236 ~ THE KINGDOM LIFE ~ Part 6

Hi and welcome to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.

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

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

encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you.

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

life and teachings of Jesus from the Gospel according to Mark.

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

of Jesus in a way that is countercultural yet powerfully

impactful. As you listen in, our hope is

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

like Jesus. Hi church, It's such a joy and a

privilege to be bringing God's word to you today.

And even as we take some time to listen in to God's word, whether

you're watching it or listening to it, I pray that God world

will come alive in your hearts and that it'll resonate and not

just just resonate in, you know, being good sounding to your

ears, but it'll enable you to rise up and do what God's

calling you to do. Even as we've been going through

this entire series called Kingdom life, we've broken it

down last week into a subset which you're calling as Kingdom

paradoxes. And last week we saw the first

part of this Kingdom paradox where we saw the fear of the

Lord versus the joy of the Lord. And, and it's interesting that

even as we live God fearing lives, we'll experience a deep,

real and indescribable joy. As we saw the word joy, we saw

that it's literally an awareness of grace that's on our lives.

And that unspeakable joy is what resonates, is what attracts

others to come and ask, how are you joyful?

And the Scripture reminds us that if we trust God and if we

obey God, he will fill our hearts with joy and gladness.

And I want to encourage us that even as we live this life in

fear, knowing that God is going to come back, we are going to be

with him, that he is holy. And if the fear of God becomes

the guardrails for our lives so that we'll be able to live this

narrow path well, And that will not just be one where we are,

you know, bogged down by fear. And it's not one we're bogged

down with unhappiness, but we will enjoy and have the joy that

brings gladness. The second paradox that we are

going to see today is one which says shrewd as snakes versus

innocent as douse. Shrewd as snakes was innocent as

douse. And this is a passage where

Jesus tells his disciples that he wants them to be shrewd as

snakes and also innocent as doves.

And even before we go into that, I was just, you know,

meditating. And I realized that when we are

living this Kingdom life, we are living under the headship of

Jesus Christ, who is the reigning king.

He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.

And this Kingdom life, you're living it in his camp.

You're not living it in some other camp.

You're living it in his camp. And you know, so our hearts, our

allegiance is everything towards this Kingdom.

But the scripture says that we are called to live in this world

but not be off the world, which means we are placed in different

pockets of the world. You probably are placed.

Your entire spectrum of people that you meet might be working

people, some might be business, some might be within the four

walls of their apartment complex.

Whatever your world looks like, you're called to be in the world

but not offered. Which means the characteristics

of the world are not what we live by, but we live by this

Kingdom principles and life that God's calling us to live.

But how do we live this Kingdom life?

We live it constantly going back to his word and saying God teach

me how to live. And as I was melting, I realized

there are some things that are very important which we need to

love our hearts and our minds to so that we give access to Jesus

so that he's able to do it. And this points me takes me to a

verse in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 11:50.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

I want to read it from the message version because God

wants us. So don't just come in on a

Sunday, give Him praise, not just think of him on a Saturday

and get ready, but rather from a Monday to a Sunday.

We are living this life fullest. So this is what it says in

Ephesians 6 versus 11:50. It says in verse 10.

Now, my beloved ones, I've saved these most precious truths for

last. Be supernaturally infused with

strength through your life union with the Lord Jesus.

Stand victorious with the force of His explosive power flowing

in and through you. Put on God's verse 11.

Put on God's complete set of armor provided for us so that

you will be protected as you fight against the evil

strategies of the Accuser. Your hand to hand combat is not

with human beings, but with the highest principalities and

authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly

realms, for they are a powerful class of demon gods and evil

spirits that hold this Dark World in bondage.

You know, even as I was meditating on this, I was

reminded that Jesus was tempted. Jesus was offered these three

different temptations. You know, one where he was asked

to eat 1. He was asked taken there and

said the entire world is here. The other one where he was taken

to the highest of the temple rooftop and asked to fall and

he'll be protected. But Jesus came out victorious

every time, and he didn't give in to the past and the

principalities of the world. Satan tempted him saying, if you

just bow down before me, I'll give you the entirety of the

world. But Jesus controls everything

far beyond what this world can offer.

And so even here as we look, there are two things which I

want to highlight as we go into the sermon so that this would be

the pathway for us to see this so that we'll be able to rely on

God. I love how the Passion

translation puts it. It says infused with

supernatural strength, infused with supernatural strength,

which means it's not something we put on, but it's rather

infused in which literally moves into your very bloodstream.

You know when they off. Lately I've been watching a lot

of these BBQ videos and stuff and when they want the

marination to really soak in, what do they do?

They infuse the marinade right into the very skin they like

inject it and they allow that to go soak in into the very.

It's just not an outer layer, but it's right in.

And so here Paul is telling as he's encouraging the Ephesian

church, as he's closing this letter, he's saying you can only

live this out if you're infused with supernatural strength,

which comes from the Holy Spirit because of your life union with

Jesus. So it comes down to the point

that I just can't discount the Holy Spirit, but rather because

I'm following Jesus, because I'm given my life entirety Jesus, my

heart is solely, you know, worshipping him alone and given

only him access. I am now infused with strength

from the Holy Spirit. And it's interesting that the

early church was infused with the strength from the Holy

Spirit. They all were different.

Their LinkedIn provides weren't great.

It was this fisherman tax collector.

It was just ordinary profiles. But when the Holy Spirit infused

strength into them, they became who God was calling them to be.

And so today, if we have to live this Kingdom life, God's asking,

will you allow me to infuse strength into you?

Not superficially, because if I put it superficially, I'll

struggle to carry. I'll take treat it like a dress

where I'll put it on and if I don't like it, I'll remove it.

Or if I don't want God to come into a place.

No. But when we are infused with the

strength, we take him everywhere.

We when we are alone, He is with us when we are with our friends.

He is with us when we are the colleagues.

He's with us when we are tempted to go into the wrong, he's still

there and he's also moving us to make the right choice so we'll

be liberated and free from the clutches of sin.

The second thing we see is our positional standing is one of

victorious, which means because of his the power flowing in and

through us, we're not standing from a place of defeat.

We're rather standing from a place of victory which comes

through Jesus. The finished work of the cross

is a place where our standing is one of victory.

It's not one of defeat. And as we look into this, it

gives us a deeper understanding of our place, of where we stand,

because Satan will always pull the rug under our feet to say

you're standing in a place of defeat.

You are a nobody, you can't do this.

You've tried it and you failed. But Jesus saying, if I am in you

and if my strength is infused in you, I'll give you the strength

to overcome. Would you ask me to come in?

Would you bring me into that situation?

Would you allow me to break that addiction?

Would you allow me to make that bondage?

Would you allow me to set you free?

And the reason why I wanted to give this context was when Jesus

is actually telling his disciples to be, you know,

shrewd as a snake and innocent as a dove.

He literally was commissioning the 12 to say, hey, now you can

go and do this. Then Matthew chapter 10, when we

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

read it in context, we see that Jesus actually has been

journeying with them. And then he says, you know what,

now I'm sending you out. This is where you have to go.

He gives them clear instruction. You know, you don't need to go

to the Gentiles and preach, but go to the fellow brethren and

preach there. And so I just want to read a

couple of verses so that we have idea and the context behind it.

And then we'll be able to realize why we are called to

live as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.

So Matthew chapter 10 verse one reading, Jesus called his 12

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure

spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

We see that Jesus is the one who gives authority.

And so today if we are his people who are living here in

this world and we are, we are of his Kingdom, Jesus will grant us

that authority. A lot of times we are unable to

walk in that authority. We've not appropriated that

authority which comes in Jesus name.

And I believe today God is raising us up to drive out

impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

And I pray that fear won't set in.

We won't be bogged down by the worries of this world that we're

unable to actually take authority in Jesus name.

When we read through the remainder of the verses, we see

they were given a clear instruction where to go, who to

meet, what to proclaim, what they're supposed to do.

And now also the fact that if someone accepts them, give them

blessing. If someone rejects them, wipe

off the dust and move away from them.

And so let God deal with them. And so as we read this, we see

God has a distinct plan for all of us who he's commissioned here

on earth to be part of his Kingdom.

The Kingdom paradox is only makes sense when you're living

under the authority of the king. And why is it important?

Because God wants us to go and do what he is giving us the

authority to go and do. A lot of times we are doing as

his fault was what we want to do.

But I believe as we read this, it's very clear God sent them

out. And in fact, when every book of

the gospel concludes, it concludes with that great

commissioning where it says go ye into all the world, Make sure

you're making disciples of all, baptizing them in the name of

the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and take the Gospels to the

uttermost parts of the world. And even as we read that we are

all called to fulfill this Commission as much as you and I

are called to fulfill everything else that we've laid out in our

lives because we've been born, we've been influenced, we've

been brought up, and then we have, you know, we find our

spaces where this is what we're doing.

But God's saying, would you also make a priority to do what I'm

calling you to do? And for those of you who've been

saying, you know what, I've been struggling to find God's call on

my life, do what you can there. You can.

When God has given you that opportunity, you don't have to

maybe go looking around the immediate need that's right in

front of you. For some of you, it's just the

opportunity and the skill set that you have to serve in any

capacity. Wherever God's placed you at,

ask him, pray about it. He will lead you there.

So as we read this, we're going directly to the worst, which

talks about what this Kingdom paradox we are looking at for

this week looks like Matthews 10 verse 16 to 20.

I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves.

Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Be on your guard. You will be handed over to the

local councils and be flogged in the synagogues on my account.

You'll be brought before governors and kings, as

witnesses to them and to gentiles.

But when they arrest you, do not worry about what you say or how

you say it. At that time you'll be given

what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the spirit of

your Father speaking through you.

And I'm just reading that verse 69, and I'm sending you out like

sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes

and as innocent as doves. Today we need to identify

ourselves. Are we going out as sheep

amongst worlds? Because if we are believing the

Kingdom culture, we will be like the that of a sheep.

And you're going into the world which will have the culture of

worlds because they are all about themselves.

You look at the world, it's all about how I can climb, how I can

do. And it's ambition is good, but

there's only a ceiling to which you can go beyond that.

What is it that you're going to achieve?

Because you it says you can conquer the whole world but lose

your soul. And so today, God, what are you

calling me to do in my pursuits, in my achievements, in

everything? What?

What are you calling me to do? He's saying be a shrewd as a

snake and as innocent as a dove. So even as we see these

instructions, I just want to break those two things apart and

see what is it. God's expecting us because he's

expecting us to go and be his light in this world.

And when he's calling us to be that, he's also giving us a

caution. He's saying be as shrewd as a

snake. And so the first thing I want us

to realize is when God's calling us to be shrewd, we are called

to be shrewd to advance God's Kingdom.

You know, when you look at the comparison he's drawn, he's

drawn it to a snake. And even if you go back to

Genesis chapter, you know, the early 123 chapters, you'll see

that the snake comes. And when the snake comes, he's

craftily enough and he's shrewd and he's moving towards Adam and

Eve and causing them to sin so that his agenda will be

fulfilled. What is his agenda?

He wanted them to become knowledgeable of sin and no sin

and he had them under his clutches and that's what

happens. And so today, what is God saying

when you're shrewd? You need to realize with why

does he say be shrewd as a snake?

Because he's saying when you're of this Kingdom of God, you

suddenly have to think As for a Kingdom and not for yourselves.

You start thinking Kingdom equation.

You start thinking Kingdom, you know, progression.

You're not thinking about your progression at that point

because if you're thinking about your progression, which means

the Kingdom has really not taken effect in you, it's, it's

clearly evident that Jesus is not at the center of your

decision making. It's clearly evident that the

Holy Spirit is not guiding your thoughts.

And so today, what is he saying to be shrewd?

What does to be shrewd mean? To be shrewd means to have

powers or judgements to move things in someone's favor.

Anyone who shrewd is moving certain things, is orchestrating

certain things, is putting their pieces in the right places so

that it'll benefit them. They're not shrewd for something

else, they shrewd for themselves.

But God saying, if you're shrewd, I want you to take that

very nature which the snake caused mankind to fall and

redeem that. You're shrewd as a snake for

God's Kingdom because he's sending you out as sheep, as

wolves. And so today, what are we called

to do? And a lot of us know many of the

people who are shoot around us. We have friends who are shoot

around us, around us. We realize that they count

everything. They are so careful about their

own world and we see that they live for themselves.

But at the end of the day, Jesus saying, if you're about the

Kingdom, you know, in your process of living out the

Kingdom life, your own life will take shape.

You don't have to strive for it. God will bring into realization,

God will move the hearts of your children.

God will move the heart of your spouse so that you can live out

the Kingdom life to its fullest. And I believe God wants us to be

different because the world is shrewd in doing evil.

That's what Jeremiah talks about in Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 22.

Jeremiah 4:22

It says for my people are stupid and foolish, says a Lord to

Jeremiah. They do not know me.

They are foolish children. They have no understanding.

They are shrewd to do evil, but they do not know how to do good.

They are shrewd to do evil. They do not know how to do good.

And today I would ask you, what are our heart motives?

What are our heart motives when we see you, when Jesus is

sending them, sending the 12 out today he's asking us, I'm

sending you out. You're going out every week you

come back here and you're going out.

What are you going out for? Are you going out for yourselves

or are you going out for your Kingdom purpose to be

accomplished in your life? You might be asking Yeshua, what

does that look like for me? Who's working in a corporate

world, preparing you so that when you go there, you're

different from others? You're shrewd, but you shoot

about God's Kingdom. You know the success comes in

his timing. You know you don't have to work

your way, or you know butter people up, or you don't have to

do favours to make sure you can climb the ladder.

God will open the right door if you're doing it with a genuine

heart. Intentions matter.

The snake is interesting. When you look, study the

characteristics of a snake. Snake are solidary animals,

which means that they are by themselves.

Only for mating do they look for another person.

And it got me thinking that as long as we are all about

ourselves, we will soon realize the shrewdness that we are

operating out of will only benefit us.

But the minute we move from a place of being for God's

Kingdom, you're starting to think about others.

Your your heart is starting to ache and beat for other things.

That is breaking God's heart. What does that look like in the

city of Chennai on this stretch of format?

What is the top five things that God is breaking the heart of his

people? It probably could be the for

loneliness. It could be for things that are

causing for people to go astray. Probably divorce is really big.

Whatever it is, God will move our hearts to at least start

praying to bring joy in these different areas in people's

life. So I want to ask you today, what

is God calling you and me to be shrewd about so that we're

alert? We're just not, you know,

without foresight going into things, but we're shrewd.

We're saying, God, I'm solely dependent on you because I know

this is where you've placed me for the season.

What are you calling me to do? You know, when we see this, the

meaning of this word shrewd in Hebrew it is pronymos, which

means prudent. It's acting with or showing care

and thought for the future. And when you look at the

meaning, it's more like a, it's like a diaphragm where it, it's

this muscle which helps you inhale and exhale.

So which means the inside matches the outside.

Shrewdness is where my heart's desire and my intentions matches

my actions. I'm not doing this.

I'm not doing certain things that will benefit me.

I'm doing this because my heart is at the right place, for God's

Kingdom is residing in my heart. And so many a times we need to

have that rhythm built in. It starts with small and as it

grows into our lives, as we get older, we will soon see God move

us to do bigger things because we would have been shrewd in the

small things for His Kingdom. We will soon realize, you know

what? This is the place God wants me

to be. He's kept me here so that

there'll be peace in this particular place.

He's kept me here so that I'll bring influence to a certain

group of people. He's kept me here so that I can

be a voice and I can lead and I can serve and I can do certain

things. You will soon realize why he's

placed you. You will soon realize why he's

placed your spouse there. You will soon realize why he's

placed your children there. Shrewdness at the world shows

with Jeremiah talks about evil is for the now they act for the

Tao. They do shortcuts, bribe,

corruption and all that for the noun, but Jesus saying would you

be in it for the long haul? Be shrewd as snakes, but do it

the Kingdom way because I am going to set things different.

I'm going to set things different.

So today I want to ask you church, what motivates your

heart? What motivates your heart?

Because what we set our heart to is what we decide to pursue.

You know what, I was just meeting a friend last week and

he was talking about what his best friend says and he says he

is best friend always tells this quote which got me thinking.

He said why settle for success when you can settle for

significance? And it got me thinking, how am I

looking for success in everything right now?

Or am I willing to be in this for the long haul because

significance will always cause me to look up and say, God,

there's much more to be done. I won't settle this.

And I think I'm preaching to the culture of this age where

everyone is talking about early retirement, having enough and,

you know, pursuing all that sounds good.

In reality, I don't know because, you know, you're living

your life now. You don't know how it will be 10

years from now you could retire. You don't know what the economic

situation is going to be, but at the end of the day, when we have

to live, we are living 1 of significance and all of success

because I believe success will leave you lonely.

Significance will allow you to live with God's people,

accomplishing God's will and plan in God's Kingdom.

So our solution where does it like lies on what we pursue.

It lies on what people say and I believe to be shrewd as a snake

we need the wisdom of God because if you're calling if

God's calling us to advance God's Kingdom we need God's

wisdom in that in Proverbs 4 verses 11:50 it says take my

instruction rather than seeking silver and take knowledge rather

than choice to gold for wisdom is better than rubies and all

desirable things cannot compare with her.

I godly wisdom reside with prudence, good judgment, moral

courage and astute common sense. I find knowledge and discretion

and so I believe this verse 12 is going to be very poignant for

us to be shrewd to advance God's Kingdom.

Godly wisdom reside with prudence, which is good

judgment, moral courage and astute common sense.

Three things that will keep us in check so that we'll be shrewd

to advance God's Kingdom. And I find knowledge and

discretion. And I believe if we are called

to live a life of significance, we will soon realize this is

what God wants me to do, to pursue the wisdom that comes

solely from God. And if you've been someone who's

been lacking that because you've been, you know, you've succumbed

to the pressure of the people around you, the friends around

you and the, and the motivation that they drive and certain

things that they ask you to do, I would say it's not too late.

James, 15 says, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who

gives liberally without reproach.

And I pray that over your life that you would ask for it

because even for me, I'm, I constantly keep asking God, am I

doing this? Am I doing this particular thing

so that it builds my pride up? Or am I doing it because it

really is building your Kingdom and I'm starting to see that the

most insignificant things is what is actually building God's

Kingdom about doing the mundane, doing things many a times which

people don't see, which people don't praise about as really

valuable things in building God's Kingdom.

So today I want to challenge you, Church, that even as you

step out this week, would you be shrewd to advance God's Kingdom,

Shrewd to advance God's Kingdom with the wisdom that God gives

from above. The second thing is innocent,

innocent as dove. So it's we saw the first thing

as shrewd to advance God's Kingdom.

The second thing is innocent to conquer and reclaim our

promises. Innocent to conquer and reclaim

our promises. We saw that the snakes were

solidary things and so you know that's that's a cultural thing

which you have to constantly fight It's not about my will,

but God's will with the doves. The interesting thing that when

you read about them is they say they have, they've got a homing

device in them wherein, you know, they've been used since

the early days. If you look in the life of Noah,

you know, after the floods, he sent out a dove out and it came

back. And so the researchers and

people say that doves usually, you know, how many ever hundreds

of kilometres ago they have a homing device of coming back to

the same place where they went. And in fact, later on when we

see in seasons of war, kings, nobles and army generals have

used doves to transport messages across different places.

And it got me thinking, God wants us to be a dove so that

we'll be able to carry his message into the world.

You know, one of the beautiful things is we, I think in, in the

whole Christian world, we've come out with so many ways of

evangelizing. We've come out with so many ways

of discipleship. We've come out with so many

techniques and methodologies. But the beautiful thing and the

heart behind everything is innocent innocence as a doubt,

which means we go out doing what we're doing with sincerity of

heart. If God's called you to a place

and it's made you the light there, and if you're the sole

person carrying the light, be the best person you can be

there. Even as I was thinking about

these doves having a homing device, which means as doves, if

you're called to be innocent, as doves, we should always know who

we come back to. You know, there's this saying,

home is where the heart is. Probably a lot of you have that

in your home as a plaque or as an art piece or something.

Where is our home really? As much as we all love our

physical homes, we know how to make it cozy.

We have our space, we have the lighting, you have the couch, we

have our corner in the house. But I want to ask you today, if

home is where your heart is, I really want to know where your

heart is. Is it in God's word?

Because this thing is the only thing that can sustain you to

actually be innocent as those as you take His word out.

You know, when we read the scriptures, we see many a times

that there were so many people who just received the call of

God on their lives and they lived the call of God to their

fullest. They didn't prepare or anything.

They just lived it out in innocence because they received

it from God. We see in the New Testament time

and again, Paul kind of like talks about it time and again of

all the people that have come alongside him in his ministry.

And we see this even when you see from the life of Stephen,

it's evident that there was they were just being innocent to the

call of God of their lives. They were ready to face the

world knowing that even though they were sheep were sent into a

world which was filled with wolves.

So I want to ask you today, where is our heart?

Where is our heart? Is our heart at rest when it's

in God's Word, when it's with God, Is it at rest because many

a times the Kingdom life, we need to realize if our heart and

our home has to be in rest in the Kingdom or is it pursuing

other things? You can't pursue other things

and say my heart is at rest because I know the Kingdom.

You can know the Kingdom, but your heart will still be

troubled. You can know about the Kingdom

and you still will feel lost, but is your heart in the place

where God's called you to be? Where God's called you to be?

And many a times it'll come down because if we don't find God, we

will be lost. You know, there's this quote by

Saint Augustine says you have made us for yourself, O Lord.

And a heart is restless until it rests in you.

And I believe God is wanting us all to find him hearts to be at

him. Where is he?

He's in his word. He's in times when I take time

to read it, meditate on it, because that is where it brings

life. It refreshes my soul.

When we see innocence, and especially in the Hebrew word in

this, it means unmixed, which means innocence is it's just

innocent, it's white. That's why the representation of

innocence is always shown as a dove, because it's just white.

It's pure white. It's unmixed.

There's no hybrid dove. There's no it's not.

It's not mixed at all. It's just pure.

And that's what God wants. Our intentions to be pure, our

thoughts to be pure, our heart to be pure.

We read in Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17.

2 Corinthians 5:17

For anyone who is in Christ is a new creation.

The old has gone and the new has come.

So when Jesus comes in, he's wanting to reset us, but our

sinful nature causes us to go back.

Our sinful nature causes us to go back because the those are

better rhythms for us because we're used to it.

Those are better things that satisfy and quench our thirst.

So we go back to it. But God saying no, come back.

It might feel like you have you. It might feel like there's

you're missing out, but let your heart be at rest and this

beautiful thing like when we see the innocence of a child, the

minute you hold a newborn baby, you know one of the beautiful

things about holding a newborn baby and pure innocence is the

fact that they are fully dependent.

And that is the nature God wants of us.

If he's saying innocent as a dull, which means a fully

dependent on God. Innocence can exist as long as

only we are in the light. The minute we start mixing light

and darkness together, it gets tainted.

And so in Ephesians chapter 8 was 16-8 to 16, it says you

groped your way through that mock once, but no longer.

You're out in the open. Now the bright light of Christ

makes you way plain. So no more stumbling around.

Get on with it. The good, the right, the true.

These are the actions appropriate for daylight hours.

Figure out what will please Christ and then do it.

Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busy work, the barren

pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham

they are. It's a scandal when people waste

their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one

will see. RIP the cover off those frauds

and see how attractive they look in the light of light.

Wake up from your sleep, climb out of your coffins.

Christ will show you the light. So watch your step, use your

head. Make the most of every chance

you get. These are desperate times.

These are desperate times. So what is it that God's asking

us to do today when we're innocent as doubt is to realize

that we're solely dependent on Him.

When we're solely dependent on Him.

Which means I don't have to do much.

I just have to ask God for the strength to carry me through.

I just have to say, God, I trust in your strength and not in my

strength. I trust in you alone and not in

myself. And so today God wants us to be

like the dove, innocent, which means that you're not unmixed,

which means you're not tainted, you're not moving, you're not

groping ourselves in the dark, but rather we know clearly what

we're called to do. It says here that there are

three things, the good, the right, the true, That we will

know all this because our eyes are open.

We can see it in broad daylight. There are three things that I

want to ask of us that as we meditate on being innocent as

doves, is the fact that we'll carry the message that God's

deposited in our hearts. Each and every one of us have a

message from Him. What is our message?

It's our testimony. It's what God is doing through

us. It's what God has done

beforehand of lifting us from the mighty clay and putting us

on a rock to stay. That is our message.

Our save. Salvation is our message.

Would you make that your message and carry it forward?

So as a dove, we take that message wherever God's calling

us to go. We are present in the

battlefield. As we read earlier, this is a

hand to hand combat. It's not against against people,

but rather against principalities.

We are in the battlefield. When we go out, let's not think

oh OK, the vibe is nice here, the aura is so good here.

Oh the atmosphere is so nice here.

No, we are in places of battlefield.

You'd be surprised many times that how many battlefields

exists even in the so-called Christian world.

We need are stepping into a battlefield.

Be mindful that being innocent as does is that you're in a

battlefield. You're not in a garden and a

call to enjoy the garden. Our time has not come yet in

this world. We've been sent out as sheep

into a place where there are wolves which are wanting to

deposit their culture, wanting to change as they're wanting to

devour us. So can we rise up and stand and

say we are in the middle of a battlefield?

The third thing is because we rely on God's strength, because

we're solely dependent on him, we allow him to fight our

battles. And it got me thinking, Lord,

many a times I'm fighting a lot of battles which only you can

fight, which means I pray, I claim, I say God, come through,

show your power, lift up your heads, Lord Jesus, in this place

so that they'll know that you are the true and living God.

A lot of the battlefields that you're facing are places where

we're struggling with and we're unable to conquer because we've

not invited the King of Kings into battle.

We've not invited the King of kings into battle.

It's high time we made way for the king.

We made way for the King so that he can be high and lifted up.

Because when he is high and lifted up, every knee bows,

everything trembles, everything shakes because he wears the

victor's crown. Every stronghold trembles and

will fall at his feet. And so today I want us to come

across with two different things.

Probably you're feeling really battered.

You're probably in the in the in the edge of where you're like

God, I want your miracle to come through, but I, I don't know.

I don't know, Lord, I've, I've struggled in this Lord.

I know I've been called, I've called to live this Kingdom

life, but I'm struggling, Lord, because Lord, it seems that I've

been having defeat after defeat and I want to encourage.

Even as I was meditating, God gave me two sections which I

really wanted to pray specifically for people who are

in that weight for saying, God, I'm waiting for this

breakthrough, Lord. Lord, I know I have to be shrewd

as to advance your Kingdom, Lord.

I know I need to be innocent so we can conquer your promises,

Lord Jesus here in this earth. But Lord, I feel like giving up.

I want to encourage you from Exodus chapter 14 versus 13 to

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

14 when Pharaoh was chasing the Israelites and they were caught

on one end with the Red Sea. This is what says most, this is

answer the people. Do not be afraid.

Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring

you today. The Egyptians you see today you

will never see again. The Lord will fight for you.

You need only to be still, and this is the beautiful thing

about being innocent as it of because you've chosen to follow

the light, because you've chosen to not be mixed and groping

around in darkness because when you start groping in darkness,

you'll start finding a way. But when you have the light, you

move directly where you have to go.

You know who's called you, you, you are clear your your

intentions are good. You know what he's setting you

up for. I would ask you don't give up.

Don't fight this battle alone. I love God to fight sometimes.

Most times I believe we are just called to stand still and now

God to fight and that anxiety. Allow God to fight in that

stressful situation. Allow God to fight in that

confusion. Allow God to fight in that midst

of that weight. Allow God to fight the second

group of people. That's one for those who are

waiting and who are losing hope and are feeling like they're

going to be defeated. The second, probably you feel

your innocence was violated. Probably you feel like the

innocence that you carried once, that flame that you had for God,

everything that you had, everything has been wiped away

because of that certain abuse or that certain touch or that

certain thing that happened in your life which you are ashamed

to talk about. And you've been carrying that

guilt and that shame all along your life.

Jesus saying, I came here to restore that innocence back to

you. Would you allow me?

Because I was there with you and that happened.

I was there with you. As much as you feel defiled, I

was there with you and I am here to set you free.

I'm willing to make you innocent.

Would you allow me? And I want to encourage you from

Psalm 34, verse 18. Is anyone crying for help?

Psalms 34:18

God is listening, ready to rescue you.

If your heart is broken, you'll find God right there.

If you're kicked in the gut, He'll help you catch your

breath. Disciples so often get into

trouble. Still, God is there every time.

He's your bodyguard, shielding every bone.

Not even a finger gets broken. The wicked commits slow suicide.

They waste their lives hating the good.

God pays for each slave's freedom.

No one who runs out to him loses out.

And I pray that you would run to him today.

You would run to him today. Today, whatever their seems

stolen, whatever might look stolen to you, God saying I'm

willing to restore the innocence back.

So church today, even as I'm coming to a close, I just want

to encourage you. This one story I had read during

my devotion in Nicky Gumbel's Bible, daily Bible Reading and

he talks about Chuck Colson. Chuck Colson was a self-made

man. He in fact was a student who

arrogantly turned down Harvard, you know, a scholarship.

He joined the Marines. He set up his own law firm and

entered politics. He in fact was one of the

hatchman of President Nixon. And during the Watergate scandal

which broke out and Nixon has to step down from his presidency,

he was in fact jailed. He pleaded guilty and he was

involved in a cover up scandal and he was sent to prison.

But that moment of his life when he was sent to prison is when he

encountered Jesus. And when he came out of prison

is when he went out and set up prison ministry.

And today it's a big ministry. And I believe it's in that

lowest moment where God met with him and what happened that he

was shrewd. Apparently he's people used to

say that no one can get past him.

He was shrewd, cutthroat. He lived for himself.

But, and there was no innocence in him because it was all mixed

up. But the minute this lowest point

came in his life when he went into prison is where Jesus met

with him. And this is what it says.

He says when he left the court after hearing the sentence that

he had to go. He said what happened in court

today was the court's will and the Lord's will.

I have committed my life to Jesus Christ and I can work for

him in prison as well as out. Colson did just that.

After his release, he set up Present Fellowship and became

directly and directly responsible for leading

thousands to Christ. I once heard him say I was

ambitious, and I'm ambitious today.

But I hope it's not for Chuck Colson, although I struggle with

that quite a lot as a matter of fact.

But I'm ambitious for Christ, ambitious for Christ and for

Christ's glory. So today you and I are called to

live this kingdom's life. You and I are called to do His

work, but you and I are not called to take His glory.

The glory belongs to him. And so today God can rewrite

anything. That's a beautiful thing.

You know, God needs us at a point of our need.

And so today I want to pray specifically that for people

who've been, for those of you who've been so shrewd about the

world, I pray you'll start being shrewd about advancing God's

Kingdom because that is the call of God on each and everyone of

us who follow Jesus. And the second thing is that as

much as we are are innocent, we won't mix light and darkness.

We won't be. Rather, we would be people who

stand out as innocent, innocent so that we can conquer and

reclaim our promise from God. To be sure, we would need the

wisdom of God to be innocent. We would need the strength from

God because he's wanting to fight a battles for us today,

even as I did earlier from Ephesians 6, verse 10 to 12 in

Ephesians 6:10–12

the Passion. I would ask you church, would

you be infused with supernatural strength that comes from the

Holy Spirit and would you find your positional standing with

Jesus, which is one of victory? Can you pray and close?

Lord, we just thank you, Lord, for this time.

Thank you, Lord, that even as we read from your word, Lord,

you're calling us to live and go out into this world.

Lord Jesus, even though it seems daunting, Lord, as sheep who's

been sent out into a world full of worlds, Lord Jesus, we thank

you that you died for each and every one of us.

Lord Jesus, we thank you that we're not fighting people, but

rather the principalities and the powers of darkness.

But I pray even as we step out, Lord Jesus, we'll go out in

boldness. Lord Jesus, I pray we won't be

shrewd about ourselves or we'll be shrewd about advancing your

Kingdom. We'll be innocent, Lord Jesus,

as doves, so that we'll be able to conquer and fulfill the

promises that you have kept for us.

Lord Jesus, I pray, Lord, even right now you give your children

wisdom. Even right now you give your

children Lord, power from above. Lord Jesus, we thank you.

Lord, I ask Lord, even right now for people who are at the as we

read, Lord, I pray that they'll stand still and they'll allow

you to fight the battles, Lord Jesus, and they'll come out

victorious and singing sing. I waited and the Lord came

through and he delivered me. Lord Jesus, we thank you.

I pray especially for those who are crying right now, Lord

Jesus, and they desperately need your help.

We thank you for your word, which says you're close to the

broken hearted. You hear their cry and I pray

would you hear them set them free right now?

Lord, I pray, would you touch them today so that their

innocence would be returned, that they'll be all out for you.

Lord Jesus, I pray that their lives will be 1 which is lit,

that they don't have to mix it with darkness.

Be glorified, be honored. We thank you Lord, go before us.

I pray the food and water of our home will be blessed.

I pray every conversation that we undertake will be blessed.

I pray you bless the work of our hands, strengthen us, take

charge. In your most holy name we pray,

Amen. Amen.

So Church, even as we just prayed, I pray and believe that

God's calling you to live your life to the fullest.

I pray you live it knowing that you're called to be shrewd so

that we'll be able to advance God's Kingdom.

We are called to live innocently so that we'll be able to conquer

and live out the promises that God has kept for us.

I pray you'll have His wisdom and His strength as you do this.

I pray that you have a blessed week ahead.

God bless you all. Thanks for listening to this

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