Stepping into 2025 victoriously | Pr Gloria Paul

You're listening to a message to go from acts Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

But just want to encourage you from today's scripture today's

message that you know, we don't need to only have

you know, a refresh or a pause at the mid

of the year, but we can actually start doing that

at the start of the year. Yeah, because when we

can start to remember and to pause and to take

in that all God has for us, we can actually

be ready for what the year.

Can bring for us. Right.

So, as I shared today's message, today is going to

be a more of an exercise, but you're going to

be actively taking things down right and hoping that you

can just apply this into your own lives.

And let us not treat our faith or our.

Prayer life as like a spare tire okay, meaning only

when problem comes, I look to God when my tie

is not working, Okay, then I'll look for this bad tire, okay,

because it's a problem. That's not how we are supposed

to live our lives, right.

We are supposed to be.

Praying every other day, good times, bad times. God is

always there, Yeah, and I believe that every time when

we prepare ourselves when we are a little bit more alert,

and you know, when things are going fine, you are

prepared for even the bad days. You know why, because

you've already taken all that God has given to you.

You know his word, you remember his word, you know

the truth, so that when life hits you, you can

always go back to the truth. Right, you can always

hold back to God's promises and say, I'm not going

to allow this chaos to overtake me.

I can still go through this.

Right, But when you're going through those trials and you

don't know what to do, then it's even going to

be tougher to think about the truth. So it's always

good to be like how they always say, prevention is

always better, right, infant, Yeah, prevention is always better because

we don't want to fall sick and then start taking

all your white demeans.

That's not how it's going to work.

You have to start taking your white demeans now so

that you are well even when you you wouldn't fall

sick then, right. So yeah, so now let's turn out bibles.

If you have you know, turned to sums hundred and tree, right,

are you all dare?

Yeah?

If you have your physical Bibles you can turn or

even your electronic ones.

Sums hundred and tree.

As we know, the Book of Sums is written by

King David, okay, And it's a mixture of different kinds

of scriptures. Some are, you know, very heartbreaking, but he's

pouring his heart out to God. Some of it are

it's about blessing the name of God, reminding us of

who he is. Right, and this particular scripture is about praising.

The Lord for his mercy, okay.

And you know, we should never take God's mercy for granted, right,

We should never take it mercy for granted. There are many,

you know, people who sometimes you know, cannot even experience

what we're experiencing today, having serviced so freely, you know,

exercising your faith, and I feel mercy is something that

we've got to hold on to very much, never take

it for granted. And so what David reminds us here

is to actually remind ourselves of what the truth is.

So let's let's just read.

We're going to read from verse one to five again,

and then we're going to pay attention to some of

the promises that we can take in from him.

So it says in.

Psums hundred and three worse one on words. Bless the Lord,

oh my soul, and all that is within me, Bless

his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and

forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases, all who are sick? Can

you declare this over your lives?

Yeah?

Who heals all your diseases? Who redeems your life from destruction?

Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies? Do

you all know that we serve the King of kings?

Right?

You're all prince and princess. We are from the royal pursuit.

Okay?

And then the scripture tells us that he crowns He

crowns us with loving kindness, tender mercies. And in verse

five it says, who satisfies your mouth with good things?

We're always looking for things to satisfy our souls, whether

it's satisfying our stomach or satisfying our soul.

Right, and what good it is to be able to be.

Satisfied with God's good things, which will never fail. Right,

so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. How

many of you want to stay on to be youth.

We all want to be like youth right all the time.

Young.

Yes, the youth als are shaking their heads. Okay, we

want to be young, right, and that's the word of God.

It reminds us to be renewed like you. So we

can be getting on with age. That's something we can

ever stop, right, But we can be young in spirit.

We can have that same desire for God like how

we started. If you see a new believer, someone who

have just accepted Christ, everything is so new, everything is

so exciting for them, right, And that's the kind of

joy that I think we should never feed away from us,

no matter how many years of believer you are. We

pray that we'll never lose that joy, right, a joy

and a faith like a child, just like how you

are new when you're experiencing and.

Enjoying God's goodness.

Let's count you to cultivate that you know and to

never lose that.

You know, that joy.

When you look at a child, right, there's just so

much of energy within them. There's so much of joy.

Every little thing amazes them.

Right.

You give them a piece of peace, people, they can

do wonders with it. That's just the nature of kids.

You know, they can make the most of what they

have the imagination. But as we grow older, when life

hits us, we tend to overcomplicate things, right, we fin

it's it's so hard to find joy. But the word

of God reminds us that he renews us. Right, and

let's have a good hite start for the year to

believe that God can renew.

Us in men.

So as you read this scripture here, you can see

that there are a couple of action words that is

a reminder to us. Okay, it's per seas and forget

not all his benefits. So you want to start the

year by remembering his benefits. You know, sometimes we tend

to only remember when we are halfway through something. Okay,

before I forget, let me remember. But I think it's

good for us to start the year by remembering.

Right. So he says.

Forget, and then it says forgive.

Right, God forgives.

If you're seated here thinking and holding back to the past,

remember the scripture reminds us to not hold on to

the former things. Okay, well, we learn from mistakes, we

learn from failures or disappointments, but let's not bring that

towards twenty twenty five. Yeah, because God has already forgiven,

He has paid the price for you. No one has

to pay the price for you. You don't have to

pay the price, do you know that?

Right?

Other faith sometimes may get you to sacrifice something or

for yourself. No, you just have to surrender to God,

walk alive. That's pleasing towards him. He has forgiven all

your sins, So don't hold on to any baggage, don't

hold on to any mistakes that you have done, because

God has forgiven.

He has forgotten it. Right.

He heals all your diseases, so healing here could be

the physical, could be your emotion. Right, all these things

is able to heal. And then he uses the word redeem,

he redeems, meaning he saves you. He saves you from destruction.

We leave in a world where there's just so much

of problems out there. Right the moment you click into

the news, there's different things that.

Are going on that may cause worry.

But if you allow worry to get into your life,

you're going to leave a life that is full of worry.

It's hard for you to step forward, right, but always

declare that the word of God redeems, redeems you from

those destruction crowns you. Yeah, but loving kindness, tender mercies,

and satisfy your mouth. Let's not just look for satisfaction

in our flesh. Right, those things are very temporary, But

focus on what sustains you forever, which is your soul

that keeps you going that never and you know, the

soul is the one that goes towards eternity. But sometimes

you spend so much time with our physical body, we

tend to forget that all about the soul, right, that

needs healing, that needs you know, restoration.

Right.

We can be eating healthy, that's good, but if you're

not well inside, there's no point to it, right, So

it all has to work together and then it says

renewed like the eagles. So based on this scripture, I'm

gonna gonna share with you tree R. Yeah, and this

I hope that you can always go back to these

three points as you you know, go into the year,

as you plan a hate, as you're you know, journeying

with God, and and to just even always position yourself

back to Okay, what does what what does God's promises

actually tell me?

Right now?

The first R is remember, okay, remember, And like I said,

you know, sometimes we tend to miss out or.

When we forget the truth.

We hold on to the mystics, we hold on to

the troubles, we hold on to the worries of life.

But the question that I have all of us today is.

Do you know the truth? And do you remember the truth?

Because the thing about truth is that it doesn't change, right,

It's always the same.

But what changes is us.

Life circumstances, the different challenges that comes our way. Right,

But the word of God is always the same. If

you have read the Bible ten years ago and if

you read it now, it didn't change, right, It is

the same. And it's important for us to remember what

the word of God tells us. Yeah, you know, when

King David read this scripture here, he was speaking to

his soul. You know that he was commanding it to

his soul. And sometimes you've got to do that to ourselves.

We've got to tell ourselves, bless the Lord, got to

tell ourselves that God heals, God deliver us. We need

those kind of reminders. And you know it's so powerful.

If we can even read the word of God out loud,

we're declaring it with our mouth. Yeah, and so King

David was doing that. And so it's reminding us to

not just run so fast just because the years started.

There's the many to do list. I've got a new calendar,

new you know, resolutions to achieve, right, don't.

Just go very quick.

But I just want you to remember to slow down

and to remember what is important. Okavin, I can ask

you today what is important to you? What would you tell?

What would be your answer? What is important? What is

the priority for you? Because if you can get that right,

you are starting the year right.

Okay.

But if you're saying that, oh, it's to make more money,

well it's okay, we all need money. But if that's

on your only focus, then where is God in the picture?

Right? So to slow down.

To forget not all his benefits, right, to remember the

benefits of God. So just reminding us to have a

marked moment, a pause. I get in to your friend

next to you and tell them it's okay to pause. Okay,

it's okay to pause. You don't have to go on

and on and on just because the world is going

so fast. Yeah, it's okay to pause. Command our souls

on what to do and what to remember. Yeah, and

I say pause, not just to sleep extra okay, but

to actually pause and tell something to yourself, to command

your souls of something right, not just remembering, but remembering

what is true, even when it feels hard to remember

that it is true. So it's like you're feeling so sick,

you're on the bit, you're feeling so sick, but in

your mind you can still declare God's way and say no,

God can heal me, even when it's hard to believe

because physically I'm not too well, But you can still

say it because that's the truth. Right, You're going through

a challenge. It seems to be so dark before you.

You can't seem to get through it. There seems to

be no answers. But then you know what the word

of God says.

He delivers.

So these are the kind of truth that you've got

to you know, we always have with you to remind

yourself when you go through those seasons in your lives. Right,

So remember what is true. And when we take time

to remember what's ultimately true, what's good, we can actually

face what feels really scary, right, we can actually face

whatever that feels scary. But when you're feeling scared and

if you don't even have anything to go back to

or hold on to, that is when we drowned.

Right.

But if we have already started, you know, by remembering

God's promises, commanding it into our lives, declaring it over

our lives even when times are good, then when we

go through hard times, when it feels so scary, we

will not be yes difficult or bad. But because we

know that there's a way around it. There's a way

out of this because God deliver us. God can bring

me out.

Of the Miri Clay. Yeah.

So what I'm encouraging you today church is to prepare ourselves. Right,

prepare yourself. Don't just suddenly wake up just because life

hits you. Right, but you are already ready. And let

me tell you this that problems will come our way. Okay,

problems will come our way. We're just living on earth.

If you say there's no problem in life, then there's

something wrong. Even if you ask a child, I'm sure

they have their own problems going on, right, That's just

how it is in the fallen world. But the promise

that we have as children of God is that that's

not the only thing that pulls us down, right, or

it cannot pull us down because we have God's word

and He is with us no matter what we go through.

Amen.

Right, And so remember that He knows the big and

the end.

Right.

In Exit clas Days, chapter three, verse eleven, he says

it says here he has.

Made everything beautiful in its time.

Right, He created you beautifully, He created your season beautifully.

Right.

He knows the beginning and the end. So if you're

at a crossroom and you're thinking, I don't know what

future holds for me, I don't know what decisions to do,

just remember God has already planned your end, so meaning

he knows what's to come, right, you don't have to

be worried or fearful. Just surrender those.

Things to God and He makes all things beautiful. Amen.

So what has always been true will always be true.

And it's true for me today even if I don't

feel it at the moment itself. Yeah, but the truth

never changes. So something that I've learned over the years,

You know, whenever I find myself feeling troubled or you know,

sometimes you have those moments, right, you're feeling troubled thinking

about something too much, or you feel so chaotic. Try

to take a step back and ask yourself, why am

I feeling this way? Is it because something someone said

to me? Do I have any control over it?

Right?

If I have, then maybe yes, I can do something right,

Maybe I can talk to the person right confronted. Or

if it's a circumstance that you cannot do anything about it,

then what's the point of getting worried?

Right?

What's the point of getting stressed out? Because we know

stress is not good to us, right, and so take

that step to step out, step out, pause, and then

ask yourself why am I feeling trouble? Because the word

of God tells us do not let your hearts be troubled. Right,

that's a command for us. Do not let your hearts

be troubled.

But trust in me.

So don't bring yourself to a place of being trouble

if you feel that way, that's just only human. But

wake up, don't dwell in those emotions, right, because God's

promises are better, humen. So we're gonna do this exercise now.

I'm gonna run through ten different promises for you.

Are you ready? Okay?

If you have your physical bibles, you can highlight, you

can write down your nose or if you have your

phone digital ones, you can also highlight it in its

own way.

Right.

But these ten promises are going to be, like.

What you call it, a tool that you're always going

to go back to, right, so the next time, and

these ten promises are the most likely things that humans

usually go through. Okay, we struggle with most of this,

but these are the truth, okay, and I want you

to if you can memorize this even better. Okay, So

maybe in the next one or two months, if any

of you can come and just tell me these ten scriptures, right,

remember it, then maybe I have a gift for you. Okay, Yes,

if you can just remember all this ten at the

back of your hates again, you can just without looking anything,

you can just say it.

You know how powerful is that? Right?

And when you go through those times, you can always

go back to that scripture. So it's a challenger for you.

Okay.

The fastest that comes to me with the ten scriptures,

memorize you get something. Okay, all right, So now the

first one, okay, the first promise is that God promises

to strengthen you.

How many of you need strength? Right? We go through

you know, work.

We go through life and sometimes you just feel God,

I just can't do this. Maybe now you felt it

this morning, I can't wake up to church. God give

me strength. Right, And this is what the Word of

God tells us.

He gives you strength.

Where does it say in Efficient Tree fourteen to sixteen?

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,

from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

That according to the richest of his glory, he may

He may grant you to be strengthened with through His

spirit in.

Your inner being.

So you're not just talking about physical strength here, We're

talking about the spirit. And you know how powerful is that.

You know that you may be sick in your body,

but your spirit just still wakes you up and say, Hey,

I'm going to show up today.

I'm going to do this.

I can still face life no matter what comes my way.

I'm going to pick myself up.

Right. And you're not just relying on human strength but

God's strength. Amen. Right, So God promises to strengthen you.

Number two. God promises to give you rest. Right, to

give you rest.

I know some people struggle to even have good sleep

at night, but you know It is part of just

the way God created us to get rest. Right, the

world teaches us sometimes, Oh, you've got to hustle and

bustle until you earn all the money in the world. Right,

just sleep two hours enough. But that's not how are

created to be. Okay, that's not how we are created.

That is why we get all kind of sicknesses.

Right. Sleep is just so part of our lives. But

sometimes some people just can't sleep.

It's either you're feeling troubled, you're thinking until you're in

your bait. You're still thinking about what's happening. So many

things to do, right, or your mind is so occupied

or you're on your video games and your phone too

much of all these things that you cannot sleep.

Right.

There's the reason why God created day and night. You know,

if you wanted us to work and work the whole time,

you could have just made the sun right, twenty four

hours only the sun. We're always awake. But that's the

reason why you said, okay, dark, it's the moon, and

therefore it's time to rest. Even Jesus rested, right.

What more is so?

God promises rest here not just physical and the physical

rest is one thing, but it's the rest in mind

that we're not thinking of problems and things to do,

but just that stillness. If you can, If I can

tell any of you to just be still for five minutes,

can you do that? Five minutes to sit down, do nothing,

don't look at your phone.

Okay?

Some can, Yeah, some thinking about it, Whether we can

or not, that stillness is just so hard to find

in this loud world that we are in. Right, for

a while, we're like, oh wow, it feels like forever.

Who's texting me something to do?

Right? It's always never ending. But God wants to give

us rest.

So can I declare to our church, to all of

you this morning that twenty five will be a year

where you'll rest in Him?

Yes, rest in Him. You don't have to worry.

Amen, Right, God's word tells Us and Matthew eleven twenty eight.

Then Jesus said, come to me, all you are weary

and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rests.

Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because

I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will

find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy

to bear, and the burden I give you is lights.

Amen.

So if you see any of your friends you know

we are not sleeping or not resting, remind them God

promised to give you rest.

So why you're not resting? Okay? Why you're not resting

in God? Or PONTI figures ready? Okay? Yeah?

Now the third promise. The third promise is that God

promises to take care of all your needs.

Amen. I'm sure all of us have needs.

Whether it's a new job, whether it's material possessions, whether

it's in the form of relationships, whatever it is. And

these are the things that sometimes occupies our minds. Right,

you're wondering when is this going to happen? Everyone else

is getting their answered prayers. Everyone else is getting their breakthrough.

So why is my need still not met?

But what is the word of God?

Tell us Philippians four nineteen, And this same God who

takes care of me will supply all your needs from

his glorious riches which have been given to us in Christ, Jesus.

Does you say supply some of your needs? It says

all your needs. The question is whether I believe it.

But I'm asking God because he's ourbat father. Right, So

what is stopping you from asking him. It could be

something silly. Well, nothing is silly the eyes of God.

Right is your prayer, your relationship with him. Just come

before him and ask him. Right, even if it's a

prayer that you've been praying for so long. Can I

encourage you to not stop praying? Right, Never stop praying

because God works his own way. He's timing is so

different from ours. We look at twelve months, you know,

and twenty four hours in a day. But to him,

it's just it's so different, you know. God's timing is

so different, and in fact it's perfect. Right, So never

stop praying, even if you've not seen it come to pass,

because he has the best for each one of us. Right,

Turn to the person next to you and tell them

God has the best for you.

Right.

Yes, So when you hear that, you must take it

in okay, believing human, So God takes care of all

your needs. Now, the Ford promise, Thought promise, is that

God promises to answer your prayers. Matthew seven seven, Ask

and it will be given to you. Seek and you

will find. Knock and it will be open to you. Right,

us are knocking in the Heaven's doors when you want

to enter someone's house. You don't just knock and go away, right,

You knock until the person opens the door, then you

go in. How about knocking God's house just because he's

not answering yet? Do you still do you just walk away?

Then? Right? Knock, knock until God answers, right, knock until

God answers. Seek?

Seek, Meaning where are you positioning yourself to actually seek God?

Because we can be quoting scriptures, we can be praying,

but our lives are so occupied that we are not

able to actually find. And you can find something, you've

got to be there to find it, meaning you've got

to be there in the presence of God to find him,

to seek his face, to encounter him.

Right.

And so in that twenty four hours of your day,

how much of time are you setting aside for him?

Right? Let's start the year right? If I'm not sending

the time for him? Can I do that? At least?

Maybe start with five minutes, right if you've not had one,

and then progress from there. And the thing about spending

time with God is that the moment you enjoy it,

it wouldn't become as difficult. You wouldn't be looking at

your clock and saying Okay, it's already five minutes.

But you can just go on and on.

You just go deeper with God if only you can

enjoy his presence. Right when you hang out with your friends,

you don't just try to walk out of it, especially

if it's someone you enjoy the encounter.

Write what more our God who loves us?

Right, So let's not be calculative because God was not

calculative with us. If he was, he wouldn't have said

his one and only signed for us.

Right. So let's give our best because He has given

in is all for us. Amen. Right. So God takes care,

He answers all your prayers. So what was the first one?

Again, he strengthens you, and the second one gives you rest,

and the third one.

Takes care of your needs. And the thought would be

answer your prayers. Amen.

So let's not stop praying. If you have not come

for prayer service, please come. Yeah, we're going to kick

that our prayers for twenty twenty five. Yeah, it's always

good to come together and to pray.

Amen. Now.

The fifth one is that God promises to work everything

out for your good, right. And the thing is your

good may not be always how you think is the

good is, but what God thinks is good for you.

Just like how a parent, you know, and a parent

asks the child to eat vegetables. They wouldn't like it,

but it's good for them, right. And the same thing

is with our heavenly Father. Sometimes some things may not

look like it's my cup of tea, it's not something

I would like doing, but God knows it's for you.

Right.

But the promise that we've got to always remind ourselves

that even it may not be working my way, God

did it for my good. Everything works for my good.

Right.

In Romans eight twenty eight, it says, and we know

that God causes everything to work together for the good

of those who love God and are called according to

His purpose for them, right, meaning everything to work together.

It doesn't just say some things of your life everything

meaning you can be in your school, but somehow whatever

you're doing in school works well with your family, works

well with your own desires, works well with your dreams,

it works well with your relationship with the people around you,

meaning everything goes together.

Right.

You may be positioned in your office you're thinking that

I'm just here sitting in my cubicle.

What good is it? Going to do.

But every time you walk into office, you're walking in

with God's presence.

People see God in you.

Right, And every time you're having a conversation with your collique,

you're actually speaking life into them. Right and without you knowing,

you're actually doing God's work and he blesses you.

Right.

Everything works together for your good. Right, And that is

why it's so important to place God at the center

of everything we do, not just on that one side

of it, but at the center. Meaning God is touching

everything that you're doing. Okay, it's touching your business, it's

touching your family's touching your relationship, your dreams, everything He

is there. Okay, let's not just choose which feels right

for having God, because everything that we have is from

God anyway. Yeah, so we've got to learn to surrender

to him.

Amen. Right. So God promises to work everything for your good,

no harm.

So if you feel if you come to a place

of feeling that why there's so many hit problems hitting

my life, you know, or why am I feeling so

weary or feeling down? And you know, low self esteem?

Remember all those things are not from God. Yeah, step

out of it. Ask God for strength. God, I'm feeling

all this. Can I bring this to you? Because you

have given me a spirit of courage, boldness, a sound mind. Right,

So these are the times that we've got to wake up,

and no one else can wake up unless we wake

ourselves up. Okay, a friend can give you a nuts,

but that's just for a little while. You have the

confidence you need to take that boldness and say, Okay, God,

I want to step out of this chaos. I'm not

meant to live my lives like this, but so much

more for God and men. Right, So he works everything

out for your good. The next one, God.

Promises to be with you. Amen. God promises to be

with you.

A lot of people that I know of that who

feels very lonely in their lives because you may be

having your family, you're having kids.

But sometimes you can't feel lonely.

It's either you feel that no one understands you, right,

or life circumstances you just feel, Yeah, I'm all by myself.

I'm just hear me alone. But can I encourage you

that you are never alone. You may be the only

one sitting in that room, but God is always there.

His presence is always there, His ministring. Angels are always

with you.

Only you can recognize.

Because the more you drown yourself with the thought that

I'm alone, I'm lonely and all this, the more you

feel down right. But if you feel that way, just

declare God's promise. It says here, I will not fail

you or abandon you from your one five.

This is my command.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discourage.

For the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go, Amen,

wherever you go, he is with you. And I believe

that some of you need to step up in courage. Okay,

this is a year of being courageous. Don't just wait

for someone else to do it, then I go behind them.

Maybe you need to take the first step. Okay, then

others will follow you. Some of you have the potential

to lead others, right, and so let this be that year. Okay,

don't let trouble, don't let worry to drown you. But

always remember that you are not alone.

Amen.

Yeah, and I think that's important for us. Also, remember

that you have the Church with you.

Okay. That's the whole function of church doing life together. Right.

You have your homes, you have your community, This is

a community. Church is a community.

Right, But the only thing is whether we want this

to be our community, you know, hanging out, praying together,

reaching out to different ones. You have to only give

Hi fi on a Sunday, You can do that any

other day.

Right. You can call a friend, you can just check

and hey, how you doing? Right?

It goes a long way, right, And so this is

a community. You're never alone. Okay, If you still you're alone,

come back, right, come back. There's always someone that you

can always do life with, okay, and journey together them

a man, right, so he is with you now. The

next one is that God promises to protect you. It's

so important for us to declare his protection over our lives.

Every time you step out of the house, pray for

God's protection. Yeah, don't be moved by fear. Someople are

so afraid. I have a friend and all that she

doesn't drive because she's just fearful of accidents and she

chooses to take public transport. Right fear, Okay, it's fear.

I mean, you can get into accident anywhere, even in

a train, even the bus. But what's important is God's protection, okay.

And God's protection is always with us, never take it

for granted.

Yeah.

It says here in Psalms ninety one, verse two, this

I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge,

a place of safety. He is my God and I

trust him.

Amen. Right.

And if you are in a place, maybe in your workplace,

you're feeling that everyone else is attacking me and I'm

alone in this, declare God's promises.

Right.

God's word tells us that he is your safety. If

no one else is listening to you, no one is

there to you, know, give you that security you're looking for.

Then God is there for you. Yeah, He is your safety.

And it says here that He alone is my refuge

a man. Right, So declare this word. Remember that's what

I'm telling you. If you remember these scriptures, you can

declare it every time you feel doubtful, you feel fearful,

you can always go back to the word of God.

Amen. Are we doing good? Right? Okay? So that's number seven.

Now the next one, the eight.

Promise, is that God promises freedom from sin. Right, God

promises freedom from sin.

You know.

In Isaiah forty three, it says forget the former things,

do not dwell on the past. See I am doing

a new thing. Now it springs up, do you not

preserve it? I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the waste lens. Not hold on to

former things.

Right.

Last year could be a year of maybe mistakes or

things that troubled you, things that you felt so down

about yourselves. But you know what, God doesn't see you

that way. Mistake is a mistake sin. It's a sin

as long as you come in repentance before him and

just because He sees your heart at the end of

the day. Right, But don't always dwell on it, because

the more you dwell on it, this is how the

enemy will try to use your sin and your mistakes

to pull you, you know, and you'll keep saying things like, hey,

how can you be serving God when you have actually

sinned against him? But that's not how God sees you, right,

or how can you be doing what you're doing, you know,

after hurting others around you? But you know what, that's

not the voice of God. That's the voice of the enemy.

God is only there to convict o hearts, Meaning if

you're doing something wrong, he might say, hey, turn turn

away from it. Agay, don't watch that, don't listen to this,

and that's how he convicts us and he brings us

back to his refuge. But the enemy will always make

you feel down. That is how you differentiate the moment

you hear voices. Member, you can always hear two voices,

just because you can be sure. It doesn't mean you

only listen the voice of God. Right, You'll listen to

the voice of enemy even more because he's trying to

drag you away. Yeah, But the question is can I

differentiate the difference between God's voice, what he's convicting my

heart to do, and the temptation of the enemy. Yeah,

and I pray that all of us will be able

to come to that place twenty twenty five B, that

place where we can discern, right, we can discern and

recognize this is what God is telling me.

Yeah, this is what God is telling me.

It's okay to listen to preachers, it's okay to listen

to YouTube messages and all that. But you know, we've

got to take charge of our You must come to

a point of time where you can hear God for yourselves. Right,

you can read the word of God and take that

for yourself.

Okay.

There's always people there's going to be discipling and guiding you.

But at the end of the day, it is also

your journey. It's between you and God. You are the

only one that's going to be unswerable to God. So

how is my faith personal to myself?

Yeah? Can I be independent when it comes to my faith? Right?

Because I mean that we shouldn't be surprised that one

day we may not be able to meet this way,

if you're all by yourself in your room reading your Bible,

can you still do that without a preacher?

Right? And that's something we've always prepared our people in X.

That's why we have.

Service at homes, right. I mean, we all went through

pandemic and we know how that felt. That we can't

always have this fellowship sometimes, right, And that's just how

it is in this world. But my encouragement is that

let's not just always rely on others, but to be

independent where we know I can receive it from God,

I can discern for myself, Right, I can tell that

this is the voice of God in my life and

move according to it. And of course God gives us

godly counsel to guide and journey along as well. Right,

So let that be our prayer. Yeah, and just just

even sense, you know in this room, those of you

may be holding on certain baggages from the past. Right,

do not drown with it, Yeah, do not drown. You know,

if you read you know, even in the New Testament,

we see there's so many scriptures that talks about how

we're called to run this race. And if you want

to run, you've got to run feeling light. Okay, if

you're carrying all this, you cannot run in twenty twenty five.

You're just going to feel the same like how you

fell in twenty twenty four. But as you read the scripture,

if you want a new thing, you've got to hold

through the past.

Right.

You can't keep the whole all and expect the new.

That's not how it's gonna work. Right, You've got to

keep aside the all and look forward to the new.

Amen. Right.

In first John one nine, it says, but if we

confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just

to forgive us of our sins and to cleans us

from all wickedness.

So let's do that.

When we took the communion this morning, and you know

that you don't have you you don't have to only

take your communion or once a month. You can do

it in your own space as well, every day. That's

what the Word of God tells us.

To take it as often. And when you take it,

of course, you take it.

With with with you know, humility, read scriptures, and when

you do it, you're actually confessing your sins to him.

You're saying, God, this cup and this braid reminds me

of what you did on the cross, and I come

before you asking for forgiveness. Right, we need to ask

forgiveness every other day. Right, that's not just do it

on a Sunday, but make it a lifestyle.

Amen.

Yeah, So it says in John eight thirty six. So

if the sun sets you free, you will be free

in debt. How many of you believe you are free

this morning? Yes, yep, you are free. No matter what

people tell you. Never listen to that. Listen to what

the Word of God tells you. That you are a

free person.

Right.

If you're a free person, meaning there's liberty. If you

look at a person who is free, right, you can

see there's so much of joy, so much of liberty.

You don't hold on to something that may pulling you, right,

But you are free, amen. Right, So let's fly like

an ego because you are free okay, and not holding

on to former things.

Amen. Right.

So God promises freedom from sin. Now the last two

number nine is that God promises that nothing can separate

you from Him. Do you know that nothing can separate

you from Him? No matter how I mean, whatever that

life hits you, whoever comes since your life, nothing can

separate unless you walk out from walk away from God.

But still He'll be very faithful. He comes back to

take you, it says in Romans eight thirty eight. For

I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels,

nor rulers, nor things present, not things to come, nor powers,

nor hide, nor debt, nor anything else in all creation

will be able to separate us from the love of

God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen. Right. And I pray that none of us will

be far away from God. Anything.

It could be just closer to him, drawing closer to him. Yeah,

nothing can separate you from the love of God. It's

constant through every season of your life, even when you

can't feel it. Remember, God is there with you.

Amen.

And the last one I have here is that God

promises you ever lasting life. What this just reminds us

is that our life doesn't just end on earth. Yeah,

we spend so much of time building this physical life

right on earth, and thank God for his blessings. We

do what we can with all the years given to us.

But as we do all of that, remember that it's

towards eternity. And so what are we doing to feed

our souls? What are we doing to build our faith?

Because that stays on this physical will be gone one day, Right,

We'll all be up in heaven with God worshiping him.

That's what the scripture tells us when it comes. So

what's important is our really relationship with Him? At the

end of the day, Nothing else matters. Right, We do

what we can on earth, but the priority has always

been with our relationship with him.

Yeah.

So then again I've always asked myself this question, if

this is so important eternity, our soul, what priority has

got in our lives?

Then?

Is he just the by the way I look to him?

Or is he always at the center of everything we do?

Yeah?

It says in John three sixteen, for God so loved

the world that he gave his only son for whatever

believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

As long as you believe in God, he gives you

eternal life, right, eternal life, and so the troubles you

have on this earth is temporary.

Right.

You're not supposed to be looking only on the flesh,

but we look to the spirit as well.

Are we focused on the eternity?

Because if we are, then we all before we'll be

focused on feeding our spirit as well.

Amen.

Yeah, So these are the ten promises, you know, for

us to go back to to remember if you can

write it down and put it, if you have a

study table on your wallpaper whatever that works for you,

on your you know, devotion, your journal. But even if

you can remember this even better.

Yeah.

But these other promises that I pray will be the

guide for you, okay, that leads you in everything that

you go through.

In this year. Yeah.

So remember the first point that I told you was remember, yes,

that's got iles, Okay. The first r was to remember

remember what remember all these promises Okay, to have a

pause at the start of this year and to remember

that this is who God is to me.

Right.

My next point for you with all these promises is

it says reframing. Okay, if you've heard of this word

reframing here, it just means that you're trying to redefine

how you view a problem a circumstance, and you edge

just according to it, okay. Or in a simpler term,

it's like, okay, I have all these ten promises here,

but how many of this ten do I actually truly

believe in it?

Okay?

So for example, if it's God who heals, right, but

do I believe that He really heals me?

Or am I having a bit of that doubt? Right?

Or we went through that promise that says God answers

your prayers?

Okay?

That is that is that that's the the I mean,

that is all it says. That means whatever prayers you have,

God answers in his own way. But reframing here would

mean if do I actually believe that God actually answers

my prayers? Or I have some doubt that maybe He

doesn't answer certain kind of prayers because you know, it's

too big to be answered, right. So reframing here is

for us to come back to a place of having

a heart check and asking ourselves.

How many of this do I actually believe? Fully?

Because remember it's not so much only but having faith.

But with the faith, is there still doubt? Meaning I

can't stop with faith. But at the back of my mind,

I'm like, really I can. I maybe I should have

a plan be also, because if you have those kind

of thoughts, it's hard for God to move because he

wants to see you whole hearted faith, trust and believing

in him. Yeah, framing, take some inventory. Where am I

struggling to believe? If this is true for myself? And

remember it's action. All these ten promises that you saw,

it's action oriented. To believe is to apply it, to

declare it, to do something. You know, it says knock

meaning you've got to knock. Knock is a verb. It's

an action you've got to do. You can't just sit still.

I mean, there's a time and place for you to

be still in the presence of God, but you've got

to also ask him. You've got to open your mouth declare,

praise his name. Well, sometimes you've got to step out

of your comfort zone and serve him. Right when you

start doing that, you see how God moves in your lives.

Because when we say God, give me faith, give me faith,

he will place you in a position to exercise that faith.

Do you think? So, you know, how would you know

that you have faith if you have not tried it out? Right?

He will put you in a place where you've got

to Okay, this month, this month, finance is really tight,

I'm losing my job, whatever it is. And that's when

you really need faith and you'll be able to see

whether you have faith. But if all things are going

fine for you where you don't need faith, how would

you know if you have faith?

Right? And so that is reframing is to.

Ask ourselves whether do I actually believe all of this

God's promises?

Yeah?

You know, it's like how you are you align your

cast for those who are driving? Why do we need

to align our casts? Anyone knows yes, So there's no

unnecessary pressure that you put on one side of it

or you're going different directions, right, And so reframing is

just as how you're aligning yourself with God's promises because

remember I told you God's promises doesn't change. It's always

going to be there different seasons of your life. But

what needs alignment is us because when life knocks you,

I might move right, do I come back to God's promise.

Do I align myself so that there's no too much

pressure on myself. I'm carrying the burdens on me in

the people around me, but I choose to cast it

to him, casting all my cares and to him. That's aligning. Right,

So how many of this do you actually believe? In

Philippines for eight, it says, Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever

is true, whatever is normal, whatever is right, whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent

or praiseworthy, think about such things. So these are the

things they've got to set our minds on.

Okay.

When we take that truth, we apply it. Even if

I'm struggling, I know, I choose to apply it. Yeah,

that is what the word of God does to us.

Okay.

So this is important because reframing is when we can

make it in action. We are taking something and we

are structuring it on our lives. So you're putting things

in order in another way, Yeah, you're putting things in order.

You're not just seeing it there.

Okay, And that seems to be compiled some We hadend

to have compartments in our lives, right, Okay, this one

I can believe, But this one, maybe it's more of

my effort. This one, maybe I need to ask someone. Right,

But restructuring meaning everything else, reframing everything else goes back

to God his promises.

Yeah, so how much of that do I believe?

Men?

How much of that do I believe? But of course

we speak about reframing. It doesn't mean that you are

trying to ignore the reality. Okay, some people may think

that that is what it is. Where, oh, you're just

trying to be ignorant. You know, you're having a lot

of problems in your life, but you're just trying to

be you know, trying to be just you know, show

for putting a show. Well, reframing is not dead, right, Reframing.

Is that you are.

You are saying, yes, it is difficult, I am going

through this, I have this need, I have this challenge.

I need God's strength and that's why I need God more.

And you go back to these promises. Yeah, so it's

about being real. Not everyone is willing to be real.

You like to just how are you.

I'm doing great, but maybe in the insight you need

more of God. So it's okay to say that I'm

not doing good. Can you pray for me?

God? Can you come and reveal to me what's not right? Yeah?

So reframing Amen, So let's try to do that. You know,

go back, I mean it takes some exercise, it takes

some effort, you know, go back as you took down

those ten promises. If you can read yourself between one

to five, do you see you need to give five

to all of that? My fate level is five for

all this promise. God heals, God delivers, God answers my prayers.

Right. Well, if you're saying it's still too or three, well,

it's fine.

It could be just because you're going through something or

maybe a past disappointment that God is not healed.

Then how is he gonna heal now? But God can

work with that, right, you can heal that disappointment. It

can give you new hope. Amen. You can find new

hope in God. He renews it. Yeah, so reframing it.

Can we all do that?

Okay, there's going to be follow up with this. I'll

check whether you're doing this howme book or not? Okay,

So is to remember to reframe. And of course the

last one we don't keep goodness to ourselves, right is

to remind others. Yeah, it's to remind artists. And do

you know that the more you remind people, you're actually

reminding yourself. Okay, how many of you were in your school?

You know, sometimes when you teach your friends again a

certain topic, a certain syllaber, you know, you get to

actually understand that better, right, because you keep repeating it,

you keep telling it out and it speaks into your

soul as well. So next thing is to when you've

walked out of it, you know you have like come

to a position you feel like, Okay, I think I

remember the time promises of God and even more, you know,

I believe it. I see God working. Now it's time

for me to remind others about it.

Yeah. In Habercook two fourteen, what does it say for.

The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the

glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

That's the promise of God, meaning everyone on this earth

needs to know God, right, everyone needs to know and

for that to happen, it's us doing our part. Right,

Speaking to that friend who is going through a hard

time to believe something, you know, someone who is laws

whoever that could be in your circle. People that you

see in a daily basis, your colleagues, your family. Sometimes

it could be within your house, people that you see

every other day, right, or a friend that you have

not connected for a long time, but that could be

a thought in your heart, you know, life, got to

call this person and talk.

To them, right, do that? Yeah, do that, and remind

them of who God is.

Because when you share your testimonies, you're not just giving

God the glory, but you're telling someone that you know

it's possible to see the impossible happen. Yeah, you're telling

someone that there is hope. There's so many things that

testimonies do that we think it's only coming to the

front and telling it. But every time you testify, you're

telling people that it is possible. Right, It is possible

to overcome. It is possible to be set free because

I'm set free. It is possible to be healed because

I expect my healing.

Right.

You're giving people messages of hope, Okay, and that is

what people want to hear at the end of the day. Right,

We're always looking for is it possible? It's your God real?

And when you testify, you're telling God is real to others. Yeah,

So if you can just think about who could these

people people be in my lives that I can actually

remind them just one truth of God. It could be

one of these promises that we went through, right. It

could also be you sharing in the midst of you

waiting for something. Remember, you don't have to always figure

things out until you can do God's work. You can

be still saying, hey, I am I mean this journey

of figuring things out, but I can feel God's peace

in this journey. Would you want to come and journey

that I mean walk with me?

You know?

And that speaks a lot because everyone is looking for

someone to journey with ship you know, to be able

to look for hope, and you know where to look

for hope, right, You know where to look for hope

in the House of God, in the presence of God. Yeah,

so remind someone. Okay, twenty twenty four went by so quickly.

Sometimes you can ask ourselves what did I do? Let's

not let twenty twenty five be that. Yeah, Okay, Let's

try to at least win one person for Christ, Okay,

Or let's just at least share the gospel, share stories,

share testimonies. You don't have to always be preaching the Bible.

You can always be sharing your stories because you are

little Jesus walking on earth.

Remember that.

Yeah, See, if you can just share how I became

a believer, you know, or what I do in church,

I serve God. You know, the different encounters I had

with God. You know what I was feeling on my

lower speed and God picked me up. And that's a

story you can to someone. Yeah, so maybe it's time

for some of you to write down those stories, count

those stories. I am sure all of you have those encounters.

That is why you are here today, right, because you

encountered God for yourself.

Yeah.

Some of you have gone for camps.

Camps are the place where you always encounter God afresh.

Don't forget those encounter. Yeah, don't forget those encounters, because

if God met you there, you can meet someone else

and you just need that reminder.

Yeah. So let that be your.

You know, your exercise, your homework to first ask yourself

whether do you truly believe all these promises of God?

And to think about who are these people in my

life that I can actually share these promises right, so

that they would come to know of who God is

and how good it is that it is possible to

find hope.

Yeah, to find hope. Amen. Are we getting something out

of this? Yeah? All right, So I'm just declaring.

As I even shed these pointers, as I even prepared

for today's message, I just prayed for each one of you,

all right, praying that we will take this in faith. Yeah,

take this in fait, because it's all about how we start.

Yeah.

When we can study right with God's word, study it

right with God's promises, nothing can go wrong.

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

information on our church, please visit as church Org. We

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you. God bless