I pray that Lord you today you would rescue your people

from whatever their list is right now, Lord, whatever they

have put before them, which is saying that this is

disqualifying them. Lord, I pray Lord, as the blind

man was disqualified because of his sins, but you said that this

is for the glory of God. I pray a light will shine and

that blind eyes would be opened. Lord Jesus, lame will start

walking. People will be able to seek you

with all their heart, Lord Jesus.

Lord, I pray, Lord, the passage that we have as a church from

Malachi that everyone will come to the mountain, that they'll be

able to see you, they'll be able to touch you, they'll be able to

know that you are the true and living God.

They'll be experienced about the river that runs from the

mountain top to experience healing strength that comes from

you. Go before a state charge, or I

pray especially you'll be with everyone who makes this

decision. I pray no power of sin will

cripple them. No power of anything that they

have their minds are conceiving will be pulled down in the name

of Jesus. And Jesus, may you be the center

of their lives, your blood covering over them.

Take them. Lord Jesus, I pray that they'll

be qualified to do this Christian journey because you

are central in their life. I pray our mouth, our hearts,

our hands will offer daily Thanksgiving to you to do all

that you've called us to do. Lord Jesus, be with us, go

before us. I pray your strength will be a

portion, Lord Jesus to do this journey well so that when time

comes, you'll be able to look to you face to face and worship you

and say holy is the Lord. I pray your holiness would move

in and through our lives. It will permeate through.

It will make us whole. Keep us in the center of your

will. Now in your most holy name we

pray, Amen. Amen.

So church, even as you step out, I pray you'll step out knowing

that as you move towards God, His Holiness will set you right.

Keep Jesus at the center. Remember, no part of the gospel

disqualifies you, it rather renews you so that you can be

whole just as Jesus wants you to be.

I pray that have a blessed week. God bless you.

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