I am Able | Pr Gloria Paul

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

will light up your day this year in this whole atmosphere of celebration. And

I was praying and asking the Lord, Okay, what is this word that

you have for us today? And so I was thinking, I was reminded

of this celebration that took place in the Bible. Okay, and this is

the very first miracle that Jesus performed as well. Can you guess what is

it? The wine? Yes, turning water into wine. Right, that

was one of his very first miracles. And in a way, the people

started to know that, oh, that's this person named Jesus. You know.

Before this, he was known as the carpenter's son, Josh, you

know, Joseph and Mary's son. But this was when everything started. Right.

So the title of today's message is that I am able. Turned to

the person next to you and tell them Jesus is able, right, And

you've got to say in the way you mean it, because he is able.

You know, he is able to make the impossible possible. And this

could mean very different for each one of us, depending to the season of

our lives. Some of you are believing for a break true. So that

impossible thing is something that you're praying for God to break true and make it

happen. Maybe it's a prayer that's been you've been waiting for a long time,

and you're saying God, when that could be the impossible that He is

turning things around. Yeah, So as we go into today's message, I

pray that you could also reflect it in your own personal journey as well and

ask the Lord, what is it that you're showing me today from your wit.

I mean, I always believe that the word of God is practical,

right, the Word of God is powerful. It's meant for us to live

it out. It's not meant to be just a Sunday thing, yeah,

but it is something that believe every single day relationship that we have with God.

And so the same thing with God's word today. I pray that you'll

be able to live it out as you go back to your places that God

has positioned you to be right. So today's reading is going to be from

the Book of John. So if you have your Bibles, you can turn

with me John chapter two, Versus one to twelve. I'm going to read

here and reading from the annalt version John chapter two was one to twelve right,

so the wedding at Cana. The next day, there was a wedding

celebration in the village of Kenna in Galilee. Jesus's mother was there and Jesus

and his disciples were also invited to. The celebration was three. The wine's

supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus's mother told him they have no

more wine. Dear woman, that's not our problem. Jesus says, my

time time as not yet come. But his mother told the servants do whatever

it tells you. Standing nearby was six stone water jazz used for Jewish ceremonial

washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons, and Jesus told the servants

filled the jars with water. When the jars had been filled, he said,

now dip some out and take it to the Master of ceremonies. To

the servants followed. His instruction was nine. When the Master of ceremonies tasted

the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from,

he called the bridegroom over, and he says it was ten. A horse

always serves the best wine. First, he said, then when everyone has

had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expect and if wine,

but you have kept the best until now was eleven. This miraculous sign

at Kenna in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory and his disciples

believed in him. After the wedding, he went to Caprona for a few

days with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples. Man, we

God blessed the reading of those scriptures, and so we see that this is

one of the first encounter where people saw, hey, something happened, a

miracle, and when they got to know that Jesus performed it, then the

glory went to him. And it says in the scriptures that even the disciples

began to believe in him. Before this, they were just following him as

a teacher. Or in fact, later on is when some of them even

started following him. But this was the incident that many got to know who

Jesus was. Yeah, So I'm just gonna walk through with you at least

three pointers to draw our attention to what this passage teaches us about how God

is able and how important it is to position ourselves in a place where we

can seem recles taking place, right. I believe in whatever season you're in,

there are things that you are believing to see. If you're you're a

student, then maybe it's in your studies, you know, or you're just

wanting direction in relationships. Right, whether you're young adult, than you're waiting

for God. I'm waiting for this new job or this promotion. I've been

a long time in this place. I want to see a change. Right,

it could be that or families. Right, you all have that point

where you may be waiting for a respond or you're waiting for God to move.

Okay, And the same thing we can see here. And the first

character that we can draw our attention to is Mary. Okay, Jesus a

mother. And what we can learn from Mary here is that she had such

faith and focus when there was a time of neat. Okay, so as

we can imagine a big wedding and effact if you have watched documentaries of um

Jewish weddings, um, they can go on drinking the old fast, the

whole ceremony. It's a it's a very joyful time of gathering. Right.

So, meaning wine is something so important to be served throughout and In fact,

if you serve good wine, it's like a good image for the family

or for the for the groom and bride and groom is getting married. So

it's such an important thing to be served, okay. And so the moment

they ran out of wine, it meant that, okay, it's disaster.

What do we do now? Okay? Um? And so when we look

at the portion of scripture here, um we see how um you know,

it says in verse three, the wine supply ran They ran out of supply,

and then um, Jesus mother told him they have no more wine.

She went to this, She told him that. But if you notice what

Jesus respond, okay, you say it the o man, that's not our

problem. Okay. You might would have guessed that Jesus will say, okay,

okay, let me come up with some mine, right, Oh,

okay, hold on, let's do something about it. But his responds completely

opposite. Okay, what would you what would you do if it goes to

someone and say, hey, we ran out of food, and oh,

that's not my problem. What would you say? What would you do?

Right? And he went on saying, my time has not yet come.

There's a quity contradicting respond over there, But if you go on to Worse

five, you'll notice what Mary tells to the servants. Okay, after hearing

what Jesus says, my time has not a come, she just went on

saying, do whatever it tells you. Okay, do whatever he tells you.

And to me, I feel that is this speaks a lot about a

person, because she didn't just turn away and say, okay, fine,

let's find other alternatives. Okay, fine, I'll just go to the shop

and buy some wine, or okay, forget it, let's not serve wine.

She don't say any of those, but she just turned to the servant

and say it, do whatever he tells you. How many of us responds

in such a way when we don't get the respond we want, but yet

we still choose to wait, and in fact, we choose to just wait

on what God wants to keep us right, or do we choose to say

no, I want it my way. It could turn the other way around

as well, And so it speaks so much about Mary, and in fact,

for her to be able to respond in such a way describes the kind

of relationship that she has with God, and in fact she remembers. So

if you remember Mary, of course in this position of the scripture, she

could have been a bit more older. She has few sons besides Jesus.

But if we just you know, a backtrack to the story, we know

this Mary was the one who encountered the Angel. Right, the Angel of

the Lord appeared to her, and when they told her that you'll be conceived

of Jesus. And this is the point where it tells us of how she

remembered the promise of God. Right, And if you think about the last

time you you had a conversation with someone and maybe the person did not respond

the way you wanted to, but somehow, rather because you knew this person's

character, you knew that this person is just saying that, but he will

do it anyway. It wouldn't affect you much, right, you will just

go on and say, okay, it'll be fine right now. It doesn't

bother you much. And to me, I feel Mary came to that kind

of a position because she encountered God, because there was a promise that was

given to her, and because she remembered that promise, she could so confidently

say do whatever he tells, because whatever he's going to do. It's going

to be good. Right, It's going to be good, you know,

if you go to Luke. Chapter one was thirty. This was the promise

that was given to Mary before she even conceived Jesus. Gay. The angels

said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found

favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring

forth a son, and she'll call his name Jesus. He will be great

and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will

give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the

house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end.

This is scripture you usually year during Christmas, right, And then she conceived

Jesus. And so if you look at this portion of the scripture, it

says, you found favor, you will be conceived of someone who is of

the most High, who is powerful, who is mighty. She remembered the

words. Okay, she could recall the promises of God. And that is

why she could say, do whatever he says, because who's saying that Jesus,

not just anyone. Right. So she knew that, yes, she

knew that So this is Mary a focus, a focus, and she knew

that Jesus could do something at that point of time. So what about us?

How does this speak to us? Just helping us to think about you

know, how do we choose to respond in times like that? I believe

we all if we have been generate. I mean we've been a believer for

some time. I'm sure you've said your prayers. You'll say, God,

bring this need for me. God, I mean this difficult situation, take

me out of it. But how do we position ourselves before Him when we

say those things to him? Are we coming with faith or do we still

have those doubts saying God provide? Can you please provide this financial need for

example, by the back of our hates we're still figuring out Okay, if

it doesn't happen, I still have my backup plan. Do we come with

that kind of a position or do we come in a total surrender and say,

God, I have this need. I'm not sure I'm going to run

the next month financially, and I know you'll provide. And even when it's

highland, how do we respond, Because I'm sure you know that it's not

always responses that we get immediately right. There are times, yes, God

affirms us right away from the wood from someone in our lives, but there

are times when things can just be quiet. So what do we do in

those times? Do we then choose to figure things out or get anxious?

Because the Word of God reminds us to not be anxious about everything, but

to bring to God in prayer, in supplication. And I like what Kevin

sharedes now in his testimony. If you notice, the main point of his

testimony was prayer, right, have a lot of details by the end of

the day. Was prayer that brought him here. It was prayer that gave

him the confidence to say, I'm going to choose church. I'm going to

choose to serve. And that's what prayer does. And the way we position

ourselves when we come before in prayer is very important. And that is what

I believe Jesus saw because Jesus, yes, he said, that's not my

problem. My time has not yet come. But as we read on the

scripture, he made it happen. Right, He made that miracle happened,

that were tasty wine that was served until they even received compliments. So what

do you think caused Jesus to do that miracle. Of course he knew that

he could. But more than that, he saw how Mary responded, because

she was at a position that said, Okay, do what he says.

That would mean that maybe he would make wine for a stern wine, maybe

he may not. Whatever it is, do whatever he says, and God

or Jesus on it. That faith, that focus that Mary has, right,

isn't that powerful? Yeah? So a question for us to ask ourselves

is how do we go before God? How do we position ourselves? Do

we have that kind of a relationship where we're just so confident to go to

him being vulnerable. We don't have to hide anything. That's who God is.

Right, just say God, this is what I'm struggling with working me,

this is how weak I am. You make me strong? Right?

And that was what Mary did her response. Let's take some time to reflect

on that. Okay, are we in that position where we can confidently say

God, this is what I desire. But even if you have another plan,

I choose to trust you because sometimes we may not know what's best for

ourselves. Okay, we may know at times, maybe with experience, but

God knows best. Because God knows what's the future. None of us know

that God knows what's the next ten years, fifty years about to come.

He holds our future. And that is the kind of confidence that we need

to go before God with right, the confidence that he knows and he is

able. Amen. Yeah, I hope you're catching something here, right.

So the source of our confidence is our relationship with Jesus. And how do

we build that confidence? It's your walk, okay? And you know,

whatever sermons sometimes when we preach or prepare, it all goes back to your

relationship with God. It boils down to that. To pray and read your

Bible every day, it goes back to that. You know, that is

the only way for us to know the heartbeat of God. That's the only

way to be able to listen to his voice and to know God, what

is it that you're teaching me? You know, sometimes you can be in

positions where you're saying, God, I don't know what is going on.

I can't figure out. Ask God, because his word says that his word

is a lamb until our feet, he directs our path. Amen. Right.

A couple of scriptures here reminds us and Hebrews four sixteen. Let us

therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and

find grace to help in time of need. So the word of God reminds

us here to come boldly when you go to someone boly, meaning you are

not hesitant, you're not having second thoughts, but you're just going all out

and you're saying, God, I believe, I have faith, I have

focused on you, and you make it happen in your way. Right.

So that's the first point that we can learn from this portion of the passage,

right Mary, her faith and her focus. Okay, And in fact,

you know, our words are very powerful. What we say, what

we declare, it will happen, right, And that is what God sees

ultimately, and sometimes it can be in that journey of us heading towards that

break true or that testimony to happen. And how your journey true is very

important. How do you have a perspective on things around you, what you

choose to say, what you choose to pray about. God sees all of

those. God sees our heart. Men can only see a little bit,

but God sees beyond that. Right, he knows what's within you. So

have that confidence to come before God. You have that power. Remember that

once you have received Jesus as your savior, you're a son, you're his

daughter. Come before him. In fact, you don't need even a pastor

or elder to make it happen. You know, all of you can do

that because you have a relationship with him, a man. All right.

So there's the first point. The second is about Jesus, of course,

the main character in this story, Jesus, the faithful one. Do you

know that Jesus is always the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.

Right. We can change, we can forget. Sometimes we forget so fast

you would have happened, It would have done something good for us two weeks

ago. And today we forget and another thing happens. That's how life is.

But one thing that we can be assured off is that Jesus is faithful

forever more. And I hope that brings comfort to some of you this morning,

if you're thinking why are things changing so quickly? Or you know,

things can be all around all over the place, but one thing remains is

Jesus. His word is always the same. Amen. So from this portion

of the passage we can draw tree symbols, right, tree symbols that teach

us us what or how Jesus is faithful in our lives. Right. So

the first one we can see him is about the jazz again verse six.

It says tending nearby were six stone water just and in fact he says that

it's used for Jewish ceremonial washing. So as we study this, we can

see that when we talk about six years, you know, according to to

Bible scholars, and when he study okay, the number seven signifies completion,

okay, when something is completed, whereas the number six signifies imperfection, okay,

when something is imperfect, So meaning it refers to the imperfection of men

and the sin and the weaknesses he has. Right, So when Jesus says,

here filled the water pots with water, and when they filled it up

to the brim, and he says, draw some out now and take it

to the master of the feast, what this means is when Jesus feels on

our imperfection, right, when he feels on our imperfection, the needs we

may have, the challenges that we may have, or sometimes it can be

beyond situations or struggles that you may face that maybe beyond your control or beyond

your strength. But when Jesus comes into the picture, he feels those imperfection

you know, He adds on it, provides, it enables you. And

that is who Jesus is, right, and what he exactly wants us to

as we talk about coming to him like how Mary did, is to come

to him in our imperfection. That is how Jesus looks at us. He

doesn't want us to be all figured out right all the time, or to

be just coming to him when we are ready. That is why I say,

don't serve only when you feel you're ready. We can never be ready

for it, right. But God just wants us to come before him.

And when we're broken, you know, when we don't have all the answers

you know, or when the world thinks that we are not successful in the

eyes of God is different because he feels us. And when he feels us,

it feels us to the brim, like how we did for the wine

so good that it was overflowing and it tastes so well. Right, how

many of you are believing for those encounter with God and you're feeling that I

just cannot do this in my weakness I have no strength bring it unto God,

because when we are imperfect, he is perfect. Amen. He completes

everything, He makes everything beautiful in his perfect timing. Amen. The testimonies

that we heard today would have not been made possible. It was not God.

I mean ten years ago, wouldn't We wouldn't have taught that we could

encounter the stories right, the personal stories that they encountered. I'm sure they

wouldn't have seen themselves standing in the front and doing it, but they did

it anyway because God enables us to do right. God enables us to do

So that's the first thing that we the first point that we can see him.

Um. You know when Jesus tells them to fill right. And that

is how God's word is. Every word every scripture has some meaning to it,

right. Um. And the second symbol that we can see here is

the water. Okay, the water itself, um, in fact, the

jazz that were used at that time. In fact, the scriptures itself says

that these jazz were used um for ceremonial cleansing, right, ceremonial cleansing.

And they use it to wash right, to wash their feet, their hands

before um, they pray and if you look, if you notice of the

Jewish culture, they're they're very um rules. They have a lot of rules

in in their in their in their religion, um, you know. And

so they use it to to purify themselves. And so isn't it interesting how

this same jazz were used as a sign of purifying us? Right, um,

purifying the living water has been used to purify And that's exactly what Jesus

told them to do when he said, pour pour the water, using that

jazz right into those pots that he was trying to, you know, change

them into wine. Right, And that just symbolizes how the living water cleanses

us and the scriptures even in fact, the Bible tells us a lot about

the living water that will never grow dry, that will never make us grow

weary, because that's how powerful the living water is. You know, when

you're feeling thirsty, he can fill you right living water. So Jesus uses

the image of water to describe the gift of salvation. Okay, we can

see this and even John four fourteen. But whoever drinks the water I give

them will never tirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in

them a spring of water. Wailing up to eternal life, right to eternal

life, and that is the true satisfaction, in fact, the true water

that can satisfy us. Sometimes in the world that we live in, we

look for a temporary fix. Okay, I create for something, Okay,

I eat this, I want to I want some rests, Okay, I

go to this destination. Well, but all those things are very temporary.

If you're looking for um, you know, rest from within, if you

know what I mean, peace, you know, if you want to just

feel liberated, and if you're looking for something that lasts, that only comes

from the living water, right, that only comes when Jesus fills us.

Right, Jesus fills us. And that is exactly what this portion of the

scripture reminds us here about how when the water is filled we experience the abundance

of God's grace, you know. And if you know what grace is,

grace is something that we given even when we don't deserve it. That is

what grace is, and that is what the living water does, you know.

And so I remember hearing this message from past the cannon right, and

he was sharing about how as we come before God as children of God,

we have that power. Right, So we come with the authority, We

come with the confidence that God is able. But there are times in lives

where we just don't have the energy and the strength they could be for health

circumstances or life situation, and that is when we need grace, right from

power to grace, meaning when we cannot do it with our own ability,

God enables it by filling us with this grace right, and that grace takes

us through, takes us further to do the things that we cannot do by

ourselves. Right. And so that's the second symbol that we see water and

how we cleanse u us. And the third symbol is of course the wine.

From water, it changed or it was, you know, changed into

wine. And so the wine, of course symbolizes the blood of Jesus,

right, the blood of Jesus. So over here, when the master of

the ceremony tasted the wine, what did he say? Okay, you say

it. Everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine

after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the

best till now. And that is how Jesus provides or blesses. It's always

good. It never runs dry, it keeps going right. And in fact,

when we study the Old Testament, you would notice that, you know,

when someone wants to do a sacrifice or when they want to ask forgiveness,

they use animals to sacrifice, right, they slaughter the animal and the

blood is used. But in the New Testament, when God sent his one

and only signed Jesus, and we all know the story of the resurrection the

Cross, we don't need any of those animals anymore. That is why we

partake the communion to remind us what it means. The blood symbolizes the blood

of Jesus that was shed for our sins, and of course the bread the

body of Christ, it was broken for us. Do you know how profound

it is? Right when we take the communion? Sometimes, when we take

it almost every homes Sundays, it becomes a ritual. But it should not.

We must always have a heart check, okay, and remind ourselves why

am I taking this? Why the blood? Why the bread? Right?

There is so much power when I take it inside. Why when I drink

the blood and when I drink the wine, when I eat the bread?

What is it doing in me? That's power? Do you know that?

Right? And that is why we pray for healing. When we partake of

the communion, we say, God, by your blood, we are made

well, we are made whole. And then goes back to how we come

before God. When we take the communion with such authority or such confidence,

knowing that, okay, he has done it for me. This is what

the communion means. Then we see something taking place in our lives as well,

right, And that is what the blood means. It represents Jesus's own

blood that was shed for our sins. Yeah, and it is for each

one of you, each one of you. Okay, none of you is

missed. People may forget your names, Okay, people may forget how you

look like all the things you have done, but God never forgets right because

He chose you. The Word of God says that he handpicked, he chose,

he adopted. And there's a very big difference between adoption and biological birth

right. Adoption is something you choose to have, and that is what God

chose. He chose each one of us. And I'm looking at each one

of you. You're all beautifully and wonderfully made in His image. Nothing is

just an accident or happened to be here. It's for a purpose, right,

for a purpose. The missions teams, you are here for a purpose,

right, not just for the church, but individually as well. God

is working in your lives, each student. You are here in this campus,

on this church for a purpose. Everyone, we have a purpose.

But you know, sometimes life happens and we tend to forget that, we

get into this old rat of one after another Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and

the next day. But let's not forget why will be created to do his

work a man? Right, So there is the blurred of Jesus. It

symbolizes and that's how significant it is that it's the first miracle that he performed,

and it speaks a lot about him as the living water and the blood

of Jesus which eventually goes to cross. Right. So do you need a

miracle in your life? Okay? Or if you're feeling you're not good enough?

You know? Or when if it's just it just gets toff. Remember

this portion of scripture that we read that God is able to change things around,

right, and the thing about this wine that he changed, right,

I mean to us you'll be reading it, Oh, okay, Jesus doing

it, But do you know how that it cannot be explained in the science.

Okay, thinking about changing water into wine if you're a science student.

Okay, changing water into wine involved an entire change in the molecular makeup of

the water. Right, So it means you're changing things around in the water

itself to get wine. Cannot be explained by any scientists. Right. You

did not just add on some coloring or some salt and okay, there you

go wine. But it was such power that it tasted like wine. And

that is the miracle that Jesus did. What about those miracles you're waiting for?

Nothing is difficult for him, right, nothing is difficult for him.

And so sometimes in our lives we tend to ask God, God, change

this part of me to be more like you, or this little need that

I have. But we are reading here from the Bible that Jesus is able

to turn things three hundred and sixty degrees, even from one thing to another.

And so sometimes we need to take up the courage and fade and say

God's size prayers. Right, I mean, as a believable we have to

keep growing. Okay, it's all right to pray God, please stop the

rain, send the rainbow. But you cannot be just saying that prayer all

your life. You have to pray for the sake, right. You have

to pray for great things to happen, not just for ourselves but for people

as well, because that's the reason why God brings people into our lives.

So let fade arise. Okay, our fate needs to continuously a rice.

Imagine a big size person wearing a little T shirt. It doesn't fit.

Right. That speaks about our faith. You cannot be having that same little

faith while you're all big. As an adult, you have journey true,

right, your faith has to keep growing as you grow as well. The

problem is when the faith don't grow as we grow physically, right, That

is when we feel so limited like all this cousin doesn't happen. We allow

our human mind to take over or the voices of the world to take over.

Right. But when our faith keeps increasing, when our faith keeps growing

with us, then we are able to believe for more as well. And

that is how Mary could come to a place of saying anything he does,

just follow what he says, right, So just a good heart check for

all of us. Is our faith increasing? Is it growing? If you

look at a scale or one to five, where am I add with my

faith? Okay? One from the least and five to the mores. And

it's a continuous journey. If you think about the now, we're in me

almost half of the year. So are we doing any progress without faith?

Okay? We put so much our progress with our studies, with our KPIs

at work. You know, success. We want results, right, but

how about results with our faith? Right? Do we see our faith growing?

When we see faith growing, meaning I can choose to let go and

allow God to take over. I can choose to come before him and just

borely have that conversation with him. You know, I no longer need to

ask someone to pray for me. Well, that works as well, nothing

wrong with that. What I'm saying is, do I have that relationship that

is good enough to say, God, this is where I am, speak

to me, work with me. Right? Our faith has to grow,

right, Our faith has to grow if we want to see God working in

our lives. Amen. Right. So that is who Jesus is. He

is faithful in average changes. It's always the same yesterday, today, forever.

If anything else changes around you, just remind yourselves. Jesus will be

the same. He is the same forever right now. The third and the

last point that we can learn from this passage here is obedience, right obedience

that leads on to his glory. You know, when we look at this

portion of the scripture. Of course, the first obedience here was by Mary

herself. She just did it anyway, right, She just said do what

he says. And then of course Jesus was obedient as well, right,

He just did what he needed to do. And you know, sometimes when

we speak about obedience here, it can mean a lot of things, and

sometimes it may not be exactly how we want it to be. It would

mean that sometimes when you do it, even when you have not seen results,

right, And that's exactly what the guys did, you know when Jesus,

I mean, when Mary told the servants to pour. Okay, I

wonder what was going on in their minds when they're pouring a jar of water

and thinking that there would be wine coming out. Would they even think of

it? But they did it anyway, right. They just chose to pour

the water because it was obedience. Mary just chose to do what Jesus wanted

them to do, right, and so obedience could mean that you just do

even when you don't see it yet, but you just keep doing it because

God told you to do. He gave you that dream, right, he

gave you that that vision to start something, a business or a relationship,

whatever it is. But you just don't see it happening yet. I don't

see results from this business that I've started. I don't see anything coming out

of this. But God told me to do it. So would I still

choose to keep to the cause? Right? Do I choose to keep holding

on to this? So even when you don't see it. It could also

mean when no one else is doing it, but you're still holding on to

his call, Right, You're holding on to his call. For those of

you who have been serving leaders, there are days, I'm sure that it

gets tiring. Right, you try to call this person, you try to

fall up with this person, no result. But do you choose to do

it anyway? Right? Because God told me to do it? I'm just

gonna honor this calling. You know, there's I mean, life is not

always up. There will be times when things are down. But because God

has called you, do you still keep doing it? Right? Don't just

throw the towel, but just keep doing it. Obedience could also mean the

letting go off I right, So it's no longer what I think is right,

but God, what you think is right? That could be obedience.

And this eye can come from many places, and the world teaches us a

lot about it. Do what you love, that's what the world always tells

us to, nothing wrong with it. But sometimes it's not about just what

we love, but what God wants us to right. I mean, last

week elders shared with us a very difficult word too, sometimes swallow. When

we speak about loving your enemies, the world will say walk away. But

the word of God teaches us to love our enemies. So how do you

do that? That is letting go of the eye, because we cannot do

it with our own flesh and blit. That is how weak we are.

You know. We have our our desires, our ego, But when we

allow God to take over, and when we are obedient to him, he

enables us to still love even though the person would have hurt us, you

know, because we don't want bitterness to feel our hearts. Right, So

letting go is there some parts in our lives, So we've got to just

say Okay, it's not about me, it's about you. Right. I

have the turn for hours in a day. How many of those hours are

given for God? Or in that week do I even spend time doing something

for God? Right? And that means letting go of the eye, maybe

my time with Netflix or you know, my time just having a good time

for myself. Well, we can't have those times, but not overdo it,

right, Let's have that time kept for God as well. The things

that He has called us to do and building the church is not just on

a Sunday, right, It's all that we do from a Monday to our

Friday. And that's what enacts we call our meaningful Mondays. Meeting someone,

encouraging that breath of a sister, sharing God's love. Right, Campus students,

whatever you do in your campus, do you know, just bless a

friend? Right? All those things that we do in the week results on

a Sunday where we see people walking into church and saying I want to experience

God. How people know that there's a church here into us? We don't

say it, right, Okay, we say hey, that's church survice,

or you want to come and join us? Hey, God can answer your

prayers. Do you want to experience God? We are that mouth peace and

for us to do that is when we can let go of our our eyes.

Okay, of my you know, my desires right or the things I

feel is right? And doing what God wants us to do? Right?

Church is time to rise up. Yeah, it's time to rise up.

Let's not just stay in our own, in our comfortable shell. It's time

to go out. The world needs to know about God. All of you

here are seated. Okay, yes we do have challenges, but we still

have that hope that God can do something and we walk out with that confidence.

But do you know that there are many out there who don't even have

that hope right, who are thinking that what is life? What's the purpose

of life? Or can I even leave the next day? There are people

who are living like that. So can we make that difference by speaking,

encouraging someone, reminding them that there is hope in Christ, that it is

possible, you know, to see things take place even if we don't see

it, God can make it happen. Right, You'll never know how far

your words can impact someone. Don't be little that your smile matters. Okay,

even a smile some people don't see people smiling at them. But if

you can just smile show some kindness, that goes a long way, right,

So let's make the most of what we have. That is what obedience

is, right. And also obedience could also mean that you're tuning in to

what God is speaking to you and not the voices of the world. I

know we're living in a time and age way, it's even tougher to do

that because everything is in our fingertips, our social media, the things that

we read. But can we be sure of God who and say I know

what's my boundary? Right, Yes, there are things that I need to

know of in the world, what's happening. But at the same time,

I am my priority is the voice of God, what He is asking me

to do, how He is directing my steps, right, And that takes

you a long way in life. Yeah, tuning in to what God is

speaking to you, and of course even focusing on him that is obedience,

right, focusing your eyes, your thoughts, your heart to the Lord.

And this can only be built when we have that relationship with God. Okay,

not just a namesake Christian, but a journey we have that we can

call him our friend. We can call him our our father because he is

our father. Is love our friend, that relationship, right, And so

as we read this scripture, I mean that the last portion of this passage

that we read, we saw that at the end of the day, the

glory went unto God. And so it means that whatever that we're doing today,

the jobs that God has given to us, the positions, the talents,

the abilities, it's all for His glory. And that is what it

means. Heaven rules, meaning everything that we do we directed back to God,

right, we directed to his ways. We're saying, God, You've

given me this talent and I'm going to use it for you. You've given

me this ability to communicate and you know, make people feel comfortable. But

I'm going to do this for your glory. Right. So everything that we

use, everything that God has given to us, is for His kingdom.

And we've got to just shift that thought sometimes, you know, if not,

you can get so caught up with my success, my needs. Right,

But let's step out from that and say, God, you've given me

all this and I want to do it for you. I want to give

it back to you, and you will see amazing testimonies taking place. I'm

sure Kevin couldn't have say the testimony if you didn't choose to say Heaven rules

right. If you just say, Okay, I'm going to follow up my

lecturers say it. Go from the fashion show, Evan, you wouldn't have

been here, wouldn't have been encouraged by the testimony if Sheln didn't say yes

to do campus level. I mean, those students have all graduated, they've

gone different places, but you have sold that seat and they are impacting people

in different places. So someone has to say yes. Someone has to say

yes, I obey your call and I want to do it anyway, and

things happen, Powerful things happen. Amen. We hope you've been blessed by

this message. For more information on our church, please visit x Church Org.

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is going to be a good week. I hite for you. God bless