222 ~ ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME ~ PART 4

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 the

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.

High chess, this has a joy and a privilege to be bringing God's

word to you today. We're in the fourth part of the

series, All Roads Lead to Rome. It's study on the book of

Romans. And even as we've been dwelling

on this over the last couple of weeks, I believe God is wanting

to do something in and through us.

I don't know you, but I believe as we complete the book of

Romans, the intention of Paul was the fact that the Roman

churches would be deeply rooted in Jesus, that they would find

the identity in him, that they would be transformed, and that

they'll be able to live out this life, this Christian life in a

pluralistic, in a world that desperately needs Jesus.

And I think we are today in that same pivotal place where we are

called to live out our lives to the fullest so that people will

be able to experience Jesus more than ever before.

And so even as we take some time to dwell in, I pray that your

hearts will be open and they'll be able to listen in and hear

God word clearly into your own lives.

And his Spirit will start ministering to your causing you

to change and do all that he's called you to do.

So let's just start with a quick word of prayer.

Our loving heavenly Father, Lord, even right now, we just

thank you for this time. I pray even as we hear your

word, it'll fall on the good portion of our hearts, Lord

Jesus, that it'll bear fruit. That, Lord, wherever we need

changes, that we'll be able to do the changes that's necessary.

Lord, we commit ourselves wholly to you.

Lord, take all of us entirely that we'll be transformed to be

more like you here on this earth.

In your most free name we pray, Amen.

Amen. Even as we started the first

part we saw faith has to be something like a gradient faith

where we have a start point where we are continuing on in

this faith journey, which looks more like a gradient and it's

more reflecting and looking like Jesus as the days go by that we

start emitting the hue and the colour of who Jesus is.

The second part, we saw that God alone is our judge, that we

don't get to judge anyone just because we've received Christ or

just because others have received His grace, and that we

need to allow God to work in and through US, which means God has

no favorites, which means that even in our own lives we can't

have favorites. We need to start seeing everyone

as image bearers. You also saw on the second part

that God wants to consecrate our hearts.

It is in fact, the word that was used there to circumcise our

hearts many times. He's striving towards our

outward appearance as Christians.

But God's concerned about the heart, and He wants to

circumcise our heart so that we'll be able to look much

deeper into our own lives, ask Him to change the hard things

that caused us to stay away from Him.

Last week we saw that all of our stories are God's stories and

that God is calling us to take a risky faith embrace, which means

when we move in living out His word, it has to be one where

it's faithful. We are taking a bold step of

faith. We also saw that because of this

risky faith, He changes us from nobody's to somebody's.

We also saw that He brings out something out of nothing.

And the third thing we saw is that when we focus on what God

is doing rather than what we don't see happening around, many

a times this Christian walk that is being asked of us to live

happens in the everyday. It happens in the smallest of

things when we start celebrating the small bins because God's

concerned about that. The small winds later will lead

to bigger winds. And I believe as we meditate

today in Romans chapter five and six, in chapter five and six, we

see Paul wants to challenge the church to dig deep.

And what does dig deep look like?

Why are we called to dig deepers?

We see that when we are justified in Christ, there's a a

somewhat kind of a position that we think we've attained and we

don't have to do anything because Christ has done

everything. But the fact remains, we need to

dig deep wells. And the reason why Paul is

telling this is we as humans can get very complacent because this

doesn't involve to many of us, church is a Sunday activity.

Being part of his community is a weekend activity.

It's part of those two hours or four hours that I give to God,

but he's saying, you know what, I want you to go more deeper.

He wants to do deeper in our lives today, when we start our

day, when we commit our day to him, there is an open space for

God to work in and through us so that our day is set and ordained

by him. And many a times I feel like as

Christians, we've, you know, thought of this entire journey

that when we asked to dig deep, we're like, no, we've, we've

been justified, we're redeemed, we're set free.

We know all these truths. And so, you know, it's more like

a church membership that we treat.

But Paul emphasizes in Romans 5 and 16, don't be content.

You need to dig deep. Wells.

Why do we need to dig deep? When we look into these chapters

today, it's because when we dig deep, our roots go deep.

When we dig deep, we are there in every season.

Today God does not want us to show up only in a particular

season or when we are experiencing blessing is not

when I'm going to show up in church, but week in week out I'm

going to be planted. And the verse that I wondered

which came reckoning as he was preparing was from Psalm one

verse 3. And I'm leaning from a passion

translation because this is what it says.

He will be standing firm like a flourishing tree planted by

God's design, deeply rooted by the brooks of bliss, bearing

fruit in every season of life. He's never dry, never fainting,

ever blessed, ever prosperous. And the reason why I wanted to

start off with this was, was if we can understand this aspect,

that if we dig deep foundations, we'll bear fruit in every

season, every stage of life. For too long, I've had friends

who've journeyed along with me say, you know what?

In this season, I'm hurt with the church in this season.

I think God does not want me in this season.

I feel the church is irrelevant in this season.

You know what? The Bible doesn't make sense.

In this season, I feel, you know, God is not hearing my

prayer. That's because somewhere down

the line we chose to be planted somewhere else rather than the

lake or the river of God. And I think a couple of weeks

back, Tina had spoken about this.

Where would we want to be planted?

And I think as we go deeper into God's, because it's easy when we

read the book of Romans to come to this place, you know what?

I'm sanctified, I'm justified, and that's enough.

My position is secure. Your position is secure, but are

you being an effective witness for Jesus?

Are you being, are you living out God's given design today?

There's a design in which God's created me to be today.

And the more I draw closer to Him, the more I'm able to

understand him. The more I take that step of

faith, I'm able to see God do something.

If I don't take that step of faith, I'm content in where I'm

at. And so would you dig deep?

Why are deep foundations essential?

And it said that if you want to bear capacity, different

capacity, and if you want to have a certain amount of load

that it can carry, it has to have deep foundation.

If we want to be a flourishing tree which bears fruit in every

season, you and I have to have deep roots.

And so with this in context, I would love to approach chapters

five and six. Why?

Because Paul emphasizes that without this understanding, you

won't have anything to pursue. You won't have anything to

pursue. It's not like, OK, you get the

dream job after the dream job, what we need to show up to work

every week. You need to put your head down

and work after you find that that the person you've been

pursuing. After that, it requires hard

work. Marriage requires hard work.

Marriage requires showing up. Marriage requires staying.

Marriage requires being committed.

And you can live in ways in which you know what, this is

enough. But is it the fullest?

And that's where we're coming. Is this the full Christian life

that God's calling us to live? And even as we move towards

that, there's a sense of expectation.

There's a sense of reality and today in a world of social

media, I think we've seen a whole bunch of memes when it

comes to reality and expectation.

We get to see these way too realistic tourist place which

you which they say you know, you need to visit before your

lifetime as saying these are the expectation.

When you see in reality it looks entirely different.

So today I don't know what your reality is and what your

expectation was Today, I don't know what your expectation was

that you thought this is what marriage would be and you

stepped into it, or this is what you thought your Christian life

would be and you stepped into it.

Paul here is causing us to reflect, to look back.

And if we have to look back, we can't look back in a world which

lives by expectation or this is what I expected of Jesus.

This is what I expected. No, we need to soon come to the

place. This is the reality of of

Christian life. This is the reality of who God's

called me to be. This is the reality and this is

what I'm going to do in this life that I'm called to live.

So as we move in this phase from expectation to reality, I pray

that each and every one of us will be able to see what God is

calling us to do because it's profound.

It's one with purpose. The first thing which I want to

emphasize is in our reality, Jesus wants us to experience

peace. He causes me to experience peace

as his follower. So let's read from Romans

Romans 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 verses one to five. This is what it says.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have

peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we

have gained access by faith into His grace, in which we now

stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we

know that our sufferings produces perseverance, a

perseverance character and character hope.

And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has

been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has

been given to us. And even as I was just comparing

the same chapter across different versions, I love the

way in which Eugene Peterson puts it in the message, this

piece that we are talking about here, it says here that we have

been justified through faith. We have peace with God through

our Lord Jesus. This peace is not the peace that

the world talks about. What is the peace that the world

talks about? If you have to pursue peace, you

have to. For a lot of us, peace is

probably quietness. For a lot of us, peace is

probably sitting in front of a still lake.

Peace is probably by that waterfall where you can hear the

waterfall and it's good. Peace is where you're able to,

you think, you know, everything is under control.

Peace is where probably you are in comfort with yourself.

But the peace that Paul is talking about here is different.

The peace that he's talking about is that we fear nothing

from God and we're content with what God's doing in and through

our lives. Even as I mentioned, this peace

that we're talking about, that we fear nothing from God,

whatever God brings us, we are at peace.

So that's why this peace talks about.

It's not a positional peace where oh, you've accepted Jesus,

you'll experience peace. Now.

It's because I've accepted Jesus.

There are things that will happen in my life which will

cause me to be at peace because Jesus is with me.

If we have peace because we're believers of Jesus, the emphasis

for us has to be the fact that God, whatever happens, I am

going to be in peace and at peace knowing that you are with

me. What else do we need to know?

Verses three to five in the message says there's more to

come. We continue to shout our praise

even when we are hemmed in with troubles because we know how

troubles can develop. Passionate, patient in US.

And how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of

virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.

In a lot expectancy such as this, we are never left feeling

short changed. Quite the contrary, we can't

round up enough containers to hold everything God generously

pose into our lives through the Holy Spirit.

And so when we see this peace, this peace is what we need to

have as Christ followers. Because otherwise we will always

be fretting. We'll get stuck in step one if

we do not accept this peace in verses one and two, if we don't

accept the peace with God through Lord Jesus Christ

because we've been redeemed, because we are justified and now

we go back to Him every day as Lord.

This nature of mine needs to change.

What happens? It says here though Paul goes on

to say shouts of praise when we are in the midst of trouble.

The outcome of this peace causes me to be in praise mode, always

in the midst of trouble. Does it look like my head is

conked and I'm looking like a crazy guy right now?

It might look to the world like that.

People be wondering why is he having a certain amount of joy

and calmness in the midst of confusion and chaos?

That's because the peace of God is with me.

This is the peace I need. And what happens in the

suffering that we go through in the midst of trouble?

We're able to praise Him and because you're able to go

through this, you just doesn't stop with one because the peace

is within me. It enables me to move through

every other suffering and every other trouble that comes my way

that causes me to have endurance.

It says here it develops our patience.

God wants to work in it was for a lot of times we see, you know,

we we finish a struggle and even as we lift up, we can see

another struggle heading our way.

But what is movement like? Are we moving from A to B or are

we just standing there and like, you know what, I think I'll just

stay put. I'll put a camp tent here and

I'll just camp out here because I can't handle this.

And so I think in our mind, we in get ingrained to think, you

know what? It's because I'm doing for God

this is happening. So what if I don't do for God?

I'll just be like everyone else. But that's where God starts

working in US because that's where sanctification happens.

He constantly goes back and tells us, Geshom, I think this

is my ego that is here. This is my pride that is getting

it. This is my security that's

getting it. And then my piece gets realigned

because I thought my piece isn't something else.

God realigns that patience forges us, which is keeping us

alert to what will God do next. You know, I love looking at how

they forge things out of metal, and it's not a pleasant sight.

It's that extreme heat. The metal goes in, it comes

back, it gets beaten up. It goes, it goes, it gets put

into a cold water, it goes back in, it gets beaten up again.

It's shaped, it's hammered. It's a patient job.

And you know, I was watching and even one of my lecturers quite

10 years back was talking about building a samurai sword and the

trouble that it goes through, the way it gets, you know,

forged in God is forging us. So a lot of us today, if you

notice, especially for those who are pursuing will soon realize

God before he starts using US, wants to clean us inside out.

He wants to remove the gunking side out.

He wants to, you know, deal with all our past, deal with all our

insecurities, deal with all our agendas, deal with all the muck

that is within us. And that's what happens.

He patiently wants us to deal with it as we are moving.

He does this. Why does he do this?

So that we are better. We start understanding.

What is it that he's calling us to do this From suffering to

endurance. It starts shaping our character,

and as it starts shaping our character, it moves us to this

litmus so that we are not cheated because that Satan time

and again will bring us opportunities thinking this is

better, that is better. This is a quick way to do this.

Why don't you try this? But these are all little foxes

that will cause us to have distraction that will take us

away from our focus on Jesus, away from the peace that God is

saying that he'll give and our hope should be in Jesus.

This reality is not an easy pursuit.

We are in constantly hit below the belt.

We are in constant war. And so Paul is reminding us, if

at all you need to go through this, we need to have praise

that carries us through this whole thing.

Because when we praise him, we are lifting Jesus up about

everything that's happening around us.

The peace that he talks about is what we need to have.

God, whatever comes, I know you are my peace.

You are enough. You are enough.

So which causes me to be in this mode of movement towards His

will and plans, but knowing that he's also shaping me in the

process. It's not about the doing.

It's this. It's it's not us being so

comfortable in the position that we've received because of the

salvation we've got from Jesus because he's done the hard work.

We've received it by faith, but we also are moving in.

He's shaping us. He's working in and through us.

And Paul when he writes, this is probably writing because a lot

of them have probably become complacent.

A lot of them are probably like, you know what, I've received

Jesus now don't ask me to change anything.

When we read the remaining chapters in the book of Romans,

we start seeing Paul is starting to address key issues that if

this is working in and through you, it has to if it's if it's

been cleaned inside, it has to show up in the outside.

You can't just fabricate the outside and allow the inside to

be dirty. And so today, what is it that

Satan, why is Satan warring with us?

Satan causes us to see it differently.

When we shout, when it, when it says, when we have to shout out

please, especially when suffering.

We in turn turn that shout of praise.

We turn it back to questioning. We turn it back to thinking, you

know, I am the only one who's suffering.

We turn it back to think. My problem is bigger.

He makes it all about ourselves. Whatever is due to God, he turns

it around and makes it about ourselves.

The second thing we saw was endurance.

It says we lack impatience. We suddenly are like, you know

what, God, I don't want, Like I'm not able to go through this.

If even if this shapes me, I don't think I'm built for it.

We lack patience and so we'll give up midway.

We give up midway. We see that when a character is

being shaped and you're being forged time and again, we're

like, God, come on, God. I thought if I had this

particular trait in me to talk to people, to cut them to size,

they will know where to be. They won't cross that line.

But God saying, no, I want to work on the words that are

coming out of your mouth. I want to work in the intentions

that are going behind everything that's in your heart.

Secretly, you might be acting out in front of it.

I want to change those intentions, be like, no God, I

don't. It only benefits me.

It's not benefiting anything anyone around but God saying I

want I'm important and Satan will come to a place of changing

that narrative for us. You might say, you know what,

generationally this is who I am. It like it's like, you know, we

have a city in Tamil Nadu called Mother and they say, you know,

everyone from Mother is very angry always.

And so we think anger is part of that inbuilt culture.

But that does not have to be. If Jesus is inside you, you

don't have to be in that place. So what does that look like?

It looks like that we have to surrender ourselves entirely to

God, which means we say, God, forge me, take it if I'm getting

angry, shape me, Lord, convict me.

Sanctification happens time and again.

He takes us through this so that we'll be a better person.

We'll be a changed person so that for me, my generation looks

different from me. There's a definite shift in the

way and the trajectory in which we are operating out of Satan

will make sure that we are not hopeful.

He'll come to a place and expect us to think, you know what?

This is my lot in life. I don't think I can expect a

miracle. I don't think I can work in

seeing. I don't think I can have

spiritual eyes to see what God's doing.

I don't think I can see it with spirit vision.

He will start manipulating and making it look like

hopelessness. So today can we move to a place

of seeing God? My expectation, whatever the

world is thinking that this Christian life has to be, I want

to be in reality, Lord Jesus, I want to be in reality.

I want to be in reality of knowing that I'll experience

your peace in the midst of suffering, which will cause me

to push through, which will cause me to have endurance,

which will cause me to have hope in you.

The second thing that we see as we continue on reading from

Romans chapter 5 is the fact that this reality causes me to

Romans 5 · chapter mention

experience grace. It's an inward issue, a heart

issue. The root is because of our

sinful nature. Paul goes on to say that we need

to remember who we are. As I said, Satan will

continuously keep attacking. If we don't know who and why God

has redeemed us, why he set us apart, we will forget.

This is what it says in Romans 58.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this While we

were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And I would ask you to underline this verse and market and keep

because this is where we rebuttal Satan.

Satan will say you know what you're meant for this.

You are done. This is who you are.

This is in your genes probably. But you can always go back and

say God demonstrated his love for me.

He thought of Maine. He chose me that even when I was

a Sinner, he still died for me. Even when you were a Sinner, He

still died for you. And so today the beauty of this

verse is that God died for all of us because we all are

sinners. Paul references here to Adam to

say because Adam sinned and everyone who came off that are

sinners till one had to come who was not even born between a

husband and man union. The Holy Spirit came into Mary

and made her conceive Jesus, who was not born of sin.

And so today when we have that understanding, we realize that

Jesus walked on this world differently.

He was in human form. He was God in human form.

He was, but he did not know sin. He did not commit sin, and he

died as a blameless person on the cross for you and me.

He was a perfect sacrifice once and for all.

We struggled to keep and, you know, hold on to the law, to

live out that law time and again because of our human nature.

But Jesus completed that law. He was complete in himself that

he, when he laid down his life, laid it down for you and me, was

a perfect sacrifice, was a perfect lamb.

Let's continue on to read. And so today we stand knowing

that we are justified in Christ Jesus.

Today we stand knowing that we've been redeemed.

There's nothing else we need to do to work.

He has done it all. So can as we receive that grace,

it starts working in our heart because if we don't accept

because when in this journey, we constantly have to go back to

that grace that we've received, because that will causes us to

move forward. That will causes us to realize,

God, you've called me for this. God, you've called me to do

this. God, thank you for placing me in

this company. God, thank you for placing me in

this family. God, thank you for taking me

into this family through marriage.

That I'll be able to experience you far more.

Whatever is there that I'll enjoy that peace that comes from

you. Romans 5 verses 18 to 21, this

Romans 5:18–21

is what it says. Consequently, just as one

trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so

also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for

all people for justice. Through the disobedience of the

one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the

obedience of one man, the many will be made righteous.

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase, but

where sin increased, grace increased all the more so that

just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign to

righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord. We see that our disobedience was

brought down because of one obedience of Jesus who was a

perfect lamb. And today, as you and I travel

on this journey of life, we will have to come to a place of

obeying Him because we are in His camp.

We are seated at His camp right now as accepted followers of

Jesus, as we've allowed him into our heart.

And we've said, Lord, you are our God.

We are sitting in His camp. We start obeying.

Obedience would be our nature, has to be our nature because we

have Him in us. If He obeyed the will of the

Father, and if He did everything the Father asked Him to do, we

should have that nature in us to obey and do it so that we can

enjoy that peace. I love what it says here, but

where sin increased, grace increased all the more.

You know, many times we are so taken aback by what's happening

around the world that we think, you know what, God, I don't

think there's hope anymore. But I believe as sin increases,

God's raising up a generation of people who are faithful, who

have a better understanding of the grace that they have

received that's causing them to be obedient to what God's called

them to do in this world because of the word that we have today,

because of the way he's leading us.

So today, if you're in the midst, if you're in a group of

company of people, friends, Co workers, whoever it is, and you

see sin being at its biggest, never discount the grace that is

within you because God will cause you to be the salt and

light that God will cause you to be, the light that he wants to

shine and then through you around to the people there.

So hold on to him so that when sin reigned in death, grace

might reign through his righteousness so that we'll

enjoy eternal life. One of the things that we enjoy

as a result of following Jesus is that we'll get to spend

eternity with him. And that's what I think faith

really takes a new turn. We fail to see what faith looks

like. If we can live with that

expectancy that Lord, I can't wait to see you face to face.

And when we see him, we have to see him here on this earth.

A lot of us, as I said in the beginning, are so happy knowing

that we have eternal life that we stay put.

We are like the pandas, you know, just sitting there

chilling, eating our bamboo. But God saying, no, I want you

to rise up. I want you to persevere in this

world. I want you to push through.

The fallen world has its challenges, but Christ is an

overcomer. Christ over came and He wants us

to grace us with that so that as we obey Him, we'll be able to

experience that. So I pray that even as you move

in your every step, maybe not get stuck, maybe not get stuck

in the nature of Adam, but maybe pursue Jesus with all of our

heart in obedience so we'll be able to do all that He's called

us to do. The third thing that we see is

in this reality He causes us to experience freedom.

So as we see that there is a reality which God wants us to

have where we have experiences peace.

And in that reality he says, I will give you the grace so that

you will never feel condemned time and again when you go

through this world, because Satan will cause you to go back

into that zone of being condemned.

And he's saying the third thing he's saying is in this reality,

I want you to experience freedom, not to live changed.

Obedience doesn't cause me to live changed, but rather live in

freedom. And that's what it says in

Romans chapter 6, verses 8 to 10.

Romans 6:8–10

Now if he died with Christ, we believe that we'll also live

with him. For we know that since Christ

was raised from the dead, he cannot die again.

Death no longer has mastery over him.

The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life

he gives he lives to God was 11 onwards.

It says. In the same way, count

yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you

obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of

yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer

yourselves to God as though you've been brought from death

to life, and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument

of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your

master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

So today you and I are called to live this life with freedom.

And the reason why I took the word freedom is because a lot of

us today have somehow thought freedom is overrated.

We somehow feel, you know, even if we are living in a democratic

country, some of still feel, you know, freedom is still

overrated. We, we read the news, we feel

lot of them aren't living their free lives.

We see lot of people stuck in so many different situations.

God first wants us to experience his freedom spiritually so that

when we live out in whatever capacity we are today, as a

capacity of father, as a Co worker, as a leader in my

company, as a faithful worker in under a boss, everything, I'll

be able to live out in the life of freedom.

And that is the outlook that we have to live.

That's the reality that we have to live.

It should not be an expectation. Oh, that person is living in

freedom. It seems like he's got

everything. You know, it has to happen for

you. Ask God, God, why is it not

happening for me? What is it that I need to

change? What am I pursuing something

else that will offer me peace? Or am I pursuing you?

Because today a lot of us are pursuing the wrong thing and we

are not experiencing the freedom.

And we think complaining, saying I'm not experiencing the

freedom, let's pursue God. Let's experience this peace,

which means even within the confines of a marriage, I need

to be at peace with God. As much as I want to be in peace

with my spouse, I need to be in peace with God.

Lot of us are still trying to pursue so many other things

outside of God that we think it's in that I'm not able to see

freedom, God pursue, right? So that he'll be able to

experience freedom. And why did Paul want to

emphasize that to the Roman church?

Because these guys were the the the number one in the world at

that time. They ruled the world.

They had systems in place. They built roads, they made sure

that they were four thinkers. They had order and place where

there was a set way in which they knew that they can go.

Anyone who wanted to climb up the society ladder was able to

climb up. But he wanted to drive the

attention to saying, in your pursuits of all of this, don't

forget that you need to be at peace with God so that you can

experience freedom from God. They were living in a world

where there were masters and slaves.

They were living in a world where freedom for them looked

entirely different. It looked like those who

deserved it and then those who they could laud it over.

They thought that they were the ones who had control over the

freedom of others. But today we're living in a

world where we are under a ruler.

But are we living the life that we are called to live for the

King, for the true King of kings?

Nothing that we could have done could have earned this new life

for us, for Christ. God's act of redeeming us was

done once and for all. If you're not experiencing his

freedom, we are in bondage. If you're not experiencing His

happiness and His joy, we are in guilt and we are in shame.

If you're not responding, it says here the wickedness cause a

lot of times you're feeding our own cells, you're feeding our

own, our earthly desire, something that will make us feel

better. We are not embracing the life

that God's calling us to embrace and in turn, we are living in

shame. How do we use our freedom?

We need to come to a place where Paul beautifully tells us to the

Galatian church. He says we need to, you know,

there are so many things we need to cut off.

And I'm reading this from the message, and this is what it

says. We need to develop a way of

getting out of this. We need to develop a way of

getting out of this rhythm of what the world has put on us.

A rhythm of repetitiveness, a rhythm of lovelessness.

A rhythm of cheap sex, A rhythm of a stinking accumulation of

men, emotional garbage. A rhythm of frenzied and joyless

grabs for happiness. A rhythm of trinket gods, A

magic show religion, A paranoid loneliness.

Cutthroat competition. All consuming yet never

satisfied. Wants a brutal temper and

impotence. To love or to be loved.

Divided homes and divided lives. Small minded and lopsided

pursuits. The vicious habit of

depersonalizing everyone into a rival.

Uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions, ugly parodies of

community. This is what Paul tells in

Galatians chapter 5. And the reason why I read this

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

is because a lot of us are stuck and unable to enjoy the freedom

because of this. And this is not a guilt trip

that I want to send you. I mean, I'm struggling in this

and it causes me to go back saying, God sanctify me, Lord,

I'm repenting of this frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness.

What are those quick things that you're saying?

You know what, if I do this, I'll be able to get this money

and then I think we'll be settled.

Trinket Gods, magic show, religion where we're like, you

know what, we'll just show up. This is who we are and then we

go missing Monday to Saturday. No, be consistent in your walk

with God. God sees everything, a stinking

accumulation of mental and emotional garbage.

And that is what is happening today.

We are filling our minds with so much.

We're filling our emotions with so much, which is garbage at the

end of it. So today, can we pursue that

peace that comes from God so that we'll be able to live in

the freedom that God's calling us because it came at a great

price. God, I want us to come to a

place, Lord, of repenting of all these pursuits and importance to

love or to be loved. Divided homes, divided lives,

small minded and lopsided pursuits.

These are things which causes us to derail from the plan and

purpose of God. So today, I don't know what your

expectation was of Christianity or what your expectation was of

being a Christian or following Christ, but the real reality

might be, you know what, God's really tough.

So you know what, if I just stay put here, I'm OK.

I don't want to do anything but God's saying no.

I want you to pursue. I want you to take that step.

I want you to allow me to forge you, because when I do that, I'm

shaping you to be who I've called you to be.

God's design so that in season, as my roots go deep, I'm able to

bear fruit in season and out of season, and so that I'll be able

to flourish so that I'll be a blessing to the place where

you've called me to be. And you see the biggest problem

in this whole thing is comparison.

The biggest problem in this is comparison.

Comparison between what? Between Christians, you know,

we'll think, you know, what if that person is a lukewarm

Christian, he's having everything.

So I think I'll be that. Or it could be, you know what?

That person doesn't follow Christ and they have the better

things of the world. Why am I not having it?

Or even within the Christian committee, God, why is that

person being blessed and not me? And God wants us to go to that

root cause of comparison because God didn't compare when he came

down for salvation. He just put a blanket thing

around the entirety of mankind and he came down, He said, you

know, it's sin. I'm going to address that.

I'm going to redeem all of them so that they'll have access to

me. Others.

God would have been doing a different number game with

regard to salvation. No, it was a blanket.

And so today the life that you're called to live is one

without comparison. So today, who do we compare

ourselves with? We compare ourselves, ourselves

with so many people. We compare our parents or you

know what I did? I didn't grow up in this kind of

form. So I think it's my parents

issue. And we start comparing someone

else with them. You know, they have a better

relationship with their parents. I think, I think that's the

house I would have wanted. But we start comparing our kids

or you know what? That kid is God, God's trusted

you with your kids. Stop comparing and start living

out the freedom that God's called you to live in.

Be obedient to him and start raising them up in the way the

Lord wants you to raise them up. Colleagues, 'cause when we

compare, we discount all that God's calling you to do, you

know, and, and just two weeks back, God had to, I had to do a

heart check on this. I had to go back and ask God for

forgiveness. You know, a friend of ours had

invited me to preach in his church and the other church that

this meets a couple of kilometers away.

And when he had called, they told me a month or two back that

they're moving there. And when he had called me to

preach is when? Certain emotions started kicking

in. I think one it it, it started

off coming out as insecurity. But it's in that journey that

when I started feeling because he's called me to preach because

I need to meditate on God's word and say God, what are you

calling me to preach? Or that what they're launching

their church. What do you want me to say?

But even before I can prepare, God started working in me and

said, Hey, you're having an emotion which is not right with

that emotion. You can't go preach with that

emotion. You can't go do that.

And mind you, these are guy, this is a couple we dearly love.

There's a couple we've been able to do life with.

And and I wanted to be right in what they've, they've, they've

invited, they've they've called us there.

And as I was preparing, God said I wanted to deal with your

insecurity. I want you to deal with

insecurity. And I was talking to my wife and

she said, Geshom, it just feels you need to look at it

differently. And that's what I believe.

We need people within us who are of the same faith who can spur

us to think differently. And she said, you know what,

just look at it as God is bringing others along in this

journey. There are many more who are here

to plow the field. There are many more here who are

here to plant and do the hard yards of shepherding.

And I went back to the root issue.

As to what the root issue was. Compare.

I started comparing something about myself.

I started comparing and God said put a full stop there.

That will derail your freedom, that will derail your freedom.

And so today if you are comparing, we need to go back to

what the word says. And God told me you start

imitating me, imitate me. Don't compare, but imitate.

I am a God who doesn't compare. I don't compare you with anyone.

God doesn't say you know what Geshom, your faith is 80.

Next year it has to be 90. No, he says imitate.

And I want to go back to that verse which Paul tells in one

Corinthians Chapter 11 was one he says be imitators of me as I

am of Christ. What is Paul saying here is

saying that I am imitating Christ wherein I go back to God

and say God am I doing this right by you are you Is this how

I should be imitate? And so today when I heard that I

knew I was liberated and set free from comparison because God

moved me from comparison to imitating imitating Christ.

And so today, as we learn on this journey, we are here to

learn, all of us. Maybe learn to imitate and not

compare. Because when we learn to imitate

Him and live the life, He will start using US, using US in the

way He's called us. Again, that will be uniquely set

for us as I read earlier in Psalm 13, uniquely us Romans

Romans 6:19

chapter 6 verse 19. As I conclude I want to read

this, I'm using an example from everyday life because of your

human limitations. Just as you used to offer

yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever increasing

wickedness, now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness

leading to holiness. If we have to experience the

reality of peace of grace that works inwardly in US day in day

out so that we'll be able to live out in freedom, we need to

start imitating Jesus and be slaves to righteousness.

There is a key ingredient of obedience and Jesus could obey,

which means I can obey slaves to righteousness.

When it says slaves to righteousness, there's

automatically a way of doing what is required.

You don't have to turn to the left or to the right.

Just do what is required. And that will lead us to

holiness. So church, even as I talked

about this, I don't know if what part of the journey that you are

in, probably you've just, you know, after a struggle have just

stayed put and said, God, I don't want any.

I don't want this hardship that comes with Christianity.

And your faith has just been dormant.

Or probably you've just been this Christian who's been

harboring hate and guilt and shame and looking at others and

comparing and unable to deal with the insecurity that's

plagued your life. You can come to God, Jesus here

to take it all back. Or probably you're in this

journey where you feel tempered and you know you've been beaten

up time and again. He's shaping you and you're

like, God, I just need some relief.

I would say press on. Have the endurance to push

through so that God will be able to do all that He's calling you

to do. And even this we'll be able to

see His Kingdom, His plan, His purpose come true in our life.

So church, can I just pray that you'll be able to experience the

reality. Don't live in an expectation

world or this because people will drop your expectations.

Life will happen and expectations will come crashing.

But live in the reality of what God's calling you to live the

reality of his peace that he is over everything in this world.

He is peace himself. He's the Prince of peace

experiences grace because condemnation will be thrown at

you time and again by Satan, but experience the grace that comes

from him and experience the freedom that he's called you to

live so that you'll be able to live fully.

Don't live a life of comparison, but rather live a life of

imitating Christ so that you will be slaves of righteousness

and you'll move towards holiness such as can we pray and close?

Lord, we thank you lot for this time.

Thank you lot for all those who are watching and listening that

you would be present, Lord Jesus, in the very spaces that

they are at right now. Lord, I pray, Lord, we invite

you And Lord I pray, Lord, for those of us who've been dominant

in our faith and unable to expand and see increase.

Lord, we ask that you would come down, Lord Jesus, walk in and

through US, shape us. Do something, Lord Jesus, that

we'll be able to rise up again in boldness and faith and do all

that you've called us to do. Pray, Lord, for those of us,

Lord, who've been living a life of guilt and shame and

comparison and insecurity and everything that is plaguing us,

would you liberate us so that we'll experience freedom that

comes from you? Jesus, You came to give us life,

and we pray that you will give us life to its fullest today.

Lord Jesus, to everyone is calling on your name that we'll

be able to experience you in all in entirety.

Lord Jesus, we give glory and honor to your name.

Be glorified. Lord, I pray, especially right

now for all those who need strength to endure.

Lord Jesus, the journey we are at, I pray we won't give up, but

our faith will be strengthened. Lord, I pray we'll find strength

in the community of believers that we'll be able to see You do

great and marvelous things. Lord, go before us and take

charge. In your most holy name we pray.

Amen. Amen.

So even as you step out, I pray that you step out in boldness.

Step out knowing that He wants to live.

He wants to you step out knowing that He wants to step out

knowing that Jesus wants you to experience this reality of

peace, of His grace, and of His freedom every day, every minute,

every hour. God bless you all and have a

blessed week. Thanks for listening to this

message. We hope you were blessed to hear

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