Sermon

238 ~ THE KINGDOM LIFE ~ Part 8

We Are Zion - Sermon Podcast

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  1. Hi and welcome to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.

  2. We are a local church based here in Chennai, India.

  3. We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will

  4. encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you.

  5. We have started a series called The Kingdom Life based on the

  6. life and teachings of Jesus from the Gospel According to Mark.

  7. We look at how we must live our lives on this earth as followers

  8. of Jesus in a way that is countercultural yet powerfully

  9. impactful. As you listen in, our hope is

  10. that you will be motivated to live, love, lead, and serve just

  11. like Jesus. How?

  12. Many of you have been enjoying the series Kingdom Life.

  13. We went to the subset of it called Kingdom Paradox.

  14. First week we saw fear of the Lord versus joy of the Lord.

  15. The second week we saw how it is to be shrewd as serpents and

  16. innocent as doves. Last week we saw the first will

  17. become last and the last will become first.

  18. It's interesting to see people are seated in the last row of

  19. come forward this weekend. You know those who are seated?

  20. Yeah, I know you had no choice, but but yeah, I believe God's

  21. raising us up for those of us who've and I, even as we, I

  22. would ask you to go and listen to that sermon specifically

  23. because I believe a lot of us have taken a back seat.

  24. But God's calling us to be in the forefront of all that he's

  25. called us to do in this day and age.

  26. And the the 4th paradox that we're going to be seeing today

  27. is work for versus workout. I know workout doesn't go with

  28. me, but we'll try meditating on God's Word with regard to that.

  29. And we're going to be looking for the book of Philippians.

  30. We're moving away a bit from the Gospels into the book of

  31. Philippians. And we're going to be looking at

  32. this book specifically from chapter 2.

  33. And Paul wrote this book not from his favorite corner, not he

  34. didn't write this like one of our music directors who probably

  35. goes to Switzerland and says that's where they find

  36. inspiration from, but he rather wrote it from prison.

  37. And I believe today as we look into this theme of between work

  38. for versus workout, I believe it's a very cultural theme.

  39. How many of you are working for someone?

  40. How many of you worked for someone?

  41. All of us, If I I mean, this is big word that a lot of them are

  42. using today. Lot of the Youtubers,

  43. influencers, fintech people are using corporate slave.

  44. What does that mean? That means you get into the job,

  45. you get a EMI, and then after that you're trying to make sure

  46. you're able to pay the EMI, and then you end up somehow thinking

  47. you're a corporate slave. You can't move left or right.

  48. You need to make calculated risks because there are so many

  49. things at stake. And so that's one term.

  50. So we work for. So suddenly working for which

  51. supposed to be pleasurable suddenly becomes heavy.

  52. It's burdensome. You feel the pain of it and

  53. suddenly you're not satisfied. Contentment is not that you're

  54. striving to make additional sources of income.

  55. You're suddenly in a rat race. It's not like.

  56. And so, So what happened suddenly in the last 20 years

  57. back, we suddenly had a surge of people leave the corporate world

  58. and all these different government jobs and suddenly

  59. started freelancing. How many of you were in that

  60. bandwagon? I'm raising my hand because I

  61. was in that also suddenly start and then the pressure came upon

  62. us. So we were working for clients.

  63. Freelancers end up having clients to have to convert them

  64. to retain us. We had to really submit to

  65. whatever they said. For those of you in the music,

  66. you'll realize what it at one stage, you can't demand what

  67. they asked. Whatever they gave was good and

  68. then suddenly you are pushing through.

  69. And so working for becomes such a big, big struggle.

  70. But when we look in the book of Philippines, Paul is asking us

  71. to work out our salvation. And so suddenly a Christian

  72. faith also takes that same mindset Monday to Friday.

  73. We are working for someone and suddenly you're thinking, you

  74. know what? I need to come to church and go,

  75. otherwise Jesus won't bless me. I need to come to church and go

  76. and give, otherwise my bank balance won't grow.

  77. I need to come and put my kid here in Sunday school.

  78. Otherwise, I know they, they, they should somehow carry this,

  79. this, this mental, a pressured mentality.

  80. But God saying no, I want you to work out your salvation.

  81. I want you to work out your Christian faith and what is

  82. working out looking like today? How many of you have got a gym

  83. membership and failed to continue in it?

  84. Tina's raising a hand because I forced, I said, you know what I

  85. need accountability partner and we went and we registered right

  86. here in slam. That's this opposite here.

  87. Two months we went last year, October, November, December, we

  88. gave the Christmas cake and then we didn't even see him after

  89. that. It's tough.

  90. Working out is tough. It's intentionality.

  91. It requires sacrifice, it requires you to carve out.

  92. But once you find a rhythm to it, it becomes enjoyable.

  93. Once you find that, that's that's part of your life, it

  94. becomes something you really desire for.

  95. And so we look into that. When Paul wrote this letter to

  96. the book of Philippines, there were a couple of things.

  97. He wanted them to encourage the people who are reading it about

  98. their faith. Yes, he wrote it from prison.

  99. He wanted to continue, you know, his people who are there in

  100. Philippi, to actually strengthen their faith because it could

  101. have been dejected man. The one guy who came and

  102. preached the gospel is now sitting in prison.

  103. What is this Christian faith all about?

  104. And so he wrote this letter to encourage them.

  105. He wanted them to be assured that there is hope.

  106. The good news doesn't stop because it's imprisoned.

  107. The good news carries forward. And so today, whatever you've

  108. caged yourselves in, God is asking you today, like as we

  109. read and meditate, would you still continue to work out

  110. because I don't know what your hardship is.

  111. I even as worship was happening and as I was singing the love of

  112. God, I realized a lot of us have been waiting.

  113. How many of you been in the wait for something?

  114. It's painful, it's tough, it wears you out because you

  115. somehow want an answer, you somehow want something to move

  116. through. And so God, even my love for you

  117. seems to be wearing outlaw and I believe it's not over.

  118. That's why I specifically believe church.

  119. Let's be expecting for supernatural things to happen,

  120. supernatural things to happen. That has to be a testimony not

  121. just for us to be increased, but the circle around you to know

  122. that Jesus is alive, for the circle around you to know that,

  123. hey, you know what? If God could answer their

  124. prayer, we'll go to them for prayer.

  125. It has to come down to that. So let's move into reading

  126. Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 to 13, which goes on to see in

    Philippians 2:12–13

  127. the NIV. It says, therefore, my dear

  128. friends, as you have obeyed not only in my presence, but much

  129. more in my absence, continue to workout your salvation with fear

  130. and trembling. For it is God who works in you

  131. to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.

  132. As he starts here, he goes on to say that we have to work out our

  133. salvation. We do not work for our

  134. salvation, we work out. God's already done all the hard

  135. bit. He came down.

  136. Even as we partake of the Lord's table in a bit towards the end

  137. of the sermon, we will be reminded, God, you came down,

  138. you did all the hard work, but now let me work it out.

  139. Because what is what are we working out?

  140. We are working out our old nature and you're working in the

  141. Christ nature and then we're replacing that and that requires

  142. a lot of strength, a lot of grace, which only God gives.

  143. Why are we not working for our salvation?

  144. Because it's a gift given to us from God.

  145. When we read in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 to 9, it says

    Ephesians 2:8–9

  146. God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can't take

  147. credit for this. It is a gift from God.

  148. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so

  149. none of us can boast about it. This is from the NLT version.

  150. So we are saved by His grace, and we also cannot take credit

  151. for it by any good works we have done.

  152. Which brings us which takes a lot of pressure, which takes a

  153. lot of pressure coming to church on a Sunday, which takes a lot

  154. of pressure to do all that God's called us to do.

  155. And I was telling another friend and I told Tina also it's I

  156. really honour each and everyone of you for coming to church,

  157. especially a small church. You know, if it's a big church,

  158. if you come out go, it won't be seen.

  159. But if it's a small church, it's pretty evident when you don't

  160. come, you know, and, and and you choose to come each week and

  161. even testify how that week has been and that that is community.

  162. That is where you sing God, I invite you into the coming week.

  163. And so that is a form of working out.

  164. But here, when we look into this, working for is always

  165. transactional. How many of you can relate to

  166. that? You know, when we have to ask

  167. our kids, especially our younger, to, to give a bath to

  168. the dog in our house, it's always transactional.

  169. Why? Because when we asked them to

  170. give the AC, but you didn't pay us for the last two weeks.

  171. So they want to settle scores before.

  172. And so somehow we also treat Jesus like that.

  173. We say, God, I don't want to come back to your word because

  174. that's not answered. But God's saying, would you come

  175. back? It's working out you're not

  176. working for it doesn't stop with one blessing.

  177. You'll soon realize in different seasons as you go by in life,

  178. your Christian life cannot be dependent on that one blessing

  179. alone. Whether that blessing comes or

  180. not. Even when you sing that song,

  181. you give and take away, it's scary because sometimes the

  182. blessing we deeply desire, it doesn't stop the the next season

  183. starts and then a new need comes up.

  184. And so today, can I ask you that can we move from if, if those of

  185. us who've been working for, can we move to a place of working

  186. out our salvation? A lot of unlearning has to

  187. happen for us if it's been transactional, because a

  188. transactional relationship and an intimate relationship are two

  189. different things. It's two different things.

  190. Sometimes we treat that in our marriage only if you've done

  191. that earlier. I know when we, when we just had

  192. Calvin, you know, Calvin is the third born.

  193. And so he bore the brunt of it. It was very transactional.

  194. You know, in the night he'll wake up.

  195. And by then we found some hacks of how to keep the feeding

  196. bottle so that we don't have to wake up in the middle of the

  197. night because we are staying alone.

  198. And I remember a couple of points.

  199. We keep it over there and then the ball, the bottle roll off

  200. and then we we hit each other, say, hey, it's your turn.

  201. It's your turn. And then somehow he'll find his

  202. finger, he'll start sucking on that and he'll go to sleep and

  203. then we'll also sleep off. You know, it's bad parenting, I

  204. know. But but by the third you kind of

  205. like have just like, you know what, He'll figure it out, you

  206. know, and he he doesn't look like he's needed more milk.

  207. So you know, I think with that, but but sometimes we've treated

  208. a marriage transaction. But how many of you know a

  209. transaction relationship or a marriage can't go any forward.

  210. You truly have to love or Siri is answering somewhere.

  211. You truly have to have an intimate relationship if you

  212. want to see the long yards of marriage together.

  213. And so today the same thing translates to Jesus.

  214. So when He's calling us to work out, He's calling us to a faith

  215. that is enduring, that'll be sustaining no matter what.

  216. I know a lot of you have probably come into the year

  217. expecting the year to look different, but God's asking you

  218. as you work out this faith, can you still endure through it?

  219. When you look through the meaning of endure, it is to

  220. undergo or come to a knowledge of something by living through

  221. it. And even as you found your life

  222. through Jesus Christ, would you hold on to it 'cause His

  223. blessings will come through, His breakthrough will come?

  224. Would you hold on to it? What if you're giving up in this

  225. last, second, last step and it just required you to stay

  226. committed for the next one or two more weeks and God would

  227. have come through. We don't know what's around the

  228. corner. And that's the sovereignty of

  229. God, which we rely on entirely. And it says here with fear and

  230. with trembling, Paul is asking us to have a certain reverence

  231. when it comes to God. When we work out the salvation,

  232. we don't just treat it. We have fear and trembling when

  233. we are in person. How many of you have had that?

  234. Or when we do certain things because people are watching, but

  235. God's saying, hey, you need to do it even when no one is

  236. watching. That's what Paul's encouraging.

  237. When I was there, a lot of you lived out the faith.

  238. Probably now a lot of you have taken a few steps back because

  239. I'm not there. It can't be dependent on the

  240. leader of the church, the friends that you have, the

  241. family member. It has to be solely that God is

  242. above. He's watching me.

  243. So with fear and trembling will be move forward.

  244. I was just reading the Greek word for trembling, and this is

  245. what it says. It's used to describe the

  246. anxiety of one who distrusts his ability completely to meet all

  247. the requirements wherein you, you are unable to trust

  248. yourself, but religiously does his utmost to fulfill his duty.

  249. And what is his duty? His duty towards God.

  250. I got, I, I, I can't do it. I, I'm, I, I struggle with this.

  251. But Lord, because I'm doing it for you, I choose to do it.

  252. There's this certain fear that we need to bring into this

  253. generation. The reason being I was talking

  254. to a pastor friend and he said Geshram, the pleasure of running

  255. church is so much I need to paint the, I've told this

  256. earlier, I need to paint the thing black.

  257. I need to get the lights and then only people are coming.

  258. I said, let's push through through that.

  259. We have come to the, the circle is over.

  260. Now the new circle is started. If we are going to see churches

  261. in cities, we're going to be meeting in different places.

  262. Churches are going to look different.

  263. I mean, if you're going to have people who don't know Jesus walk

  264. into churches, it has to look different and God is calling us.

  265. So let's not go back to a model where well, this is how we

  266. change our relationship as we suddenly are working for let's

  267. work out of so today, what is that new crushing that God's

  268. doing? We've seen that even earlier he

  269. in the wine press. That's why he crushes our a

  270. mental picture many a times a lot of us have a fixed idea of

  271. our Christian walk. So we think of this blessing has

  272. to happen. It has to come this way, but God

  273. saying no, let your dependence be solely on me.

  274. When we workout our salvation, it'll result in an enduring

  275. faith. It says here in the message when

  276. it says fear and trembling, it says be energetic in your life

  277. of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God.

  278. Why is it asking us to be sensitive?

  279. Trembling is because we don't know how God will show up.

  280. We don't. There's no fixed way.

  281. And so today, as we are sensitive, we'll be able to

  282. realize that God is calling us to a certain place where I'm

  283. learning to understand this. In fact, two weeks back, Tina

  284. corrected a couple of my ideas on this.

  285. Saying you've received grace, show the same grace out.

  286. Because I filter the grace which I show out.

  287. I've received it. I've received it 100%, but when

  288. I'm showing it out, I'm showing only 50%.

  289. And then and she called me out. She said you can't be a person

  290. like that. You need to show that same 100%

  291. out. And it got me to go into

  292. repentance. And so Lord, I'm sorry for not

  293. working it out correctly. I've prefabricated every form

  294. with be it grace, forgiveness, healing, whatever it is.

  295. I was like not doing it the way Jesus intended me to do.

  296. And so today maybe be aware of God and his presence in our

  297. lives. Paul goes on to say in the next

  298. verse, there are a couple of things when we think about

  299. working out. How do we work out our Christian

  300. faith? The first thing is we work out

  301. without grumbling. Philippines chapter 2 was 14.

  302. Do everything without grumbling or arguing.

  303. I know, I know about you, but I work out.

  304. When I'm talking about working out, I grumble and I work out.

  305. Why am I doing this? I'm just doing this to make Tina

  306. happy. I'm just doing this, you know,

  307. so I can eat without any condemnation.

  308. You know, we, we feel that we have a coach here.

  309. We have two of his students here.

  310. So, you know, I don't know, probably working out this stuff.

  311. You know, I know what they're grumbling about.

  312. Probably they've had milkshake and they're wondering why is the

  313. coach making me do extra 2 rounds?

  314. But yeah, how is our, how is our Christian faith looking like

  315. today? Are we working out with

  316. grumbling in our mouth or with Thanksgiving in our mouth?

  317. Because today when he calls us into the world Monday to a

  318. Saturday, he wants us to work out of a place of not grumbling

  319. and not arguing. What is grumbling looking like?

  320. What is grumbling for us? It's not like why is he allowing

  321. me to do this? A lot of us talk below our

  322. breath. I remember.

  323. Sorry, I have to use Calvin a lot.

  324. But like a couple of years back when he was like 5 or 6, no, one

  325. of the chores that kids have every day is to fill bottles in

  326. the house, you know, water bottles.

  327. And so his turn is to fill like 3 or 4 every day.

  328. And when we ask him to the ref for But now he's changed.

  329. He does it so joyfully, but before he'll grumble.

  330. So he'll take all the four bottles till all the four 4

  331. bottles are done. We can hear him quietly talking

  332. and he's not talking to himself, but he's rather complaining.

  333. I don't know why they're asking me to do this.

  334. I would have been rather playing outside.

  335. He'd be talking something. And I felt as I was preparing a

  336. lot of time, my attitude and my Christian walk is like that.

  337. But I'm complaining. God, why should I be doing this

  338. to this person? They're not even meeting me

  339. halfway. God, why should I be doing this

  340. here? God, why should our church be

  341. involved in this? God, why are we doing this here?

  342. It it doesn't make sense, but God saying, would you work out

  343. this salvation without grumbling or arguing?

  344. We have rationale to justify why we grumble also.

  345. But if you have to go back into history and look at the Old

  346. Testament, Did the grumblers make it to the promised land?

  347. Not even one. Did the grumblers, what did they

  348. grumble about? They grumbled about their

  349. slavery, they grumbled about their own life, they grumbled

  350. about how the oranges looked, about the fact that they could

  351. have fish. They grumbled about things that

  352. were there in the past. And today, as God is taking you

  353. towards the promise of eternal life, towards having and living

  354. the life here on other to its fullest, maybe stop grumbling.

  355. Because what does grumbling do? It derails.

  356. It derails us entirely. It derails us entirely.

  357. We've off lately been seeing a lot of train accidents in India

  358. and the derailing when it happens, you're staying put

  359. there. It doesn't move, it's upside

  360. down. It it requires a lot of work.

  361. And so today if you've been working out your Christian faith

  362. with the grumbling, maybe go back to the cross for repentance

  363. and say, God, I'm sorry. The second thing when we work

  364. out our Christian faith is by holding firm and not hanging on.

  365. Holding firm to God, but not hanging on.

  366. If you read from Philippians chapter 2 verse 15 to 16, it

    Philippians 2:15–16

  367. says so that you may become blameless and pure children of

  368. God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.

  369. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky, as you

  370. hold firmly to the world of life.

  371. And then I'll be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did

  372. not run or labour in vain. As Paul is encouraging them,

  373. he's asking them to keep holding firm.

  374. How many of you feel like you're hanging on to Christ, hanging on

  375. to his promises? And I would encourage you if

  376. you've been in that place where you're like, Lord, I'm in the

  377. last thread hanging on. Would you go back and say, God,

  378. no, God, I want to hold firm on your promises.

  379. When, when we have this imagery of hanging on, there's nothing

  380. underneath our feet. How many of you can imagine

  381. hanging on looks like that? If you're holding on a crossbar

  382. and you're lifting yourself and you're hanging, there's nothing,

  383. There's nothing firm under your feet.

  384. And if God is calling you to hold firm, which means he has to

  385. be the rock that cannot be moved, things can come.

  386. It's, I'm reminded of that parable which we all know,

  387. building a house on the rock, then building a house on a sand.

  388. And when the floods came, the house on the rock stood.

  389. And I believe today, what are the promises that you've been

  390. holding onto? God is saying, can you hold on

  391. rather than hang on? Because it's a matter of time

  392. when you hang on to someone else for something to be fulfilled.

  393. It's a matter of time till you hang on to that person, to your

  394. boss, or if I can just only get that increment or if only or you

  395. hang on to your spouse's faith. When God saying no, I want you

  396. to hold on to me so you can stand on your feet and be ready.

  397. In the message it says provide was 14 to 16.

  398. Do everything readily and cheerfully.

  399. No bickering, no second guessing allowed.

  400. Get out into the world uncorrupted.

  401. A breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society.

  402. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living

  403. God. Carry the light giving message

  404. into the night. So I'll have a good cause to be

  405. proud of you on the day that Christ returns.

  406. So today you and I are just not called to hang on, hang on to

  407. things, hang on to emotional things, hang on to financial

  408. things. Rather, He's calling us to hold

  409. firm to Him and all these things will follow.

  410. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all

  411. these things will be added. Holding on to His promises over

  412. our lives, holding on to His strength in our weakness.

  413. Only of His weaknesses in our lives can we rather than hanging

  414. on to A to an app to overcome certain addictions, can we hold

  415. on to His promise and say God come through?

  416. I need commitment, I need self-control.

  417. For those of us who are probably holding or hanging on despair,

  418. can we move into holding on to joy that will come from God if

  419. we are hanging on discontentment till the next till I make the

  420. next iPhone purchase. But rather can we move to

  421. contentment which comes from God.

  422. I believe this generation more than ever needs contentment from

  423. God because so many things are changing.

  424. So many things are changing today and so today God give us

  425. contentment. Any lack in my life, may I move

  426. to holding firmly on you and not hanging on The third thing what

  427. God's what Paul encourages the Philippine churches your you

  428. work out your salvation so you can be poured out.

  429. If you're working for it's a personal it's a personal thing

  430. that you it satisfies you alone. But when you work out your

  431. salvation, you start pouring out it says goes on to the

  432. Philippines 2 or 17 to 18. But even if I'm being poured out

  433. like a drink, offering on the sacrifice and service coming

  434. from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

  435. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

  436. What's happening is he's saying I came there and I poured out.

  437. Now even as I'm sitting in prison, I'm encouraging you.

  438. And that's a good model for us that in season and every season

  439. that we will be bearing fruit. We will be bearing fruit even

  440. when the miracle doesn't happen for me, I will be bearing fruit

  441. lot. I will show up.

  442. I will show up. Just two days back, we were

  443. increased by a dear, a couple, an auntie and uncle who we

  444. dearly look up to ever since we got married.

  445. We know their kids really well and that auntie and Creed saying

  446. show up, keep showing up, keep showing up day in and day out

  447. every day. And I believe a lot of us

  448. Christians have only showed up and we thought we can.

  449. But if you can show up every day, even when you don't feel

  450. like it come because there'll be someone who God will ask you to

  451. pour out your your Christian walk onto in the passion

  452. translation it says is beautifully says God will

  453. continuously revitalize you implanting within you the

  454. passion to do what pleases him. That's in verse 13 is what it

  455. says and that word which revitalize is what happens every

  456. time we come into God's presence.

  457. How many of you come thinking God, I don't know how this week

  458. is going to be and when you committed to prayer, what

  459. happens he gives you a it's like a injection of new life for the

  460. week and suddenly you have this God perspective for this week.

  461. You go out, you come back, and then you come back to the next

  462. week again, and then again when you're amongst believers, your

  463. faith is encouraged, you've been revitalized.

  464. And so there's this constant you work out your salvation, you

  465. pour it out, you come back, you get refilled.

  466. And so this beautiful thing happens only when we have Jesus

  467. at the centre. A lot of us today have made lot

  468. of our Christian lifestyle changes based on other people's

  469. reading other people's that that's good.

  470. That's the testimony of others, but that's happened in their

  471. life. What is happening in your life?

  472. Have you had a personal encounter with Jesus?

  473. Because today if you have to work for you'll miss out

  474. entirely the but when you work out your salvation, there'll be

  475. total transformation that happens within you.

  476. And I want to take us to Luke chapter 19 verses one to 10,

    Luke 19 chapter mention

  477. which is a beautiful story of a man called Zacchaeus.

  478. Zacchaeus was a we little man, you know, come, we have Pranav.

  479. He was like 6-7 and you know, compared Zaki is like really

  480. small. It says that he had to climb a

  481. Sycamore tree and he had to see Jesus and that when we, when we

  482. look, when we think about that, he thought he was an outcast

  483. because he was working for the he was an Israelite, but he was

  484. working for the Roman Empire. He was collecting taxes.

  485. He was conned on. He was like, what is this guy?

  486. He's stealing from us and he's giving to them.

  487. He was looked down on and this guy just didn't just didn't do

  488. his job rightfully. He probably took a couple of

  489. under the table transactions where he kind of built his own

  490. because when you see the amount he's able to repay back when

  491. transformation happens. That is what happens when Jesus

  492. steps into your life. When we read here it says here

  493. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.

  494. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus.

  495. He was a chief task tax collector and was wealthy.

  496. He wanted to see who Jesus was but because he was short he

  497. could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed the

  498. Sycamore fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

  499. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him,

  500. Zacchaeus, come down immediately.

  501. I must stay at your house today. When you've decided to work out

  502. your salvation, Jesus meets you right where you're at, right

  503. where you're at, where you're really wanting, infusing God.

  504. This is all that I have. My marriage didn't work out.

  505. I'm stuck here today. I don't know what to do.

  506. He'll meet you right there, God. I'm stuck here, Lord, as a

  507. father, I don't know how to parent my kid.

  508. He'll meet you right there. You'll be like God.

  509. I've been stuck in this dead end job four years.

  510. I waited for a raise. Nothing has happened.

  511. He'll meet you there. If he could meet Zacchaeus right

  512. where he was, just because he had the desire to meet who this

  513. Jesus was. He said Zacchaeus, come down

  514. immediately. I must stay at your house today,

  515. so he came down at once and welcomed him godly.

  516. All the people saw this and begin to mutter.

  517. He has gone to be the guest of a Sinner.

  518. If you're discounting yourself, Jesus can't walk into my life.

  519. There's no room that Jesus has not walked into.

  520. He's walked into every room. Probably your room looks

  521. entirely different filled with bottles or probably it's filled

  522. with addictions or it's probably filled with your who's Jesus,

  523. you know, atheist belief of who God is.

  524. Whatever your room is filled with Jesus is willing to come in

  525. and dine with you right where you're at.

  526. He's coming to sit right there was 8 onwards is ghost, but

  527. Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look Lord here and now

  528. I give half my positions to the poor and if I have cheated

  529. anybody out of anything, I'll pay back four times the amount

  530. and Jesus is willing to come in and shake the entire room up.

  531. If you honestly ask Jesus, would you come in and do as you will.

  532. These are the things I've been carrying Lord I've been holding

  533. onto my past. I've been struggling to let go

  534. of the past or probably Lord I've I've self insulated myself

  535. because of certain things that's happened in my life.

  536. Would you walk in and when transformation happens, you're

  537. willing to let go of everything that you worked for because

  538. those things can't satisfy you anymore.

  539. Look at this, the very thing that Zacchaeus was known for, he

  540. suddenly gives it not just 1/2 he says 4 times because he knows

  541. following Christ is more than what I worked for.

  542. Don't wait till retirement to work out your Christian life.

  543. Start it now so that when retirement comes, you know

  544. clearly why God has called you into this world.

  545. The same auntie who spoke to us, his uncle said don't wait till

  546. 60. He said I'm 64, don't 60 is when

  547. life happens. We thought 40 is when you get

  548. clarity, but he just moved in another 20 years when life

  549. happens and we realize we need to strengthen our faith so that

  550. when we hit 60, we know clearly God.

  551. This is what you're calling us to do.

  552. And I believe when we read in Zacchaeus, there's definitely

  553. with the turn around. Zakiya said he was ALDI.

  554. His life is already having an impact.

  555. He would have been the talk of town man.

  556. This tax collector gave off everything that he stole off.

  557. He did soon. And it's because Jesus entered

  558. and Jesus concludes saying Jesus said to him today, salvation has

  559. come to his house because this man too is the son of Abraham.

  560. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save.

  561. That was lost in our Christian faith.

  562. Working out our faith becomes not just our life, but it causes

  563. us to pass it on to the next generation.

  564. You know the beautiful thing about working for you can't pass

  565. it on to the next generation. It ends with you.

  566. Whereas when you work out your salvation, it beautifully gets

  567. passed on to the next generation.

  568. It beautifully gets passed on. It moves generationally.

  569. And so today with what God is starting to work, let's not

  570. delay that because we won't get the time.

  571. So let's move towards that. We all have a transformation

  572. story in US, always have to change and new ways have to

  573. depict Jesus alone. So today, even as we can, as we,

  574. as I conclude, I just want to ask us, are we ready to be

  575. poured out as we work out our faith?

  576. Because if we work out our salvation and are not pouring

  577. out it, it, it, it is of no good use.

  578. We'll just have a very 1 sided view of the gospel.

  579. But when I read his word and when I start encouraging others,

  580. when I pour it out, it's where. And so don't today, don't think

  581. that circumstances determine that irrespective of what

  582. circumstance. I'm amazed that Paul could write

  583. letters that would encourage the church back then, but it is also

  584. encouraging the churches for the last 2000 years.

  585. Today we are meditating on it. We all have our own presence,

  586. but God's asking, would you still work out your salvation

  587. and be an encouragement? Let's start looking where is God

  588. calling us to really work out a salvation?

  589. So even as I conclude three things which I concluded with

  590. work out without grumbling, maybe be known that our

  591. salvation is from God as a gift. Maybe workout holding firm to

  592. God and not hanging on. Maybe work out so that we'll be

  593. poured out Church. Can we all just raise our hands,

  594. Lord? We pray, Lord, specifically,

  595. Lord, for those who we know who still have not committed their

  596. life to Jesus. We pray, Lord, for those who

  597. we've been witnessing, Lord Jesus, who've been struggling,

  598. Lord Jesus, to let go of their faith.

  599. Lord Jesus, on other things and people, I pray they'll come to a

  600. point, they'll have a deep encounter with you, Lord.

  601. I pray, Lord, especially for that list which you're

  602. continuing to pray, Lord Jesus, for our friends, for our

  603. relatives, for our family members, that they will accept

  604. Jesus Christ as a Lord and personal saviour.

  605. Lord, I pray you will move their hearts.

  606. Lord Jesus, I pray in at that time.

  607. Lord Jesus, prepare us also to Lord, live out the life that

  608. you've called us well, Lord Jesus, that we won't live

  609. questionable lives. Lord Jesus, that we will live

  610. and be the light in this Dark World.

  611. Lord, we thank you. I pray even right now, Lord, as

  612. we've entered into the 11th month.

  613. Lord, I pray that you'll bless each and everyone.

  614. Lord, I pray the hands will be blessed.

  615. Lord Jesus, everything that your children put your hands into,

  616. Lord will see blessing right now.

  617. Lord Jesus, I pray that Lord, you'll bless the work.

  618. I pray that the work will Lord bring many people, Lord Jesus,

  619. and that we'll be able to testify about you.

  620. Lord Jesus, I pray, I pray when you walk into spaces, we'll

  621. bring peace. I pray wherever chaos is, when

  622. your children walk in will be peace.

  623. Wherever there's Lord, grief and sorrow when your people walk in,

  624. Lord, there'll be hope. Wherever there's despair, Lord

  625. Jesus, that your joy would come in, Lord Jesus, because we are

  626. carriers of that. Lord, we thank you.

  627. I pray as we step into this week, your protection go before

  628. your children. I pray for all those who are

  629. traveling that Lord, you would protect, are going out and are

  630. coming in. I pray especially, Lord, the

  631. food and water of our homes will be blessed.

  632. I pray the doorposts of our houses, of our rooms, of our

  633. paying guests, of our hostels will be protected by you, Lord

  634. Jesus. I pray, Lord, for the four walls

  635. of our homes. Lord Jesus, the cloud that

  636. surrounds the environment will be one of yours.

  637. Lord Jesus will be one of yours. Lord, I pray every day we will

  638. wake up, we will call on your name, we will see your hand come

  639. through, and we will be missional in everything that we

  640. step out to do. Lord Jesus, we thank you.

  641. Go before us, be with us, strengthen us.

  642. Lord Jesus, in your most holy name we pray.

  643. Amen. Amen.

  644. Thanks for listening to this message.

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

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

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

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

  652. finds life.