Wait In Faith | Pr Gloria Paul

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

And today's message. Okay, So I was just praying and

you know, asking the Lord for a word and just

journeying with different ones right in this season, I believe

God has been just reminding us about, you know, how

can we wait in fate? Okay? If we often hear

the phrase walking in faith? Right, walking in faith? And

this journey is a walk, you know, we keep walking.

We experience different things in life. But I just want

to encourage us this morning with a message here about

how can we wait in fate? I was just having

a conversation with our Frankiz yeah this morning, you know,

and we know we've been praying for the family, you know,

for their interview, their resettlement real soon. And she was

just saying, you know, it's that waiting that sometimes it's difficult,

right or it can also we can be in that anticipation,

you know, like okay, what's going to happen next? The

news that we're waiting. You know, we went for a

job and we're waiting for the news to come in,

you know, or whatever news it is. So you can

be filled with a lot of emotions, a lot of expectations. Right,

But how can we wait in fate so that we're

not just waiting for the clock to thick and wait

for the day to come, but we are leaving our

days purposefully as well. Right, How many of you know

that every day is precious, right, the hour before us

doesn't come back again, you know, it's so precious, and

we've got to leave to the fullest. And what are

the better way than living with God himself? Right? And

so we're going to learn from the Bible this morning, okay,

about what it means to wait in faith, Okay, what

God has taught us, and to also look at a

couple of examples from the Bible of different characters who

has actually waited and experience God's faithfulness as well, okay,

and believing that you will also have your own testimony

and that you can apply God's word in your lives. Amen. Right,

So let's just even start with a scripture here. Okay,

let's look at John chapter fifteen versus seven. I believe

it's here on the screen as well. Yeah, So it

says here in John fifteen versus seven, if you abide

in me and my words abide in you. Ask whatever

you wish, and it shall be done for you. Amen.

It says, abide in me, my words, abide in you,

and whatever you ask, it will be done for you.

So we can go to God for our prayers. We

can go to God for our petitions. And sometimes you know,

I'm sure some of you, most of you were here

when Pastor Matt was preaching about prayer, right, and eighty

percent of our prayer can sometimes be God. I need this,

this our long list that we come to him, right, Well,

nothing wrong with that we come to God with our needs. Yeah,

But I think the main focus of prayer is also

about being able to abide in Him, right, being able

to enjoy His presence, being able to just enjoy your

conversation with Him, that our faith doesn't just become like

a ritual. Right. That means I've got to do this

on Sunday. Okay, I'm done my work. My job as

a Christian is done because I've attended church on Sunday. Right,

But how about after church? How about your day today? Right?

Do we just go to God with our petitions or

do we truly enjoy His presence? If you can think

about a friend that you just met recently, and you

enjoyed the conversation. I'm sure it was not a forceful act, right,

You just loved having that cup of coffee with them.

You could conversations just flow right and you don't realize

the time passing by. And I believe that is how

it should be with God as well. You know, if

he is our personal lot and savior, if we call

him our friend, our father in heaven, then shouldn't we

enjoy this relationship with him? Yeah, because if you're not

careful enough, it can become a ritual, it can become

a religion where it just becomes a structure and I've

got to do it only because I need to do it,

but do I want to do it. That's a big

difference there. Yeah, And it says here, okay, as we

read in first John Tree twenty one to twenty two,

we have confidence before God and whatever we ask we

receive from him because we keep his commandments and do

what pleases him. So there's this word that commandments is

along with which not everyone likes. Sometimes rules and regulations,

terms and conditions, okay, and you sign a certain contract

or you buy something, there's always that terms and conditions.

But is our God a god of terms and conditions? Right?

You hee? Someone who you've got to only follow rules

and regulations, then I will do that. Yeah. Our God

is so gracious. In fact, all of us who are

seated here today, we are safe by his grace. Whether

we work hard, whether we try to do so much

of good, it's never gonna match with what He has

done for us on the cross. Yeah. And for us

to be able to abide to follow his word, right,

to follow his commandments, it's only possible to do when

you truly love and trust someone, right. If not, the

commandments will just seem like, oh, it's a lot to

be done, you know? Or you know? You why do

I have to do so many things? Is it so

hard to be a believer? It's so hard to be

a Christian because there's so many things to do. But

you wouldn't feel that way if you know God for yourself, right,

if you know him as a friend, if you have

felt his love, if you have felt him or experienced

him removing you from the Maricleay, right, when you've got

on true hardships and you know that the only way

out was true God, Right, and if you've experienced them

in such a way, like the Word says commandments, abiding

in Him doesn't become difficult. In fact, it just becomes

a very natural thing for you to do. Yeah, And

so that is what we're going to learn today about.

How can we wait in the presence of God while

we are waiting for an open door, you know, or

while we're waiting for an unsaid prayer. Let's not just

be so caught up with that thing that we are

believing for, right, but let's enjoy what we have today

as well. Yeah, let's be able to sit in his presence,

abide in him and to hear what is God trying

to teach us. Yeah, And for some of us, I

know that the waiting can be a long time, right, No,

you're praying for a miracle or a breakthrough for a

very long time. How then do you approach life? Right?

You can't just be waiting and waiting and it's going

to be feeling very frustrating, I'm sure if you're waiting

for years sometimes, Yeah, what do we do then in

those times of seasons of our lives? Yeah? Or how

do we actually even respond in such times? You know?

Don't we have a bigger purpose in that waiting, you know.

And that is why I feel God has a reason

why he created certain seasons, right, or he created even

if you look at the nature as well, there's a

reason why there's day and night. There's a time to work,

to labor, there's a time to rest in him. But

when we go with our own clock, right, or we

all go with our own timing, we try to rush things. True,

it's going to feel very frustrating. Yeah, it's just like

how you're running in a treadmill. Right, you run and

you're timing yourself. I'm going to run for twenty minutes

no matter how fast you put the speed. You can

run fast, you can burn more calories, but the twenty

minutes is going to be twenty minutes. Right, You've got

to run for twenty minutes. If you're put your GPS

and you're saying I'm going to go to the destination,

it's the twenty five kilometers. Okay, I can speed as

much as I want, but the twenty five kilometers is

going to be twenty five. It's not going to change, right.

Our journey has to have a beginning and the end,

So let's not just be so quick to rush through.

I know, it's it's irony with the kind of world

we're living in. Right, everything has to be quick, everything

has to be fast. But does it always have to

be that way? And when I say waiting, is not

that we just wait without doing anything right, but waiting

purposefully in God. Yeah, that is what we're trying to

learn here. So let's just look at two ways or

two truth okay, that we can draw from what the

scriptures teach us us. And then we'll look at a

couple of examples as well. Yeah. So the first one

is that we have to remember that as we are waiting,

God has given us the helper, which is who's our helper,

The Holy Spirit. Yeah, the Holy Spirit. And when we

look at the term holy spirit comes from Paracletos, it

just means it's in Greek. Yeah, it just means the

one who is called to one side, Okay, meaning it

is Holy Spirit is meant to be by your site, yeah,

or to give you more clarity, It just means to

give you, provide, to provide aid, to give you support,

to be an advocate for you, Yeah, to be a

helper and even a comforter. Let's just draw from a

scripture here from John chapter sixteen versus five on words, okay,

John chapter sixteen versus five. Are you all there? Yeah?

All right, it says here. But now I go away

to him who sent me, and none of you ask

me where are you going? Because I have said these

things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. This is

when Jesus was telling this to the disciples him. Nevertheless, I

tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that

I go away. If I do not go away, the

Helper will not come to you. But if I depart,

I will send him to you. And when he has come,

he will convict the world of sin and righteousness, and

of judgment of sin, because they do not believe in me.

I go to my father, and you see me no more.

I still have many things to say to you, but

you cannot bear them now. However, when he the Spirit

of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth.

For he will not speak of his own authority, but

whatever he is, he will speak, and he will tell

you things to come. He will glorify me, for he

will take of what is mine and declare it to

you all things that the Father has our mind Therefore

I say that he will not take off mine and

declare it to you. Amen, this is the Holy Spirit. Yeah.

He describes what the Holy Spirit does. And you know,

during this time, the disciples were so comfortable having Jesus

by them side, right, because they could see someone physically

walking with them, seeing him performer records. And then now

he's going, and of course there's that anxiousness, and that

is why he says, if I don't go, you can

experience the Holy Spirit. Yeah. And sometimes it's the same

thing with us as well. We are so used to

bring our problems to the person next to us, right,

or seeing someone physical for us to share our problems. Right,

But how many of us can actually build our personal

alter and speak to God for ourselves to sense the

Holy Spirit, because that is where you have experienced God

for yourself, not how good the service that you were

attending and made you feel. Yeah, because all this will

fail away, you know, will not always be meeting in

these four walls, if you know what I mean here, right,

that will come to a point of time where you

and I are responsible for our faith. You and I

are unanswerable to God himself. Yeah, So how many of

us can actually be, you know, be responsible to you

know of our faith and to build that personal alter

with him. Yeah, the Holy Spirit. Yeah, so Jesus even

actually gives us that the clarity about who this Holy

Spirit is. He will guide us in all truth and

in fact he doesn't speak on his authority, but according

to him, and in fact he will tell you things

to come. Yeah, this is who the Holy Spirit is.

And then if you look at first John chapter two,

in versus one to two, again again it talks about

the Holy Spirit. They advocate. It says, my little children,

these things are right to you, you so that you

may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have and

advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous, and he

himself is the probation of our sins, and not for

ours only, but for the whole world. And in fact,

the Holy Spirit helps us when we sin, right when

we fall. We are not called to just figuring figure

things out our own way, but we are called to

bring our shortcomings. We are called to bring our sins

to him, and he speaks for us, he ministers into

our hearts. Yeah, even for humans, sometimes it's very hard

to accept a person's mistakes. A certain's fall. A person's falls, right,

But what God does or what the Holy Spirit does,

they love the sinner. Still, mistake is a mistake. Right.

But and that is why when we talk about God,

he is not someone who tempts his people. But is

there to convict uts? Right, he sometimes tests with his spirit, Okay,

but is there to convict us, not to put people

in shame. Yeah, I just send someone here needs to

listen to this. Right, you are not a mistake just

because of the mistakes you have done. The Holy Spirit

is here. Yeah, he's here, he's moving, he's touching, even

is setting different ones free. Right. So if you're seated,

you're feeling a bondage, if you're feeling you're a trouble,

let me encourage you to say you're not, because you're

not a mistake in the eyes of God. A man,

you're not a mistake in the eyes of God. Man. Right,

So that's the Holy Spirit. Okay, let me tell you

and remind you that each one of you have the

Holy Spirit. Decide you Yeah, you have, but it's about

activating it. Okay. If you don't call them Holy Spirit,

you're not going to experience him. If you don't make time,

you're not going to experience it. Yeah. So let's you know,

when you pray, call upon the Holy Spirit, allow him

to minister to you. Okay, if you're going through tough times, God,

they say, Holy Spirit, come fill me afresh, move in me.

May you guide the steps that I take and you

will see how things just change and transform. Right, that

is the gift that He has given to us. Yeah. Now,

how do we experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit

to to you know, to be able to wait in

faith like r we spoke about. Okay, we're gonna look

at a scripture here from John chapter fifteen. Okay, some

of us may be familiar with this scripture. Okay, about

how we're called to abide in Him. Yeah, John chapter

fifteen versus one onwards. Are we alive here? It's okay

to re respawn to the word of God. Yeah, say

your amens, declare it because the more you respond, the

more you're speaking it over your lives as well. Yeah,

so let's be alive. I know it's morning and maybe

some of you are thinking of blunch. It will come.

Like I told you, can't rush the time. Yeah, You've

still got to wait. Okay, let's wait in fate. Okay. Right.

Restorate John chapter fifteen versus one. Okay, it says here,

I am the true wine, and my father is the

wine dresser. Every brunch in me that does not bear

fruit he takes away, and every brunch that bears fruit

he proves that it may bear more fruit. You are

already clean because of the word which I have spoken

to you. Abide in me and I in you. As

the brunch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides

in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in

me versus five. I am the vine. You are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him bears

much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If

anyone does not abide in me, he's cast out as

a brunch and is with it. And they gather them

and throw them into the fire, and they are burnt.

But if you abide in me and my words abide

in you, you will ask what you desire, and it

shall be done for you. By this, my father is

glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be

my disciples. Amen. So we see the word abide being repeated. Right,

It keeps mentioned and in Greek. It comes from the

word mano okay, and what it means here is to stay. Okay.

It simply means to stay. If you talk about a

physical expect then you stay on where you are seated, right.

Or it also means to con continue what you're doing. Right.

So if you're waiting for something, you are called to

continue serving your call to continue working right, continue doing life,

continue praying. That is abiding, to dwell. To be present

that also means abiding. Okay. So when you are, you know,

doing something, how often can we be present and not

to just think of what to come, but on focusing

on today, to remain, to stand, and to tarry for Yeah.

So there are different meanings. Are just to break the

word down because sometimes when we look at English it's

very limited. But when we look at the origin of

the scriptures, then we can see a little bit more

clarity of what the word means. Yeah. And so this

scripture here, okay, you know, I mean back then in

the Bible days, it's very common for people to just

grow and eat from what they grow. Yeah. So this

whole idea of bearing fruits and and you know, plantation harvest,

it's very common. Yeah, And that is why this illustration

is used. So when we look at this scripture, Okay,

we can see the image that Jesus is the vine. Yeah,

he is the vine, and we are called to abide

in him. In fact, we are called to be there

the brunch. And what the Holy Spirit does is that

he produces fruits. Okay, if you want to just try

to understand where does the Holy Spirit come here? It's

only when we abide in him that we can bear fruits. Yeah,

And it's about how you know, we are very much

connected to him, because if you look at a tree

like this without the brunch, it cannot grow. Yeah. If

you have seen certain plantations, if you've seen trees around,

you know, there's just no fruit if something is not connected, right,

if it's dried up, it's not watered, or something wrong

with the soil right, or the seed is planted but

maybe not on the right ground, there's not going to

be any fruits bad from it. Yeah. And so that

is why the scripture reminds us here to be able

to rely, to be able to abide, to rest in

the wine. Yeah. But when we use the word abiding

in Jesus, what does it mean to you? And you say, okay,

you need to abide in Jesus. How would you apply

that in your every day? Any thoughts to pray involved him? Yes,

to involve Him in your every day? That's abiding? What

else to remember God? Two? Preach the word yes? A

future preacher here, right to preach the word yeah, because

sometimes we use these terms.

Right.

We read the scripture so often, but the question always

ask is how do we do it? Then? Every day?

Our faith is meant to be practical. Yeah, No, point

is just learning and reading. But how do I apply

it tomorrow or today after the church? Right? And so

it's important for us to ask those questions. Just want

to encourage your church to take ownership of your Bible.

I hope you're not opening on you on a Sunday,

okay or only on homes. Yeah, have your Bible every day,

read it. Sometimes you may just need extra you know, materials,

just to understand things, to understand the context, the meaning

of words. You know. Join one of our Bible classes.

We have different courses you know coming up in the

coming year as well. Expand your knowledge. Okay, don't just

keep drinking milk. Okay, after a while, you're gonna feel

bored about it. Try it's time to eat meat. Okay,

our faith has to grow. If not, you'll just feel like,

what excitement is there? You know? Knowing God, it's just

the same only right, nothing, because we're not expecting for more. Yeah,

so you have to go deeper. That's that's why our

faith is very much an action as well. You've got

to ask, you've got to read, you've got to apply

your POISTERO matters. Yeah, so don't just wait. Okay, let's

see what bus is preaching today. I'm going to write

on the whole week with that. Not enough, Okay, it's

not enough. You must have your own time and journey

with God as well. Yeah. So when we speak about abiding,

how do we apply this? You know? Every day? I'm

just going to share with you three points Okay that

I hope you can think about it in your own lives.

Each of us leave different days, right, our jobs are different,

our families are different, so your routine can be different

as well. So when I'm saying, okay, I want to

abide in Christ, how is my Monday going to look like? Okay?

Think about that. Yeah. So then the first one is

that when we say abiding in Jesus. The first is

that abiding in Him requires faith. But then again, what

does faith look like to you? Because you can be

different in different seasons of your life. As a student,

would faith just mean that, you know, I'm not just

going to be so caught up, but okay, I'm going

to study, study and miss church and miss Holmes. Right,

But I want to give time for God as well.

I want to serve him. Yeah, so I'm not just

caught up of being an a student, but I want

to be a a child of God as well. Right,

So I want to be excellent in that aspect of faith.

What does faith mean to you as a parent? Right,

I'm sure as a parent there's just so many things

to think about of your child's future, the decisions that

you want to do and take. But how about surrendering

it to God and say, God, these are your children

you have given me. Why don't you take over? Right?

What do you take over their future? Yeah? Or as

a young adult, what does faith look like to you? You?

How can you include Him in your workplace? Right? That

you're not just striving to just earn money to be successful,

but how can you use that to glorify God? Right? So,

what does faith look like to you in your own

personal lives? Yeah, you know, as we read earlier, it

says in John fifteen three, you are already clean because

of the word which I have spoken to you. You

are made clean by His love. Never allow the enemy

to tell you otherwise. So faith here is to actually

know the truth first of all, and to be able

to walk in it. Because when we use the word

faith is something that you can't see yet, right, but

you still believe, you still keep walking towards it, you

still keep marching forward, right, And that would what when

you say abiding in Him requires faith. And we're going

to look at an example, okay, from the life of Daniel.

Like you know Daniel and what let's he remind you

of about his story? Lions right, lions? Okay, And when

we look at Danye, if you have not read this story,

why don't you, you know, you have the time. Look

at the book of Daniel. You can see this whole

book about his life and how God raised him. Yeah,

you know, he was a very influential person, is how

the Bible describes, right. He was intelligent. In fact, he

was chosen as one of the prominent guys at that time.

But yet he didn't just choose to follow the ways

of the majority, right, he chose to do what was

pleasing in the eyes of God. Okay, was it easy? Well,

I don't think so. While everyone else was eating good

food and drinking wine, he chose to eat vegetables. How

fun is that? Right? But he still chose to do

that nevertheless. Yeah, Daniel led a life that was just

so different. Okay. And in fact, if you want to

think of a marketplace example, he would be one of

those examples. He's doubt right, because he abided, he abide

in Christ, he abide in faith. Yeah. And I'm just

going to draw an example of a scripture. You know,

if you have the time, read the whole story. But

if you read a look at Daniel chapter six, verses ten, Okay,

it says, yeah, Now, when Daniel knew that the writing

was signed, he went home. Okay. This was when he

was in trouble. Okay. And what did he do in

his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem. He

knelt down on his knees three times that day and

prayed and gave thanks before He's got as his custom

since early days. Right, So, in fact, it was his routine.

He that did it every other day. How many of us,

when we're feeling troubled or something bad is going to happen,

that we actually go down to our knees and pray. Yeah, thin,

I'm asking myself to because oftentimes we try to find

solutions or we're trying to talk to people about it,

you know, like what should I do? What's next? Figure

things out? Google answers, right, But how many of us

can actually do what Daniel did today? In fact, he

wanted it to be made known to everyone. He opened

it white, He was not shy about it. He was

all open about his faith. Yeah, and that is what

abiding in fate means, you know, when you don't see

what's to come. Yet he doesn't know what's going to happen.

It was he fearful. I'm sure maybe as a human

right he might have had his anxious thoughts running, but

he didn't focus on that. But he chose to pray.

And in fact, the scripture tells us here that he

did it three times a day, so it was more

like a relationship that he has already built it. It's

not something he just forcefully did. Yeah. And then of

course we know the story about the lion and how

he was set free from that whole situation. Yeah, he

didn't just struggle his way, true, but God set him free.

That's a waiting that we're talking about. You're in that

season of waiting, and sometimes it's waiting doesn't just mean

that everything is just quiet. It can be continuous battles

that you may be going throughe for some of you. Yeah,

whether it's held related or whether it's just arguments with

those around you. Yeah, the acknowledge that life sometimes just

shows you these kind of things. Yeah, but even in

those moments, you can trust in Him. You can abide

in Him in faith. Never see prayer as something that

is just a second option, because prayer move mountains some year.

You believe that prayer can change situations. You know, prayer

can You can be seated here praying and God can

move another person that you're about to talk to. Yeah,

he can move situations that you felt that it was

so hard to penetrate and then he just opens jaws. Yeah,

how do we experience this? If only we can trust

in faith? But the moment we start asking are you sure,

that's when doubt is coming. Let's not give room for doubt. Right,

And the last message we learned about our minds right,

our minds is a it can take us places. How

do we take captive? How do we stay on on

His word? And sometimes, yes, you can't do it by yourself.

That's when you have to go to the Word of God.

Bring the Word. The more you read, the more you

meditate and remember so that when a lie kicks into

your thought, you know that I've got to turn back

to the Word of God. What does the Word of

God tell me? Nothing can separate me from the love

of God. Persecution, trials, tribulation. So even if you go

through all of that, it's never gonna take God's love

or his peace. Our circumstances can change, but God never changes.

That's the truth that we need to remember as believers. Yeah,

if we forget that, and that is when we make

room for doubts, we make room for fear or trouble. Yeah,

how do we just come back and say, yes, God,

I don't know what's ahead of me. I am still

waiting for that answer, but I'm going to wait in

faith to pray. Keep praying. If you don't know what

to do, just pray. Let that be your first option. Yeah,

your first option. And sometimes you may not be able

to pray for yourself. And that's when you can turn

to a person next to you, a friend, a homeie, right,

someone that you're doing live wait and say, hey, can

you just please pray for me? I just find it

so hard to even find the words to pray. And

that's when we need each other. Yeah, we are created

in as a body of Christ. We need to do

life together. Okay, that is how God has called us

to live. Amen. Yep? So can we wait in faith? Right?

Turn to the person next to you and tell them,

let's wait in faith? Yep, abiding in fate, waiting in faith.

You know when they see you, they see that you're

not looking like a trouble person. Okay, you're waiting for

your results. Okay, your exam results or come we call.

It's looking so calm, results is coming out tomorrow? Or

because she's abiding in faith, she's waiting in faith. Yeah,

not looking anxious. Okay, but you are trusting in the Lord. Amen?

Right now. The second point, okay, how do we abide

in Jesus? Like, how do we wait? Is to abiding

in Him requires obedience? How many of you like that

word obedience, to obey, right to know the truth, knowing

the truth. Yeah, because when we talk about abiding, when

we read the scriptures earlier as well, it's about abiding

in my words, that's what the Bible tells us. Right

to hold on to his scriptures, to believe in what

is word tells us. Yeah, you know it says even

in Collisians chapter three Versus sixteen, let the Word of

Christ dwell in you richly. Yeah, the Word of Christ

dwell in you richly. So we're not just supposed to

know scriptures that were preached on the day or the

Bible stories that we learned on in Sunday school, but

we need we need to know the Word inside out. Yeah,

we need to know the beginning and the end. Okay,

because when you know the Book of Revelation, though it's

a tough book to read. Yeah, you know that there's

going to be a second coming. You know that we

are created for eternity. We must have that kind of

a mindset as believer us. Not just because if we

don't have that idea of eternity and that you know

he's coming back again to take us, we're going to

be so focused with our world and the troubles that

the world has, right, or the materials, and because life

just has a way of dragging us into focusing on something,

which is it important? Is it our priority? Right? Our

priority has to go back to God and who he

is and the plans that He has for us. So

if we have an eternity mindset, right, whatever we do today, yes,

we give our best in our marketplace, in our school

and families. Right, we do all that, but with the

idea that I'm doing this for God. The fear of

God rules our hearts. The fear of God rules our

decisions that we take. We work on pleasing Him instead

of just our bosses. And that tells us to work

on every other Sunday. Right, But will I still choose

to make us stand and say no, I want to

devote this one day for good? Yeah? So our mindsets

have to change. How does our mindset change with the

word of God? The Word of God renewss. Yeah. The

word of God brings clarity into things that we never

knew it was supposed to be that way. Yeah, And

it changes the way we look at things, you know.

It says even in John fifteen seven, you ask what

you desire, and it shall be done for you. So

this is what the word of God tells us. This

is the truth that we've got to hold on to.

And if we forget the truth, that is when we waiver. Right,

is this actually gonna happen? If I'm asking God, let

me just say, okay, God, let your will be done.

But it's okay if not, if it doesn't happen, outcomes

in Yeah, We've got to ask in faith, because that

is what the truth tells us. Right in Romans five

to five, what did you say, Now, hope does not

disappoint because the love of God has been poured out

in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has given

to us the hope does not disappoint. Okay, that is

the truth. And then if you look at another scripture

from John eight thirty one, okay, says that Jesus said

to those Jews who believed him, if you abide in me,

in my word, and you are my disciples, indeed, and

you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make

you free. A man turned to the person next to

you and tell him the truth will set you free. Yeah,

Sometimes you are still leaving in our cage because we

don't know the truth. He's telling you. The key is

just there. Why don't you open the cage and fly out?

But no, because we don't know the truth. Yeah, we

need to know the truth. The truth will set you free. Yeah.

If you're seated, you're thinking, no, I'm gonna be stuck

like this all my life. No, that's not the truth.

He's here to set you free. Yeah, that is what

the word of God tells us. But how would you

know this truth if you don't abide in him? Right,

We've got to abide in him to know his truth

and allow it to workiness. So when it comes to abiding,

it's about obedience. And I would say, if you want

to break it down, its obedience in every other day.

It's not just in big decisions in our lives, but

it's also the decisions that we make every other day.

Do I choose to wake up early in the morning

to pray? That's obedience? Do I choose to before I

make the decision? Can I just surrender this to God

and say, God, you lead the way? Right? Do I

choose to? You know, I'm having an exam and I'm

feeling very anxious about it. Let me choose to pray.

That's obedience. Yeah, it's your every day, it's your every moment.

You got to break it down. Don't just think about

the big things, because it's gonna be hard for you

to surrender your big things. I mean big, big preyer

needs or decisions to him. If you can't even submit

your small needs to him, right, I mean, there's no

such thing as big or small. What I mean is

that small decisions that you've got to do on a

daily basis, because that's how you build habits. Right. If

you are saying, Okay, I want to build muscles and

I want to be all strong like our brother Johnson here, Okay,

if you want to be there, can you just do

that overnight? You can? I'm sure there are sacrifices the day.

So you just don't feel like going to the gym.

You just wrack yourself anyway. Right, days where the fried

chicken looks so good, but no, I'm not gonna take that.

I'm gonna eat something healthier. Right, You've got to make

the small changes to be able to see the bigger

things happen. Right, So let's try to break things down.

If you can obey God every other day, how would

it look like for you, how would it change the

way you live your lives? Right? How would it change

the way you see the people around you? Okay? You

know for some of you know, I work in schools. Okay,

I help teachers like coach teachers and a lot of

my big part of my job is dealing with mindsets, right,

like why do we need to do this? Why do

we need to change? Right? And it's never the easiest.

But sometimes when I see a person, a teacher that

is very tough to work with, Thank God for the grace.

It's reminded me to see the person the way God

would see him or her rather than you all. This

person is going to be tough. And there's my drive

to the school is like I'm already like dragging myself like,

oh no, what I'm going to talk about? And how

is it going to end up? Right? But God has

given me a change of perspective, like, Hey, what that

person you're going to speak to is my daughter?

You know?

Can you see her the way I see her? Right?

Even if she has not known Christ yet, Well, I

created her. I have plans to prosper her. And when

you come in with that kind of a conversation or

that kind of a mindset, things change, right, You don't

just see it as a big problem that you are

needing to solve, but you're allowing God to be part

of that conversation. Yeah. So whether they are difficult people

or not, God loves them. God loves everyone. If you

can love me, he can love you, then why not

others as well? Yeah? I think it's sometimes the change

that God read. And how does he do this by

renewing our minds through his words? When you bring your

petitions to him, When you bring your struggles to him

and say, God, I don't know how to handle this,

he makes a way. Yeah. In fact, he changes mindsets

as well. Yeah. So it's about obedience. It's about trusting

and knowing the truth. A man knowing the truth. And

so how much of truth do you know about God today? Yeah?

And when I ask this, I'm not just asking you

in a perspective of oh, because my pastors say that

God heals that's the truth. But can you know it

for yourself that He saved me? Can you know the

truth that He is your healer? Right? Can you know

the truth of how he makes away? Even if my

family has been waiting for this for a long time.

He's opening the door for me, right, Can you know

it for yourself? It only comes with abiding in Him.

So as just a gentle challenge for all of us

this morning, right, can you absorb as many truths of

who God is into your life because it's going to

help you navigate your every day. Yeah. And so the

next time life hits you, you're gonna pull up another

truth of God and say, this is what the Scripture

tells me. Not the otherwise, not the circumstances, not what

I see with my physical but the word of God.

That is the truth. The truth never changes a man.

The truth never changes. You are a child of God?

Does that change? Never? Your identity is found in Christ,

not your positions, not how people see you. That doesn't change. Right.

He has a plan to prosper you. You have a

bright future. Does that change? No, it doesn't. That is

the truth of God. Amen. Right, So let's hold on

to his truth. Just drawing from an example here when

we read the scriptures, I'm sure all of you know

Mary the Bible, right, Virgin Mary, who was called to

you know a bad child named Jesus. We read this

story so often during Christmas, you know, and sometimes when

you read a story, so often we may forget that

the circumstance that Mary was set a time she was

a very young person. And you want to guess how

old was she? If you have joined one of knowing

Jesus classes, you know this, any guesses no One eighteen

twenty eighteen, even younger, even younger? She was fourteen? She

was fourteen years old? Right? And how we know this

if we look at history and you know the times

that we're living in, and she came from a community

that was just the background, from a very poor community

in fact, Yeah, she was engaged to someone at that time,

you know, and as we know, you know those days

you are engaged or you know who you're going to

marry at a very young age. Yeah, this was a circumstance. Okay,

she was in a very small village. But yet an

angel visited her and said, you're going to bear a

child name Jesus. You'll be called Immanuel God with us.

But if you look at a perspective of a human Mary,

can you imagine the fear that she would have been having, right?

Or how is this to happen?

Right?

Okay, let's just look at a scripture. If you're wondering

or you have not read this, let's look at Luke

chapter one, a well known scripture during the Christmas season. Okay,

Luke chapter one, Okay, verses twenty six on words. You

can read this here. Okay, well, let's just read this together. Yeah,

but Luke chapter one, verses twenty six. Now, in the

six month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to

a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed

to a man whose name was Joseph of the house

of David. The virgin's name was Mary, and having come in,

the Angel said to her, rejoice, highly favored one, the

Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But

when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying

and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the

Angel said to her, not be afraid, Mary, for you

have found favor with God and be whole. You will

conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and

shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and

will be called the Son of the Highest, and the

Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

And he will reign over the House of Jacob forever

and his kingdom. There will be no end. Then Mary

said to the angel, since I do not know a man, okay,

let's stop that. This was Mary's respond right, being human,

how can this be the Angel coming and telling me

this right? And the Angel had the respond over there

in verses twenty five, okay, how the Holy Spirit will come,

the power of the Holy Spirit will work in you.

And what is Mary's respond in verses thirty seven? Okay,

it says no, it was a thirty eight. Then Mary said, behold,

the maid servant of the Lord. Let it be to

me according to your word, right, according to your wit.

And the Angel departed from her. What does this show

us is that Mary knew the word, she know the

truth and in fact the scripture. Before that, the Angel

reminded Mary that you know your cousin Elizabeth. You know

she is sparrying a child as well. And if you

can look back at the very first book in Genesis,

who was that old person who had a child as well? Sarah? Right, Sarah,

God's promise, and that just shows how God's should remains

in times in age, in different seasons. He gave a

child to Abraham and Sarah. They're very old age. Even

when Sarah doubted right, she laughed when the Angel told

her that, but she had a son. And that story,

as we know, taught us what obedience really means, when

Abram was called to sacrifice his son. And then when

we go down now to this story in Luke again,

the Angel reminds right that nothing is impossible for God.

And that's when Angel Mary says, beat unto me, according

to your wit. Yeah, according to your wit. And how

many of us can actually boldly say that when he

calls us to do something, when he calls us to

remain in place, in a position, or in a season

of our lives, can we just say, if that's your truth,

I'm going to do it. I'm going to remain. I'm

going to abide in you. And then we know the

story of Mary and Jesus, and that's why we celebrate

Christmas every other year. Yeah, that is what knowing truth.

Knowing the truth due to us that even it seems

to be a very complicated, impossible in the eyes of

God's situation, I'm just still going to say, beat unto

what you say, Lord, according to your word according to

your promises. Yeah, that was Mary's respond God's word and

truth does not change. Our circumstances might change, the people

might change, people will not always be there sometimes, but

God doesn't change. He is the same, today, yesterday, and

forever a man, right, that is who God is. So

that's the second point. Yeah, to abide in Him is

to know the truth, to obey the truth. And as

we draw towards an end. Okay, my last point for today,

abiding in Him would show by the fruits that you pay. Yeah,

if you want to see if someone is actually abiding

in Christ, I mean no one. You're not supposed to

judge and look at anyone, right, But what I'm trying

to say is that you can see fruits are bad. Right.

You can see a change in the way they live

their lives. You can see the way decisions are made.

It's no longer just my way, but God's way. Right.

We can see these in Galicians chapter five or twenty two,

where it talks about the fruits of the spirit. Right,

we are called to have love joy? How many of

us have that? Right? Love joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

self control. We're not just activating all this and we

see our friends on a Sunday morning, but every other day,

these fruits are activated. When someone sees you, they see

the joy of the Lord in your lives. When someone

sees you, they see God's peace despite the tribulations that

you may go through, despite the hardships, they still sends

God's peace in you while this person is long suffering, right,

so patient kindness, and the world tends to use a

lot of these words out there right to show you

what a better person you should be. But I pray

and hope that we don't just become a better person

that wait just because for someone, but we allow the

Holy Spirit to work thatadiness because that is what remains.

That is what goes far and richest lives as well,

because when we have the fruits of the spirit, it's

easy for us to win souls, right because they see

us as a living testimony. We are not just a sundaygoer,

right or names say Christian, but we're living our lives.

And when they see you, they know that I can

see and sense God's peace and I want to know

who your God is. You know, when with all the

news that you just have to open today's news, and

you will see the kind of things that we hear. Right,

But in the midst of those things that are going

on in this world, can you show what piece is

or what God's peace is like true your life? Yeah?

Can you show what God's love looks like when everyone

is hating and being all to themselves? Can you be

that different person? Yeah? That is how we share the

love of Christ. It's not about being a big biblical scholar, yeah,

but it's about living out the word of God. It's

knowing the truth and bearing fruit from there. We all

know this in Matthew twenty eight eighteen that Jesus called

us to be witness, to build make disciples, to share

the gospel. Right and abiding in Christ would just mean

this as well, that on an everyday basis, when I'm

out there in my office in my school, i am

sharing to someone about who God is. I'm sharing about

the stories and the different encounters I've had with them. Right,

you're taking someone for a lunch and you're not just

so caught up to talk about other people and lives,

but you are more caught up to talk about how

good God has been in you. Right, testimonies are so powerful.

Never never be little that. Yeah, because these are real

stories that you have lived out. You have experienced it,

you know, And it's so much more easier to cheer

someone on when you have said that, Hey, I've gone

through it as well. I'm sure you can as well. Yeah,

because you're a living truth of what that means. Yeah,

never keep your testimonies to yourself. Boldly share it out

in fact, that it is how the church should be.

Always see Sundays, it's meant to be a celebration Sunday

where we celebrate testimonies. People are coming forward and sharing.

And because we've done all that throughout the week, and

then he'll be are as as one church sharing and

you know, declaring who God is to us. So I

just want to pray and declare that each one of

you would have a story to share to someone right

as you abide in Christ, share of who God is

as well. Amen. And of course to share is to

know him. The more you know Him, the more you share.

And then you see how natural it becomes. It doesn't

become a very forceful thing. And we say about sharing

the gospel making disciples, it doesn't have to be so structured.

And the SOPs, there's no such thing. Yeah, it's meant

to be. I'm living my life. I know who God is,

and it's so good that I don't want and just

keep him to myself. I want to tell someone else

as well. That's how it should be, right, that's how

it should be. So don't just keep the good news

to yourself. Right. And to just draw us to a

final example from the Bible, I'm sure you may not

have heard of this character, Hannah, right, the mother who

prayed for a child. She prayed for a very long time. Yeah,

if you have not read the scriptures, you can see

this from the Book of Samuel. Yeah, due to time,

I won't be going through it in depth, but you

can look at first Samuel chapter one. You'll see how

Hannah was praying. You know, her husband loved her, right.

It was not that she was, you know, persecuted at home.

My husband loved her dearly, right. But yet she just

had that longing to have a child, and she prayed. Yeah.

And when we talk about bearing the bearing fruits, it's

not just sometimes fruits that you'll bear just for today,

but fruits that you can bear for generation, fruits that

you can bear for others. You may not see it

happening in that person's life now, but the years to

come you'll see testimonies. And that is what we see

in Hannah as well. Right as we know, after being

she's suddenly altared, she prayed, she brought her petitions to God. Yeah,

and God blessed her with a son. What is the

son's name, Samuel? Right, And do you know what Samuel did,

who was see in the Bible, Yes, ordained the kings right.

In fact, he ordained Saul and David. And you know

what came after that, This was the lineage of Jesus. Yeah.

So what we can see is that when we pray

for something, we're not just spring just for myself, my world,

my life, but our prayers can also mean or in fact,

sometimes God can be just waiting to give you that

because he's working something bigger. Just like for Hannah, she

had to wait for a while as a mother who

wanted to have a child, right, she waited. God came

true a little bit later, but it was because it

was for a bigger purpose, you know, And that is

just how God works sometimes, you know, he waits because

he's okay, string something bigger. He's preparing the other place.

He's preparing others, because that is how God works. You know,

we sometimes we just see what we see now, the

person in front of me, my wild But imagine God,

who is the creator of the heavens and the earth. Right,

he has a wider view. He sees the whole world,

He sees everyone, and so meaning his lens makes gives

us a bigger view, right, And that's why he's not

just okay, just hold on. I'm coming to your need

because I'm going to prepare that place first. I'm going

to bring you right. And so when He brings you there,

the ground is so much more ready for you to work,

for you to experience the fullness of life and all

that He has for you. So do not be disheartened

if you're waiting for that prayer, if you're waiting for

that need, because you know what our God is speak.

Our God is great. He does things beyond what we

can imagine, beyond what we can expect. That is the

God we serve. Yeah, and as you wait, just keep

pressing on, keep doing what you're doing. Don't pause, Okay,

don't stop working, don't stop doing life, don't stop serving.

Keep doing it well, Okay, with excellence. And that's what

we can learn from Jesus. Right the time on earth,

he was very clear of his goal. He kept doing

what he needed to do, and he prepared the next

generation of disciples and they continued the work as well. Yeah,

and so let's wait purposefully that to do it in faith.

Let's know the truth. Yeah, and let's bear fruit from

the lies that He has given to us. Amen. Are

you catching something? Church? Do we know how to abide

in Christ? Now? Yes? Ready to do that when you

go back? Yeah, Okay, how do we know that it's true?

The testimony is that God's going to give you. Amen.

And I just want to end with this one truth,

this one scripture we can just invite extreme. We're going

to spend time worshiping him. Yeah, speaking about knowing the truth.

And I just sense that God wants us to be reminded.

In John sixteen versus Study Tree. Okay, John sixteen Study Tree,

it says here these things I have spoken to you

that in me you may have peace. In the world.

You will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I

have overcame the world. This is not past tense. This

is not present. It's something is done. I've overcame, I've

done it. I've done it for you. So can we

hold on to this truth as believers of Christ, that

He has overcame everything. If you're going through tribulation, if

you're going through trouble, just to encourage you that God

has overcome that. If you're going through a sickness, God

has overcome that. It may not look like how we

want to look at it or how we seem like.

You know that it should be this way, but in

the eyes of God, he has overcome.

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

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this week is going to be a good week.

I hit for you.

God bless