Sermon

Who is Jesus to you | Elder Rosalind Ang

Acts Subang Jaya 10AM

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  1. You're listening to a message to go from axt church.

  2. We hope this message will light up your teeth.

  3. Who is Jesus to you? Okay, I'm gonna give you

  4. a moment to think about this, and I'm gonna step

  5. down and I'm gonna ask for some answers. Okay, So,

  6. so have a think about it. Have a think about

  7. this question, because I realize it's a question that you

  8. don't often get asked, and therefore you don't often answer it. Okay,

  9. but this is a very important question. Okay, So I

  10. ever think about it as I make my way down

  11. ha ha ha scat now not scared to ask it,

  12. because for sure, I'm gonna ask the first row of verse.

  13. For sure, John, who's Jesus to you? Savior? Okay, Savior,

  14. I'm gonna ask Ellie, who's Jesus to you? My best friend?

  15. Best friend? Best friend, best friend? Okay, okay, let's go.

  16. Let's go, ah, young men, young men, Actually, who's Jesus

  17. to you? Ah? My provider? Jesus is my provider. Okay, okay, good, good, good.

  18. Let me find for more victims. Oh no, no, not victims,

  19. children of God? A jen, Who's Jesus to you, a

  20. lot of my portion, the Lord of my portion. Okay, okay, okay,

  21. you see some answers that are of course our brother

  22. hands I. Alex there just walked in, Alex, Who's Jesus

  23. to you, Son of God, Son of God, Son of God? Okay?

  24. Let me find one more or two more answers, Brother Ben,

  25. who's Jesus to you? My comforter? My comforter? Okay, Janet,

  26. who's Jesus to you? Firm foundation? Okay? Okay. So there

  27. is all these names of God that you know of,

  28. and I don't want you to just think about this

  29. as the correct standard textbook answer. You just think about it.

  30. Did you just give me textbook answer? Or are those

  31. names that you just told me? Are those real to you? Yeah?

  32. Are those real to you? Now? The thing about this

  33. is right, a lot of people have encounters with Jesus

  34. and there could be a lot of ideas about who

  35. Jesus is. Honestly, if you ask your neighbor right now

  36. who Jesus is, maybe some of them they are like, yeah,

  37. I heard of this name Jesus, and maybe he is

  38. just a legend. Yeah, legend. Do you know what a

  39. legend is someone who was famous. I mean, I think

  40. everybody knows Jesus, are right, because we set about Christmas, right,

  41. we sell about Christmas and everybody sort of heard of

  42. this name Jesus before and him I think, yeah, he

  43. was a legend. He's a good teacher. Good teacher maybe, uh,

  44. and he's dead, long past gone, legend, legend, the realer,

  45. okay something. Some might think he's a myth as well. Right,

  46. someone made him up and now he's a great story.

  47. Now how you encounter Jesus is what you would name him?

  48. So we heard just now some really good answers. Right, Savior,

  49. Son of God, provider, comforter. Okay, Now is it real

  50. for you every day of your life? Okay? Because some

  51. of us, when we encounter this person, this name Jesus,

  52. you might think of him as a liar. I Oh,

  53. why do I say that? Because do you believe everything

  54. in the Word of God? Let me ask you that.

  55. Do you read the Word of God and say, I

  56. agree and I believe everything that Jesus has said? Okay,

  57. because if there are some things that you say, yes,

  58. this part I believe and this part I don't believe.

  59. Jesus says, cast all your cares unto me, and I

  60. will give you rest.

  61. Do you.

  62. You try? Right, Jesus says, do not be anxious for anything. Right,

  63. I mean that's the word of God. Do not be

  64. anxious for anything, but in everything, through prayers application, bring

  65. your request to God. So do you believe that? Do

  66. you do it all the time? Okay? So the thing

  67. is right. You can know some parts of the Word

  68. of God and not believe it fully all the time?

  69. All right? Some people make Jesus out to be maybe

  70. a liar, and who can it be? You know, if

  71. you read the scriptures, you will understand. You will look

  72. at how the Pharisees, who are the followers of God,

  73. did not believe who Jesus was, even after they've witnessed

  74. all the miracles that they performed. Right, they call him

  75. a liar, and that's why he was put to death

  76. on the cross. He was crucified for claiming for who

  77. he was. Okay, some people think that Jesus is a lunatic.

  78. Do you know what I learning? Thing is whogo Jesus crazy?

  79. He says things that's impossible. You know the Other thing

  80. about what Jesus said, right, he says, if you don't

  81. hate your mother and your father, you cannot follow me.

  82. Have you read that in your Bible? Do you believe him?

  83. Do you understand what he says? Right? So some of

  84. these things are things that we grapple with with who

  85. Jesus is. I just came from the Eccines Victory CAM. Whoo,

  86. really really good CAM, because this was one of the

  87. largest teens that we had over the past few years

  88. coming together for CAM. And what was amazing was we

  89. had a lot of people who you know, are prebelievers.

  90. They are new to this concept of who God is.

  91. So in my small group, and of course I had

  92. the privilege of leading a small group of eleven year

  93. old so cute, so cute, right, but there's so mature

  94. some of them, okay, And so we talked about the

  95. Word of God, the Bible and all that. So of

  96. course my first time with them, I didn't know their background,

  97. and so I said, oh, you know, is the Bible

  98. important to you? Some of them say yeah, And so

  99. I say, so, if it's important, how often do you

  100. read it? Right? And they told me in my free time? Okay,

  101. some of you can resonate with this in your free

  102. time you will read the word of God, Alini smiling,

  103. And so I say, oh, okay, so do you have

  104. free time every day? What do you think? They say, sure, sure,

  105. got free time on ride. So then my next question was, so,

  106. then do you read your Bible every day? Of course

  107. not right, I read it when it's convenient, okay. And

  108. that is how some of us actually treat the word

  109. of God. And we say, you know the word of God.

  110. It says in the scriptures that the Word of God

  111. is alive and powerful. So do we read the life

  112. and the powerful world of God every day? So if

  113. we don't do it? You see, Uh, you can say something.

  114. I believe Jesus is my savior. I believe Jesus is

  115. my comforter. But I can tell what you truly believe

  116. by your actions or by your inaction. Do you see?

  117. We can say anything. You can say anything you want.

  118. You can profess Jesus Christ, but I can see your life.

  119. I'm like, there's no Jesus Christ in your life. So

  120. this confession of our mouth finger is one thing, but

  121. this our life actually show that who Jesus is. Okay,

  122. So you know so? And and I realize, right, you

  123. know I put all the l right, Jesus, is he

  124. really legend? Is he a liar? A lunatic? Maybe actually

  125. add the one the done line line another l Jesus

  126. is the done line line. For Relasians. You will know

  127. what that is, right, He's like that. If it's convenient, now, Jesus.

  128. If it's convenient, then then you work. If it's inconvenient,

  129. then let me put you aside because there's other things

  130. that is priority. How many of us will be able

  131. to truly say that Jesus is Lord? Okay, We're gonna

  132. explore this a little bit more, because I realize that

  133. even many Christians do not know Jesus as Lord. He

  134. can be comforter, he can be your savior, he can

  135. be your best friend, but is he lord? And that

  136. has a very different connotation to how we relate to

  137. the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, are you with me so far?

  138. Sleeping already? Not yet? Right? In maybe fifteen minutes, I'll

  139. see some yawns already. I really precies twice a And

  140. I tell you the spirit is willing, but the flesh

  141. is weak. Okay, but this is a very important thing,

  142. and I want you to be really catching what the

  143. Spirit is saying to us about this truth? Okay, So

  144. let's turn to our Bibles. Yes, this is from the

  145. Word of God. Let's turn to Acts chapter nine. Do

  146. you know this guy named Saul. Tell me what you

  147. know about Saul? Saul is Paul? I heard Saul is Paul? Okay?

  148. Old Testament or New Testament? Correct? There is a There

  149. was a king Saul. Was he a good king or

  150. bad king? Back? He started off good? Okay, he didn't

  151. end up so well. You know, many of us can

  152. start very well. But the question is not how well

  153. you start. I'm more interested in how we all end up. Okay,

  154. I'm more interested. So now today's message, right, it's really

  155. about where are you? Where are you at in your

  156. journey with the Lord? Where are you at? Okay? So

  157. you okay, By the way, if I tell you suddenly,

  158. we have someone called faster Paul who was formerly Saul's

  159. the Saul. Anyone want to welcome him to your church?

  160. If you knew Saul as he was, would you welcome

  161. him to church? Depending on who introduced him? Is it? Okay? Okay? Oh,

  162. he's got kept it all right. So Saul saw in

  163. his original form what was he doing persecut thing the church? Okay,

  164. let me give you a context. Someone comes in right

  165. now and says, every one of you who say that

  166. you believe in Jesus Christ, stand up, and I'm gonna

  167. round you up and bring you to the klank prison.

  168. Is it a clank prison? I don't know where is

  169. our prison? I also don't know Kai Jung kai jung prison. Okay,

  170. that's a real one. I verify how many of you

  171. would stand up? Oh? I saw one hand, brave Eileen.

  172. She said, let's go guy, junk prison for my faith.

  173. Let's go together. If you're alone, would you do it?

  174. Saul was that kind of man. He went around. If

  175. you read X chapter eight. Okay, so let me give

  176. you a bit of context so that you know that

  177. I am not picking this out of air. X chapter eight,

  178. verse one. Now Saul was consenting to his death. At

  179. that time, a great persecution arose against the Church which

  180. was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the

  181. regions of Judaea and Samara except the apostles. Okay, so

  182. great persecution Church. We do not know what persecution is

  183. in this modern day and age. You in our blessed

  184. country we don't really know what persecution is. Our little

  185. persecution is I owe diesel price when, um, I know

  186. a petrol price? When now that's our form of secution. Okay,

  187. most of us, all right, So we don't really know

  188. what it means to go to prison for our faith.

  189. So if I asked you that I didn't like, oh

  190. is my face real? Then okay, so that's what's happening.

  191. At that time, Saul was there consenting to the death

  192. of Stephen the first Martyr. Do you remember that? Yeah,

  193. So this is the kind of men. Okay, this is

  194. the kind of man. So let's read chapter nine. So

  195. this is where we're gonna get. We're gonna read a

  196. lot of chapter nine. Act Chapter nine. Then Saul still

  197. breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. Hello,

  198. if you're all disciples here, he's coming to catch you.

  199. He went to the high Priest and asked letters from

  200. him to the synagogues of the Mascus, so that if

  201. he found any who were of the way, whether men

  202. or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Okay,

  203. on up verse street, I see journey. He came near Damascus,

  204. and suddenly, ever say, suddenly, a light shone around him

  205. from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard

  206. a voice saying to him, Saw, Saul, why are you

  207. persecuting me? Okay, I you know, as we were worshiping

  208. just now a sense that some of us in our journey,

  209. we could be like a soul right now. Now, don't

  210. get me wrong, A Saul was not an entirely bad person.

  211. In fact, he was very zealous for God. Did you

  212. know that that the whole reason why he was going

  213. around persecuting Jesus was because he was the pharisee of

  214. the pharisee, right, that meanses the guru of the Guru

  215. of that time, Meaning he upheld every single thing of

  216. Moses' law. So he is very passionate for God things.

  217. He's not like an you know, someone who's not doing

  218. God's business. He was doing God's business, and he thought

  219. that he was doing God a favor by capturing everyone

  220. who deviated from the teaching of the law of Moses.

  221. Did get the context, That's why he's like, whoa righteous

  222. I'm a righteous person, you know, I'm going around capturing

  223. all these frauds who claim that they're following the way.

  224. Remember that they're caught the followers of the way. And

  225. because Jesus was caught the way, so not yahweh, yahweh

  226. as well, not Yahweh, but Yahweh. And so he was

  227. a godly man. And sometimes you know, and this was

  228. a conviction I received that we can be in church,

  229. we can be in ministry, we can be serving and

  230. still miss the monk, dangerous, sidless for the things of God,

  231. and still miss Jesus. Okay, some of us may not

  232. openly be persecuting Jesus, but in our minds and in

  233. our hearts and in our lives, we are right. How

  234. do you prosecute Jesus? What are some of the ways

  235. that we unconsciously persecute Jesus? When you compromise, when you gossip,

  236. anyone gossip? Last week? I see some smiles? Is there

  237. a smile of repentant when we don't know him, when

  238. we don't know his word? I mean, we say we

  239. are Christians, but we don't live as Christians, we don't

  240. behave like Christians. And so in this case it was literal.

  241. Saul was literally persecuting the followers. You see, the thing

  242. is right, when you hurt a follow of Jesus, you're hurting.

  243. Who did you ever think about it? Hello? When you

  244. spoke badly about another person who was made in the

  245. image of Christ, who do you think you're persecuting? Ouch? Ouch?

  246. Every time you thought something bad about another person? Right,

  247. who was made in the image of Christ? Who do

  248. you think you're persecuting? Friends? This is very real, Okay,

  249. every thought, every word that you say, every intention of

  250. the heart. Do you know the Word of God says

  251. every the heart is deceitful. The heart is very deceitful.

  252. And we can say no, but you know this is

  253. for the greater good. This is for I don't know

  254. what else. Right, there's always a justification for why we

  255. do what we do. But this person did that to me.

  256. But this person did that to me? Did you pray

  257. for this person? Why are we accusing? Right? So, I

  258. think we are all guilty. I think we've all been

  259. guilty of persecuting Jesus. And this is not time to

  260. say but the person. But no, look at ourselves. Where

  261. have we become like soul in our lives? Right? And

  262. so do you know the thing is right? There is

  263. a pricking in your conscience right now? There is a

  264. prick right now. And that's because that's the word of God. Yeah,

  265. And so Jesus, what I took comfort from this Rus?

  266. No matter where you are, no matter how bad of

  267. a soul that you have been, do you know that

  268. God still came to speak to him. Do you know

  269. that if you were Godla, if you were God, what

  270. would you do to someone like Saul who was putting

  271. all other Christians into jail? Think about it, if you

  272. were God, what would you do? Kill him, make his

  273. life miserable cause all his efforts to be unsuccessful, trip

  274. him up? Is that the heart of heart of God,

  275. we might want to do that, right Like, oh, this

  276. person my enemy. I hope you fail, man, I hope

  277. you fall down. I hope your business fail. But God's

  278. heart is no, there is hope. And with the most

  279. hopeless person that you think you have in your life

  280. right now, Jesus still wants to come. Amen. Jesus still

  281. wants to come because this is the worst kind of criminal, La.

  282. He think so, all right, the worst kind consenting believers

  283. to death. And yet Jesus came to speak to him personally.

  284. And I believe that Jesus is speaking to each one

  285. of you personally right now, none of us. If you're

  286. here right now, God is speaking to you. He wants

  287. to speak to you, amen, and he's asking us this

  288. very hard question, jin jin, why are you persecuting me? Sorry? Lord?

  289. And then this is the response of Saul, and he said,

  290. who are you? Lord? Have you ever asked this question?

  291. Who are you really? Have you ever asked Jesus? Who

  292. are you really? And I think this is such a

  293. fundamental question because if you don't have an answer from

  294. the low from this, I want you to ask this

  295. question because if you've never asked this question of him,

  296. all your understanding of who Jesus is came from somewhere else,

  297. hopefully from the word of God. But I don't know

  298. whether that became personal to you. You know this whole

  299. Jesus is my savior? Like really, I'm sure you heard

  300. of it before, but really, is he your savior? What

  301. did he save you from? Can you answer that question? No? Honestly,

  302. I want to help you to be very real in

  303. your faith. Friends, Okay, I want us to be ready

  304. so that when Jesus come back, we all say he

  305. comes back? Right? Do you believe it's coming back? And

  306. so when you stand before him, what would you say

  307. to him? And more importantly, what would he say to you?

  308. Because you know it says that many come to me

  309. calling me lord Lord? And what did Jesus say to them?

  310. I don't know you? A loud church, ex church. I

  311. don't want you to meet with the Lord Jesus and

  312. call him lord Lord. And Jesus says to you, who

  313. are you? I don't know you. I am so afraid

  314. that Jesus is saying who are you? I don't know you.

  315. I know your name is Rose, but I don't know

  316. you because you know me? Kenna, friends, ok can we

  317. get so serious with the Lord to say, God, I

  318. am ready to answer you when you're ask me who

  319. am I to you? Okay? And so Saul asked this

  320. very important question, who are you Lord? Then I was thinking,

  321. actually he really called him lord, ma, So doesn't mean

  322. that he acknowledged him, is lord? You think about it?

  323. He already say who are you Lord? So I went

  324. digging a little bit further because I'm so curious, right,

  325. I cannot Han, It doesn't make sense to me. How

  326. do you call someone lord when he is not lord

  327. in your life? So actually this word lord if you

  328. see it in the Bible, there's two meanings. One it

  329. means you you are caught honor and respect to another person, right,

  330. And so another way to call it in modern terms

  331. is sir, who are you? Sir? Just as sir, like

  332. out of respect? Because you know, guess one Saul, in

  333. his anger and all that, he already knew that something

  334. supernatural happened because he heard a voice from heaven and

  335. then he fell down. Anyone of your experiences light shining

  336. around you from heaven, no, right? And after that he

  337. got blinded and he heard a voice, so he knew

  338. that this is something not ordinary, extraordinary, and so he says,

  339. who are you, sir? Who are you? Sir? Have you

  340. ever asked Jesus that, who are you? Sir? Let's go on?

  341. What else they they say and what the Jesus is?

  342. And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

  343. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.

  344. Do you understand what this means? It is hard for

  345. you to kick against the gods anyone you'll read the Bible,

  346. but I don't understand. Right, It's okay, and that's why

  347. we are learning together. Is that okay? Yeah, I want

  348. you to be to develop a curiosity tea about the

  349. Word of God, can or not, because if you're not curious,

  350. you'll read it once you don't understand it has no

  351. significance to you. When he has no meaning to you,

  352. it will not transform you. Can on not. Friends, I'm

  353. recognizing more and more one of the greatest dangers for

  354. our church, and I'm speaking to our church is that

  355. we do not know God. We don't know God. You

  356. know why I dared to say that, It's because you

  357. don't know the Word. Many of us, when I speak

  358. to different ones now, even leaders, many of us don't

  359. know the Word of God. So how can you claim

  360. to know God and to know his will and to

  361. follow after him and to be made more like him

  362. if you don't read the Word of God. Friends, this

  363. is a real burden for me and I I think

  364. we will do you in justice. The leadership of the

  365. church will do you injustice if we do not prick

  366. you to say, guys, I think you need to get

  367. serious with your Bible. You will not grow in your

  368. faith if you don't know the Word of God for yourself.

  369. I want to tell you that coming to church is great,

  370. going to homes is fantastic. But your daily discipline, do

  371. you encounter God daily with the Word of God. You know,

  372. there's a research done in the America and it goes

  373. to show right that those who read the Bible three

  374. days or less of the week is similar as those

  375. who don't read the Bible at all, meaning our engagement

  376. in behaviors like porn violence, alcohol abuse, drug abuse. The

  377. percentage shows that those who do not engage in scripture,

  378. it's the same as those who just read the Bible

  379. three times a week. So even if you read three

  380. times a week, it's not enough. So the research shows

  381. that those who read four times or more in a week,

  382. those are the ones that you see a drastic change

  383. in their life. Because it is the Word of God

  384. that transforms us, right, not it is nothing else. Do

  385. not be confirmed by the pattern of this world, but

  386. be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And how

  387. do you do that? This part is not renewed when

  388. we don't know the word of God. You see that

  389. and the word of God in what John one says,

  390. and the Word was made flesh, and who's is flesh

  391. is Jesus, Right, So how important is this world of

  392. God to you? Again? Because you can come up with

  393. all kinds of ideologies about who Jesus is, and I

  394. can tell you where did that come from? And I

  395. will ask you where did that talk come from? It

  396. has to come from the world of God. Otherwise everything

  397. else that you have is a figment of your imagination

  398. or the world. Okay, I know I'm a bit serious

  399. with this, but I think this is very very key,

  400. very very key. Friends. So he says that it is

  401. hard to kick against the gods, and for this this

  402. problem is hard to kick against the gods. There's a picture.

  403. There's a picture that you can see right now. Do

  404. you see the animals there? There's two cattle right, and

  405. they use this farming and then legy. What happens is

  406. where would you want your goads to move in as

  407. your place in the ground? Right, So you have a

  408. plot of land and you want them. What they are

  409. doing is they are going to plow the land. Right.

  410. So the animals, the bulls are going to carry something

  411. heavy yolk together and they are going to plow the land. Now, animals,

  412. if you leave them lose, how would they walk? Do

  413. you think they walk in a straight line. Even some

  414. of us do the walk in a straight liner drunk. Okay.

  415. So what happens is animals, because you want your your

  416. your plot of land to have you know, straight roles,

  417. so that you can sow your seats right, it's orderly,

  418. there's an order to farming. And so what happens is

  419. with the animals. They will usually want to turn, turn

  420. to the left or turn to the right, because that's

  421. like all of us are right, true, not we all

  422. want to turn to the left, all turn to the right.

  423. And the more we turn to the level or to

  424. the right, what would the farmer do? They will take

  425. a stick with a sharp pointy thing at the end

  426. of it and pok you laugh, No, I suggested the parents,

  427. you want this are not for your kids. The moment

  428. they turned to the leg and like palk a little

  429. bit so that they walk in the straight line. Okay.

  430. And so this analogy was given by Jesus to Saul,

  431. who understood exactly what that meant. It men that saw,

  432. why are you doing something useless? Why are you going

  433. against the divine you know, nature of who God is?

  434. Why are you doing something that is not useful at all?

  435. Persecuting Jesus is not useful. You cannot overcome God's plan

  436. no matter what you do. And I don't want to

  437. say that to your friends. That God has a plan

  438. for each one of us. He has a will, he

  439. has a plan, he has a purpose. And sometimes we

  440. fight it. We fight it so much, and Jesus saying

  441. hello this morning, I'm gonna prick you so that you

  442. know that, don't fight. Don't fight the Holy spirit? Friends,

  443. why do we do that? It's you know, God wants

  444. to help you walk in a straight line. So he says,

  445. don't kick against the goats. It is hot. You know

  446. why if you keep doing that, what's gonna happen? If

  447. you keep kicking against the goats, what's gonna happen to you?

  448. Guess what? You get? Very holy? And this kind of

  449. holy is not h O L y, but h O

  450. l e y. You be full of You will hurt yourself?

  451. Why do you keep hurting yourself? Friends? Right? And you

  452. get tired when you get tired, like why my life

  453. is still like that? How long has it been or

  454. being trapped? Years of being bound, years of not breaking

  455. free of my bad habits, year of not being able

  456. to wake up. I don't know. What is it that

  457. you're struggling with? Years of unforgiveness? Why do you want

  458. to keep yourself bound like? That? Is hard? It's very tiring,

  459. you know, when you keep going against what God wants

  460. us to do. So, so what happens? So Saul, being

  461. a little bit more wise now trembling and astonished, he said, Lord, sir,

  462. what do you want me to do? Have you ever

  463. asked Jesus this question? Jesus, what do you want me

  464. to do? Most of the time? Right, our relationship with

  465. God is God, This is what I want you to

  466. do for me. Yes, examine your own prayer life. It's like, God,

  467. can you do this for me? God? Can you do

  468. this for me? Heal, provide comfort, breakthrough? Yeah, how many

  469. of you have ever prayed God? What do you want

  470. me to do? What shall I do in this case?

  471. What shall I do? In this relationship? What shall I do?

  472. And you wait for his answer? Most of us it's

  473. never been that kind of two way conversation. Right, It's

  474. more like, Jesus, you do this for me? If not,

  475. then okay, all right. So when he asked, by the way, friends,

  476. can I tell you that if you ask a lot Lord,

  477. what do you want me to do? He will answer you.

  478. That's why maybe we don't want to ask that question

  479. because we might not like the answer. Okay, And he says,

  480. then the Lord said to him, arise, go in to

  481. the city and you will be told what you must do. Okay. Now,

  482. everything that we have right now, right I think as believers,

  483. it starts with an encounter with our Lord. Do you

  484. have you had a personal encounter with the Lord with

  485. Jesus himself. Some of us we live on borrow faith.

  486. Do you know what that means? It means you're in

  487. church because someone asks you to come. It means you're

  488. in church because your parents are in church. It means

  489. you're in church because your friends are in church. How

  490. many of you came to church because you wanted to

  491. be with the Lord. Is this really for you for

  492. yourself or is this for other people that you're here

  493. for an encounter personally? Think about it, When was the

  494. last time you have that encounter with the Lord? Because

  495. without that encounter with the Lord right all this will

  496. be meaningless because you don't know, you won't have that

  497. knowledge of who God is. And so if you're in

  498. that journey, like can I can I say that again

  499. that I just want us to know and recognize where

  500. are we in our journey right Where are we right

  501. now in our journey with the Lord? If you're at

  502. this stage right now, you say, actually, I have not

  503. had an encounter with the Lord. What do you do? Pray? Pray?

  504. I say, God, I have this idea about who you are.

  505. I heard about you from my parents. I be coming

  506. to church for fifteen years, seventeen years, but I want

  507. to know you. I pray that this will be your prayer.

  508. You say, God, I really need to have encounter with you. Right.

  509. It starts with an encounter, because without the encounter, you

  510. cannot carry on in your understanding of who God is. Okay,

  511. are we okay? So the first one is an encounter,

  512. and God wants to encounter you. Our God is a

  513. personal God. He's not just a God almighty up there

  514. that we worshiped. He came down to earth, he walked

  515. the earth, He ate and breathed and ministered with his disciples,

  516. and we all called his disciples, right, And so that's

  517. why we need to know him as our own God,

  518. all right? And so the Lord told him what to do,

  519. And let's read on verse sevent he says, and the

  520. man who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice

  521. but seeing no one. Okay, so he was blinded as

  522. his point verse eight, then saw a rose from the ground,

  523. and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one.

  524. But they led him by the hand and brought him

  525. into Damascus. And he was three days how many days?

  526. Three days without sight, and neither ate nor drink. Now,

  527. you see, the thing is when you have that first

  528. encounter with the Lord, it leads to this place of

  529. deep search. We need to come to that place. Okay.

  530. I want you to really come to that place where

  531. you're like, God, I'm grappling with you, I'm wrestling with you.

  532. Have you ever wrestled with the Lord? Yeah? If you've

  533. not wrestled with a lot over something very real, then

  534. I want you to have that. I want you to

  535. ask him the hard questions. I want you to say, God,

  536. I don't understand this, is this real? Are you real?

  537. Engage him because he's not afraid to engage with you.

  538. Other people might be afraid, like don't go into this

  539. deep part. But God is not afraid because it is

  540. in that place of deep darkness Solah three days without sight,

  541. no eyesight, Everything was dark to him. And some of

  542. us need to go into that place of darkness without food,

  543. without water, without anything else that distracts us. Actually, many

  544. of us don't have to be quiet, right, it's very

  545. hard what quiet time? Five minutes are three days of

  546. real engagements. I don't know what Saul was thinking at

  547. this point. What do you think? What he was thinking?

  548. What was he feeling? Imagina, his whole life theology was

  549. to bring Jesus down. My mission in life is to

  550. bring Jesus down. And then he had an encounter with

  551. Jesus and now he's searching, he's requestioning his whole life.

  552. You know, I don't know if you've ever asked, actually,

  553. what's the purpose of my life? Why am I here?

  554. Why am I in ex church? Today? Was the deep

  555. search a soul searching moment that we all need? Yeah,

  556. it's because it is in this place that transformation happens.

  557. You know what transformation is? How many of you heard

  558. of this word repentance, repentance? Maybe act if you can

  559. you help me with this, Like, what do you understand

  560. by this word repentance? I know in church, you've heard

  561. of this term before. What is repentance? Who said that?

  562. Renew all of my okay lia, She went straight to

  563. the answer, the typical answer. Most of you would say,

  564. I feel sorry, right, I feel regret. I feel guilty

  565. about something and I say sorry about it. But that

  566. is not repentance. That is an emotional response. I don't

  567. want you to have an emotional response to who God is. Remember,

  568. you understand with your mind. So the word repentance come

  569. from this Greek word called meta noeo meta noeo, and

  570. this word mata simply means change, change, Right, you know

  571. the word mata morphosis? Ah, you'll remember your science. What

  572. is metamorphosis? Transform? What transform? The form? Right? The form

  573. of being a lover, a pupa to a butterfly. How

  574. many of you want to be butterfly? Some say no,

  575. I don't want to be a butterfly. So metamorphosis is

  576. a change of form. But meta noya means a change

  577. of your mind, a change of your thinking, a change

  578. of your perception. So when we repent, we are saying

  579. we are changing our mind. Do you see that we

  580. are changing our mind? So God wants to not just

  581. change your heart. He wants to change your mind about

  582. who he is. Who is he really to you? Your mind,

  583. your mindset? Is he really your savior? And if he's

  584. your savior? How do you live your life? Do you

  585. live your life as you want? Or do you live

  586. your life in gratitude? What is a response to a savior? Gratitude? Right?

  587. So do you live every day out of gratitude? Or

  588. are there many complaints? Do you see what I mean?

  589. How you there's a nate? Who Jesus is is how

  590. you will live your life? Right? What else? What else?

  591. Mata noia, Let's move on to the next part. So

  592. repentance is what Jesus was after when he first started

  593. his ministry. Do you know what Jesus? What was the

  594. first thing he started after when he started his ministry?

  595. What was the word that he used? Repent? He didn't

  596. say God loves you. He didn't say, you know, this

  597. is my testimony, this is how we will share God

  598. to others. Right, Yeah, God really loves you. You know

  599. Jesus didn't say that the first thing he did. If

  600. you read the Gospels, he says repent for the Kingdom

  601. of God is at hand. So Jesus. What Jesus is

  602. after is really a change of mind. Friends, how many

  603. of you are willing to change your minds? That's what

  604. repentance is, because when there's a change of mind, then

  605. there's a change of behavior. It all starts here, right,

  606. don't get swayed by emotions and feelings. But who is

  607. the Lord really to you? I'm gonna ask you this

  608. question again. Who is Jesus to you? If it's just

  609. your comforter and he is only that, then he just

  610. comforts you and nothing else. Did you do? You know

  611. what I'm saying? If you know him as a provider

  612. only as a provider, and if he withholds something, what

  613. would you think about him? Right now? It's not holistic.

  614. Some of our mindsets about Jesus is not whole, Okay,

  615. So we want to get to a more whole understanding

  616. of who Jesus is, all right, So when you have

  617. an encounter with the Lord, then there is a deep search,

  618. there's a deep transformation, and there's a repentance. And I

  619. think that's what Saul was going through in that three days.

  620. Three days he was just thinking everything that he thought

  621. about Jesus, and he had to reframe his whole point

  622. of thinking about who Jesus is, because what's gonna happen

  623. after that? You think about it, What is going to

  624. happen after this? You see? The thing is right. God

  625. was interested not only in Saul, but he was also

  626. interested in his other disciple called Anonius. Anonaius. Good guy,

  627. back guy, so far, good guy. Right? So what kind

  628. of change of mindset did he want to transform in

  629. Anonius as well? Let's read on Okay, let's read on

  630. X chapter nine. All right, so verse ten, are you

  631. there with me? Vers? Ten? Now, there was a certain

  632. disciple at the name Ananaius, and to him the Lord said,

  633. in the vision Ananaius, And he said, here, I am Lord,

  634. So I don't know this is sir or Lord? It

  635. should be Lord, right? And the Lord said to him,

  636. arise and go to the street called Straight and inquire

  637. at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus.

  638. For behold, he's praying. So remember this bad mister Saul,

  639. who's coming to imprison all of us. And God is

  640. saying to one of us, hello, he's coming to you.

  641. He's praying. And in a vision he has seen a

  642. man named Ananaius, let's call him Alex now coming in

  643. and putting his hand on him, so that he might

  644. receive his sights verse sitting. Then Ananaius answered, Lord, I've

  645. heard from many about this man how much harm he

  646. has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And here he

  647. has authority from the cheap priests to bind all who

  648. call on your name. So at this point, do you

  649. think Anonaius was four saul or not? Totally not right,

  650. He's totally against this guy. But the Lord said to him, go,

  651. for he is a chosen vessel of mind to bear

  652. my name before gentles, kings and the children of Israel. Well,

  653. I will show him how many things he must suffer

  654. for my name's sake. Out do you want this anointing?

  655. I saw it was a great apostle, right, And how

  656. many of you want to receive this anointing? Because the

  657. anointing is to suffer the wan Lah give it to Quancin.

  658. I think he can suffer well. Or Ellie, I think

  659. she got a lot of four barons, long suffering, elish patience.

  660. And this was the plan. And do you know for

  661. Ananias right, from a person who was like no God,

  662. this guy is hopeless, beyond hopeless. There's nothing that I

  663. want to do with him. And the moment the Lord

  664. spoke about this guy, a prophecy over Saul. What the

  665. an and Ias do verse seventeen. And Ananias went his

  666. way and entered the house, and laying his hand on him,

  667. he called him enemy, Saul. No, what do you call him? Oh, brother,

  668. bra the bro, you're bro. The Lord Jesus has, who

  669. appeared to you on the road as you came, has

  670. sent me so that you may receive your sight and

  671. be filled with the Holy Spirit verse eighteen. Immediately say

  672. immediately that fell his eyes something like skills. And he

  673. received his sight at once, and he arose and went

  674. and was baptized. Do you see how the transformation happened?

  675. Transformation was going on for Saul as he was wrestling

  676. with the Lord. Transformation had to happen to Annius to

  677. go to friends. I think for some of us, right,

  678. we need to go and be like an Annius to

  679. a Saul, someone who is struggling, who is persecuting Jesus.

  680. Would you go to them and say, yes, brother, yes, sister,

  681. there is something greater for you. Right? And then he

  682. was stilled with the Holy Spirit, and immediately his eyes

  683. will open. I pray in the name of Jesus that

  684. some of our eyes will be open this morning, because

  685. our eyes are still blinded to who Jesus is. Yes,

  686. you can be here, but our sight, our eyes, our

  687. vision of who Jesus is is still blinded. And God

  688. wants to remove that blindness, and it says he will

  689. be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need more of

  690. the Holy Spirit, and man in a moment's time, I'm

  691. gonna open the altar, and I want to pray for

  692. the baptism of the Holy Spirit, because I realized that

  693. without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, our eyes will

  694. not be opened Amen, Verse nineteen. And when he had

  695. received food and he was strengthened, then Saul spend some

  696. days with the disciples at the Mascus and verse twenty.

  697. Immediately think about the change, think about the transformation. Immediately

  698. he preached the christ in the synagogue that he is there.

  699. Who's Jesus, Who's Jesus? Do you believe that? Do you

  700. believe that he is the son of God? Do you

  701. believe that as the son of God he has power?

  702. Do you believe that as the son of God. He

  703. is sovereign. Do you believe that as the son of

  704. God he can break every yoke over your life? You

  705. have to believe that, because otherwise you are just saying

  706. he is the son of God, and then there is

  707. no power, there is no transformation. The other thing I

  708. want to bring to you is this word Lord. Have

  709. you ever confessed Jesus as your lord? Because you know

  710. it says in Romans ten nine, if you confess with

  711. your mouth? What do you confess with your mouth that

  712. Jesus Christ is Lord? Have you ever confessed that? Ess

  713. you are? Or? What does lord mean? Firstly, if you

  714. confess him as Lord means he is God of your life. Yeah,

  715. he is God. He is sovereign, He's supreme, he's divine.

  716. Second thing, if you confess him as Lord, you are

  717. calling him Master. What is master? Master means not God.

  718. You do what I tell you to do. Master means God.

  719. I will do what you tell me to do. God,

  720. you tell me what to do, I will do it. Master.

  721. If Jesus is your master, how does a servant respond

  722. to the master? How does a servant respond to a master?

  723. You are constantly watching, You are constantly waiting on him.

  724. You are constantly hearing one thing to hear God, What

  725. is it that you are saying? How many of us

  726. then live our lives with Jesus as our lord? You

  727. know he can be your savior. You say, okay, God,

  728. I have my ticket to heaven. Thank you for being

  729. my savior. But you are not my lord. I will

  730. still dictate my life. I will still spend my money

  731. the way I want it. Getting very real. Now, how

  732. do you spend your money? Did you ask God? How

  733. do you spend your time? Do you say, God, I

  734. have twenty four hours. How do you want me to

  735. spend the time? Or do I do everything and then

  736. liver left over? Leftover? Another l right? Is he left over?

  737. Or is he lord? If his lord means he first,

  738. he's first in everything. How many of us really really

  739. have ever confessed that, God, Jesus, you are my lord,

  740. and that means I will live my life in alignment

  741. according to your word. Again, coming back to the word.

  742. If we call him lord and we never open our Bible,

  743. then that's not cutting it. Prince, then he is not lord.

  744. La Whatever else that you hold in your hand all

  745. the time is lord. And for most of us. I'm

  746. guilty of it. It's our phone. Our phone has become

  747. our Lord. True, not think about it. Think about how

  748. much time you spend on your phone versus how much

  749. time you spend with God. Do I need to argue

  750. the case any further.

  751. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

  752. information on our church, please visit church dot org. We

  753. are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

  754. this week is going to be a good week, a

  755. hit for you.

  756. God bless