Are you ready for the New | Pr Gloria Paul

You're listening to a message to go from a church. We hope this message

will light up your team. So the titles for today's message is are you

ready for the new? Okay? I need turn to person next you and

say are you ready? Right? Are you ready for the new? Okay?

And so today's team is like a lot about just a check up,

right, a check up of ourselves, reflecting and you know, just allowing

God to speak to us. Yeah. And in fact, this passage was

something that's been stirring in my heart for a couple of weeks now and sharing

the Elanos. So that was one morning I woke up and I just got

this a message, you know, and it's just been brewing in me,

you know, and I believe it is like I said an In fact,

during worship just now, I felt God is saying that you're not here by

accident. Right. Sometimes you may think that, oh I happened to be

here because I could make it today, um, you know, or I

signed up for missions, right, But it is part and plan of God.

You know, He has already dustined how it will be for all the

days of your life, you know. So you're gonna hear today's word it's

for you. Okay. God is speaking individually to each one of you,

right, So let's just receive that, all right. So let's read a

portion of scripture today and then we are drawing from that. Okay, thank

you XTV. Okay, we're taking it from Mark. Chapter two was eighteen

to twenty two, again reading from the NNALT version. So let's look at

the scripture here. So in verse eighteen, it says once when John's disciples

and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, why

don't your disciples passed like John's disciples and the Pharisees do. So a bit

of a context here. So when we see John's disciples, you know John

the Baptists, right, he started his ministry about the same time as Jesus.

Okay, so he had people, so we say disciples meaning followers still

see what it was carrying for those walking bird. So we had these two

groups of people, not just the Pharises this time around, but even John's

disciples who were there who were asking these questions, why are they not fasting?

Yeah, they're asking Jesus a question. Let's look at worse nineteen.

What does Jesus reply, Okay, he says, Jeves replied, do wedding

guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can't fast

while the groom is with them. But someday the groom will be taken away

from them, and then they will fast. Right was twenty one? It

says besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new

patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger

tear than before. And no one puts the new wine into all wine skin,

for the wine would burst the wine skins and the wine and the skins

would board be lost. New wine calls for new wine skin. Man.

So you can see this conversation here where it switches to something else again.

And as we know, Jesus is someone who uses a lot of illustration parables

to just help us understand things a little bit better. Right, it's a

great teacher. And so we know that they give you a bit of context.

You know, they were asking Jesus, oh, why are you not

fasting? Why why are your disciples not fasting like how we do right the

Pharisees, And as you know, the Pharisees are some people who always kept

to tradition. Okay, they knew the rituals, and so they have festivals.

They'll celebrate, you know, before eating. They'll actually make sure they

wash their hands before they pray. In fact, they'll make sure they wash

their ears, their feed their hands. Yeah. So they have that ritual

that they make sure they abide in. So the moment Jesus came into the

picture, I mean, they saw that Jesus was not exactly following all of

these rituals, they started asking questions. Yeah. So then Jesus responds by

again, an example of a wedding. Okay, is this an example of

well, if you have gas and if the groom is there, of course

you won't be fasting. You'll be celebrating. You enjoy the fees. Yeah.

And so what he's saying here was it is trying to just give the

illustration about the meaning and purpose of fasting. You know. In fact,

that is what he teaches us in the Book of Mattu. When you fast,

you're not supposed to be showing to the world that I'm fasting, right,

meaning I look so hungry, I look so tired. But it should

be able to comb your hair look fresh, right, because it's what God

sees. It's not to show to people, you know, and make it

like a prideful thing. Yeah. So the meaning of fasting is to build

your soul and spirit, is not a ritual. Okay, that is what

is emphasizing from this. And then he goes on saying, Okay, my

disciples don't have to fast because I'm here, right. That is what he's

trying to indicate to the Pharisees that where are you looking for? Because I

am already here. I'm the son of God. So why do you need

to fast? You know, because you need to supposed to be celebrating when

I'm here. Okay, But if you notice, there's a bit of something

that these Pharisees are missing up. They are blind, right, They can't

seem to see who Jesus was, and that is why they had all those

kind of questions. Still doubtful, you know, they're still waiting for the

Messiah, but not recognizing that Jesus is the one that was sent. Right.

And then this offers asked about fasting. Okay, but if you if

you just study the scripture, you will know that they were not just so

worried about fasting, because again it's just one of their rituals. Yeah,

but what they were asking here was about tradition. Okay, the overall idea

here was tradition. Why didn't Jesus follow the tradition? Okay? What is

going on? So he was trying to make it clear to them by giving

this too illustration. The first one is about the cloth. Okay, so

you cannot you know, you cannot patch all clothing with new cloth. Makes

sense, right, If it's a new cloth, it's already been used for

a while, so it starts to shrink, whereas the new one is still

in a good condition. So even if you put it on top of it

trying to patch it up, it wouldn't patch because it's going to shrink.

Right. And the same thing with wine skin as well. Okay, if

you studied the tradition of how wine is kept, you know if you pull

the if you put the new wine into the old wine, it will start

bursting because it cannot contain Okay, it's just too old to contain it.

Yeah, So let's try to understand what is he trying to say from this.

Okay, what Jesus is trying to say here is that he did not

come to just patch up on something that's already there. Right, Sometimes we

catch ourselves in that place you're saying, Okay, I have this already,

I'm running on this little energy. God just add on to this, okay,

or I have this already, you know broken, But can you just

just do a little bit okay, Fine, then I can run and go

with it. Okay. But what Jesus is telling here, especially the change

of mindset to the people you're speaking to, is that I am beginning something

new in you, right. That is why he is called I am bringing

something new. Okay. Turn to the person next to you and ask them,

are you ready for the new in your life? The new? Right?

And we all love new things, right. New clothes if you're wearing

it, it just makes you feel good, right, new shoes, a

new you know, a new place that you're visiting. It's it's full of

adventure. Right. And of course the thing about Jesus here is that he's

not also wanting to um, you know, change the person completely. Yeah.

He goes to what you have to offer to him. That is who

Jesus is, that is who God is. He sees what we can offer

all right, and he gives us a new from there. Okay, so,

meaning we don't have to be a completely tree under sixty degrees different a

person, meaning we change our personality and all that. That's not what he's

asking, but he's trying to remind us that in whatever situation we could be

in, God is able to change things around. He's able to bring newness,

whether it's a miracle that you're praying for, whether it's a change of

perspective. Yeah, he's able to do that. And that is exactly what

he's doing here to the Pharisees and the disciples. You know, when they

answer this question, he was not so bothered to explain to them or what's

this tradition about? What's this ritual about? Because their condition of their heart

was in a place where they were just doubtful. Okay, So how are

you going to explain to someone about all of that if you're not even in

a place to understand or to even see me as the son of God?

Because I am right in front of you, that is what he's saying.

Yeah, so he explains here. And in fact, when we speak about

the Pharisees, they were holding on so much to the Old You know,

they were holding to the Old Covenant what Moses did, right, And so

that is why even till today we have some of the Jews who are waiting

for Messiah. You know, some have already experienced God and okay, they

know who Jesus is. But then their son who was still holding on to

that. Yeah, and so he explains here the difference between all and the

New Covenant. So just some context of all of you. When we talk

about the Old Covenant, we used animals to get to God. Right,

So if you committed a sin, you offer your best animal gain slaughtered,

okay, and then your sins are forgiven. That was the old okay.

But the New Covenant is when the focus is on Jesus. Because God sent

this one and only son, He did it all for us, He paid

the cross. We no longer need to bring a sheep to church and say,

God, I've done this sin, then you please forgive me, right,

because He's already done it. He done it on the cross for us.

Yeah. The Old Testament sent it on man's faithfulness, okay, meaning

how faithful you are. I know that is what you get. But the

New Covenant sent us on God's faithfulness towards men. If you think about it,

God Jesus has been faithful until he went to the cross. In fact,

he's faithful today. Sometimes we catch ourselves forgetting right, we forget what's

going on or I need to walk with God. But he never forgets.

He's always knocking and saying, hey, I'm talking to you. Are you

listening? Right? So he is always faithful. And all other faiths usually

talk about doing good to reach him. Right if you have been, Um,

if you've come from a different faith, you know, from your childhood,

all you've seen friends from other faith, you'll notice that it's about striving

to do as much as I can then I can experience God. You know,

I have to do good, only then God would know me. Um,

you know, I remember having a friend also who just she just you

know, she makes sure that she doesn't eat meat, okay, because she

has made this promise with God and said, um, you know, God,

please, um, keep my parents are not in a good health condition

okay. And she said, as long as I do this, please,

you know, keep my parents alive and bell you know, so, um,

you know, if we've been close enough for it to just share,

you know what she's going through, and so we could be very open about

this conversation and you can sense a lot of fear, you know. So

the moment she doesn't become a vegetarian, the fear comes say, oh,

what is God going to do? Doesn't mean that something's going to happen.

Yeah, So there's constant fear that is going on, you know. And

it's because we try our best, our effort, knowing that okay, only

then God will do something. Yeah. But when we speak about the New

Covenant, right, it's about how God has reached out to us. He

reaches out most of the time, and he says, I am here.

Why are you lost? Okay, I'm here, wake up, You're not

alone in this journey. Right. He comes, he humbles himself, and

that is why in the scriptures we read a lot of stories or incidents where

even washes the feet of his disciples, right, And that is what he

calls us to do, to be his servants, you know, those of

us who are serving here. You know, it's always about humbleness, right,

It's all about going down and being with that person, you know,

and that is what Jesus models to us reaching out. He reaches out to

us. Okay. So a reminder from this portion is that Jesus says,

I am not patching up your whole life, okay, from all that you

may have walked from, but I am doing something new in you, right,

I'm doing something new in you. And for us to recognize this is

to help us. You know, most of the time, you know,

you know, when if you felt sick, right, Sometimes we tend to

look at the symptoms, okay, or I'm having cough, Okay, I

deal with the cough, having flu, I deal with the flu. But

what's effective is to also understand what's the core issue of your health, right?

What is causing this? Am I getting enough rest? Or is this

some viral infection? Right? Um? Sometimes back I realized I was having

fever on and on it keeps coming. Then when you go a blood test

and you realize that she's an infection, and then they give you antibiotics,

right, and then the infection is God, okay, fever left you also,

But if you're treating the fever only, it's never going to be ending,

right, because there's going to be something within you that needs to be

removed, which is the viral right, which is the infection. And so

when we speak about, you know, God doing something new in us,

there's something that we've got to also do to recognize that God is able to

work that new in me, right, and to work on what's that core

issue in our hearts. Yeah, the heart of the problem is the problem

of the heart. You want to talk about that today. And in fact,

there are different portions of the scriptures in the Bible that teaches us about

how can we step out of the old to step into the new? Right.

God is always ready to start that new, but it's a matter of

whether we are ready for it. Okay. So in second Quaranthians five seventeen,

it says, this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a

new person. The old is gone, a new life has begun. So

do you know that you've already been called to be a new person because you

are chosen, You are created by Him right. And in fact, if

you think about the word chosen, that itself brings a lot of significance to

ourselves because no one else chose us. God choses right. God chose es

that we call the sons and daughters right, and that is why we became

a new person, okay, And we're going to read this portion here from

Coalitions, Chapter three was five to seventeen. But this scripture here reminds us

of what is it that we need to step out from in order for us

to experience the new Okay? It shares with us a couple of points here,

And I hope that as you read this potion is a little bit of

a longer portion of scripture. But I think it's just good to read god

It's work together and ask yourself any of this applicable to me? Is there

any of this that I need to let go off? Or if I'm struggling,

God help me, okay, so that I can experience the new?

O case, let's read this year from Collisions three, five to seventeen.

It says, so put to death the sinful earthly things lurking within you have

nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, last and evil desires. Don't

be greedy, for a greedy person is an adulter worshiping the things of this

world. Because of this sins, the anger of God is coming. You

used to do these things when your life is still part of this world,

But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior,

slender and dirty language. Don't lie to each other, for you have

stripped off your all sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. On your new

nature and be renewed as you learn to know your creator and become like him

in this new life. It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or gentile,

circumcised or uncircumcised, but urying, uncivilized slave, or fear Christ is all

that matters. And he leaves in all of us a bit of a context

here. Paul reminds the church here because these are people who have, you

know, especially gentiles, who have embraced who Jesus is. They've been walking

with God, okay, and so meaning they have had that kind of a

mindset or the worldly kind of thinking or thoughts, and so he's trying to

get them to understand that when you are in Christ, you're a new person,

and these are the things that you've got to let go off. It

doesn't matter your background, you know, your ethnicity, or what you've gone

through, but once you know Christ, you are new, okay, and

what is it that you need to let go off? And then it goes

on in worse twelve right, and so he says in the first portion,

here these are the things that you need to let go off, okay?

And sometimes these are things that maybe in the heart you know. And some

of these terms that they use, right, don't lie our behavior, our

language, you know. Only we ourselves know how it is right. We

have no one to judge each other. But we've got to do a heart

check. Right, how am I you know? With my conduct, with

my behavior? Do I need to let go of some of these things?

As the scripture says, right in goverse twelve, it says, what do

we need to put on? It says, since God chose you, to

the person next to you, and tell them God chose you right. God

chose you to be the holy people. He loves. You. Must clothe

yourselves with tender hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Make allowance for each other's false and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the

Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves

with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the

peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one

body, your call to live in peace and always be thankful. Amen.

Now this words your looks very nice. Right. You all like to have

all these qualities? Is it the easiest? Not, especially when we're living

in a fallen world. Right, And that is why we have to recognize

that God chose us. He chose us, meaning he's going to journey with

us. In fact, he's journeying with us. He's not calling you to

do all this and saying, okay, you're figuring out yourself, right,

but he guides you. You know, sometimes you're called in a place where

you're saying, I cannot forgive this person. It's just so hard. Well,

that's just human nature, right. We go through hurts in life,

we go through struggles or sometimes it's just so hard to love someone you know,

or to show kindness when the person is not showing kindness to us.

But then again, that is when we have to be again reminded that God

has called us, right, and if he has called us, he shows

us how to walk. And the thing about this is that until we don't

recognize the importance of this, it's like a secret. You know, if

you don't recognize that you need all of this and you need to let go

of the past. It's very hard for us to experience the new Right,

It's gonna be very hard for us because you cannot make board. You cannot

mix the good and the evil. Right, it just doesn't go together.

You can't be a lukewarm Christian. Like what the Bible tells us. It's

either you're coal or you're hot, either you're in left or right. Yeah,

So you've got to be able to come to a place of saying,

Okay, I want to be cleared of all this so that I can truly

taste what it means when say God says I'm starting the new, because if

not, it may be always showing you science. You know, it's telling

you a I'm doing this in your life. I'm bringing this person into your

life. Right, I'm showing you this sign. But if you're still tangled

up with the past, right, whatever the past could be unforgiveness or worry,

or maybe sometimes the mistakes that we've done to ourselves and so hard to

forgive ourselves. Right, if you're caught up with all of this, how

are we going to see that person that he places in our lives? Right?

How are we going to be able to listen to his voice, because

we're still listening to the watches of others, the hurt that others has told

us. Right, and sometimes that is why it's not easy to be a

Christian. Okay. It takes a lot of giving up. Okay, that's

the truth. It takes a lot of surrendering. Right. But God knows

best. There's the reason why He tells us to do that, so that

He can start the new in you. And when he starts the new in

you, it means that you can get rid of all of that. You

know, that person that seems to be so difficult to forgive. You will

come to a place of saying I'm fine, Right, I'm fine because God

is living in me has helped me to overcome that and not allowing bitterness to

take hold in my heart so that I can keep pursuing what He has called

me to do. Because until we hold on to that past, all these

things that the scripture tells us, it's going to be very hard for us

to move on to the greater things that He has for us. Right,

Because we all have different dreams that God has placed in our hearts, different

passions, different desires. No matter how old you are, we all have

those desires. But in order for us to pursue that, you have to

be made a new person. Right. If not, we are going to

be always clouded with I had this struggle, I made this mistake. This

person said I'm not good enough. So even if God tells you a you're

good enough, you know I created you, I've given you confidence. But

somewhere rather, if you're still listening to all of this, how are we

going to listen to God? How are we going to listen to his voice?

How are we going to hold on to the truth if you're still holding

on to the lie. Right. And so that's the choice that you and

I have this morning, whether do we want to step into the new by

letting go the old? Right, letting go the ol? So reminding us

again, Jesus says, I did not come to patch up your old life.

He came to make all things new. So I'm going to share with

you two thoughts, right, two thoughts to help us kind of reflect.

And they say, okay, you, when you talk about stepping into new,

how do I do that? How can I get to that place?

How can I position myself in that place? Right? The first thought for

us to remember as we do a heart check right, a check up is

that God sees your heart above all else. God sees your heart. In

Probs for twenty three, it says God your hearts is God your heart above

all else, for it determins the cause of your life. Right, it

determins the cause of your life. And from the Scripture itself, it tells

us how important we need to guard our hearts because that influences the next step

we take. That influences the next thing we're gonna say, You're gonna influence

the decisions that we're gonna take right if our hearts are not the right place,

you know. And I'm being a ministry for some time now, and

I've come to learn how at the end of the day, it's all your

God, your heart. You know, God doesn't see how much we do

in the front. You know, God doesn't see the outward Okay, he

sees what's happening within, what's in your heart. Right, and in the

Old End the New Testament, it reminds us the same thing. So then

it's important, right because it says in dugonal Mistis five, you shall love

the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and with

all your strength right. And in Mark twelve thirty it stays as well,

you shall love the Lord your God with all your hearts, soul, mind,

and all your strength right, so you would stay it in two of

these books of this New and all. How important it is for us to

love the Lord with all our hearts, so for us to be able to

recognize that right the heart condition of our hearts. A question for us to

ask ourselves is where are we laying our treasure? Because most of the time,

yes, um something, it's very hard for us to also access what's

going on in our hearts because that's limits. That's how limited be. As

give you a very past experience many years ago, something happened, and you

can still seem to figure out what's happening within me if I let go of

it or it's still affecting, right, And so that is why we need

to do a bit of a heart check. Yeah, so it met you

six nineteen to twenty one again, I mean was nineteen to twenty one.

It says, yeah, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and rust destroy and where thieves breaking and steal, But lay up

for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves

do not breaking and steal. For where your treasure is there, your heart

will also be. So if we speak about our hearts, it's our heart

in a place where it's so exposed, in a place where the enemy is

so easy to to put doubts in our minds on our hearts right, and

say, hey, you're not good enough, remember this past most thay you

did, remember this unforgiveness because it's open, like it says in the scripture,

right where the steel can the thieves can break in and steal, so

you can have the God's promises. But if it's in a place where you're

still exposed to past, it's so easy for the enemy to take it away

from you and say and doubt. Remember that was the first thing that the

enemy did to Eve. You know, when God gave a word to Adam

and Eve what to do the serpent told to Eve, right, did God

tell this right? And so sometimes that is what the enemy does. He

tries to use God's word and twist us if we're not careful enough, if

we do not know God's word, And that is when it's exposed right in

the Book of Matthew reminds us about the ground that we receive if you're not

in good ground, meaning when you plant a seed, you've got to put

it into the soil. Right. It has to be in good ground,

has to be watered, it has to be in a place where it can

grow. But imagine if that ground has stones in it, or you're just

putting the seat over there and just hoping that it will grow. It's not

going to grow, right because birds is going to come and take that seat.

Or if there are stones in the in the scent, there's no room

for it to grow. They're gonna be other kind of plants. They're gonna

grow. So it's gonna hinder your growth. But if it's in a soil

where it's well filtered, there's water, there's good son, and when the

seed is put in, it's going to grow and flourish. Right. And

that's the same thing with the condition of our hearts. Is it in a

place where it is secured, right, secured? And that is why it

says for where your treasure is there, your hearts will be Meaning I am

covered by the blood of Jesus, I'm covered with God's word. So I

can have all these attacks, people can still say things. I can go

through challenges in life, diseases, whatever comes my way, but my foundation

is solid. Okay, as a human, I can feel down, I

can feel said, but I know who holds my life. My firm foundation

is Jesus. So it's our hearts in that kind of a place, right,

and a good heart check to ours ourselves is that when you go through

a tough time, who do you go to first? Or do you try

to figure out things your own way? Right? Because again then you read

this, Now God choose you. He's journeying with you. So why would

you want to walk all by yourselves when you already have the greatest help of

all Jesus Christ. Yeah, so ask ourselves this question. You know,

in a form of our time, our energy, our money, our desires,

where's your focus? Where do you place this focus? We just recently

had our leader's training about a week back. Okay, we call it as

salt, and we did this reflection. Okay, we had to take out

a piece of paper and write down the top four qualities or values that takes

up a lot of your time and energy. And so from there how many

hours or time do we spend on it? Okay, that kind of determines

our focus, right, So because when we think about it time we all

have twenty four hours. Out of the twenty four hours, what takes up

so much of our energy? Our focus? You know? And when we

see time, money, energy, you're not trying to say just spending hours

on your knees. Well, that's great if you could do that, I

think one and that is also our thoughts when we navigate true life, when

we make decisions, our conversations, how is it like is it reflecting back

to God? Is it pointing back to him? Or is it pointing back

to myself my independence? Right? What I know? Yeah, so I

have these two questions for you to think about. What are the top three

values that takes up your focus and your energy on a daily basis in a

week? Right? Because whatever those values are. When I say values meaning

things that that matters to you, that are important to you, right,

how does it take your focus? Because if it's gonna be okay, um,

let's say, if it's gonna be money, I mean nothing wrong with

money, right, you're trying to save up. But again, if that

money is something that you know what you're using it for. Okay, yes,

it's for the future, but also on a blessed artists. Okay,

I want to give to artists. I want to give towards the Kingdom of

God. Then you know what's your focus? So meaning when you stry for

money, it's not going to be so much about myself or worry what if

I don't have enough? What it's going to happen to my future? Where

I look at the economy, look at what So we get so worried and

that's when the heart, Remember the condition of our heart goes back to worry,

to striving my own strength. But if it's focused on the things of

God, whatever I do, beat my passion, beat my career, it

all goes back to Him, right, it all goes back to Him.

So what are your top three values that takes up your focus, your energy,

And when you're making decisions, do you actually ask this question? What

does God think about this? Does it please him? Right? I mean

always imagine its songs. I like to have that picture in my mind that

if I'm having a conversation with Elae now in a room, and if God

sitting there right there, how would our conversations be right, we're going to

talk about people. Are we're going to talk out of worry? Or?

I mean, because God is looking right and if it is looking rights in

our hearts is living withinness. So how would our conversations change when we always

have the thought in our mind or the fear of God. That's what the

scripture sis. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. Right,

So do we ask this question? What does God think about this? Okay,

something just for us to reflect, Like I said, half the year

has gone by, you know, let's think about how has our journey been

when we think about our heart condition so that we can experience the newness of

God even doing good church? Yes, yeah, Now the second point that

I have with you is what you do in the secret matters because God sees

what's going on in this secret. Yeah, we can all see what's going

on now. Our physicalize so we called the naked eyes, right, human,

we can only see that much. But what God is seeing now is

seeing what's in your heart? Right now, what's in your minds? Or

when no one else is there, what are you doing? Right? How

do we use our time? How our conversations are with people. So we

may not be mingling with our Christian friends or your pastors, your leaders are

not there, but still your conversation, how is it like? So again

a question to ours ourselves. Am I doing it for men? Right?

Because someone is looking at me? So I take care of my conduct?

Or would I still speak the same way when others are not there? I

can be just with my colleagues, I can just be with my friends out

there. But am I the same person? Am I the same person in

church and out? Okay? Or is it different? Because in church,

yes, we are encouraged to dress our best, to take care of our

conduct, to serve, to give our best. We bring those qualities back

into the world in our marketplace, in our families. You know, if

you're living in the families who may may not be believers, yet, how

is your conduct that would tell them that, hey, this person is different,

different, escent is not weird, but you are. You know,

you just carry so much grace. You know, if we say grace,

you don't have to be all patients. And you know we all have different

personalities. But what you see, your conduct, your behavior is different.

Right, And so there are a couple of portions of scriptures they're gonna read,

but I'm gonna read for you. Matthew seven twenty one to twenty three.

If we have your bibles, Okay, it says, yeah. Not

everyone who says to me, Lord Lord, shall enter the Kingdom of heaven.

But he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will

say to me in that day, Lord Lord, every not propheside in your

name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your

name. And then I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart

from me, you who practice lawlessness. And to me, I feel this

is a very um a scary kind of a portion, because sometimes you can

find yourself in that place if you're not careful, because you know, again

you see external right, because I've done this to someone. You know,

I've I've preached the word, I've cast our demons. But when you face

Jesus, when you face God, he might say, I do not know

you. You practice lawlessness. Lawlessness here meaning you did not preach what you

spoke about. You don't leave out you know what you preached, right,

if you see love, your enemies forgive aunts. When it comes to our

own lives, do we do that. It's so easy to say to others,

how about ourselves? Right? So from this we can see that it's

not about just the fruitfulness in the physical that we can see, like how

great the person is in the outside, But it's the matter or whether we're

doing what's right in God's eyes. Right, God's eyes, and God in

fact sees what men might miss out. Some of you here might be saying,

yes, I do a lot, you know, I serve God,

I reach out to this person, I walk a journey with this person,

and it's tough at days, right, But God sees that you don't need

a man to say yes, we encourage each other at times when we serve

together. But more than that, all the kind of encouragement and the well

done, good and faithful servant has to come from God because we're doing it

unto Him, not unto men. And until we recognize this, we can

sometimes get so caught up with how good I am pride pride can eat us.

Yeah, and that is reality. If you're not doing a hell check,

you're not doing a heart check. It's all going to be about me

then, But always ask yourself, who am I doing this unto? Not

just about things in ministry and serving in church, but even outside. You

know, when you're working with someone, a colleague in the office, or

you're doing good for someone, don't go around and tell everyone here, I

did this right, but because you're doing it unto God. And when you

do things unto God, it comes easier in a way because again, I'm

not trying to please this person. I'm not trying to please the world,

but I'm trying to please God. And that is all that matters, right,

all that matters. And so just to give you a couple of scriptures

here when we say how God sees in the secret right in the Book of

Matthew, inverse chapter six, verse three, it says, but when you

give to someone in me in need, don't let your left hand know what

your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your father,

who sees everything, will reward you. Yeah, that's the first thing

it says. In verse six, it says, or when you pray,

go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your

father in private. Then your father will sees everything will reward you. So

we can all pray together as a congregation. You know, we can pray

for each other. But the prayers that also matters, is very important is

the prayer that you do all by yourself in God, in your secret room,

in your secret place. The conversations that you have with him. Where

was the last time we had that kind of a prayer. We got the

heart to heart conversation, right, just me and my God, my abba

Father. In verse seventeen, when you fast, comb your hair, wash

your face, then no one will notice that you're fasting. Accept your father,

who knows what you do in private, and your father, who sees

everything, will reward you. Amen. Yeah, that is how. And

then his self shows the heart of God, he sees what you do in

the secret. Right. So a reminder for ourselves is to God our secret

life, right, God, our secret life, our thoughts, the prayers

that we see, our conversations with others. You know, if I'm speaking

to a colleague, that is so easy for us to um complain, right,

so easy for us to gossip. You know you know this persona um,

it's very without us realizing. That's why, because we're just our sinful

nature. Yeah, as humans. Then it gave you have to ask a

let's stop, Okay, let me talk about something that's edifying. Um,

you know where we can go. We can't be frustrated, but let's say

in our mind, let's let's just do what we can. Okay, Yeah,

So encourage others, so our our conversations. Don't just take care of

your behavior, take care of your belief, because out of your belief is

your behavior, right, because what you believe in is what you do,

not just the external, but the internal, not just the quantity but the

quality. Yeah, not just the quantity, but the quality. So in

the end, what's really manifesting in the open is what we've been sowing in

the secret. So if you've been having your quiet time with God, you've

been journeying with him. You have been you know, speaking to him.

When you go through a tough time down the road, you are still solid

in a way because I'm journeying with God. He has hold it all together.

Whatever comes my way, He's still with me. Right, So we

can't be worried. But yet the foundation because you know why, in the

secret, I've been journeying with him, I've been walking with him. Right

or down the road, someone says something and it's so hurtful, right,

Okay, yes, I'm hurtful as as a person, but deep down I

know God has been teaching me how to forgive. That is what his word

says. God has been teaching me to let go and I can do that.

Why because in the secret I've been doing that. So don't just you

know, you know, just just go to Him in the tough times,

right because then I mean, yes, you can see a prayer and God,

well yeah, it still works in those times. But why not we

develop it even when times when it's all good, all smooth, right,

enjoy his presence, Enjoy his goodness. Let it be part of your life,

you know, make it a rhythm that you're journeying in. And then

whatever comes or whatever people may go through, even you can still be an

encouragement to them. Right. So what you do in the open, if

you want it to be manifested the open, keep sobbing in the secret.

Even for us leaders, those who are serving, right, what we do

you know in our walk with God is what's going to manifest on Sundays in

the way of souls, right homes, If you're talking about people, aware,

God send the people. It's not going to happen on a Sunday,

but we pray. But what we do on a weekly basis Monday to Friday,

the one to one that we sometimes have with someone, the prayers that

we do for them, the word that we read and declare, and that

it's going to result two souls. Yeah, So let's save God of our

secret. The secret place is what matters, okay. And so the question

for us to think about is how is my conduct in the secret? My

behavior, my conversations with others, my time, how is it? Because

it's a very personal thing. Only we know what do we do when we

go back on a Sunday afternoon? Again, Yes, it's nice to take

a nap on a Sunday afternoon. Right, Um, howse house our thoughts,

our behavior, right, I will respond to things around us. Yeah.

And as we're speaking about new here, I just like to show you

an illustration. All right, I'm going to talk to you, show to

you about you know, when we speak about the scripture, be right,

just now, it's all about getting rich to experience, okay. And so

I'm just gonna read this portion and then you're gonna look at something here,

Okay. If you look at Psalms thirty four Okay, some thirty four it

says, in desperation, I prayed, and the Lord listened. He saved

me from all my troubles. For the Angel of the Lord is God.

He surrounds and defends all who fear him. Now everyone might know the scripture.

In verse eight, it says, taste and see that the Lord is

good. All the joys of those who take refuge in him. Fear the

Lord, you his godly people. For those who fear him will have all

they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust

in the Lord will lack no good thing. All right, So let's just

see what it means to taste and see that the Lord is good. Okay,

So I have this thank you ed lean. Okay, so I have

this coffee ye with me. Okay, it's a black coffee and not against

coffee. But I'm just using this as an example, Okay, And um,

is this to kind of show what's weediness? Right? Sometimes we can

have different things withinness, like what we read from the scripture just now,

unforgiveness or sometimes past heard or even it could be experiences when we see things

in our hearts. Right, It's not always sometimes just negative, but it

could also be mindsets that we are so used to, right, because you

have seen that and we feel like, okay, let man, we just

go with that because it seems to work. Wed you know, let me

just stay comfortable because it seems to be fine. But what if God says

I want to do more, It means you need to enlarge your capacity,

right, And so it's all these things that's weediness. Yeah, and then

of course we have the goodness of God. Okay, yeah, just something

for yours to see, right that God can and do that new But until

we do our part. That is why we saw that two points is now

to first recognize what's in our hearts. To recognize that, you know,

the secret what we do quietly when no one else is seeing, determines to

how the past can let be let go. And that is when when God

feels you can experience the sweetness, right, the presence of God. And

that's how exactly how I felt when we were worshiping just now as well.

You know, when you just you're soaked into his presence, you know,

when you're saying God, come minister. And sometimes you may go through tough

times or you can still feel the goodness of God. Yeah, and you

know, as I was just even preparing this message, because the team is

a lot with this hell check right. And the funny thing is I have

been in and out the hospital this past few days. Okay, my mom

has not been too well. He's been having this a pain in his toma

for a while and we couldn't constant figure out what is the the purpose I

mean that the cause of it because all check CUB seems to be fine,

you know, from blood tests, urine tests, everything seems to be fine.

Um. So I've been in the hospital like from Thursday, in and

out and just having the scene of the hospital doctors, you know, poking

the needles and blood and this and that. And so again I'm reminded how

sometimes you need to figure out what's going on. If not, you can

never figure out what's the root of the problem. Yeah. And so I

mean she's just admitted and they are you're going to do a scan today.

But today's messages show that the pain has gone and doctor said there's no need

for a scan, right, Praise God for that. Um. But what

I'm trying to say from this is that you know, until we intervene to

what's the care. We can never be set free from that pain. We

can never be set free from the old. If you want to experience the

newness, we've got to do that hard check. You know, you can

go to the doctor and say, yeah, stop time taking my medicine because

the doctor won't know right, but at some day it will be. You

can see if you're having diabetes, your trigger is shooting up, but you're

saying you're taking medicine. So what you do in the secret is really our

own responsibility. Right. People can be there to guide you. God's wood

is already there. He can tell you time of the time. Come my

child, about what you're doing the secret. It's your choice. What you

do is what that's going to reap beat in your health, in your ministry

and your family, in everything else that you do. So let's not forget

or kind of just ignore this secret, okay, because when we know the

secrets and how God wants us to leave our lives, it's going to be

just so good. You can experience His goodness. Yeah, and there might

be some of you here this morning you are saying that I can't seem to

come out of this struggle, this darkness, seems to be going and going

the idea. I was just driving out on the highway and it was such

a heavy rain from sunway, you know, it was so heavy that I

got drenched the rain also. But as I was driving and when I came

towards Rascal, it was just sunshine so different the weather from heavy rain,

thunderstorm, sunshine so hot. Had to put on my sunglasses and I was

just reminded how in every darkness that you go through, there's always going to

be a way out right, There's always going to be good days. Let's

just take strength and let's take courage in that, especially when you know who's

on the other side, especially if you know who is by your side,

even he is journeying with you, and he's going to allow you to see

that sunshine, right and in fact, you'll allow you to see that sunshine

the midst of the tunderstorm and the chaos, you know, giving you the

direction on how to go on. That is the god Pie stuff invite extreme

forward. So I hope Church that you can take this word as a check

in for our lives that the next half of the year, how do I

want to leave my life? Do I want to experience and taste the fullness

of the orange juice right wide away, giving me the energy, you know.

And for us to do that is to let go. Let's let go.

And even if you're saying that I'm too weak, I cannot do this,

let me encourage you that all things are possible through God, if only

you can hold onto his hand and say God, never let me down,

never let me go, and he does. He holds you right until the

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

information on our church, please visit X Church RG. We are also active

on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this week is going to be a

good week. I hit for you. God bless