220 ~ ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME ~ PART 2

Hi and welcome to the We Are Zions 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.

High Church, such a joy and a privilege.

To be bringing God's word to you.

Even as you started a new series.

Called All roads lead to Rome. A study on the book of Romans.

I believe God is wanting us to dive deeper into his word so

that he can work in and through us.

There are so many areas of our life that he wants to, you know,

really cut through, really want us to deal with it so that we'll

be transformed to his image and so that we'll be able to do all

that he's called us or to do. And I believe when Paul was

writing this book to the Roman churches, I believe that there

were many congregants there, a lot of people who had moved in.

And even as you heard last week, there were few who actually were

participants and recipients of the Holy Spirit in the upper

room. And from there, as they

dispersed into different parts of the world, I believe he was

talking to a church. And this church is resembling

the times that we are living in right now.

I pray that even as we dwell into the second part that his

words will come alive because I believe he wants to set us free

in the book of Romans in the first party saw that some

recurring teams that keep coming along, which we need to really

look into and allow his word to, you know, penetrate our hearts

because we can easily be used to these words, that the weight of

these words will just be just passed through it.

And some of those words were the law.

We saw righteousness and faith are some of the key words of the

book of Romans, which probably occurs time and again.

And when we see the law, because we are living in this new

covenant in the New Testament, the law sometimes seems, you

know, it's something which we can overlook because we feel

it's only for the Old Testament. But God wants us to keep our

eyes on that, because some of us are still.

Holding on to so many patterns that the law brings about

righteousness. This is our standing with God,

and Paul emphasizes this a lot because he wants us to be

conscious of the righteousness that.

We need to have and many a times we take it for granted.

And I believe as we read and meditate in the book of Romans,

he wants us to move towards righteousness.

It's not we move away from, but we move towards.

And faith is something which he stresses a lot, that a lot of

times faith occurs in the book of Romans.

And I believe anything we have to participate in with regard to

this has to come from a place of faith.

We have faith for so many things in our lives.

And I believe if this area in our lives is where we need to

see God come through, He wants faith in our lives to be

exhibited time and again. It's not a one off thing, it's

not a seasonal thing, but it's an everyday thing.

And last week we saw from the book of Romans, Tina put this

beautiful word with regard to faith.

She said that you have to have this gradient of faith happen.

And I don't know which aspect of the gradient you are in.

Some of us, you know, when you see a gradient, it's usually

from dark to light. And some of us have those

portions where we've encountered the light and we sometimes get

comfortable and we stay there. But God's wanting us to.

Move more towards the other side of gradient where we will see

all of His glory. The first thing we saw is that

faith grows. When we live our lives in faith,

we don't just live it. OK, you know what?

OK, this has to happen because this is the course in which life

happens. No, we live in faith where we

trust God, we believe in His Word, we take Him at His word.

The promises we hold on to. It takes time to come through,

but we still hold on to it. The second thing we saw is that

the faith that that we want to exhibit in our own lives has to

be tested and it grows in community.

You rub your shoulders against others.

You do life with others. You participate in others life

stages. Be it happiness, joy, grief,

sorrow, strength, worry, it all happens and that's why the week

to week time and we get to spend time with one another.

And you know, rubber shoulders is so important because it's

that encouragement which causes us to move.

Further, to take that step of faith further.

And so today we're going to be looking in to Romans chapter 2

Romans 2 · chapter mention

and a half of Romans chapter 3. And the key was that I've taken

Romans 3 · chapter mention

is from Romans chapter 3, verses 21 to 23.

Romans 3:21–23

And this is what it says. But now apart from the law, the

righteousness of God has been made known, to which the law and

the prophets testify. This righteousness is given.

Through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe, there is no

difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and

fall short of the glory of God. I'm reading verse 23 again, it

says for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

and when we read this was a lot of us probably have read it.

The prelude to this in 22 second-half.

It says there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.

We see in verse 21 it talks about the prophets testify about

this. We see that the law testifies

about this because at one point God wanted to demarcate his

people. But he soon realized the very

law that he'd given them to follow so that it will benefit

them, so that they'll be blessed, stifle them.

And I believe a lot of us today are in the same place where we

believe being a Christian is stifling, being a Christian is,

you know, it's, it's putting a. Lid over what I can achieve?

Being Christ like is tough. Being Christ like is God.

Why should I be doing this? But it's that beautiful tension

that we live because it's in this tension that we learn to

submit to Him. It's in this tension we learn to

submit to our God, the Creator. It's in tension that we realize

that we have a maker up above who has far bigger plans for us.

And so today, when when Paul was writing this, he was talking to

an audience which probably had a mix of Jews and Gentiles sitting

within the church. And there were probably problems

that were rising time and again because of these differences.

Because let's face it, where we go, we take our baggage with us.

Where we go, we bring our history with us.

Where we go, we bring our lineage with us.

You know, it's one thing to look into our Indian sub context and

you'll see that wherever you go in the world, you know, when you

meet a fellow, if I'm speaking Tamil, if I find another person

speaking Tamil, we'll first ask a set of questions that go in

one particular order. Hey, you speak Tamil.

Which part of Tamil Nadu are you from?

OK, if you're from there, which town are you from?

And if you're even more curious, you might even go down to which

part of forecast are you? And there is some joy in finding

that comfort knowing that this person is from the same time

that I am. But Jesus said we have to break

free of that because when? He came, he came.

For all, one is not about the other.

And that's what was 23 establishes for all of us have

sinned. Anyone who's born into this

world is sinned. And we've fallen short of the

glory of God. And which means if you've fallen

short of the glory of God, which means we need to rise up to see

the glory of God, which means we need to understand that we are

in desperate need of a Savior because we are in a sinful

state. The amplified there are some key

things which I have underlined and I've kept the righteousness

of God has been clearly revealed.

So for us to see this righteousness in our own lives,

for you and me to experiences in our own lives, we need to

understand that it's been revealed to us.

This righteousness comes through faith in Christ Jesus.

It doesn't come through anyone else.

If you go under anyone else, you'll definitely be mark it.

You'll definitely demarcate between a Jew and a Gentile,

between who you are and who others are.

But if you find righteousness of God, which comes through faith

in Jesus, you will see that there's no partition.

All He came for everyone. And that's the beautiful work at

the cross, that when he died, he didn't die for a select group.

He just died for all of mankind who are all sinners.

The perfect Lamb, the perfect Saviour died for you and me.

And so when Romans 2:00 and 3:00.

But what does Paul really emphasize?

On all this. He emphasizes to a group of

people who actually had a Jewish heritage, who believed in the

law and who had lived their lives by that.

So anyone who came outside of that fell short.

You know, it's one thing to fall short in front of God.

It's another thing to fall short in front of people.

And a lot of us today are governing, are making sure we're

making life choices or doing things the way it has to be done

because we're scared we'll fall short in the eyes of people.

We are not scared of falling short in the eyes of God.

We're so scared of falling short in the eyes of people.

And so when we start living this faith out, when we start living

this faith and say, Lord, this righteousness that comes through

you because I have faith in you, what are you wanting me to do?

And so God has his guard rails. He's wanting us to see it.

And what he wants us to see is that if all I've sinned, which

means I need to understand that there is a certain amount of

grace that I'm receiving from God to actually stand here and

worship him. Which means you who sitting

there have a certain amount of grace which God is giving to

you. I love this song by Graham

Kendrick. Even as I was, as we were here

yesterday and as we were praying, I was reminded of that

song. It says only by grace can we

enter. Only by grace can we stand, not

by a human endeavour. And the problem is the law

causes us to always do it out of our own sense.

So we think we've earned it. No, it's only by his grace, but

by the blood of the Lamb is how we stand.

We cannot stand in our own strength.

So today, if you're looking at someone else who's seated next

to you or if you're probably seated there and you're

thinking, you know what? I think these other Christians

are like this. Oh, that's because they're

coming from this background. God is asking us to revisit that

thought. He wants us to say, hey, all of

you in the equal plain, when I saved you, all of you in that

same debt, all of you were in that same zone, everyone

entirety of mankind was in sin and I've redeemed all of you.

And the reason why Paul, as I mentioned, there were two groups

of people were the Jews who grew up thinking, you know what, that

they, if they followed the laws of Moses, as we heard last week

from the Torah, from the Pentateuch, they if they stuck

to that they lived, right? But we see time and again,

Israel couldn't live right. They couldn't just follow the

God of Israel. They had to bow down to

everyone. They had to intermarry.

They had to do everything because that's what our heart

desires, that's what our flesh desires, that's what our body

desires. And we see that's where God

comes in. The Gentiles, who are they?

They're the ones who lived in their own culture, but somewhere

down the line they got impacted by the love of Jesus or they got

impacted by what God has been doing through the Israelites

that they started following the God of Israel.

And it's in this context when. Jesus comes into the world and

when his disciples start taking his message.

The church which meets is collective of everyone of Jews

and Gentiles. And Paul is telling he's

addressing them. He's telling them, hey, one is

not about the other. You all are same.

You all are same. And as you read some of the

episodes of Paul, you'll see that time and again he's

addressing different groups. He's addressing the group who

are masters, the other group who are slaves.

He's telling they all exist within the church.

They all have received the love of Christ.

But how do I still do? And Paul tells the masters,

treat your servants like how God would treat them.

He tells his slaves work like how you would work unto your

master who's in heaven. Not when someone is watching.

Even when someone is not watching.

As we keep reading through Romans two and three, I want us

to keep our eyes open because God wants to do something in it

through us. This entire book of Romans is

literally a surgery. You know, it's like between a

surgery where he's opening and he's wanting to he's wanting us

to investigate ourselves to see what area of our lives should he

really work. And we see Paul draws certain

themes out and I want to draw these certain themes out so that

God can work in and through us. The first thing that we see is

we are in Romans chapter 2. We see God alone is the judge.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Even as we read in Romans 2, it says that sin takes us through

this dark spiral. The Gentiles felt that they were

being judged by the Jews who were there.

The Jews felt that the Gentiles are not matching up to what they

are committed to following Jesus in.

And so this is what he goes on to say.

He tells the Gentiles this in Romans chapter 2 verses three to

Romans 2 · chapter mention

four. You didn't think, did you, that

just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God

from seeing all your misdoings and.

From coming down on you hard? Or do you think that because

he's such a nice God, he let you off the hook better?

Think this one through from the beginning.

God is kind, but He's not soft in kindness.

He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into radical life.

Change and I love how Eugene Peterson had titled this God is

kind but Not soft. And the interesting thing is the

fact that a lot of us want a God who's soft.

A lot of us want a God, you know, who, so that we can soft

pedal so that, you know, if there are bigger issues, we can

just touch God. And, you know, there, there's no

firmness. So Oh yeah, I think God won't

mind. And we just brushed through that

statement that he passed out or you know what, we start seeing

one thing, but we are doing something as thinking, OK, you

know what? I don't think it matters.

You know, my convictions are strong, but I that's OK.

It doesn't matter. Or we come on hard because

thinking, you know what, I think they are more liberals.

I'm more conservative. I think I have the favorite, but

no, God's asking is you cannot judge.

You don't get to judge because the grace that's been extended

to you, it's out of my pure mercy and grace.

And he goes on to say, if you point this finger out, we take

God's kindness for granted. There's a certain amount of

kindness God's shown towards us when we went with us and with

our brokenness, when when we went to his throne room and

said, God, this is who I am. I'm people pleasing.

I'm always making sure you know what?

I don't want to hurt anyone. And I've not been and I've I've

been wearing this mask so well. And when we realized that when

we go to God, he's kind enough to forgive us, but the same

thing when someone else is doing it.

We are so harsh with our judgement and I would ask you,

would we allow God to work in and through them?

Because this God who is kind yet not soft, is wanting a radical

life change and He wants us to change inside out.

He just doesn't want to change our outside appearance.

Today. You can change your outside

appearance all you want. You can do all of that outside,

but it will not fill everything that is so desperately broken

inside. And I would ask, would you allow

God to come in? You probably are thinking, you

know, all my life have been judged by people, but just move

to a place if you're following Jesus, I love God alone to judge

you. Don't don't take people's don't

equate people to God because people can their words can tear

you down and everything, but God is the only one who can build

you up and he'd set you free from all of that.

He goes on to say in Romans 2, verses five to six that there is

two things that causes us to be in the space where we pass

judgment to others, and that's one thing is stubbornness, and

we have an unrepentant heart in Romans 25 to 6:00.

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you

are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's

wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed.

God will repay each. Person according to what they

have done. We somehow our pride gets the

better of us. We become stubborn.

We say in order, we can't change.

This is how we will do things. But Paul is telling people, hey,

and the final day, God is going to judge us.

You can judge. You can be harsh.

And so even as the world is going today in the direction it

is God's raising up a generation who will be people of

convictions themselves with them, but will be willing to

offer grace because they know only God can change that other

person was on the receiving end of that.

And so today, even as we get up and rise up as a church, maybe

be a people who are hard on our own selves, we will go back to

the throne room and say, God, work in me, do this in me.

But when others come, Lord, let me offer grace and point them to

you because you're the one who can fix things for them.

And he goes on to say in Romans 2 verse seven, there is a way

where you can be persistent and overcome the sin in our lives.

Because when we think about it, this whole idea of us thinking

that you're better off than someone else, we automatically

devalue that person in the image that God's created them to be.

Romans 27 says to those who by persistence in doing good see

glory on an immortality, He will give eternal life.

And this is a beautiful verse because our goal at the end of

the day is eternity. Our actions here will have

consequences here, but we also realize that our actions tend to

go beyond our lifetime. If we decide to not follow

Jesus, we can be assured my generation or the immediate

thing, my entire family will be away from the faith.

And it's easy to do that because we can get so caught up with

everything that's happening in the world.

But then when we receive his truth, when we understand what

eternity is, when we have faith and we've seen God come through,

we are persistent. We are constantly working

towards overcoming sin in our life.

As as we see through Romans two, we see sin is a is the clear

indicator which causes us to always step back.

Sin is the clear indicator which always causes us to see someone

else less than and see us as doing better off.

We somehow think because of that, that sinful nature, we can

we have this way of, you know, putting ourselves on a higher

pedestal. So today, if there's one thing I

would ask, can we replace our stubbornness?

If there's an area in your life where you've been struggling, I

pray that you would have a repentant heart and not an

unrepentant heart. Would you be persistent that

you'll be able to push through that you'll be able to do it in

the small things? Start daily, start daily, do

things daily. You know, we use this word a

lot. In fact, one of our friends came

home last week and he was just joking.

You know, whenever I come to you, you always tell me to focus

on the mundane. And the true thing is we need to

build grit for the mundane. If we can capitalize and master

the mundane and have that grit to face every day, we'll be able

to do far bigger things for Christ when he starts expanding

us, he tells in the Passion translation.

For those living in constant goodness and doing what pleases

him, seeking an unfading glory and honor and imperishable

virtue, will experience eternal life.

Living in constant goodness and doing what pleases Him.

What is constant goodness? Constant goodness comes from a

place of knowing what His Word says.

Taking Him at His Word, where faith is exercised over His

Word. You take it, you believe it, you

know this is your sustenance. And that's why we emphasize a

lot reading God's Word for yourself.

If you're tuning in here just once a week, you will receive

something, but it won't sustain you for the weak.

Your daily sustenance has to come from His Word.

And that's why we have the Word of God in every digital form.

We are living in 2024 and you can never say we don't have

access to God's Word. Take it in.

There are different formats. For those of you who love

listening, listen to His Word. Let it speak into you, the very

fragment of your Spirit. So even as we move towards

persistence, maybe seek for unfading glory, which comes only

when we keep our eyes locked onto Jesus, we will be judged by

him. God alone will judge us.

And that's what we read in the Book of Revelation, chapter 20.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

We will all be standing face to face one day with Him, where

he'll open the book, and accordingly we'll be judged.

You know, a lot of us have been growing up at homes where they

have traumatized us, probably saying every little thing will

be played back as a movie for us and every wrong thing we've

done. But, you know, with that fear,

we sometimes may not live the life God's called us to live.

And I want to push you to a place of living it in fullness,

in that constant goodness. And that will come to knowing

that you're forgiven, that you can live the life that you're

called to live, which means you're constantly opening your

life up for His grace to work in and through you.

That stubbornness that you have, God's willing to start start

wiping it down. He starts working on you every

day. That relationship that is

causing you to break, He's starting.

Hey, you know what? You don't need to get angry.

This place. Let me start working on you, the

sin area in your life. I want you to be an overcomer

and not be defeated by it. So today as we move towards

that, let's remember that we are not called to judge anyone.

He will judge us. We are called to live the life

that he's called us, which is one of constant goodness and

doing what pleases him alone. The second theme that we see in

Romans chapter 2 is God has no favorites.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

God has no favorites. Him in Romans chapter 2 verse 11

Romans 2:11

says for God does not show favoritism.

You know, the problem with favoritism is 1 receives it, the

other doesn't and no one it's like the seesaw effect.

You know, you can't, you can't have a perfect balance with

favoritism. And so today we need to

understand that God does not show favoritism and Paul

emphasizes this. And this is probably the crux of

the church, because everyone who walks in receives grace from

God. God doesn't favor you extra and

gives you extra grace. Just because I'm standing on

this side of the pulpit and talking to you doesn't mean I am

favored and you're less favored. No, we all are favored in

Christ. We all are favored in Christ.

You are marked for a particular journey.

I am marked for a particular journey.

In the Roman church, the Jews and Gentiles thought one was

favored over the other and as much as God.

In today's context, if you have to see with all that's happening

around, it looks like one is favored over the other.

But God loves everyone that He's created.

Everything falls under His sovereign plan.

You know, why does bad overcome good?

Why do good people suffer? Why do things happen that falls

under His sovereignty? But He's a God who shows no

favouritism. And what does that mean,

especially for all those who are coming into the four walls of

the church? He's wanting to say this, God

shows no favoritism. You know, for those of you

seated there in the online who are listening, I want to

challenge you. If you felt, you know what, I'm

actually unable to be plugged into a church because I was not

favoured, I would ask you to rethink it because our

favoritism would have been from a man.

But God shows no favoritism. So boldly walking knowing that

you're favoured by God and everyone is favoured along with

that. He shows no favoritism in the

amplified. It says for God shows no

partiality, no arbitrary favoritism with him.

One person is not more important than another.

We tend to, you know, show favoritism to those or

partiality to those who lean into US, who do, who run

alongside us, who do things with us, who who have the same

frequency, who who have the same get go attitude.

But God saying everyone is the same, I show no favoritism.

So which means I can do 10 different things for God.

I'm favoured by him. There's another person who can

do two different things for God. He's favoured and I need to come

to a place of being secure in that Comparison kills favoritism

breeds comparison. Favoritism breeds jealousy.

It breeds selfishness, it breeds malice.

So today, remove that narrative saying, no, I think God favors

someone. No, God does not favor anyone.

God shows no favoritism. And the reason why I want to

emphasize this is because we as a church are moving into a

season where if we have to have impact in what God's calling us

to do, the four walls of our church have to be one of being

secure in Jesus, which means anyone who walks in has access

to his grace. And we'll also see that this is

a community that shows no favoritism.

So if God shows no favoritism, which means I should not show

any favoritism? Jew or Gentile, I shouldn't show

any favoritism. I can't show for those who are

probably from a Christian family or those who are new to faith.

Everyone are recipients of that. Paul wants us to be centrally

drawn to this realization. Because the minute we start

doing that, we start forming groups in different categories,

and God wants us to see that that's not what he's created.

As you know, the beautiful thing about going into God's presence

is we are seen and we are heard. And one of the things I've been

talking to our youth and even to our discipleship teams is the

fact that we as a church, when anyone who walks in, have to be

seen and heard. Because that's the very nature

we get to experience when we are with God.

When we are with God, when we enter into His throne room with

praise and Thanksgiving and with prayer, we are seen and we are

heard. And what does that cause us to

do? It causes to receive from Him.

And so we who are partakers of His body, when we are when we

carry Him within ourselves and we are called to be the salt and

light here on this earth, we too have to be people who will be,

who will allow others to be seen and heard so that that's a

direct reflection of who God is in and through US.

You know, theoretism has a ugly way of manipulation.

And I still remember when, as I was preparing, I was reminded of

the situation in my. 3rd, 4th, 5th, you know, I was, I was the

same height of my youngest Calvin, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm

more on the darker side of the colour tone.

And you know, as you entered the school bus, these guys were the

bullies. And I still remember their names

very clearly. And you know, there'll be these

seats where you can 22 of you can sit and these guys will sit

and they'll put their leg on the other seat and they won't allow

you to sit and they'll tell, hey, you know what?

Don't come and sit next to me. You know what?

I don't want your colour to rub off to me and things like that,

you know? The the typical being bullied

scenario in school. And for some reason that group

seemed to be such an in thing that I wanted to be in that

group, but just they just kept bullying me with my color, with

my color, with my weight and with everything possible.

And they used to call me an 8 ball because if you play

billiards or snooker, the 8 ball is a black ball and.

That's how they used to call me and.

I still remember. Fast forward three years into

it, by seventh I've had a growth spot.

I'm taller than all of them. And then suddenly when I came

back after for my summer holidays, I remember them

including me into their groups because I had height and I and

they knew that I can help them even though they were a year

older to me. And also they knew that they

needed someone else who's a little taller to play football

with them. And it got me thinking that if

we favour certain people, it'll be based on certain

characteristics which may be appealing to us or be it it

comes out of a selfish place. I worked my way through, I used

my height to work my way through into that group so that I can be

part of it. They had a selfish motive of

having me so that I can play right now because I was a head

taller than them. So today we realize the minute

we start showing favoritism, our hearts are fragmented.

And so today I want to ask you, what is it that area of your

life that God's called and showing you that you've been

favoring someone else? Because when you read the New

Testament, God wants to break that very pattern, especially us

as a church. Why?

Because we can be Hindus, we can have roadblocks to the very

revival that God has to make happen in the days to come.

We see in one Samuel, you know, when David was being anointed by

Samuel, Samuel in this human nature, and it's human nature,

we are fighting our very own human nature.

Samuel an anointed Saul. One Samuel chapter nine was 20.

So what it talks about Saul, a choice handsome man among the

sons of Israel. There was not a man more

handsome than he from his shoulders and up to his head.

Other than every other people, he was a typical Samuel had

anointed him as. King.

And when Saul didn't fit the bill, when God had his hearts on

someone else, you can see Samuel being having the doubt God is

this guy going to fit the bill because he doesn't look anywhere

close to that. But God tells Samuel so one

Samuel 16 seven. Therefore the Lord sees not as

man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Lord

looks at the heart. And I'm reminded of the

Scripture which God Jesus says, for my ways are higher than your

ways. The way that God sees it is

entirely different. So don't we have to fight our

very nature? If we have to be the church

Jesus is wanting us to build, Jesus has to be central in it.

He wants us to come to the place where we show no favoritism,

because God shows no favoritism. So no favoritism in what?

Because when favoritism is shown, contempt comes into

place. What is contempt?

Contempt is disregard for something that should be

considered. We have contempt maybe based on

the way they look or the way they appear, the way they carry

themselves. Oh, they're not wearing this

brand of clothes. Oh, they, they come dressed in

the same thing pretty much too often.

Or their social standing. Oh, they don't have a car.

Oh, they don't have a bike. Oh, I think they're not well to

do. Or their economic standing.

Oh, what kind of a job is he in? Is he able to make his ends

meet? Oh, why is he?

Why is he staying in that part of town?

It's so no colour. Oh, you know what?

I only mingle with those who are of the same skin texture because

if I take selfies, we all look same cast.

You know what? I want to grow up to a place

where, you know, I'll just marry this same person on the same

cast. And for a long time that's been

happening. But the more we see and read

God's word, you'll soon realize God didn't show favoritism in

that when he came, He came for all.

So let not cast For those of you who've been holding on and

holding off, your man is based on caste.

I would encourage you to go in prayer and ask God.

God help me to break out of that nature.

Don't look at other people's scenarios and think, you know

what? It doesn't work for me.

So I think this is not a place I can handle it.

God wants us to move and rise up from, you know, favouring and

having our own brackets. God wants us to break free of

that so that we will be able to see what he is building in and

through US. You know, in Acts 10, which is

very pivotal in the New Testament because this is where

Peter encounters Cornelius. And Cornelius was a man who

prayed, who did good. He lived, right?

But still there was something missing.

And God heard that, and he causes Peter to have a dream.

And when Peter says I won't touch these clean, unclean

animals, God says, haven't I created everything?

And Peter comes to that place in Acts 1034 to 36.

This is what it says. Then Peter replied, I see very

clearly that God shows no favoritism in every nation.

He accepts those who fear him and do what is right.

This is the message of good news for the people of Israel that

there is peace with God through Christ Jesus who is Lord of

fault. And even as I mentioned earlier,

especially with that life stage when you feel you know what, why

am I not enjoying when when God is a God who shows no

favoritism? Why is someone else having

something and me not having it? It also comes down to the same

thing which he says here. It comes down to in every

nation. He accepts for those who fear

Him and do what is right. Look introspect within yourself.

Do you fear Him? Are you doing what is right?

Are you doing what is right According to him, not according

to you. Because my right can change

tomorrow. My right can change a year from

now. Do what is right based on what

God is telling and what His Word is telling.

He wants us because His place of moving us towards this third we

will rise up so that the church will be one where we'll be to

live the life to its fullest. Just imagine a church not

showing favoritism for accepting everyone.

Hate to tell everyone I'm so glad you're here.

Even you've received salvation, even you've received this grace.

We are all recipients of it. Remember one thing that if we

don't extend grace to people, we will never receive grace from

people. It's the same thing as we

received grace from God. We are called to X give it out,

extend that, extend that. And so I want to also draw some

put some guardrails around that. Don't extend it so much to a

place where you know you're trampled upon.

Have God reads. I love the Holy Spirit to shape

that for you because in that you'll be able to see his

fullness come through. And I want to move to a place of

understanding. How can we apply this into our

lives? When we read in Romans chapter 2

Romans 2 · chapter mention

verse four, it says that in the last, it says God's kindness is

intended to lead you to repentance.

One of the ways we can overcome all this that we've seen in

chapter two and three where he contradicts time and again, he,

he tells the Jewish and the Gentiles, hey, the Gentiles

think they're better off. No, you are spiraling down.

Rise up. God, there's no favoritism.

God is the only one who can judge you.

For the Jews who thought they've lived their lives and they're

making the best choices because they're coming from the right

tribe. Hey, you think you're doing

right, but you're still stealing from that.

You're teaching whatever you want.

You are misusing things. It all comes down to that.

How do we live this life? For those of us who've showed

favoritism all our lives or we've been brought up that way

and now that this becomes a revelation, we need to see that

God's kindness that's extended to us is one of repentance and

we see how do we overcome. This is when we go and allow the

Spirit of God to work in and through our lives.

It says here when He works in and through us, the first

application we see is the circumcision of our hearts.

The Jews believed that they had to be circumcised to be one, to

be known as God's people, that they have been set apart.

But the Holy Spirit is saying, I want your hearts to be

circumcised. Romans chapter 2, verses 25 to

Romans 2:25–29

29. And this is what it says.

Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew,

is great if you live in accord with God's law, but if you

don't, it's worse than not being circumcised.

The reverse is also to the uncircumcised to keep God's ways

are as good as circumcised. In fact, better.

Better to keep God's law uncircumcised than break it

circumcised. Don't you see?

It's not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew.

You become a Jew by who you are. It's the mark of God on your

heart, not a knife on your skin that makes a Jew.

And recognition that comes from God, not legalistic critics.

And I'm saying this specifically because a lot of us have so many

things that we think we've got sorted out as Christians.

Oh yeah. Even baptized, we participate in

the communion, we do all that, but our hearts have not been

circumcised. And today God wants to put that

knife into our hearts to say these areas I want to remove.

It's OK if I do this. You know what?

I know I can ask for forgiveness when I go on Sunday to church.

No, but God wants to surgically deal with that so that He'll

make us a better person. He'll make us a person who's

impartial. He'll make us a person who

doesn't favour. And when we allow him to

operate, He is setting us up so that we'll be able to lead well,

so that many more will be able to follow Him.

I'm reminded from 1 John chapter 2 verses 13 to 17 it says.

1 John 2:13–17

In the later half it says don't love the world's ways, don't

love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out

the love of the Father. Practically everything that goes

on in the world, wanting your own way, wanting everything for

yourself, wanting to appear important, has nothing to do

with the Father. It just isolates you from him.

The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way

out. But whoever does what God wants

to set for eternity. So if there's a clear indicator

of what we have to do, why we have to have this surgical knife

upon our hearts is because our wants are always tied to that of

the world. Our wants are always tied to

wanting something that we squeeze it.

We can call it, it's the Lord's favor.

It's the Lord's blessing. It's a lot.

We, we, we have a ways of doing it.

Only we know whether we've squeezed it or not.

But God's saying and nothing more can be more important than

for you to see me with all your heart.

And I pray that we will be ones who will live our lives, but we

will seek God. We don't want the world's ways.

We don't want the world's goods. We don't want the world to

squeeze the love of the Father out of us.

So today, what is it that's squeezing the love of the Father

out of you? Is it your work?

Is it the pile of EMI debt that you have?

Is it the the thrill of not having things that are latest

coming out? Is it the is it the fact that

you know what, I've worked hard, but I've not got the right

increment? And you see suddenly all these

pile up because when these pile up automatically, favoritism

piles up automatically, judgement piles up.

So let's go back to the root as. We allow his surgery to work in

and through US. He starts shaping.

He says, son and daughter, would you come back to what I love?

Meditate on his word. He'll show you how to embrace

people. You'll soon start realizing it's

beyond all that we have. And even as we see this wrong,

Paul takes us through this journey and tells the Roman

church, let your heart be surgically cleaned because he

wants to remove all the barriers of favorite favourites.

What are some of the barriers of favourites?

Only this particular people group needs salvation or

everyone needs salvation. Missions is not just to those

who can't read or write. Missions is just not just to the

villages Mission is also to the cities.

If someone just tells you, you know, going to a villages

missions, you're you're hearing them wrong.

Missions is to everyone. It's not favouritism when it

comes to missions. It has to be done the Jesus way.

Jesus was able to balance what he reached, those in the poorest

of rank and even to the people who are the learnt.

We too have to be like that. It's just not to the sick

people, but it's also to the healthy people.

Sick people need a healer. Sick people need hope.

The healthy people also need to understand that God is in

control of everything, that they are not in control of

everything. It's also to the settled and

unsettled. What is the settled?

The settled. Oh, OK.

You know, I think I have everything in control.

I think I've built my six month emergency fund.

I have a plan ready for my retirement.

You need to know that eternity is not in that, but it's secure

only in heaven into the unsettled who's grappling with.

OK, I'm just running from pillar to post to realize that the

peace that passeth all understanding comes from God.

So today, even as you work in this, we will soon realize that

the church that God's wanting to build will be people of all,

will be people of all these categories, rich, poor, healthy,

sick, settled, unsettled, all need Jesus, all our needing of

his grace. And may our favourites not be

the one which becomes a barrier over there.

You know, even as I close, I want to.

Close with this particular illustration, my boss back in

2019 when he was doing a presentation gave this

illustration. And in fact, even before I spoke

just yesterday night, I texted him to just to make sure I got

it right and he talked about these Aspen trees.

You'll see the image. They come on the screen right

now, and these trees have an extensive root system.

Even when you look from the surface when you're traveling or

when you even have these drone shots grow above, you'll see

that they all look very similar. They all look like they're

thousands of individual trees, but they're actually a single

living Organism. They are the largest living

thing on the planet. Actually, they say they have

their root system, which are recorded up to 40 meters from a

parent tree. They all received their

nourishments from the parent tree and that's what the Church

of God is supposed to be like. What Paul is writing to the

Roman church is not one where they they, they might have been

different sizes, they might be, but they all received their

nourishment. They are centrally connected.

If we judge, we won't be centrally connected.

If we have favouritism, we won't be centrally connected.

And I believe today when we have to be centrally connected, we

are centrally connected through the Spirit in Christ Jesus who

brings righteousness today. And as this tree lives, when you

look, it looks beautiful. And I think that's what the

Church of God should look. Everyone who comes in gets

plugged in. They get their nutrients, they

get everything that they need, they receive grace from him

alone and they live out their life to the fullest.

So today may sin not have a seat at your table.

Sin is black and white. Sin is sin.

There's no grace in here. There's no a shade of sin.

No, there's no gradient in sin is the sin is sin big, small,

it's a sin. But if you find sin at your

table, it says here, let's go with the repentant heart.

God's willing to change us inside and out.

I just want to leave a verse with you.

You might be like, OK, Geshrem, you know, you've spoken about

this. How do I live this life?

You know, Paul told it to the Roman church.

But I'm coming from a background, you know, that this

is this is this is so tough to live by.

I would say Micah 68 has the answer.

It says no people, the Lord has told you that it is good that

this is what he requires of you to do what is right to love

mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Three things he requires you to do as follows of Jesus.

You know, to make sure that you're not judging and you know

being judgmental to make sure that you're not showing

favoritism to make sure that you know you're you're not moving

aside and orchestrating things around.

He's saying, do these three things that we'll do what is

right before God and we'll do what is right for people because

God is watching, that we'll be merciful, that we will love

mercy, that we will extend mercy, especially when we time

and again come to a place of why is this person doing this to me?

Why are they? We would extend mercy and pray

for them. Honestly pray for them.

Take it to God and say God, you can change them.

And the third thing is that we walk humbly with our God.

We'd say, God, without you, this is not possible.

I need you. I'm desperate for you.

And so church, even as we conclude and pray, I just want

to pray a prayer of blessing all your life because I believe even

this week God was working in my life and showing me, have I have

I do I show favoritism? Because every time I show

favoritism, that is a selfish agenda.

There's a selfish motive. Am I being judgmental because

because I've got two things right and another person has got

nothing right, Am I being judgmental?

And God reminded me I've extended grace to you.

Would you extend and I would charge you Church, the church

that God's building is one where we're all the same and we will

all be in front of him in heaven.

So let's try with that, that even as anyone who's longing for

him comes in, they will get a taste of that.

They will get a full taste of that.

They will receive that. And this is the nature of God

that He does. He alone can judge, and that He

shows no favoritism. So let's pray our loving

heavenly Father. Lord, we thank you a lot for

this time. Lord, even as you've heard your

word, I pray to sink deep into US.

Lord, I pray, Lord, there are so many areas that are hardened in

our lives which we believe needs circumcision through your

spirit, Lord, and I pray that heart circumcision will happen.

Will you come in Lord Jesus and remove those areas surgically

remove those areas. Lord, I pray where our love we

forget that we all are living in glass houses.

I pray that Lord, we, we've received that grace and I pray

we'll extend that grace to others.

I pray for those the pride is kept in and we've thought

haughty and we've, we've, we've thought highly of ourselves.

Would you forgive us right now, Lord?

Forgive us, Lord, I pray that Lord, you would work in and

through US, strengthen us, Lord, Pray especially Lord, in this

season that as we look through this, Lord, these, these words

seem so heavy for us. Lord, we've been growing up and

certain things are so ingrained to us.

But I pray the kindness that you've extended to us that we'll

be able to repent, we'll be able to turn back and every step of

the way you will teach us that we'll be able to live this life

to the fullest. Go before us, Lord, your most

holy name, we pray, Amen, Amen. Pray that you step out in this

week with boldness, knowing that God alone is our judge and God

shows no favoritism, and that God's called us to go back so

that His Spirit will work in and through our hearts so that we'll

be able to live the life that He's called.

And I charge you that even as you live this right, do what is

right, love mercy, be merciful, and may we walk humbly before

God. Pray that you have a blessed

week. God bless you all.

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