227 ~ ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME ~ PART 9

Hi and welcome to the We Are 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 continue our series titled All Roads Lead to Rome, which is

a study in the book of Romans. As we study this letter written

to the Jewish and Gentile believers in the city of Rome,

we ask that you put yourself in their shoes, for our context is

not that different after all. Our hope is that through this

series you would experience the fullness of knowing who God is,

what He did for you through Jesus, and how you can live a

life that honours Him and blesses others.

Hi, Chad. It's just a joy and a privilege

to be bringing God's Word to you today.

I am so glad that we are coming to the last part of the series

on the book of Romans that we've been seeing.

We've been seeing this entire series called All Roads Lead to

Rome, and I believe God's been really doing something in and

through us as we've been seeing this series week after week.

I know in the last two weeks Tina had spoken from Romans 12

and 13 and 14. And this time, even as we come

to the conclusion we'll be looking at Romans 15 and 16.

I in fact had the honor of recording the sermon on

Wednesday for both those parts as I was travelling in those two

weeks. And I got to listen to it and

even dwell on it through the week and was excited because I

really felt what she was talking about in those last two weeks

were meant for us to really apply that into our lives.

Even as you saw from Romans 12, we saw that the Holy Spirit

transforms US. And one of the keywords that we

saw that stood out from that part, especially from part

number seven, was they're not conformed, but they're called to

be transformed, which causes the work of the Holy Spirit to be so

evident in our lives. When we allowed Him to, when we

allowed Him to, He moves in and through this so that He can do

that work. We also saw that the work that

He does is more or less inside out.

It's not outside in a lot of times we strive for the outside,

but He works within us so that we can be transformed inside.

We saw that the toughest part that for us to change many of

times is our mind, and that's where He starts working in and

through us. We saw that fire cleanses and

purifies us last week when we read it through 13 and 14, we

saw the application part of those potholes that are evident

in our lives. It's one of those chapters which

we constantly keep going back to because that's where we realize

God who has. Redeemed.

US wants us to live by faith and our dependence should be solely

on Him. We don't allow culture to

dictate those things for us, but we allow His Word of God to work

in and through US, His Spirit to work in and through our

circumstances. All of us are coming from unique

families, from unique situations and He wants us to come to a

place where we identify these potholes.

What does that look like? First we saw a rebellion against

authority. We saw the dislike of certain

people. We saw undisciplined living and

self-imposed traditions and restrictions even as we heard

these four different things about these different potholes

that we'll have to identify, Allow the Holy Spirit to work so

that they don't become just potholes for us.

But many a times we leave it back so that others who are

following us, others who are close to us, we try imposing

that on others. And God wants to work in and

through so that we rely on Him. Alone, we rely on His guidance,

on what His word tells us. So even as we continue to these

last two chapters, even as I was meditating, I was wondering,

God, what is it that you want us to really pick out of these last

two chapters? Because Paul concludes the book

of. Romans in a place where he's

calling us to move forward. He wants us to take that step

because after knowing all of these things, when we'll go back

and see the way God's LED him to talk to the Roman church, we see

that he this becomes too heavy. This becomes sometimes it's too

it becomes a burden more like that.

We decide, you know what, this much is enough and we stay put.

But Paul's encouraging these last two chapters to say, hey,

rise up, take this. Move ahead because God is

calling us to move ahead. And what does that look like?

And as we read from Romans chapter 15, I want us to have

Romans 15 · chapter mention

open hearts so that we'll be able to take it and move

forward. For those of us who've been in a

constant space of slumber would be rise up so that we can serve

God more better. For those of us who've been

marred and, you know, charred by the by the heaviness of this or

by what's happened around or by what others have dictated

around, maybe rise up to say we are here to please God and God

alone. So even as I read from Romans

15I pray that our hearts would be open so that we'll be able

to. Move.

Forward and this is what it says in NIV for everything that was

in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance

taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide, we

might have hope. And I've highlighted this verse

as the key was for us to conclude because these are

evidences of what we need to hold onto.

One of the first things that we see is for everything that was

written in the past was written to teach us everything that we

hold onto the word of God was written so that we can learn

from it. Not that we can just skim

through it and realize, oh, this is what happened in the past,

but this is not my present. So it doesn't make sense.

No, it was meant so that we'll be able to learn from it and

apply it into our lives. And so as we expound on this in

the next couple of minutes as we go through this, I would love

for us to see areas which God highlights when the Holy Spirit

has to work in our lives. He'll start highlighting these

areas. Hey, this is the area where I

need you to work on this coming week, this coming six months

this year. And even as we have our entire

theme for the year as a church has set apart, I believe this

will propel us to take that step of faith in the amplified.

It goes on to say, for whatever was written in earlier times was

written for our instruction so that through endurance and the

encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope and overflow

with confidence in his promises. The God who promised will make

it come true, but are we on that same path of where the promise?

Is. Because many a times we are

giving up midway, we are taking AU turn, we are taking another

path entirely different. Because sometimes the promises

look different entirely from what God intended for us.

And then we are chasing after something thinking that that

will be something that we want. To do.

Even as I was reading this in verse four, I was assuming that

you know this probably is continuing from the previous

last two chapters and ends over here and it starts here.

But as I went to Romans chapter 15 verse three, this particular

Romans 15 · chapter mention

word highlighted it said for even Christ did not please

himself. But as it is written in

Scripture, the reproaches of those who reproached you, the

Father fell on. Me and it got me thinking.

This has to be. The baseline for which we

operate our Christian life. And I think Paul really wanted

to conclude with that because you don't have to do this just

because I'm telling you, you have to do this because Christ

did. This And so today, what did

Christ do? Christ was selfless.

And so today, if we have to say we are a Christian and we are

followers of Christ, selflessness has to be that

nature that rubs onto US. Selflessness has to be something

that we live by. We are so caught up in

selfishness that we think we need to do certain things our

way that has be comfortable for us.

We've made church so comfortable.

We've made church so convenient. But if selflessness was the

nature of Jesus. We need to take it out of the

four walls of the church into our everyday, into our Mondays,

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and be

selfless in everything God's calling us to be.

Why was Jesus selfless? So that He'll fulfill the

purpose He was sent when He was here on earth in human form.

He submitted to the will of the Father, selflessly doing all

that God had ordained him to do. And today when we are redeemed

and when we say, when we read that verse in Romans chapter 10,

Romans 10 · chapter mention

if we declare with our mouth and believe with our heart that

Jesus Christ is Lord, we are submitting to the lordship and

saying Lord, if you've. Placed me here in Chennai.

I'll do what you're calling me to do.

If you've placed me here in this job, I will do what you're

calling me to do. I'll be selfless in the call

that you've given me. I'll be selfless in the call

that you've given me as a husband.

You're I'll be selfless in the call that you've given me as a

wife. I'll be selfless in the call

that you've given me as a son and a daughter.

And what does that look like? That looks like us being

obedient to the call of God on our lives.

We a lot of times you're trying to be obedient to the blessing

that will come. But God saying, will you be

obedient to the call that I've given you on your life blessing

is an outpouring of what we've decided to walk on.

There'll be so many blessings that come in our lifetime and

again that cannot take the high picture.

The picture is God, your call. I will run after that.

The prize is eternal life. The prize is different.

The prize is something which God will time and again fulfill

promises again and again in our lives.

But will we remain selfless so that we can fulfill all that

He's called in Matthew 20 verse 28?

Matthew 20:28

There's a verse which says just as the Son of Man did not come

to be. Served, but to serve and to give

his life as a ransom for many that Jesus gave an understanding

to his disciples as to what he came.

He didn't come to be served. So today, if you are wondering,

you know, I have to come into church and I have to be served,

You're mistaken. No, it's an honor for me to come

into the room where other believers are because I'm here

to be participant of what God is going to do when two or three

are gathered. I'm going to be participant of

what God is going to do with us as we hear God's word.

What is God going to do and birth out of here so that we'll

be able to do all that he's called us to do.

And there's this beautiful thing that Paul, I think concludes

with 15 and 16 about finishing the race.

A transformed person is thinking about finishing the race, not

about starting the race. A transformed person is thinking

about running the race well, about leaving a legacy.

When we are living this transformed lies.

We are thinking, God, what is it that you wanted to fulfill in my

lifetime? You suddenly are raising others

up so that they'll be able to fulfill the call of God and the

mission of God. You suddenly are thinking, God,

what have what the skill set you've given me?

What was it for? Have I used it only to satisfy

myself? Have I used it only to, you

know, come to a place where people recognise, oh, I have

this gifting or am I using it so that it will glorify you?

And I want to draw three things which are going to be pivotal in

US finishing well, if we need to finish this race well where we

do the daily transformed life well, there are three things I

would like to 1st is live the selfless life and not the selfie

life. I know it sounds very

colloquial, but I think we are called to live the selfless life

and not the selfie life. Even as I pointed out earlier

from the starting of 15 where Paul identifies and says we are

doing this because Christ was selfless, so we are also going

to be selfless today. As much as we learn and

understand that we need to operate with boundaries.

We need to operate with understanding.

This is how the Christian household has to function.

This is how we as Christians have to function.

It all operates out of a place of selflessness.

The minute it operates out of a place of selfishness, you will

soon realize it'll all become about our comfort and not about

what Christ wants to do through us.

We have to make that move intentionally.

As I read in the previous verse in Matthew, it said and He came

to be. He came to serve and not to be

served. Which means today when I move

into any position, how can I serve rather than being served,

Lord? If in my area of finances, how

can I serve you God? In my area of my understanding

of the scriptures, how can I serve you God?

In my area of graphic design, how can I serve you God?

In my area of video, how can I serve you God?

In my area of video, how can I serve you God?

In my area of worship, how can I serve you God?

In my area of care, how can I serve you God?

In my area of hospitality, how can I serve you God?

We understand, you know, we are we, we understand you're part of

a bigger body. But if you're understanding our

part in the body, you'll realize the function we are called to do

also very clearly. And a lot of us have made it a

habit to make it all about ourselves.

I'm talking to all of us here who make it all about ourselves.

If we are called to run this race, we are called to run this

race, which is selfless because Christ planned.

That has to be a template, not someone else.

Don't make it about anyone else. Everything else is staged.

The selfie life is staged. The selfie life focuses on me,

on my calendar. Hey, this works on my behalf.

These are the dates I'm available.

I'll do it only on my terms. If it's selfless, he'll come to

a place. You know what, If this is for

his body, I'll be able to move certain things around.

I'll make certain things possible and many a times God

honours those sacrifices. God honours those sacrifices

done quietly. God honours those things done in

private because he sees the heart and not what you're doing.

The selfie life is directional. It chooses to showcase what we

want to show, which we think is the best side of us.

But a selfless is one where we're denying our own pleasure,

we're denying our own comfort, we're denying our own self to

say, God, this is what you're calling us to do.

I will do it joyfully denying and joyful come hand in hand,

because the joy of the Lord is my strength.

I don't have put on a sackcloth and say no.

I come up in my best. I come happy.

I don't come, you know, broken down and you know, weary and

tired. It has to come.

I love my wife when she shows up to church, when I'm travelling.

She still is the best. She still comes when how she

would come if I'm there. That's how passionate she is for

the House of the Lord. Today a lot of you are coming to

the House of the Lord really tired.

When you don't have things going your way, show up because it

means business. You don't show up only because

when you have a blessing in your life and you've got a promotion

or don't come happy to the house, the Lord.

When things are working your way, even when things are not

going your way, come show up to the House of the Lord.

And the reason why I'm saying this is, who are you learning

off from matters? If you're thinking, you know

what, I want to have a pity party.

Jesus didn't have a pity party for himself at all here on this

earth. So don't expect people to have

pity party for you. You expect God to move in and

through. You deny, and the joy of the

Lord will be your strength. It comes out of a place of

obedience. Selflessness comes out of a

place of obedience. You're doing it out of obedience

because you have a deep love for God, deep love.

The love causes you to obey. The love causes you to what?

You know what, God, I will do this.

I don't know what the reward is, but I know this is a part of

your Kingdom. I'll keep doing it.

I'll keep doing it. The third thing is you're

focused on his body rather than your own body.

Selflessness causes you to focus on His body rather than your

body, making it all about yourself.

This whole selfie thing, you want to show your your true

side, but when you make it about his body, you start pointing it

out to something that is far bigger.

You start pointing it out to His Kingdom.

You start point pointing out what He wants to accomplish and

then through you. So today would you work in

living the selfless life and focus on that?

A deep sense of awareness of fools crisis has to come into

each and every one of us. This happens only when we

quietly allow Him to work in and through us.

As those potholes are being revealed, as those areas are

being transformed, you will soon realize selflessness becomes

second nature to what God's calling you to do.

What God's calling you to do. Suddenly even your workplaces

will start shifting. Suddenly the love and the

concern and the care, the language that you use will start

shifting. And that's where you will come

back. You have to come back to the

scriptures because that's where you will learn.

What does selflessness look like?

How did David do it? How did Abraham do it?

How did Elijah do it? How did Gideon do it?

How did Hannah do it? How did Esther do it?

How did Ruth do it? How did Naomi do it?

How did each? How did Sarah do it in her

Baroness? That's.

Where we learn. And that's where Paul points out

in Romans 15, four, that it is written to teach us.

It's not written so that we'll just, oh, OK.

Oh, it's a nice story. No, it's written so it'll teach

us. Every story is to teach about

us. When we read about Joseph, about

how he stood his ground and did not waver in terms of fooling

around with a married woman, he stood his ground.

He ran to the hills when he had to go and do what was required.

Even when he was the favorite child for his brother, he went

there and he did what was called.

He was selfless. There was always a selfless act

because the joy of the Lord, the obedience which had a deep love

for God and he was able to think beyond himself.

He was always about something far bigger his body.

Jesus is calling us for his church.

So today you and I have to go back to each and every lesson

and see God. Which area of this life should

lesson should I take an appropriated in my life?

We are to go back to the scriptures because it's inspired

by the Holy Spirit. Today I hear a lot of people

talking about you know what I'm being inspired by the Holy

Spirit. But the inspiration of the Holy

Spirit will always cause you to do something.

Every person was written the book in the Bible was inspired

and was allowed them to write and, and mind you, when you have

to write, you need to be in that constant communication.

You, there's no going back and forth.

You're just listening and you're obeying and you're writing.

So today as you're being inspired, what are you doing?

Don't tell me he's inspiring you, but you're sitting in your

corner and crying. You're sitting in your corner

and just doing nothing. God, the Holy Spirit will

inspires you, will cause you to do something.

He'll ask you to move into action.

Psalm chapter 86 verse 11. This is what happens.

Psalms 86:11

Teach me your way, O Lord, I will walk and live in your

truth. Direct my heart to fear your

name with awe inspired reverence and submissive wonder.

And the reason why I took it from the amplified was these two

words awe inspired reverence. Today, whenever I go back into

that quiet place of being with the Holy Spirit, there is a

renewed awe inspired reverence. Every song that I start singing

has an awe inspired reverence because it's taking me closer

into the throne room of holiness, which I really don't

deserve. I see my feeling so blatantly

and I ask God, God, I need your grace and your forgiveness.

And there's this beautiful thing about submissive wonder.

But when I love God to and I submit myself to Him, He shows

me. He shows me this word glimpse.

He gives me a glimpse of what His body will look like.

He gives me a glimpse of what unity looks like.

He gives me a glimpse of what God is doing around the world.

He gives me a glimpse of understanding what His plan is

for us. And so today can we come into an

awe inspired reverence and a submissive wonder or inspired

reference because we don't deserve it.

Submissive wonder because it'll only glorify God and no one

else. You know, when I remember, I

think Tina had preached earlier once from this passage of

Deuteronomy 6 verses four to seven.

And this is what every household they would say here, O Israel,

the Lord is God, the Lord is one.

And it's that one verse in that which talks about an entire

being. When today Paul is emphasizing

the Roman church to take that step forward and move, he's not

asking just for a spirit to be connected.

No, he's asking for our entire being, our mind, our heart, our

spirit man, our soul, our physical body.

So today the transformation that works, works entirely.

The word, the the work that the Holy Spirit does inspires us is

entirely so that we'll be able to move forward wholly.

When I'm moving to a place of doing God's plan and purpose, my

heart is in it. My mind is conceived it because

the Holy Spirit has inspired me. It causes my emotion and will to

react and my body moves ahead to do all that goes.

And when discouragement comes, I go back to God and I ask him to

strengthen me so that I'm strengthened all over again.

So today the first thing as I mentioned, if you have to finish

this race well, would be for us to live the selfless life and

not the selfie life. The second thing for us is to

live a life of relentless endurance.

Relentless endurance. What is endurance?

The ability to withstand hardship or adversity.

A lot of us have come through in life with a lot of hardship.

The scars on our faces, the marks on our body shows the

marks on our heart, on our on our strength, shows that we've

been through hardships. Today, a lot of us have

endurance just to make. Sure that we have enough so that

we have food, we have enough to do whatever we want to do, but

God's calling us to live this transformed life well so that

we'll have relentless endurance. What is relentless endurance?

Relentless is unceasingly intense, which means life is

going to be hard. It will hit you.

You get up, you're like, man, I'm going to push forward that

relentless. Your love is relentless.

Love is relentless. I will have to have a mirror

image of that in my working so that I'll be able to work with

endurance that is relentless. Romans chapter 15, verse four.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

The second-half says so that through the endurance taught in

the Scripture, every man of God, every woman of God in the Bible,

a love, the Holy Spirit. Even as we saw last week, we are

clothed by the Holy Spirit. What happens when Samson was in

his pit where he was there saying, God, give me the

strength every time it says the Spirit of God came upon him.

There is an evidence of the Spirit of God coming in

different parts in patches. But today when we who in the new

covenant, when we have allowed the Holy Spirit to invade us,

when he invades us through that fire, that experience that was

there in the upper room, and we all have our own personal upper

room experience. What happens is when he invades,

He gives us a relentless endurance.

He gives us a strength to face each new day, to face each new

mountain. And the reason why Paul talks

about this to the Roman church and he encourages them to have

relentless endurances because for what is going to come ahead.

Paul was addressing to the Roman church.

Paul was heading towards Rome, Peter came there.

After a couple of years, persecution arose and you won't

believe it, the Church of God. Christians were being

persecuted, but they all stood for their faith.

They all were being burnt alive. They all were put into those

colosseums where they allowed lions to go and eat them.

It was savage in terms of what people were wanting out of

humanity at that time, but the people stood strong for their

faith. Church, we are going to go

through seasons of tribulation, seasons of persecution, but will

we have the faith to stand our ground?

Will we be able to have endless endurance?

Endless endurance? There have been too many people,

too many people that we've journeyed with in the last five

years who stepped out of faith saying I don't want Jesus

because it's too hard. And today I'm going to ask you,

would you be relentlessly enduring whatever comes my way?

I choose to follow you, God, whatever comes my way.

The sense of physical endurance a lot of us go through.

If you're going to the gym, you will soon realize that you start

with five, you add 10, you add 15 if you go.

Immediately and you just put 20 and you pump.

What happens? Your muscles, which aren't used

to anything, become sore and then you're not able to do

anything. You become stiff.

But there's a sense of physical endurance that we keep building

up time and again. You each have an amount of

endurance you're able to handle with.

Regard to work for those of you who are lazy, this.

Doesn't make sense, but. For those of you who are pushing

yourselves, you are able to You first take this one job as a

freelancer. Then you're able to manage time.

When you take two, you're able to manage that well.

You suddenly see there's a steady amount of increase that

happens. For those of you in your work

spot, no one loves just being in the same position within the

span of two years. You're trying to achieve more,

you're trying to see more. You're upgrading mode.

Nowadays, you do upscaler and all of those things and you're

honing these skills to do much more.

There's a certain level of endurance you're able to happen.

After you've gone through one dev project and that's gone

live, you suddenly are like able to handle a couple of more

releases. Well, you don't have the anxiety

that you thought enveloped you. Suddenly you're overcoming it

time and again. A lot of you're able to bring.

There's a certain allow of physical endurance.

You're able to handle family hardships.

A lot of us have grown, woken up and walked through a lot of

hardships. A lot of us have walked through

their fathers, have walked out where fathers have lost jobs and

you've gone through a sudden season of poverty where there's

been hardship for money. Some of us have to work early in

life so that we can provide for our families.

Physical endurance shapes us, but the same has to translate to

a physic spiritual endurance because if a spirit man weakens,

everything crumbles. We suddenly are striving for a

physical means but we fail to achieve what we have to achieve

for eternity. And Paul wants to set that

record straight because he wants his people to have the will, the

endurance to finish the race well, the transformed race well.

And I came across this article, it says in the according to the

National Institute of Health Sciences, what is physical

entrance measured? The gold standard measure of

cardio respiratory endurance is maximal aerobic power VO2 Max,

the greatest rate at which a person is able to consume oxygen

during sustained exhaustive exercise.

And even I say that that I just highlighted these words, consume

oxygen during sustained exhaustive exercise.

And today, God's reminding us, what are we consuming in our

physical, sustained, exhaustive exercise, in our pursuits, in

our pursuits of doing God's work, in our pursuit of doing

our family work, in our pursuit of doing all of this because all

of this is combined together. Nothing is isolated, nothing is

compartmentalized in our Christian work.

Everything is together. What I do in my work bleeds into

my personal life, bleeds into my spiritual life.

So in this entire thing, what is, what oxygen am I consuming?

What is if? And I pray that all of us will

say that we are consuming the Holy Spirit because it's in that

we will soon realize an overflow of each trickling into one

another. If it is money, you will soon

realize the pursuits of money will.

Your job will look entirely different.

Your family values will look entirely different.

A lot of us have placed our family values so much that we

have suddenly just isolated ourselves entirely.

But Paul's saying here, your endurance matters go back to the

Scripture. Your endurance has to come to

the one who inspired the Scripture, which is the Holy

Spirit. And so today I pray that we will

consume the Holy Spirit more so that in a sustained exhaustive

exercise, we will develop an endurance that will be

relentless. Today our endurance has

Christians have to be 1 where our Holy Spirit consumption

should be far bigger, far bigger.

Let us take the Holy Spirit into our work.

God, give me discernment. God, how do I handle this

employee who I'm who I'm overseeing?

How do I speak life into him? He's not doing I know he's

cheating right now. He's saying he's done the work

he's not doing. How do I take him on that

journey of making sure give me the right words, give me the

right amount of level of words to say so I can correct them in

kindness and in love so that that will be able to make a

difference in their life. Let's take the Holy Spirit in.

For those of us who are managers in the company, selling thing,

laying off, God give us you need the Holy Spirit's guidance,

otherwise you will break. For those of you who are walking

into areas and seasons of heavy demand, God give me your grace

and peace so I'll be able to sustain this journey.

Are we wholly dependent on this Holy Spirit?

We are all fragile people who God has to set apart to do His

mighty work. We are not people who are

strong. We are people who are fragile.

When God sets us apart, we are fragile.

We are dependent wholly on Him. That's what it says in Second

2 Corinthians 4:7–10

Corinthians chapter 4, verses 7 to 10.

Paul tells us to the Corinthian church.

He says we now have this light shining in our hearts, but we

ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great

treasure. This makes it clear that our

great power is from God, not from ourselves.

Was eight we a lot of have read this was but I want us to take

this if we are going to live relentlessly enduring lives.

This is something we are pressed on every side by troubles, but

we are not crushed. We are perplexed but not driven

to despair. We are hunting down but never

abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are

not destroyed through suffering. Our bodies continue to share in

the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen

in our bodies. So today, if you want to have

endurance, relentless endurance, remember this is what the life

of a transformed person looks like in Jesus, pressed by

troubles, but you're not crushed.

Perplexed. Confusion will come in, but we

are not driven to despair because the Holy Spirit will

give us clarity. We are hunting down.

It feels like everyone is targeting us, but we won't feel

abandoned because the God of the Angel armies is with us.

It'll feel like you're knocked down time and again.

You're rising up, you're getting knocked on, but he's saying you

will not be destroyed. So trust the Holy Spirit that as

the enemy knocks you down time and again, you will rise up.

You will rise up. You will feel like you're

suffering, but he's saying you will have life.

Suffering will be there, but you will have eternal life.

You will have prosperous life here on this earth.

You will have the joy which comes from Him today.

Let endurance cause me to get up again and push through my

Christian life because I'm breathing the Holy Spirit.

I'm consuming him. I'm consuming Him alone.

If you have to go back to the scriptures, we need to go back

to the person who gave us the scriptures.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Word,

and the Word was God. So today, don't think you can

endure by just taking a post from Instagram, by reading that,

or by just listening to the 32nd reel.

It won't help you. It might move you away from what

God's calling you to do. Don't run after every other

prophetic voice. Be discerning of what God's

calling you for. Every season I, me and Tina have

had prophetic people speak over our lives, but those are all

prophetic words spoken over us. But it has taken time for it to

come through. And when it comes through, it's

like something in your journey where it comes through.

It's a milestone. You're like, God, thank you

Lord, I didn't know, but thank you that I was able to stand

along in this journey. And as you push through, those

become marks where those are markers in your life, which says

this is what the Lord did. He spoke to me this in 2010, He

fulfilled in 2020. Are you still running the

transformed life? Are you running it because God

wants to build endurance, relentless endurance.

So I pray that you will be strengthened by that.

You won't give up. You won't give up.

And that's why we need community.

That's why we need people. We come alongside people so that

we can strengthen one another. That's why church is important,

even as you're listening to this online.

Even as you're. Watching this, I pray that you

would find people around you who you can go.

One of the words that we constantly use is as his

children, our homes. What does it mean to be

selfless? Open those longer tables.

If you want to live this life that God's calling you transform

life. You will live it with doors

opened longer tables because you will see in selflessness and in

relentless endurance. God is fulfilling all that he's

called you to do. The third thing that we see in

Paul as he encourages the Roman church, I love how he concludes

Romans chapter 16 but he gives a warning and I want to 1st read

Romans 16 · chapter mention

that warning before he goes on to exalting.

Paul gives a warning to the church and it says in Romans 16

was a 17 to 18I urge you brothers and sisters to watch

out for those who cause divisions and who put obstacles

in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learnt.

Keep away from them, for such people are not serving a Lord

Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery,

they deceive the minds of naive people.

Even as we did this, I pray and urge that each and everyone of

us will be mindful of who we are allowed to speak into our lives.

I can boldly say that God's constantly moving people out who

we think have to be hearing from.

But then He says no, their their intentions aren't right.

They're coming from this small mindset.

When I've called you for something bigger, don't settle

for something small. It says here for such people are

not serving the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites.

Find out clearly who's telling what to you.

If it is from the Lord, it will be tested in their own life.

Ask them have they tested God and seen in that?

If they are not, you don't have to take it because God who's

walking in and through US will cause us to testify of what he's

done. A lot of times we are gathering

people around based on a particular hurt, particular view

of thinking, particular thinking, you know what, or this

happened to me or this happened to you And we are move.

We we gather people around certain things that have

happened in our lives, but God saying gather and around those

who are overcomers and not those who have been hurt because

hurting people will hurt others. Hurting people will, will, will

feed their own appetites. Hurting people will see things

only through a selfish lens, but move toward those who are

overcomers because they have allowed the Holy Spirit to walk

in and through them. What we've seen in the last two

weeks is allow people who are living the transformed life to

speak into your lives. Don't be flattered by their

smooth talk as the Korean band BTS sang that song Smooth Like

Butter. Don't be.

If you're wanting flattery, take it.

You'll realize that they have wrong intentions for you.

If their intent is to divide, runaway.

If they're not about unity, move away.

If it is not about fulfilling what God's called them to do for

the global body, runaway. Because if it's causing them to

just fulfill their own need, their own presence, their own,

their own selfish things, move away.

Move to what God's calling you to do.

Because what God is calling you to do will always be about his

body. If they're wanting to benefit

for themselves, keep away. Because many a times, a lot of

times you're trying to align ourselves.

Our alignment matters. We saw that in our youth service

two weeks back. Our alignment matters because

when we align, the trajectory of our alignment is completely

different. Paul goes on to emphasize in

chapter 16 that we have to find these people to journey along

with the life journey, along with people who are aligned with

God, with faith is tested, who have proved to be selfless, who

continue to live with relentless endurance.

And I love how he concludes it because those are the people who

will mark your journey of salvation and your pursuit of

eternal life. In Roman 16, chapter one, we see

he introduces this person called Phoebe, who's the Deacon of the

church. He says welcome her as the one

who's worthy of honor among God's people, help her in

whatever she needs for she has been helpful to many and

especially to me. He's attesting that she's been

selfless. She's attesting, he's attesting

to the fact that she's been relentlessly enduring running

the race of endurance. And he says go ahead.

And he talks about Phoebe. He talks about Priscilla and

Akila. My Co workers in the ministry of

Christ Jesus, They once risked their lives for me.

I am thankful for them and so are all the Gentile churches.

This is the testimony. These are people who are

overcomers, people who are. Which means we don't negate of

what did not happen. We don't negate the pain, but we

rise above it. We know that this is part of

God's will and plan for me, but we rise up because God is

calling us to see things bigger, see things further.

My dear friend Ephenitus, he was the first person from the

province of Asia to become a follower of Christ.

Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit?

Adronicus and Junior, my fellow Jews were in prison with me.

We are highly respected among the apostles and became

followers of Christ before I did.

Today. Who are your friends who are

overcomers? Don't find friends who will

accompany you and sit alongside with you and have a pity tea

party. Find those overcomers, Rufus,

whom the Lord picked out to be his very own, and also his dear

mother who has been a mother to me.

And I have taken certain characters here from those.

But I would encourage you to read because you'll soon see

this is a picture of a body. This is not a picture of just

all musicians alone or all creatives alone.

No, it's across the spectrum. Those who are older became

mothers and fathers, those who are younger challenged and

championed along others, those who are in different stages of

life, those who have gone through persecution, those who

have gone through imprisonment, everything.

They've all been overcomers. And so today, as we conclude, I

would ask you, what are we today?

Are we an overcomer or are we rallying people across who will

feel sorry for us, who will sympathize with us?

Because honestly, the Church of Jesus has room for people to

come. It's it, it addresses the people

who are broken. It causes us to identify that we

are hurting. But the power of God, the

clothing of the Holy Spirit transforms us and we move to

become an overcomer. And so today as a church, we

will move towards overcoming. We all will be overcome us

because that's what God wants us to.

Is the temptation going to be hard?

Yes, that's what it says. We have the oppressed, not

crushed, persecuted, not abandoned.

And I believe that's where our focus has to be.

So today church, I would ask you, would you rise up together

with the members of his body, Christ's body, and saying God,

we all want to be overcome us because he has overcome.

He went ahead. He went ahead selfless.

He went ahead with relentless endurance.

He pursued whatever came his way.

And Paul has LED this by example.

And we saw that he was encouraged by overcomers.

Today I would love for each of us to be an overcomer and

encourage one another. We all will go through

hardships. We all will go through different

stages of suffering, grief, pain, but God wants us to rise

up to be an overcomer so that we'll encourage someone else

nearby. We'll encourage someone else.

For far too long we've had people just complain and

complain and complain. Honestly.

Today the church is going to move ahead.

God is calling us to move ahead. We won't move ahead complaining.

You'll move ahead, overcoming. We will move ahead knowing that

all that we've been through was part of his plan and purpose.

And today I'll be an overcomer, which means I'm not coming to

church for others to understand my pain and suffering.

I'm coming to church to tell God, God, in spite of my pain

and suffering, I've come here. So I'll be an overcomer.

I'll be an overcomer. I just want to conclude this.

Two weeks back, I was. In Calcutta and I, my dear

friend Rohan, I spent a day with him and I was just talking with

him. I had other work, but I just

caught up with coffee and we spent close to three hours

talking. And I remember sitting in that

same coffee shop years back, 8-9 years back, and we were dreaming

about some of the things that we wanted to do 8-9 years later.

We've had different journeys, we've had different pathways.

He went on to do extensively great stuff in media.

I went on to set up the media company and do things like that

and church plant and all that. But today, when we both are

looking back, we are still in that same place where God's

asking. Us, Would you move forward?

Would you move forward? Which means I can't become

selfish. And as I was sharing what God's

been doing in our lives and as I was hearing him share, there was

so much of interjection. And it gave us an idea of what

the body is going to look like and why we need each other and

why we need to encourage one another and why we are saying we

have to be an overcomer. Encourage us each other through

our stories of overcoming, of overcoming our disbelief, of

overcoming our faithlessness, of overcoming the struggles that

we've gone through. And to say God is doing

something marvelous. Let's journey along together.

And I and I and I am thankful for friends who God has brought

into the life of Weazen. This year alone, 2024 has been a

year of all those encouraging overcomers who've walked

alongside with us. There have been seasons when

we've sat alongside dining tables and we've asked them how

do we do this? This is what happened.

It's brought us down and they've encouraged us.

They've told us to be an over, which required us to be selfless

because we had to clear our calendar out to say no, we need

time to be minister too, even as you're ministering.

And today I want to ask you, can you clear your calendar so God

can bring in those overcomers to share their testimony so that

you will become an overcomer today.

I don't want each and anyone of you to go out of this feeling

you're less than. You are called to be an

overcomer. The Holy Spirit wants to walk in

and through you. But can we today start off

saying, God, I want to be living this transformed life selflessly

so I can imitate how you did it for us.

I want to have relentless endurance.

So I'll push through whatever because my dependence, my oxygen

is you and you alone, you and your word, Your word, which is

being inspired, will be my oxygen.

The third, I would be encouraged by overcomers.

And in turn, my testimony will become one of an overcomer where

I'll be able to testify. So today, as I pray, I pray that

the Holy Spirit will move in and through you right now.

Thank you for this time, Lord. I pray for all those who are

listening that the Holy Spirit would fall of flame right now.

A fresh fire would fall, a wind would blow.

It would transform us. It would shape us, Lord,

Landscape us, Lord, remove those unnecessary weeds.

Shape us to be who you've called us to be so we can bear a fruit,

not just 1000, but thousands. That we'll bear fruit in season

and out of season because we are planted by the water of life,

which is you, Lord. I pray that you would go before

US, strengthen us, take charge of us.

I pray in everything that we'll give thanks to you, Lord.

I pray that, Lord, we'll be selfless so that we'll be able

to see you more clearly. Because when we are selfish,

it's like this opaque mirror, but when we are selfless, it's

this transparent mirror where we can see through and see what God

is doing. I pray even right now, Lord

Jesus, for that relentless endurance.

I pray for my friends and people around who have slowly starting

to give up. Lord, inject faith.

Lord, adrenaline. Faith will be injected so that

Satan and his vices and every disruptive spirit will be cast

out, Lord, that they'll be able to step out in boldness and do

all that you call them to do. Lord Jesus, endurance to stand.

I pray for those who are being pressed, persecuted, abandoned.

They all will rise up, Lord Jesus, rise up to know that you

are calling us, Lord Jesus, who are haunted down, knocked down,

who feel like suffering, that they'll have relentless

endurance to push through. And I pray that, Lord, we'll be

encouraged by overcome as I pray all those who are speaking

negatively will be, Lord, you'll silence them.

Our ears won't even pick up those frequencies, Lord, that

we'll be encouraged by overcomers right now.

I pray Holy Spirit, move in right now, Lord Jesus, move in

their homes, move in their spaces, move in the cars, move

into the through their earpieces that they're listening into that

they will be flourishing right now.

Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, may they break out speaking in

tongues. May they break out, Lord,

knowing that you're moving in and through their lives right

now. Lord Jesus, every demonic

activity be broken. Lord Jesus, every past be

broken. Lord Jesus, every lie of the

enemy be broken right now. Lord, everything that Satan has

plagued them with will be broken in the name of Jesus.

Every dominion, every power that is not of you will bow down to

the name of Jesus. We thank you.

Go before us, take charge. I pray that Lord, your word will

bear a rich harvest in our lives for the Most Holy, namely, pray,

Amen. Amen.

Church, Can you believe it? We've completed the series, but

I pray that the Holy Spirit will be with you as you step out this

week. His Holy Spirit will guide you

and strengthen you, cover you, but at the same time that you'll

be anointed to find strength in your everyday move into a

disciplined way of learning from what God has to say.

Dive deep into His word. Hold on to Him.

And I pray that in time you'll bear a harvest.

I pray that you'll be encouraged that you won't be alone.

Allow the Holy Spirit to clothe you.

He's a close friend. He's a counsellor, he's a

Redeemer, and he's one who's willing to journey along with us

as long as we give him access. So I pray that you'll be able to

experience this today in your life.

God bless you all. Have a blessed week.

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