224 ~ ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME ~ 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 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 church, this is the joy and the privilege to be bringing

God's Word to you today. For those of you watching and

for those of you listening, I pray that even as we meditate on

God's Word, God's Word will do a work in and through us.

Over the last five parts, we've been diving deep into Romans and

we've been seeing that Paul starts his message with faith,

asking them to bear faith that it has to grow.

And even as you come to the 6th part, there's I would request

you to spend some time reading it because it's essential book

for our Christian work, for all of us who are in this journey,

for some of us who may call ourselves as seasoned

Christians, it's always good to revisit it because whatever

stage of life we are in, I think God wants to reset and check

whether our faith is intact, to check whether we are able to do

all that he's called us to do, to check are we still pursuing

him or we're pursuing something else.

So today, even as we get into the 6th part, we're going to be

in three chapters, Romans 9:10 and 11:00, and there's a general

Romans 9:10

emphasis that Paul is talking about his reign.

We can see that even though Paul has been commissioned to go and

do the work in Acts 13, we see he was, he was commissioned to

go to the Gentiles and carry the news.

You know, he had this drive and a big passion to take it to the

ends of the earth. But we also see him talking to a

Roman church here and telling them, hey, even as we as

Gentiles are all in this journey, Israel too is part of

the plan. It's just that they still

haven't figured it out. It's still that only a few have

figured it out. And so he talks about his deep

love for Israel because it's all started that he was born, that

he was groomed, that he was raised up, that he stuck to the

Jewish law, you know, firmly till God met with him and said,

why are you persecuting me? And that's when his eyes got

open, the scales fell down. He was able to see Jesus for who

he is. He saw his entire plan for the

church. And he was able to start his

work, not just in one part, but to go around raising people up

so they'll do what God's called them to do.

And so even as we meditate on this, we are going to look at

what are the lessons we can take back because Paul goes on to say

what the Israelites didn't do, goes on to see how they

disobeyed and what they missed out on.

And I believe it's a lesson for us to always go back and see

what is it I can learn from someone else?

What is it I can learn from the Israelites?

You know, one of the things which I've learnt up all these

years, especially in the last 15 years when I've moved streams

and taken up newer things to do, is I've always seen others do it

and I've learned from them. I always ask them the important

questions. I always ask them what happens

in the long run, how do I sustain myself?

How do I make sure I'm consistent in delivering this?

And those conversations are pivotal because that enables us

to stay focused on where we are heading.

And so Romans nine starts off like this.

And I would ask and urge you that as you see this, we won't

take God's salvation lightly. One of the key themes that we

see in 9/10/11 is Paul builds a case as to what Israelites did

and missed out on God's salvation.

There were a few who chose it time and again, but the majority

of them fell. And so today, I don't know where

you're at, but it's good for us to realign and think, God, where

is my salvation which you came, which you gave?

Am I holding on to it or am I just treating it like something

else? So Romans Chapter 9 verses one

Romans 9 · chapter mention

to five goes on to say, at the same time, you need to know that

I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow.

It's an enormous pain deep within me and I'm never free of

it. I'm not exaggerating.

Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses.

It's the Israelites. If there were any way I could be

cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I do it

in a minute. They are my family.

I grew up with them. They had everything going for

them. Family, glory, count and

Revelation worship promises, to say nothing of being the race

that produced the Messiah, the Christ who is God over

everything always. Oh yes, there's a deep

understanding where Paul goes on to say that he is concerned.

He still, as much as he's doing everything outside for others

who don't know, who are not by blood, who are not, you know,

followers of Christ by hereditary, He's telling, My

heart still longs for my country people because it's where

everything started. It's where everything came from.

And so you'll always see in your life, there'll be a deep,

profound thing for you to go back to where you came from to

do what you're called to do. It's also a deep, profound thing

to go back and tell them the truth.

And the first thing I want us to note down is the Israelites

thought that their salvation was hereditary because of their

father Abraham, who made that obedient choice to follow God.

They thought it's hereditary, but God's salvation is not

hereditary. God's salvation is not

hereditary. God's salvation causes us to

pursue after him. God's salvation causes us to

understand that there's a deep longing that I need and only God

can fulfil. And So what happened to the

Israelites is because Abraham made the decision.

They always went back saying Abraham, our father did it, but

what are you doing? And today it comes down to us.

Today, we can't. For those of us who come from

Christian homes, we can't be comfortable knowing that my

father knew Christ, my mother knew Christ, my grandparents

knew Christ, and do I know Christ?

For those of you who have come who made the decision solely for

yourself and you're the 1st generation believer, make it a

mandate to pass it on to someone else to tell them, hey, can you

make a personal decision to follow Christ?

Can you make it a personal decision to read your word?

Can you make it a personal decision to honor God and take

Him at His word? God's salvation is not held the

tree. Romans Chapter 9 verses 7 to 8

Romans 9:7–8

says not because they are his descendants.

Are they all Abraham's children? On the contrary, it's through

Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.

In other words, it's not the children of my physical descent

who are God's children, but it's the children of the promise who

are regarded as Abraham's offspring.

And you see what Paul does is he builds a case, he says in

Abraham's own human nature. You know, he ended up having

Ishmael and then he had Isaac. Ishmael was out of it, was his

own timing, was his own, his and Sarah's own way of creating a

promise. But Isaac was the fulfillment of

the promise. And so today, we today we will

only see salvation become fulfilled in our lives if we

have obedient hearts. The first step we see in

Abraham's life was when God called him, he obeyed, he left,

he didn't hold on to the place where he is, and he followed

God. We see time and again he held on

to the promise that God will bless him will create a nation

out of him and we see the fulfillment of that came with

Isaac and you know Paul goes on to build this case where you

know God chooses was Ishmael important was important and many

a times the power of Freebl as we saw last week.

You know it's the beautiful gift God's given us is the fact that

will we hold on to him even after the miracle comes past and

even enjoyed it and it goes Hagar and Ishmael.

Hagar grew up in Abraham's house when they went away.

We don't know what could have been the status of their faith.

They probably felt abandoned. They probably felt, oh, they

just got intermarried into the places where they went and they

formed a religion of themselves. We see in Israel itself, We see

in Isaac that out of two children that he has, one goes

astray. He we see time and again he

bought grievance to the family. There was something that he

wanted to do against his father and mother, and God cannot come

into those places and say no, you have to.

Paul constantly brings this topic when you read in Romans 9

and 10 about election. But you know there are few who

are chosen, but the chosen are obedient.

The chosen are obedient. We see the others who could have

been chosen, but they had disobedient hearts.

We see that time and again when we read the kings of Israel,

they chose what they wanted for themselves.

They didn't let go of that free will choice to say God, what do

you want me to do? And I believe that's where we

allow God's balance between his chosen and us choosing for

ourselves. And here we read this beautiful

thing of children of obedience. So we saw the first thing is

God's salvation is not headed headed the tree, which means we

can say under the religion cross that I am a Christian by birth,

but it's only when we experience Jesus guys personally are we

Christ followers. The second thing we see is God's

salvation is birthed purely out of obedience.

Purely out of obedience. It's not OK, you come, you get

this. No, that's not the Christian

faith. The Christian faith is to say I

am a Sinner, I am in desperate need of a saviour and I obey the

Saviour of the world. What does he want me to do?

I love what it says here that Isaac was a child of promise.

And Paul goes on to see that we were probably not physical

descendants of God's children, but we it is the children.

We are the children of promise with regard to Abraham's

offspring. And this word promise, when you

see in Greek it says epaglia, which points back to the Old

Testament. Every time the word promise

occurs in the New Testament, it points back to the Old

Testament, which refers to the fact that it took time.

Which promise, Which means it didn't go void.

Promise, which means it got fulfilled promise, which means

once you hold on to it, God will bring it to pass.

Not in your timing, but in His timing.

Not your ways, but His ways. Not in the plan which you think

will fill and will make it look good, no, but in His.

So today, how are you going to obey Him?

Today how are you going to be obeying him?

Every promise of God has to be fulfilled.

Every promise of God has in a point in time.

Every promise of God requires us to be adhering to what God's

calling us to do. Abraham's promise would not have

happened if he had started doing his own thing.

We see Ishmael came out, but for his promise to come through,

Abraham had to solely seek God. Abraham had to obey what God was

calling him to do. Abraham had to set himself

apart. And we see they circumcise

themselves. Every promise Abraham had to do

and pay the price to see his promise being fulfilled.

So today, so today we see that as Abraham made the choice, we

see a nation gets birthed. The nation was in captivity and

the nation crosses the wilderness.

They come into the promised land flowing with milk and honey to

live that chosen life. God gave them the law.

The law was supposed to align their heart and hands towards

God. But rather, they became so

caught up with what God had asked them to do that they

forgot their heart condition. Soon sin offerings were just

done for the sake of being done because they were like, if this

is your sin, do this. If this is we and they created a

process out of it, generations followed it blindly.

And we see so many of them started going acid because they

started moving their free will to doing whatever they wanted to

do. Today, Paul is emphasizing

specifically that God's salvation is an internal work.

Today, one of the beautiful things that we see God doing

each and every one of our lives is in it.

In it's it's this beautiful marriage that He's done.

That faith has to go hand in hand with what we do.

And that leads me to the Third Point.

God's salvation establishes our faith in Him by a confession and

moves it into action. Because we confess we are a

Sinner, we get redeemed. And because we are redeemed, we

are not called to live the same like how we've lived as a

Sinner, but rather live in this new life that he's called us to

live. And for those of you listening

or probably like Geshom, I know this, I've, I've heard this so

many, but a lot of times, are we living the life that we lived

out from a place of redemption? Or are we living the life that

we are called to live out of a place of being a Sinner?

Because if you're living out of the place of redemption, we will

live it His way. We can still be saved.

But are we living out of a place of a Sinner?

Because then we're still beating those sin cycles trying to

overcome the sin patterns. God is asking us to move.

Move into the place of living out my salvation by faith, and

it gets manifested by the work of our hands.

Romans 10 verses one to four goes on to say, Brothers and

sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites

is that they must be saved. For I can testify about them

that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on

knowledge, since they do not know the righteousness of God

and sought to establish their own, and they did not submit to

God's righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the

law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who

believes. If you want to underline, you

can. Unlike Christ is the culmination

of the laws, so there may be righteousness for everyone who

believes. The Israelites were so caught up

in obeying the law that they missed out when the law was

being fulfilled. The Israelites were so caught up

in performing what the law required that they forgot in

being in the very nature that the law required him to be in.

It's not either this or that. And we see Paul building this

case up because in the previous chapter in Romans 9, we see that

Paul says what then? Shall we say that the Gentiles

who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it in a

righteousness that is by faith. But the people of Israel who

pursued the law as the way of righteousness are not attain

their goal. Why?

Not? Because they pursued it not by

faith, but as it it were by works.

There was a clear difference as to how Israel pursued and how

the people who came to know Jesus pursued.

The Israelites pursued it only by doing it.

If you observe the Sabbath law, if you do this, but they didn't

go to the Y and God wants us to go to the Y time and again every

time. He wants us to know our heart

motives. If he had to call Abraham as a

friend, if he had to call David as one of my own, who I can

look, if he had to see Moses and converse with them face to face,

if he had to panpic Samuel to talk to him, it's because their

heart was right even before they were doing anything right.

So today is your heart right, 'cause what?

Your heart, The status of your heart, the condition of your

heart, the place where your heart is, is where your hands

will move towards. And I'm telling you boldly, I've

seen so many people who've been so caught up in doing they'll

want to do. And I've been in that place way

long back and God had to drag my nose by the dirt and teach me a

hard lesson. Guess from your heart matters

because we can do everything, but if a heart's not in it,

everything will be 0. We can pursue to push, to say we

have to do this, we have to do that.

You'll find people around you who will say, you know what?

The church is not doing this. The church, probably the church

shouldn't be doing it. If God's raising up a person, he

will raise up a person specifically to do that specific

act. But if you go about doing, we'll

be like aimless, headless chickens running, not going

where we are going. We cannot stress one over the

other. Faith.

It starts with faith and it manifests in work.

When we just believe and fail to do, our actions fail to showcase

Jesus. Rather it comes top down.

We will push people to do, to do, to do.

And I think along the church has first long taken this as a big

brunt where we've constantly thought, you know what, if

you're serving, serve, serve, serve.

But today I want to ask you, can you get your heart right before

you serve? Can you get your heart check

before you serve? Because you know why you're

doing and for whom you're doing it for when we just keep doing

without believing these good works remain good works, but

this it's meaningless because anyone else can do good works.

Today, there are people who want to eradicate hunger.

There are people who want to give education.

You don't need to be a Christ follower to do it.

You can have a good heart to do it.

If you're thinking you have to be within the church to do it,

you're mistaken. Go join.

A lot of nonprofits are doing go and do it with them.

You might find meaning and purpose.

You might find more Christ like people of all you know.

But if God's calling you to step into a place of doing something,

get your heart right, don't. A lot of us are tagging along

with someone else's heart being right.

God wants each of our hearts to be right, especially when it

comes to faith and work. As I said, God's salvation

establishes our faith. He wants to establish our faith

first so that whatever storm comes, the work won't determine

our faith because whatever storm comes, whatever is not working

won't shake our faith because our faith is established on the

rock. It's established on the rock in

Romans chapter 10 verses 9 to 13.

Romans 10:9–13

It says if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe

in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be

saved. For it is with your heart that

you believe that are justified, and it is with your mouth that

you profess your faith and are saved.

As you. Scripture says anyone who

believes in him will never be put to shame, for there is no

difference between Jew and Gentile.

The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all those who

call on him. For everyone who calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved. You know when you read verse 10

over here at Romans 10/10 in the amplified it's in an Ivy.

It says profess your faith and amplified it says faith openly

in the passion. It says for if you publicly

declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

Today a lot of us are shy about our faith.

We don't want anyone to know who's a Christian.

Why? Because you're not working

right. We don't do deliver.

We don't stick to our word. We are cheating of people.

What we charge 10, we charge hundred.

We are starting to exploit the very nature of Christ is not in

us so much that we are embarrassed to call ourselves

Christians. Sometimes you're embarrassed to

call ourselves Christians, thinking if we say we're a

Christian, we won't get the job. Sometimes we feel like if you

say we're a Christian, we'll be held to a higher standard, and

that's OK because Jesus is held to a higher standard, which

means his followers are held to a higher standard.

So today, if you and I have to realize and establish a faith,

it has to come out in the open saying I believe in Jesus and

this is how I do it. I believe in Jesus and this is

what God's calling me to do. I believe in Jesus and I will

stick to time. I believe in Jesus.

I will deliver my work on time. I believe in Jesus.

Jesus is within me and this is who.

This is why I show grace. This is why I show love.

This is why I carry the joy of the Lord.

This is why I exhibit peace even when things aren't going right.

So we realize that if we do not profess, our belief is hidden,

and God does not want us to be a light that's hidden.

He's saying, I want to sit you up on a mountaintop so that you

will shine so bright for everyone to see.

Why are we hiding ourselves? Why are we ashamed of the

gospel? Why are we ashamed of our

Saviour? I read a quote sometime back

which said, if you're ashamed of him, I wonder whether he'll be

ashamed of us when we meet with him there.

So today you and I have an honest decision to make.

Can you and I be open about our faith?

This world needs to know. Yes, Christians are getting

bashed around. We can't take ownership for

everyone, but I can take ownership over myself.

I can bring out the God colors through me.

So we saw one hand. Faith has to be professed.

It has to be openly spoken about.

We have to publicly declare. The second thing we see is work.

When we declare and we believe, it establishes the work of our

hands. We see Abraham.

His obedience caused him to profess his faith.

And because he professes entire household knew who Abraham's God

was. Because Abraham knew who his God

was, we saw the work of his hands is blessed.

We see time and again blessing just pouring out enlargement in

terms of his flock enlargement in terms of what he did.

Was it still the same tent? Was he still waiting for the

promise? It was everything remained the

same but enlargement happened and I believe that's where God's

calling us as his children to go today.

I want to challenge you church. I want to challenge you if God

is moving in and through you. He wants to bless everyone who

comes across your path. What does that mean?

Anyone who's interacting with you would be blessed.

Your maids, your people who are working with for you on a

monthly basis will be work. People who come across you in

your names will be blessed. They won't look at you as a

tyrant or a heartless person. They will look at you as a

person. Man, this person is speaking

right. He's living right, he's doing

right. Anyone who comes across you has

to know. It has to be like a channel.

It has to be like a channel. Faith and work to go hand in

hand. So what does work look like?

Romans 10 verses 14 to 15. How then can you call on the one

Romans 10:14–15

they are not believed in? And how can they believe in the

one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without

someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless

they are sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of

those who bring the good news? Isaiah 52 or seven.

In fact, it was a prophecy which came into fulfillment.

And Jesus is asking us today, I have given you redemption so

that you can do my work. I have redeemed you so that I

can do my work through you. What is that?

What is this good news that God's wanting us to take out?

He's saying if you've received the faith, you need to walk it

out. You need to work it out.

Take it everywhere you go 'cause when you carry it out, you're

carrying redemption, you're carrying grace, you're carrying

Jesus love, you're carrying the story of your salvation, of the

places that you're going. You're carrying freedom.

Today we are those carriers for all those who profess and have

faith in Jesus, that Jesus is my Lord.

We are mandated, we are asked, we are required to carry the

good news today. If you're just going to your

offices thinking and all, I'll just go by.

I'll earn my paycheck and come. You're mistaken.

You can keep doing that. That's a free will that you

have. But if this message sits in you,

if you've, if the gift of salvation is working in and

through you, the overflow of that will start happening.

You will take his joy, his love, his peace.

They will start looking at your marriage and saying, why is your

marriage different? Why is it that you're able to

have your kids intact? Why is it that you're able to do

life like this? Why is it that when you guys are

there, there's so much of radiance that's happening within

you? Everything is intentional.

Nothing just happens like that. Everything requires effort and

time and submission to God and taking things to prayer.

Today I want to ask you, a lot of us have selfish motives when

it comes to carrying the gospel just for myself or my family.

Am I carrying it because it's my source of income today?

Am I doing this? Am I, am I standing in front of

you and preaching because this is my source of income?

Am I doing it because it makes me feel good?

Am I doing this because it benefits me and my family?

For far too long we've been carrying it for our selfish

needs. And I want to tell you, church,

if we are selfish about why they're doing what God's called

us to do, we will always have a limit.

There's a limiter on what we see a salvation, what we see as the

outlook of our salvation. God is asking to remove that

limiter off, you know, in the, in the signs of audio when we

are actually, you know, in this, even in this kind of a setting,

I put a limiter so that the audio doesn't clip.

Even when I suddenly shout, there's a spike in terms of the

audio levels. But when I put a limiter, it

cuts off to that. It doesn't, it causes us so that

anyone is listening it on headphones or earphones they are

able to have. It's within the safety bounds of

it so that they are your hearing doesn't get disturbed.

There's a limiter so it cuts it off.

But too far too long, we put a limiter on our salvation.

We've put a limiter to say, you know what, only this much is

enough. You know, I'll, I'll be involved

in Sunday school because my kids are there.

Oh, I'll be involved in youth. Oh, you know what?

Because my teenage son is there or my teenage daughter is there.

You know what? I'll be involved in family

ministry because I feel you need to be involved in everything.

The salvation came for everyone. It came in every stage of life.

So today, have a broader understanding of where God's

calling you to go. Put your hands to labor in terms

of the field because it's far bigger than what you can

imagine. He starts it in one area, but as

you start drawing closer to Him, it expands.

That's what happens with redemption.

That is what happens when you operate out of a position of

being saved because your reference point starts there.

Because if God came for everyone, anything that you do

for His Kingdom will be for everyone.

It won't be for just you or for me or for my entire family in

the sense. And so I strongly believe God

wants to raise up people who are passionate about Him.

You know, my father-in-law keeps reminding me about Jimmy Carter

and the fact that he teaches Sunday school even after he was

the president. And I just was reading up and

looking through some of the articles and I heard one of his

last Sunday school sessions that he talked, and he talked on the

Day of Pentecost, I think it was in 2022.

And he talked about the Holy Spirit and what you're called to

do and what in what Jesus left behind so that he will be able

to do what he's called us to do. You know, he was the president

from I think till 1971 and from 1971 to 2022.

Last year is when he went into Hospice till 2022, same house,

same church, same thing. He was the president of the

United States, ex president. Look at that focus salvation.

He knew what God called him to do just because he became the

president it he could have had every other position possible.

He could have been in every other place, but he chose to be

in the House of the Lord because that's where he knew his biggest

impact was. And so today can our faith,

which is built on the right foundation, may the outworking

of that start working towards something far more bigger.

You know, if there's one thing which I want to, you know, tell

is the fact that I personally have experienced this when I'm

doing something small for God, God automatically expands my

heart for something bigger. And you know it, it doesn't

happen in a matter of in a in a year or two.

It takes five, 6-7 years. But when it happens, it happens

in such a way that the body is such bigger.

And I just want to share this one instance when it happened,

like I remember when we had to go study about media and I'd

taken a two year break to go and study and we're studying.

And every time in the statement of purpose, I put specifically

that I come back to India to teach media to the churches came

back. Lo and behold, 20/15/2016 is

when we established the company and we thought, you know what,

we'd be able to teach media to churches and help them grow

because I strongly feel God's really using the space and I

started conversations and no church wanted me to come and

teach and I just felt so dejected.

But I knew God, God will have a timing for that to happen.

And 2020, 1/20/2021 is when we got in touch me and Vicky and

me, Tina and Vicky became close. We started talking and we're

starting to share our deep desires.

When I realized the desire, what I had became a reality in

another person and all I was called to do is to champion him.

Because when I didn't have anyone to champion, I could be

there to champion someone else. And so today I feel like a lot

of us have given up on the work of God even before we can

champion it for someone else because we received a no from

the people at that time, at that stage.

So today, your faith and work has to go hand in hand.

It has to be consistent, it has to be growing.

It has to be established so that at a time, if God knows you're

serious, he can trust you with it.

God knows again, what this person is, that I will allow him

to take it up and do it. So can we operate out of the

place of having a foundation in the right place which produces

work to be established on the very same foundation?

So whatever you do cannot be established on the faith of

someone else. And so I far too long believe a

lot of us are running our Christian faith because of

someone else's burden, because this was the burden of someone

else's. Some my father had this.

No, it has to be yours. Till you make it yours.

You can't run with it. Oh, you know what?

They they started it. But as you're running with it, I

love God to give you that deep desire because that's what will

sustain you. Otherwise what will happen is

we'll just keep doing. We'll keep doing.

We'll become bitter. And there'll come a point where

we'll be like in Matthew 7 as we read.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the

Kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father

who is in heaven on that day. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord,

did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name

and do many mighty works in your name?

And then will I declare to them, I never knew you depart from me.

You workers of lawlessness may not come to a place where we've

just blindly done it without having a heart, where God says,

hey, I don't even know you. So many people can use my name.

But was it the will of my father?

Was it the will? Did we seek God?

Did my faith really spend time in finding God?

Is this what we are called to do?

We are doing it for God and not for the watching world.

Let's keep that as a cornerstone for us.

We're doing it for God, which means we do it out of the

overflow of our faith, which gives us room to testify why we

do what we do. Maybe never be caught up in

doing it because of everyone around us or because everyone's

watching us. Let's come to a place where we

are honest before God to say God, this is your doing.

This is where we are at. We will do it so that you will

be glorified. Faith and work may be

established right and may the outcome which comes of it be

right. The four thing that we see is

God's salvation reminds us that we are grafted into His

Holiness. You know, I remember Tina

talking about this whole grafting, I think a year or two

back and you know, with the whole biology term of how when

the stem is cut and then you graft it and it's intertwined.

And Paul reminds us, don't become like the Israelites

because God is a God who is stunned and a God is a God who

is kind, which means if he could cut off the branches which was

not producing fruit because they didn't receive the holiness from

the root, he will be stunned. Don't misuse God's kindness.

And he talks about in the early on in Chapter 11, he talks about

a remnant few who God has always had in his Kingdom.

When Israel was at the peak of idolatry, God raised up Elijah

to go and confront Ahab and Jezebel.

And in that confrontation, Elijah came out and his self

suddenly took over. And he said, God, why are you

doing this? You know, I am the only one who

was able to and got it to shut his mouth there and say no,

there were 7000 others who also didn't bow down.

Maybe never make it about ourselves.

Our God-given salvation is about God and not about us.

Don't tell anyone you know, because God I gave up.

I am honored that I was able to give this up for God.

That has to be the attitude as we go into the recurring

chapters because God's salvation came at a price which I can't

pay him back, which I can't do anything to contain it.

So which means when I am grafted into him, I'm grafted into His

Holiness. Which means if this is the tree,

God had chosen Israel. He saw that the Israelites were

coming. He slowly started chopping off.

As the Gentiles are coming, He's grafted them.

And in that grafting we need to produce holiness because the

tree is holy. So even as we read this passage,

we see from the very own life that grace was given.

Grace was received as a gift. This gift that is being received

can be handled in two ways. Today we receive gifts in two

different ways. We either receive it and we're

like, yeah, whatever. You know what?

I don't like it. I mean, the thought, I don't

hurt their feelings. So I just receive it.

I'll open it late and I'll be like, you know what?

I'll just repackage this and send it off to someone else for

their birthday gift. Or we take it like we didn't

deserve it. Hey, thanks so much.

This you've given. I'll use it.

That's the grace that gift we receive.

Grace is like that gift that God gives to us.

We cherish it, we hold it, it is what causes us to have that

communion with Him. So today are we participating

with our hearts fully towards this grace.

Because every time as we look through this, we see that there

will be hardships that come. There will be many who give up

their faith, but maybe never make it all about ourselves,

maybe always be celebrating those who are standing strong

and holding onto His truth, because that's where God wants

us to. His grace will causes us to

stand firm, knowing that He alone will be able to give us

the strength to produce that holy fruits.

So even as we're grafted into His Holiness, we see here in

Romans 11 verses 16, if the part of the door offered as first

Romans 11:16

fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy.

If the root is holy, so are the branches.

If the root is holy for the branch, so it's being grafted

and we are grafted into His Holiness.

So today maybe rely on the nourishments that the holiness

brings, which means we are set apart.

We can't be one with the world. If we think we're superior,

we're good enough for this grace.

Pride will settle in and God says He will cut us off.

Romans 11 was the 1718. If some of the branches have

been broken off, and you, though a wild olive should have been

grafted in among the others and now shared in the nourishing SAP

of the olive wood, do not consider yourself to be superior

to those other branches. If you do consider this, you do

not support the root, but the root supports you.

So which means may I not look like others are like, I mean be

embarrassed by this. They are on their fate journey.

They will deceive that nourishment.

It's for God to handle them. It's for God to handle them

Today as you and I have been grafted, God's salvation asks us

to be grafted into His Holiness. His Holiness is so profound that

it shapes us every day. It shapes us every day.

It shapes us every day. It, it, it moves us to a place

where we are able to say, God, may you be glorified.

May you be glorified through anything and everything.

The more I read on this, I'm realizing God, there is, there's

so much of nourishment I need from you every day because I

lack in seeing things your way. Even as we see these four

different things with regard to God's salvation, there's an

application that God wants us to hold on to.

We are living in a world where we hear God.

You know God is love and you know He loves us.

He runs after that one. He leaves in 99 all that.

But we also read of a God whose turn and a God whose kind.

Romans 11 verses 19 to 24. You will see.

Romans 11:19–24

Then branches were broken off so that I could be grafted and

granted, but when? But they were broken off because

of unbelief. And you stand by faith.

Do not be arrogant, but tremble, for if God did not spare the

national advances, He will not spare you either.

Consider therefore the kindness and the sternness of God's

sternest to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that

you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you will be cut off.

And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted

in, for God is able to graft them in again.

After all, if you're cut off out of an olive tree, that is wild

by nature and contrary to nature more grafted into a cultivated

olive tree. How much more readily will

these, the natural branches be grafted into their own olive

tree? So maybe never look to people

and think, you know what? That person has fallen out of

grace or you know, God's kindness extends, God's

restoration extends, God's strength extends.

We are all recipients because at a point God showed kindness

towards us. Maybe not become arrogant, maybe

not become prideful. Arrogant and prideful is only

thing. Others don't need it.

And God's reminding us a lot because today the world is

operating in such a way. A lot of Christians are

operating in such a way where I'm hurt and I think others

don't deserve God's kindness but God's.

When I'm hurt, I need God's holiness more if I'm grafted in

him because that hurt will be because of my own self being

inflicted. But God saying if you allow my

holiness to run through, I will show you far bigger what I'm

asking to do through you. So two things we need to deal

with if we need to allow God's turnness and His kindness to

work. Kindness, Maybe never be proud

or think less than of others. Maybe realize that this grace

that was given as a gift is specifically for me, that I will

enjoy God's kindness. If you're arrogant and if you

have unbelief, we will receive the other end of the stick,

which would be God's doneness. And when that happens, it is US

who has pushed God away and moved away because we, we, His

Holiness no longer makes sense. His Holiness no longer means

anything. So even as we conclude, I want

you to come to a place today wherever I don't know, For those

of you who've stood in a place thinking, you know what I

believed in God, salvation, heredity, I want to tell you

it's not hereditary, has to be personal.

You have to make that choice. Is God's salvation.

Is it birthed out of a place of obedience or have you just

randomly just made a decision and now you and now you're

thinking twice about why is the salvation not making sense to me

anymore? Go to a place of obedience,

obedience to his word, obedience to what he's asking you to do

after you've accepted as personal Savior.

The reference point is from a redeemed place and not from a

place of being a Sinner. God's salvation starts with

confession, by confessing and professing that Jesus, you are

God to others around, and moves us into action, into the work

that God's calling us to do. God's salvation reminds us that

you're grafted into His Holiness.

Again, as I conclude, I want to read the closing end of this as

I, I think Paul knew that this is going to be a heavy thing.

And so in all of this, because of God's sovereignty, because of

God's way of election and how we see his grace is given and

because of his grace given, we are able to obey.

He sees that there's this big difference and he says, and he

concludes it with a prayer. And the NIV has termed it as

doxology, which means glory. Doxo means glory logies.

It derives. That's what we get out what

theology and from. And so it's an expression.

So this is a glory expression where we can tell God who he is.

And even as I read and even as you see the words on the screen,

or for those of you listening, if you can just listen to it, I

pray you will be able to live out what God's called you, To

live out all the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge

of God. How unsearchable are His

judgments and decisions, and how unfathomable untraceable are His

ways. For who has known the mind of

the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has first

given to him that it would be paid back to Him?

For from Him all things originate, and through Him all

things live and exist, and to Him are all things directed to

him be glory and honor forever. Amen.

Amen. So Church, even as I pray right

now, I want to pray specifically that God's salvation will start

working in and through you. That and I strongly believe with

faith and work that when we allow God's salvation to work in

and through us, where to put the plough in and work and sooner

because his salvation was for all, the work that we do also

will be for all. So can we just pray and commit

this into God's sense? Lord, we thank you lot for your

word. Thank you lot for your children.

Even as we've received your word, we receive it into our

lives. I pray we live out in fulfilling

this. Lord, I pray especially, Lord,

for those who are struggling to be grafted in right now.

I pray they'll experience your kindness more than ever before.

Lord, I pray that unbelief will be turned to belief.

I pray that arrogance will be turned to one who's receiving

grace. We pray for your strength to

come into their lives. Lord Jesus, we thank you.

I pray more than anything, Lord, they'll see your Kingdom come,

your will be done. I pray especially for those who

have been unable to profess their faith in the area that

you've placed them. For those who've been hiding and

or hiding their light so that others can't see.

We move to a place of realizing they're shining it for you.

They'll be bold. They'll be in a place of being

proud that I'm a Christ follower.

And in turn, they'll start doing works that glorify you.

They'll start doing works that will bring you the glory.

They will start doing work that will lift you up.

Lord Jesus, we thank you. Be glorified, be honored.

We thank you for all that you're doing, Lord Jesus.

And through the life of the church, be with your children.

Go before us. In your most holy name we pray.

Amen. Amen.

So even as you heard this word, I pray that you'll be able to

live it out. God's salvation will be real.

God's salvation will work in and through your life.

It wouldn't just be a place where you've where you're just

doing it for the sake of doing it, but we praise of deep

obedience to God. The faith and the work that you

do will be intertwined and that you'll be grafted into His

Holiness so that you'll be able to give glory to Him alone.

I pray that you have a blessed week.

God bless you all. Thanks for listening to this

message. We hope you were blessed to hear

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