Sermon
158 ~ COME ALIVE WITH JESUS - Part 1
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Hi, and welcome to the, we assign sermon podcast.
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We are local church based here in Chennai, India.
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We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will
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encourage Inspire. And in still, fresh faith.
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In you as we enter the season of Lent, we begin a new series
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called come alive with Jesus. Many of us may feel like we are
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sleepwalking through life or not.
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Feeling Fully Alive through this series, we hope that you will
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discover that in close proximity with the Savior.
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You will fully come alive. We have Christine, guest room
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opened the series by sharing on the treasure within, and how we
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can come alive. When we live with a better
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understanding of this. Let's hear what God has in store
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for us. Hi Church.
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Welcome to our church online. I'm so excited to bring God's
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word to you today. As you know, we have begun lent.
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We began this Feb 22nd this Wednesday were marked the
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beginning of Lent and we had an amazing time teaching on the
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previous series, which was catch the wind, and which is the theme
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for the whole year. And this year is going to be
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exciting because we know that if God gives us a theme like that
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that he's got some exciting surprises in store for us.
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And as we began lent, we begin a brand new series and I don't
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know what length has meant to you in the past, but we are
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looking at this Lent 2023. Meant as a time when we actually
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get added time with Jesus, we will turn a new Bible plan,
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which is come out. It's called face to face with
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Jesus. You're welcome to do it with
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friends or by yourself. It will require that you give
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Jesus another extra five minutes and it just requires a bit of
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time for you to meditate on God's word and to ask yourself
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some questions. And even as we get into this new
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series, we have titled, this new series, come alive, come alive
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with Jesus. How many of you can attest to
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this? That you just walk through life
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sometimes. It was zombie because of the
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kind of work pleasure because of the kind of family pressures and
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struggles and health issues or or relational problems that you
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just feel like you know, like you're The Walking Dead walking
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around doing the things you have to do.
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You really don't feel like you're filled with Vitality.
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I know I have walked through life many times like that many
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times last year. It felt like I was just doing
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the things I had to do, like, you know, just ticking check
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boxes, but not really living and experiencing life, life in
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abundance, And as we do this series for the next six weeks or
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so, this is our desire for each of us that we would really come
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alive in the presence of Jesus. That is a desire.
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A desire is that we will get into his word, we will hear his
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voice. We will follow his leading and
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we'll see, just how abundant Our Lives can be maybe press, don't
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get answered, maybe wealth doesn't increase.
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Maybe breakthroughs, all don't come, but just the fact that we
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are in his presence, just the fact that we get to know.
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A little bit more will definitely bring us to life.
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So even as we get into today's world, that's what I want you to
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enter the series with a sense of expectation.
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And as I begin, let me just say a quick word of prayer.
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Father, I pray that as we open up the word that you would speak
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through me. And I pray that each one of us
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wherever we are however, low we're feeling even if we've been
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just feeling spiritually dead or emotionally, they don't mentally
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dead father. We pray that we will come alive
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with you. Jesus. - we love you and we
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thank you in your holy name we pray.
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Amen. Amen so let's get into the word
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of God. Okay so we're going to be
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looking at 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 4, verses 7 to 12 today.
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So what it says is this, we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to
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show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us,
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you know, before you get into this, you have to understand
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that second Corinthians chapter 3 and 4 are talking about the
2 Corinthians 3 chapter mention
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powerful Gospel of Jesus, the god.
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Through where Jesus came to Earth, he walk like one of us
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and then he was crucified. He died a horrific that.
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But in that death, the blood that was shed was the blood of
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the New Covenant, when he established a life, with us, for
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us on us, in our state, he died for us.
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And now each of us are saved because of that death, and it
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didn't just stop there. The gospel doesn't stop with the
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death of Jesus. It continued when Jesus was
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resurrected on the third. Day.
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He came back to life and the word of God is very clear.
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It talks about how that resurrection power of Jesus
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lives inside each one of us who accept him to be the Lord of our
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lives. So it's a powerful gospel.
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And therefore, Paul starts this portion of this chapter by
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saying, but we have this treasure, this treasure in Jars
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of Clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God
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and not to us. I always joke that before one of
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us on the teaching team, share a mess.
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Which we have Force trained in it.
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And so, this week began, great, Monday Tuesday had started
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preparing and Tuesday night. I came down with the flu and
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even now I'm still on medication, still feeling
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exhausted and it was God was it was like God was reminding me,
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you guys are Jars of Clay, you are frail, you are feeble.
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But it is my power that is at work in you.
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And what Paul was trying to say in this imagery he saying that
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you each of us are so feeble. Well, we're so limited with so
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finite, but the power of God that is within us, makes us
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indomitable it, makes us Overcomers it, makes us
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Victor's. It makes us the ones who last
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till the very end. It's not because of us, it's not
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because of our mental strength is not because of our ability is
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not because we are warriors at heart, is because of the power
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that is within us, we come alive, when we realize
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progressively, the kind of power that we possess as followers of
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Jesus, lot of A living powerless lives.
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And today, I want us to remember that if I have Jesus in my life,
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he's the greatest treasure and with him comes the resurrection
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power. That was exerted at that tomb,
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that left it, empty and therefore you.
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And I now today live with that kind of power in our bodies, in
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our Spirits, in our minds, we are not powerless.
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I remember growing up a lot of times, my brother and I did
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stupid stuff or behaved foolishly.
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Foolishly my mum would use this phrase, she would say column on
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Monday, you know, what does that mean?
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It means do you, is your brain made of clay because your head
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made of clay. And when I was just thinking
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about it this past week at it brought, you know, actually made
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me laugh because I realized it was the closest thing to the
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truth. It was not an insult.
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We are made of clay, our bodies are made of clay and yet and yet
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God uses us limited beings human beings with off.
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Will tease without flaws. He uses us to display his glory,
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to a watching World continuing with 2 Corinthians, Chapter 4
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verses 8 to 9. We just read verse 7, there
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verse 8. To 9, we are hedged in pressed
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on every side, troubled and oppressed in every way.
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But not cramped or crushed, we suffer embarrassments and are
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perplexed and are unable to find a way out but not driven to
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despair. We are pursued persecuted and
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hard. Even but not deserted to stand
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alone. We are struck down to the ground
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but never struck out and destroyed.
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It's interesting because a lot of us find that we have a killer
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instinct when it comes to work, maybe when it comes to a
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relationship is very pushy. We can actually move and be
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aggressive and and get someone back into our lives.
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Maybe when it came to a certain Financial obstacles you have
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pushed through, you have found a way for your family to make it
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maybe when it came to your marriage.
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You Somehow fought and made it through.
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And that's isn't that the story of our lives that we somehow
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pushing and prodding, and we want things to work, we're
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holding things together. But what if all of that is
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happening? What if we have that innate
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capability? Not because of ourselves, but
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because of the power within us, that's what policy and he
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saying, there is a treasure in these Jars of Clay because of
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which we are pressed, but not crushed persecuted.
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But not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.
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So if you are sitting and watching this sermon right now,
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you are an overcomer, you have been may be pressed on, but you
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are not destroyed. Maybe you were completely, you
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felt like you were obliterated by the enemy but you're not
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disappeared yet. You are still there.
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If there is life in your body, there is purpose.
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If you still made it out, maybe you just like, you know, those
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boxes. When they just about to pass out
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of, they put one hand up. One leg up.
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They're not struck out there, brought back in, maybe you are
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like Maybe you feel like you've just been whacked at, and every
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direction spiritually, maybe your mental health has suffered
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because the kind of trauma, you've endured but still, you
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haven't given up. Have you thought that?
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Maybe? It's because of the power within
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you. Today is a time when we
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recalibrate and we look at ourselves and look, in the
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mirror. And, you know, we're living in a
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time when people are telling you to look in the mirror and
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endorse yourself, validate yourself, do these things.
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But the beautiful thing is, those of us who are in Christ
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are already validated by him instead.
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Now we need to be looking past ourselves at the power within us
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and that is the power of a risen savior.
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This power is not because you and I have extremely great will
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power. It's not because we are so
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strong harder that we can beat anything that comes at as it is
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because of the power of Christ within us 2 Corinthians 4
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reading from 10 to 12. Now we always carry around in
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our body, the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also
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be Sealed in our body. For we who are alive are always
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being given over to death for Jesus sake.
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So that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
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So then death is at work in us but life is at work in you.
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We can never really experienced life if we haven't died a bit.
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Okay? What does that mean?
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Every one of us who actually have accepted Jesus?
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Who love Jesus, who are followers of Jesus, whatever you
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call yourself. The minute you come step into
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this new life in Christ, you find certain things have to die
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or certain things die in his presence.
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For example, I have many times have had to give funeral
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services to my ego to my selfish ambition, to my people pleasing
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to my selfishness to my pride many times subsequent on
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subsequent days. Even it's not just been a one.
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Once in Duncan of thing, when you come into the presence of
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God, you know, the light of the world, he is light will start
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shining on the Gary has a few life and eventually those dark
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areas begin to die out. And here polishing the we carry
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around in our bodies, the death of Jesus, which means we share
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in his sufferings the stuff we are going through now on Earth
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the stuff that our Brethren are going through around the globe,
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hardship, War famine calamities. All of this, we are carrying in
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our body, the suffering of Jesus, death of Jesus.
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But the beautiful thing is so that the life of Jesus may also
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be Sealed in our bodies. It's not for want.
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It's not for nothing. All of our suffering.
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Has a meaning all of our pain has a meaning.
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Lot of people don't like being told that God causes suffering,
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God doesn't cause suffering, he allows it because he knows that
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in that suffering, he is revealed when we endure it.
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When we walk through it, his glory is revealed through our
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lives. We don't get to pinpoint and
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tell God, you know, what I can do without the suffering that
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your glory, be revealed in the good times.
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Even in the worst times, his glory is revealed and it says
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over here, that the life of Jesus It may also be revealed in
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our body. For we who are alive are always
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being given over to death for Jesus sake.
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Always is like I said, regular dying to self.
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You're married. You learn that.
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You should write your ego on a daily basis.
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You have to diet your selfishness, you have children,
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you have to exercise self-control.
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All those negative words that were spoken over.
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You you need to die to it now. So you speak life over your
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children constantly. And when the death is at work
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in, as your, that's the dying of certain things that have to die
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life being gets revealed in others, you bring life to
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others. That's what he's talking about.
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But the question today is this, we're talking about coming alive
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in Jesus. And I believe that today, as we
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look at 1 Corinthians chapter 4, we are coming to a place.
1 Corinthians 4 chapter mention
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We're going to come alive to Jesus.
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When we look at the treasure within us, Lot of times, we have
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been used to being called the treasure.
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Maybe when you were a child, your parents call.
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You water, treasure, how precious you are a treasure.
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But the treasure within you is priceless because if you look at
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the analogy of a clay pot, you know, get a clay pot is under,
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don't is ordinary and it's liable to break.
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It's liable to get chipped. It's liable to get marked.
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Its liable to have scars on it because of water or Flame or or
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just excessive sunlight, it changes color.
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Doesn't look the same as when you bought it.
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It's porous. It's fragile.
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But the beautiful thing is that policy, there is a treasure
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Within These Jars of Clay. And so, you and I today,
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however, irrespective of how we look, how we Adorn ourselves the
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lifestyles, we lead the other, you know, the backgrounds, we
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come from, whatever it is, all of that, all of that is okay.
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But what matters more is the treasure within us?
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Are we aware of the treasure within us?
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That's when we come alive and I want to eat three.
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Things with you. From this passage, we're going
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to continue, reading to Corinth, we're going to continue reading
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this. Passage 2 Corinthians, chapter
2 Corinthians 4 chapter mention
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4. And as we read it, only three
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things with you three ways, in which, we can actually come
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alive to the treasure within us. Okay, so I'm going to be reading
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from 2 Corinthians Chapter 4 verses 13 to 18.
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And as I read it I want you to just in your mind.
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Maybe, highlight, certain things.
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I'm going to ask you to highlight.
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Okay, 2 Corinthians 4:13 to 18 since we have Same Spirit of
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Faith, according to what has been written, I believed in.
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So, I spoke we also believe. And so, we also speak highlight
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that your head we believe. And so, we also speak knowing
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that, he who raised the Lord, Jesus will raise us also, with
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Jesus and bring us with you into his presence for.
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It is all for your sake. So that as Grace extends to more
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and more people, it may increase Thanksgiving to the glory of God
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so we do not lose heart. Light that we do not lose heart
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though. Our outward self is wasting
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away. Our inner self is being for us
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an eternal weight of Glory beyond all comparison.
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As we look not at the things which are seen.
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But at the things that are unseen, for the things that are
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seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are
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Eternal highlight that the things that are unseen are
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Eternal, okay? That's very vital thing that
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we're going to be looking at three things, three things that
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each of us. Need to apply in our lives on a
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daily basis. In order that we actually come
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alive to the treasure within us. The Treasure of a risen savior,
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The Treasure of a resurrected Christ and his power alive in
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us. Sometimes we believe a very
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half-baked gospel. We focus too much on the fall of
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Man and we forget that we are redeemed.
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Maybe you focus so much on the Redemption that you forget that
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we have the Holy Spirit who is renewing us on a daily basis.
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That's an important part of the gospel, maybe.
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You forgotten that we have that resurrection power alive in us
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today, if it was not for the resurrection you and I would be
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the most hopeless of people. Today, we don't have to fear
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death because of the Resurrection.
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You and I don't have to be afraid of an endless eternity.
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Spent in damnation in suffering, we have the hope of Eternity
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with Jesus because of the Resurrection.
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He won over death. Conquered it once and for all
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and therefore you and I can come alive to this power.
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If first of all, we speak out and Faith so often when we, when
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you have an argument with someone or with your child, or
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the spouse or a friend, the stuff we say, reveals the
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deepest things of our heart, sometimes, when you correcting a
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child and you're telling your child, don't do that in the
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child. Asks, why not?
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And you see, because I'm afraid you'll break your head or you
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say something like that and then you realize you're not speaking
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from a place of faith. This chair you are communicating
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your fear to the child. Your you're seeing my deepest
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darkest fear, is that I would break, I would have broken my
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head in the similar fashion so I don't want you to do that but
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it's very important not just in parenting, but in life as to
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what we declare with our mouths, someone 16 verses 10 to 11 in
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the passion translation says this.
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Even when it seems I'm surrounded by many liars and my
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own fears and though I'm hurting in my suffering and Trauma, I
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still stay faithful to God and speak words of faith.
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Is that beautiful? It really depicts.
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A lot of highlights. You might be struggling right
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now in different areas or maybe right now.
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It's very calm and cool. Setting, you're not really
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having much to suffer with but maybe you carry, baggage and so,
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you're tempted to speak from a place of Doubt, of disbelief of
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just repeated disappointment of endless waiting, but he says
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here, I still stay faithful to God.
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The psalmist says he will. Still stay faithful and speak
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words of Faith. How many of us can honestly say?
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That's the route. We take, Don't ask you, what are
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you speaking today? Are you speaking out of here is
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very easy. When you are on a sick bed for
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all your negativity to come to the surface, oh, I'm going to be
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like this forever or every time I just recover I go back into
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the slump. What's wrong with me?
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Something's wrong with me. I'm not fit to exist deep dark.
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Spirals begin when we start to speak out of here, but God is
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saying, I want you to speak out of Faith.
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Why not? Because this is positive
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thinking, not because it's to change the Vibes in your room or
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in your office space. No, it is because you believe in
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a God, who is risen? He says, because I believe that
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he will bring me to him with you.
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He saying, you have that position and Christ.
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Now, the power of the resurrected Christ is in you,
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you have that position and standing, so speak out in faith
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because of that, I don't speak out in faith because I need to
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feel better. I speak out and Faith because I
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know better. I know the god of the universe
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is on my side. I know my Creator created me for
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a purpose. I know that when he makes me.
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Wait, he's waiting with me. I know that when he's taking me
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through the valley of the shadow of death, he has not left me for
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a minute. If you've been saying to
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yourself, I never be healed. If you've been seeing a lever,
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have a breakthrough, may be a been saying, I'm not experienced
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the miraculous in my life. Maybe you're saying I'll always
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be stuck here in this rut. I will not see a change in my
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relationship status. I'm not going to see a change in
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my child, what we speak shapes our reality.
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And the truth is in a risen savior, a reality shifted.
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We have hope every single day. We have an assurance that better
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things are yet to come. Maybe it's not happening right
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now but it's going to happen. And so when I start to speak out
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in faith, I'm shifting my reality.
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Yes, this is what it looks like, but God, I know you have said
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that, you go before me. You Ooh, provided honey from The
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Rock. Lord, that's who you are.
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Do that for me, you are, you have said that.
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You have, you will teach us to profit.
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My business is running into the ground, teach me how to profit
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because I know you will do it. You see how it shifts the
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atmosphere from an atmosphere of fear to an atmosphere of Faith.
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So this is not a Prosperity, Gospel pitch.
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I'm not saying that you name it and claim it, not at all.
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I am saying the power within you had is the new reality.
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It's the reality that it is. The Saviour dwells in you, he
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spirit is with you, he is empowering you, you know, no
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longer need to be afraid. You can live in faith, and the
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extension of living in faith is speaking out in faith, what I
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declare will shape my reality. So the first way in which you
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come alive with Jesus, to the treasure within you is when you
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begin to speak out and faith, will you try it this week?
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Simple things with your children, you can correct them
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and discipline them. Without speaking out in fear,
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you can speak to your spouse. Clearly speaking, your heart out
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without speaking out in fear, but speaking out in faith
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declare in faith, things over your situation believe, Eve that
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this God who conquered death and the grave Will Conquer your
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hardest situations for you. The second thing is strength in
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your heart. He says so we don't lose heart
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because outwardly we are wasting away inwardly.
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We are being renewed this week. When I was unwell, this
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particular flu started off with a backache and you know, the the
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middle part of the back starts painting and then it just
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radiates to the whole body and I was, I didn't know I was going
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in for the flu, but I remember coming down on Tuesday night and
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telling my husband I'm feeling every bit my age and feeling as
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old as I really am. I've not felt that way in a way.
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So I was telling him that I was laughing and saying, you know
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what, I'm the definition of this jar of clay outwardly wasting
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away inwardly, I hope I'm being renewed, and it felt like a joke
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is that time, but the truth is, is very essential for us as
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humans to strengthen our hearts. You look at a clay pot, like I
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said, so liable to damage liable to injury.
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And when you read the Old Testament, Testament.
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When you re levity case another, the Commandments given to people
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is if something in unclean falls into an earthen pot, you break
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it, and throw it, it was that disposable.
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If it fell into a bronze jar, they had to scour it with a, you
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know, like a vessel cleaner. But if it fell into a clay pot,
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use break it and throw it. Imagine you need to strengthen
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your heart because our bodies are so fragile.
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That happened to us affect us, even the strongest of you out
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there certain things happen that can be sold.
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Crushing divorce, that happens is soul-crushing, abuse, that
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happens is soul-crushing. The things that people put you
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through the things, that maybe you have made wrong choices and
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put yourself through can be so destructive.
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And unless we on a regular basis strengthen our heart, we won't
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withstand it. We won't come through it alive.
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And so I Us to come to this place of saying, Lord, I want
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you to strengthen my heart because the heart that is not
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strengthened is a heart. That's liable to be fragmented
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and eventually destroyed enough. Broken heart doesn't make for a
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full life, you know, if you live with a crushed Spirit, the Bible
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says, Your life doesn't really matter.
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Then, we want to come to a place where we bring this heart of our
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stew. Jesus on a regular basis daily
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basis, and see a lot strengthen my heart for today.
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I know stuffs happening that could potentially break my
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heart, but strengthen my heart. When David was in a hard place
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with all his followers, they were talking about killing him
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because, you know, bad stuff that happened to their whole
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Army and to their families. And it said, David strengthened
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himself in the Lord. Some 28 was 7 to 8.
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Yaoi is my strength and my wraparound Shield, when I fully
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trust in you, help is on the way.
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I jumped for joy and burst forth with ecstatic, passionate
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praise. I will sing songs of what you
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mean to me. You will be the inner strength
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of all your people. Yahweh, the mighty protector of
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all and the saving strength for all your anointed ones.
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How do we strengthen our heart? Is there a Procedure because all
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of us want to do. How do I do this right from
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this? It's quite easy to understand
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what we must do in order to strengthen our heart on a daily
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basis. We need to worship, we need to
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surrender this very hard for those of us who have control
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issues, because we'd much rather, hold back stuff.
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Keep it safe, shelter, it. And then still think we're
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worshipping God. We still think that, you know,
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we can handle the stuff that comes at us, but it is in
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complete surrender to God. That I'm actually Ending that my
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heart is more strengthened because I'm telling him.
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I trust you with this more than I trust myself with this.
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So, here you, this is my family. This is my job, this, my
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parents, these are my finances, or the lack of it.
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And when you surrender in order to not be left in an empty
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place, we worship from that place.
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So that the simple act, you know, I'm since I teach Dance,
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I'm going to tell you this, the simple Act of lifting, your
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hands in worship is an act of Surrender because it's saying
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I'm not holding anything back and releasing it to you.
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So, you surrender any worship? Because when you passionately,
-
praise him for, who he is for what he has done, you are
-
unconsciously. Strengthening your heart.
-
You're telling God, all of this is yours.
-
All of this is yours. None of it is mine.
-
I'm giving it all to you. And when you lift up your voice
-
and praise, when you give your body in unbroken, praise to him
-
something shifts. I've been understanding.
-
What it means to bring a sacrifice of praise.
-
Even when you're unable to, you probably sick in bed, you're
-
unable to praise to still lift your hands.
-
Listen to worship music and believe that that's an Anthem.
-
For your soul is a sacrifice even when you're completely
-
broke, And you step into church and as it is to the congregation
-
worships for you to sing out with them is a sacrifice of
-
praise and it's then that God can strengthen your heart.
-
He cannot strengthen our heart. When we are holding on to
-
everything really tight, when we stubborn about not worshiping
-
him till things, become better, it's where I am at right now,
-
when I'm able to surrender and worship him, there he
-
strengthens. My heart says over there, he's
-
the protector. Our of all he is the Inner
-
Strength for his people. Unless I strengthen my heart, I
-
will not come alive with Jesus because let me tell you this
-
right from the from, you know, just as like a, you know, like a
-
basic Foundation. We're going to face hard things
-
in our life. If our hearts are not
-
strengthened, we will not make it.
-
We will fall apart at the seams. It's important that we
-
strengthen our heart on a daily basis.
-
I don't know what worship looks like to you.
-
I don't know what surrendering looks like to you for me.
-
The minute I start worrying about something and holding
-
something very tight. I know that that's the very
-
thing I need to surrender to him.
-
During this flu season, each of our kids were falling sick, I
-
was getting so stressed, will this tie get better?
-
Will this one be okay? Will they lose their voice
-
panicking and then I realized that I somehow thought I was
-
protecting them. When in reality they were in the
-
hands of a sovereign God and the minute I started surrendering
-
them to him. I found that I was at greater
-
peace. I found that I was at.
-
I was more calm than had been before, and so I want to ask you
-
will, you allow God to strengthen your heart every
-
single day, practice it for the next 40 days.
-
When you wake up, you see, Lord strengthen my heart for today.
-
I don't know what obstacles are going to come up.
-
I don't know what negativity is going to be thrown my way but I
-
want to live a life so strengthen my heart.
-
Help me worship you with complete surrender, sir.
-
I can really, really come alive. That's the second thing.
-
The third thing is that we would see the Eternal.
-
Now I know that there's this. I think someone came up with
-
this court, which says, some of them are so Heavenly minded that
-
they're of no earthly use. And I think that's, it's not a
-
completely correct statement. Because Jesus himself said,
-
where your treasure is there your heart is Lay up Treasures
-
for yourself in heaven, not on Earth where moth and rust steal
-
and destroy. So why are we so fixated on what
-
we see if you have watched these shows where they go and
-
declutter homes? You know, you see people who
-
hold up stuff and I think I was watching one, we're in the UK,
-
they go and declutter people's homes and these people are
-
called holders, unfortunately, and I don't like using a
-
descriptive like that. So, these are people who hoard
-
stuff, let's call them that they houses.
-
Is with filled with things like, multiple multiple stands
-
lampstands, multiple sofas, multiple Coke cans.
-
It was like, we only can drink from one at a time.
-
We can only sit on once off at a time, but here were people who
-
are accumulated so much over the years that they didn't have
-
space to stay at in the end of the day.
-
And that's when these people would step in intervene and
-
clean up the house and eat. Some of us are like that.
-
Some of us are like that, we're in.
-
We so caught up with the temporal, the stuff that we see
-
that we are forgetting that we were meant for eternity.
-
Now, what does that mean? When we say we are meant for
-
eternity doesn't mean I'm just going to prepare for my funeral
-
and you know be ready to die and see my makeup.
-
What does that look like right? It probably sounds.
-
So dark and dismal but that's not what it actually means.
-
So our lives are so transient, right?
-
If it was not for the treasure within us, our life on Earth
-
would be it. It's because of the treasurer of
-
the Risen Christ within us that we don't just have purpose here
-
on Earth. But we have purpose for eternity
-
because God is renewing. The earth and the heavens.
-
It says he's renewing it and we have a part to play in the
-
renewed heavens and the Earth as well as not just for now.
-
So I life on Earth is just a DOT a suspect but I live for
-
eternity He is forever and ever, and it's going to be a beautiful
-
lie. So that's why most Christians
-
are not very worried about death because here I have eternity.
-
So the important thing is I think when we were preparing
-
this whole series, we realize that.
-
So often we're preparing for eternity.
-
We forget how to live now, and the important thing is this,
-
Each of us need to fix our eyes on the Eternal, so that we live.
-
Well, now, eternity is coming for some of us sooner than we
-
expect for some may be much later.
-
But the truth is this, how you? And I Live Now will determine
-
our Eternity. For example, if you're living
-
carelessly, we living like as if you know, what my choice is,
-
don't matter. I can do anything Grace covers
-
it, all then that might not be the right way to live.
-
Maybe some of us have openly rejected.
-
The gospel move said, you know what, I don't want.
-
Jesus, I don't want any of this. Maybe.
-
We've turned away from everything that we knew was the
-
truth in pursuit of things that helped us in the current moment.
-
But God is calling us to a place, a thing, come back to me,
-
fix your eyes on the things that are not seen.
-
You are in a battle that you cannot even see, it's a battle
-
for your soul. Psalm, 27 verse 13, the psalmist
-
says this yet. I believe, with all my heart
-
that I will see again, your goodness Yahweh in the land of
-
life, eternal. Psalm 27 verse 13.
-
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
-
He's not talking about life on Earth, he's talking about life,
-
eternal Everlasting that is our where our gaze goals.
-
So in my life is hard here, we know this is not, it is not the
-
end, we have life eternal, but how do I come alive to the
-
treasure within me? When I keep my eyes on the
-
Eternal? You may ask that doesn't even
-
make sense. The truth is everything.
-
You and I do here on Earth has Eternal implications.
-
The way I bring my children up has Eternal implications the way
-
I stored my marriage, Eternal implications, the way I do my
-
job, many of us. I think that our ministry is
-
more important than our vocation.
-
Then I then I jobs are, jobs, is a space.
-
God has placed you and me to excel at to bring the light of
-
his glory there. So if you're an engineer, if
-
you're a doctor, if you are a teacher, if you are an admin
-
head, if you're if you just person who's part of a team that
-
place that job you do is all important.
-
It has Eternal implications, it's not for nothing.
-
So don't treat it like as if you know what that second grade,
-
it's not important. My primary thing is to go Out
-
and, you know, preach to the loss, the Lost are right where
-
you're at. What are you doing with your
-
job? Are you stewarding it?
-
Well, are you treating people with the greatest of respect the
-
way? Jesus would everything we do on
-
this side of Eternity, has Eternal implications, what?
-
You're building today, your family, your community has
-
Eternal implications. It doesn't end.
-
Now, it doesn't end with you. It goes on and on, it has
-
repercussions positive or negative.
-
So how we live? D matters.
-
How we do things today matters for eternity?
-
So don't assume that eternity is far away so I can just do
-
whatever. And then the levantar I just,
-
you know, say you know what, Jesus, I Need, You know, we need
-
Jesus right now so that we the lead-up to Eternity is
-
fulfilling its abundant because we're living out our purpose to
-
the greatest ability. We are living with, such love
-
for people for God, and for people that It has everything
-
that we don't get so focused on what we're going through that.
-
We forget the Eternal is very important because a lot of
-
times, those of us who have walked through long-term
-
diseases, but walk through chronic conditions is very easy
-
for the focus to shift to the body, which is failing.
-
But the beautiful thing is that God wants us to shift our eyes.
-
He says, I know what you're going through, I know you're
-
suffering but what is the Eternal aspect of this?
-
How many can you draw into me into my kingdom in spite of what
-
you're walking through? Because I life has Eternal
-
ramifications, everything we say, and do now matters in the
-
light of Eternity. So, as we close for today, okay,
-
these are the three things I want to leave with you.
-
And it's I know it's a lot to chew on especially the Eternal
-
concept, okay? But even how we accumulate
-
wealth, even how we hold up wealth for ourselves and we
-
don't give to the ones who need it.
-
All of that matter is, when we have eternity in our site, I
-
would encourage you to read the gospels.
-
If you feel you have two cells, are too heavy to read, be the
-
gospels. Jesus talks about how to live
-
within, Eternity mindset. Jesus came two or three years,
-
he has Ministry 30 years, honor, three more years of ministry,
-
but his entire time his mind was on an eternity.
-
When he was sitting with that Samaritan woman at the, well,
-
when his disciples come back and the he says, you know what, I
-
had food that you have no idea what and his disciples are
-
thinking on an Earthly perspective.
-
Did someone come and give him a packed lunch?
-
But he's for him. The work of his father here on
-
Earth, was his spiritual nourishment.
-
Do we operate like that? Do we look at every opportunity
-
around us and think, you know what this has Eternal benefits.
-
I want to cash in on that. I want to reach out to this
-
person. Even if it's just one person
-
that seems insignificant to you will you do it will you do your
-
job in such a way that it glorifies the Father in Heaven
-
because that's ultimately what our Eternal perspective should
-
be. So when we want To come alive
-
with Jesus. Coming alive to the treasure
-
within us. The first thing is speak out and
-
faith. What?
-
We speak matters? It defines.
-
Our reality must speak out in faith.
-
The second is, you must strengthen your heart, and you
-
must see the Eternal as we close.
-
I just want to leave this with you.
-
Maybe it'll help clinch the deal for, you know, about coming
-
alive to the treasure within you.
-
I want to read two passages and as I close, I want you maybe to
-
just spend some time. After this, this service just
-
reading backward and asking God what He wants to speak
-
specifically to you, right? Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 2 to
-
6, go down to The Potter's House and there I will give you my
-
message. So I went down to The Potter's
-
House and I saw him working at the wheel but the party was
-
shaping from the clay was marred in his hands.
-
So the Potter formed it in another pot shaping it as seemed
-
best to him. Then the word of the Lord came
-
to me. He said, can I not do with you
-
Israel as this Potter does declares the Lord like Clay in
-
the hands of the Potter. So are you in my hand?
-
Israel. I want you to put your name in
-
there, where it says, Israel if you can put your name in there,
-
so I would read it. Can I not do with you?
-
Christine as this Potter does like, clay in the hands of the
-
Potter? So I you in my hand.
-
Christine, if you can put your name in there, and would you ask
-
yourself that question as of God was asking you to you?
-
Because maybe you're feeling, like, you're just a lump of
-
clay. But when you're in the hands of
-
the master Potter, Shaping into something so beautiful.
-
He doesn't make mistakes, he knows what he's doing the clay,
-
cannot ask the porter. What are you doing?
-
Instead it stays pliable and yielded to him.
-
Remember, what I was talking about is surrendered worship.
-
That's what it looks like. Giving yourself into his hands.
-
He's shaping you reshaping you as he sees fit.
-
It's very important in order to come alive to the treasure
-
within us that we allow him to shape.
-
Our Earthen vessels. The second passage that I want
-
to read for, you is Matthew 13 verse 44.
-
The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.
-
When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his Joy went
-
and sold all he had and bought that field.
-
Matthew 13:44, it's part of a whole bunch of things that Jesus
-
is teaching on, but it's lovely because it says the Kingdom of
-
Heaven is like a treasure. This man who found it, who
-
discovered it, he did it again, sold everything he had and
-
bought the entire field. I want to ask you if Jesus is
-
the treasure in your life. Would you do anything and
-
everything? To hold on to him.
-
What are you willing to give up? In order to pursue this
-
relationship with Jesus, he is the treasure within us.
-
We are Treasures. Yes, but he's the greatest
-
treasure within us. Where is your treasure today?
-
Where is your heart pointed towards?
-
What is the angle that your heart is taken?
-
Maybe it's in having perfect health.
-
Maybe it's having in having this amazing marriage, maybe it's in
-
having well-behaved children. Maybe it's in in dating, you
-
know, someone that, you know, just fits your every
-
requirement. I don't know where your heart is
-
tilted and leaning towards. But what if I asked you that
-
your heart repositions itself to Race.
-
The greatest Treasure of your life because I can tell you
-
this, for many years of pursuing, Jesus of holding onto
-
him, like, you know, like nothing else.
-
He's the greatest Treasure of your life.
-
If you are in bed right now, he still your treasure.
-
If your body has been failing, you repeatedly, he's your
-
treasure. If the one that you married
-
walked out and left you hanging, he is your treasure.
-
If you're a young child who's feeling abandoned and neglected,
-
Jesus is your treasure and not just any Jesus, this is the
-
resurrected Jesus or Risen Savior.
-
He's so powerful, his power is at work in you and so you don't
-
have to live, like you're powerless, you don't have to
-
walk through life, like a zombie because you're not, you have the
-
resurrection power of Christ in you.
-
So will you speak out in faith? Will you strengthen your heart?
-
And will you keep looking at the Eternal?
-
Don't stop. Don't stop by looking at
-
something. Temporal and losing sight of
-
what has to be done. Look for the Eternal God.
-
What is my eternal purpose? Help me fulfill that here on
-
Earth. Can we pray together?
-
Father, I just thank you that with you Lord.
-
Nothing stays the same that your honor in the process of
-
reworking as a working on us of shaping us.
-
Into the best version of ourselves.
-
But grateful that Lord you take us ordinary Earthen pots.
-
That you deposit, your holy spirit's power in us, that the
-
power of the Risen Christ within us.
-
So that we are truly treasure. Filled my pray for anyone right
-
now, who has been just sleepwalking through life, who's
-
just been aimlessly. Wandering through their lives
-
without purpose without Direction, without a perspective
-
of why they were created. I pray that today that would
-
change. I pray that their lens a change.
-
I pray that they will wear the lens of Eternity.
-
I pray that Lord if they tongue has been tied down in fear.
-
And depression and discouragement.
-
It'll be released to speak out in faith.
-
I pray, a lot of their hearts have been weak and has melted,
-
because of the kind of things. They've endured I prayed today.
-
You would strengthen their hearts?
-
That you would make it Ironclad, love, strengthened for the road
-
ahead, that it will be softened towards your touch towards your
-
direction, but will be toughened up Lord, so that it will not
-
melt, it will not break. I pray that you would help us
-
Lord, we are the clay. You Are The Potter.
-
We surrender ourselves to you. We thank you, Jesus, that you
-
are the greatest treasure in the world.
-
We thank you that we can just come to you.
-
As we are knowing that with you, we too are so valuable.
-
We too are so loved and we too can live with the same power
-
that was exerted. When you rose from the dead, we
-
thank you and we love you in Jesus name we pray.
-
Amen. Amen.
-
Live this week with power Live this week with an awareness of
-
the treasure within you. God bless you.
-
Thanks for listening to this message.
-
We hope you were blessed to hear more messages like this.
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