Hello, a big welcome to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.
We are a church based out of Chennai, India.
We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will
be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.
Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of
purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.
The year 2025 is 1 where we'll be positioned by God to possess
our promise. Today's sermon, the earth's
outcry, our cry for justice and mercy is a call for all of us to
get deeply sensitive about the needs of those around us and to
begin to intercede passionately on their behalf to God.
We pray that you would be moved and burdened by what ails the
world and give more time this year to standing in the gap.
Hi church, It's such a joy and a privilege to be in God's Word to
you today that I consider it an honor.
Even as we've been going through the book of Genesis, we've been
seeing from the life of Abraham. Our theme for this year, for
2025, is that we are positioned to possess the promise.
And even as we've been looking a lot of times, the way we are
positioned always is towards something that our hearts
desire. But if we are seeking God, and
if we are in love with what God is doing in and through around
the world, and especially as we meditate on His Word, we
suddenly see that we desire for what God wants.
And that's where His will and our wants collide.
And we soon realize we need to accomplish God's will here on
earth. And as we move towards that, we
are positioning ourselves towards finding what God has in
store for us, which means we are obedient to Him.
We are led by His Word, we are led by the Holy Spirit, we are
directed by His Word, and we keep in step every time.
And there are struggles. There are times we fall back.
There are times when we give in to things that crave our own
desires. But that's where God
continuously keeps shaping us. And last week we saw that, you
know, when Abraham is seated there with his wife on a day, we
saw three people were coming and they and God himself was among
them. And he has this conversation
with Abraham about Sodom and Gomorrah.
And so today we're going to be looking specifically in that
chapter, Genesis chapter 19, because I believe there's a
mandate for each and every one of us, whichever city we are
part of. Some of you, especially who are
watching online are seated in cities probably where your work
has taken you or probably where suddenly because you got married
and your spouse is, then you've settled there.
Or probably God's taking you to that place because that's where
the offer came. And at the end of the day, as
you're seated there or some of you are there because of college
and you're thinking, why am I here in this city?
But I pray that as we hear the sermon today, God will give a
renewed understanding of why God places us in certain cities for
a certain season of time and what our heartbeat has to be.
And so today I've titled my sermon.
It's called the Earth's Outcry, Our cry for Justice and mercy.
We're living in a world where there's chaos.
We're living in a world where there is so much hatred toward
one another. We're living in a world where
many a times are unable to see where there's a clear
demarcation between the privileged and the
underprivileged. I believe God is called calling
us and positioning us for some great things to do.
And the reason why I have named this the earth's outcry is
coming out of this chapter from Genesis chapter 19.
And I want us to read this particular verse, Genesis
chapter 19, verse 13, because we are going to destroy this place.
The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that He
has sent us to destroy it. This is the NIV.
But I'm going to read from a message and this is what it
says. The two men said to Lot.
Do you have any other family here?
Sons, daughters, anybody in the city?
Get them out of here. And now we are going to destroy
this place. The outcries of victims here to
God are deafening. We've been sent to blast the
space into oblivion. We've been sent to blast this
place into oblivion even as we read.
To give you a bit of context, we saw last week that Abraham was
contending with God and saying God even if there are 40, even
if there are 35, another 30. And it came down to even if
there are 10. We saw last week also that God
is a God of mercy and a God of judgement.
A lot of times we are loving the fact that when God acts out of
mercy, when he restores, when he rebuilds, when he looks upon his
people with kindness, but there's a God of judgement also,
because God doesn't like when injustice prevails, when
injustice is there. And you might be thinking, you
know what? I've had a lot of injustice.
Things happen, yes, But when the outcry of the land is so much,
God intervenes because everything that he's created
starts to cry out for justice. And what we see here is there
were two people who were sent by God and we see that as they walk
into the city, Lot sees them, invites them in, and the
depravity of the society is what these is what caused this
particular statement to come with.
They give a reason as to why they want Lot and his entire
household to leave so that God can drain and down Sulphur and
kill the entire city. There are three things that I
want to emphasize in this. But before that I wanted to come
to that clear verse which says outcry.
When we look at outcry, outcry, usually, you know when we use
that word, it means a strong expression of anger and
disapproval. But when you look in terms of
the Bible, the Hebrew word is sakah, which refers to a loud
outcry often associated with distress, anguish and a.
Plea for help. Now, you need to understand, if
this land had certain demonic strongholds, there were people
in bondages, There were people being treated, you know, without
any justice. There are people who've been
removed of their rights. There were people who have been
violated. There were people who have been
abused. There were people who've been
victims. And this outcry has reached.
God and God is deciding to act and who can stand all the time.
When we see calamities, we think and most often complain, God,
why is this happening? Don't you love your people?
And we fail to understand probably the way God sees it,
it's entirely different. And so as we look into this,
we're going to see God as we as individuals have been placed in
different cities. We've been placed because of our
work, because of our studies, because of our families.
Whatever the reason can be, we are placed in cities.
And in fact, one of the things we'll see at least in the next
20-30 years in India is the fact that our cities are going to
expand. Every year when the Parliament,
when they announce budgets, they're announcing budgets for
expansion in terms of cities, towns becoming cities, Cities
become having their own airports, connectivity and
everything. And so we see this modernization
happening, which is basically moving the entire economic
status of these towns and places where people are gathering into
uplifting them into a particular economic standard.
But in this midst, are we doing what is right as we as
godchildren, are we aware of what some of the outcries of our
own cities are? I remember 20 years back when
Chris Tomlin came out with the song You're the God of the City,
and it resonated a lot because. Our cities needed God to
intervene. Our cities needed the God of
justice to walk. Our city needed the God of mercy
to move through the hearts of people so that their hearts will
be broken. So as we look into this, we see
that these inhabiting cities that when we are in our ears and
our hearts are open, we are in the cities where we are burdened
by what's burdening society and burdening the people.
A lot of times we are burdened by things that concern us on a
peripheral level. For example, if you're staying
next to a water body and if that water body is getting polluted,
you're burdened by that. Why?
Because you're staying next to it.
It affects certain things. But God is asking, could you
move further to what is burdening in the spiritual
level? Because there are many
strongholds that are being built, many ideologies that are
being formed, many things established that will go to ruin
generations ahead. Remember, we're not serving a
God of one generation, we're serving the God of all time,
which means when God is moving us to do certain things, it's
across generations. Even as I'm standing here and
talking, we're just going into a 2 day workshop, The workshops
titled Legacy Builders. And the reason is we are
committed to making sure we will be sensitive to what God is
calling us to do for the next generation, one life at a time,
one life at a time. And so today as we look into
this, our own God to move our hearts.
Why is it important? Because we see when Lot took
Sodom and Gomorrah, he took it out of his own physical need.
There there was tension arising between the herdsmen of Abraham
and the herdsmen that he had. And when Abraham said, hey,
we're too big, why don't you find a place where you have to
go? What did his eyes see?
His eyes saw the green pastures that were near Sodom and Gomar,
and he went there and settled. And often times we are moved to
a city because of certain openings that we've desired for.
A lot of us desire to probably go out of the country.
A lot of us desire to move from one city to another.
A lot of us probably move plan to move from towns to cities.
I don't know what your interests are, but when God moves you as a
follower of Christ, our mandate is for God to do something
bigger because the outcry of the land will definitely break our
hearts because it's breaking God's heart.
And we see that as he went there, he was led by what he
saw. But God wants us to move to a
place where we just don't. Move.
By what we see, but we also do it because we are there.
Because by what he's doing and then through our hearts its not
a wish list that comes through. Lots of eyes were on greener
pastures because it was a ready made solution and lot of us are
thinking if only I can go to another city it probably be the
opportunities would be greater. Opportunities will be greater
for all of us who worship Jesus, will be greater wherever we are
at if we keep our eyes on Jesus because God will open doors that
we've not expected. God will provide in ways in
which we've not expected. So today I want us to move to a
place of seeing and understanding God.
What are some of the cries that we need to be intentionally
aware as your followers? Because we can't just move into
a city and think, you know what, the city doesn't affect us.
No, you need to move into the city and understand what the
city's DNA. Is from the historical side to
where it is today we need to see and move saying God as long as
I'm here, what do you want me to fulfill what do you want me to
pray pivotally. It's interesting that when you
read in Genesis chapter 15 as I was preaching about it.
Abraham had got this covenant from God.
He got the promise for his child, and then he got a
covenant for his entire generation that is going to
come, you know, about 400 years. And it's interesting when he's
talking about the entire of Israel, of how they'll come into
Egypt. They'll be under slavery, and
then they'll be redeemed from there.
They'll be moving out. You know, Moses will come, and
then he'll take them out. He's giving him this whole
thing. And he says you won't go and
occupy these lands until the sin of the Amorites has reached his
full measure. And I'm wanted to pause here for
a second because many a times we'd seek the prosperity of the
land. When we think, OK, the the thing
looks really great, the predictions look really great,
but we don't know what's happening in the background.
This is where we need to be spiritually connected to realize
God is this land reaching its full measure.
Because there'll be seasons when God will ask you to move out of
certain places. You should be obedient and not
be convinced by what you see in their physical eyes.
Sodom and Gomorrah had reached its full potential with regard
to its sin, and what God had to respond was to wipe it away.
In Jeremiah 15 it says. Therefore this is what the Lord
says. If you repent, I will restore
you, that you may serve me. If you utter worthy, not
worthless words, You will be my spokesperson that this people
turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of
bronze. They will fight against you, but
they will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue you and
save you Dick. As a Lord.
I will save you from the hands of the Wiccan and deliver you
from the grasp of the cruel. A lot of times we feel so
isolated. We feel, you know what, God?
Everything in the city is working against me.
But we need to realize when God's placed us there, the
heaviness of the warfare will be there, but nothing will touch
us. When we are there, when we are
doing God's work, God will use us, but nothing will touch us.
He won't make. He won't cause us to collapse.
He won't cause us to break. So today I want us to be aware
because God is the defender of the weak.
When we are on God's side, He is a defender.
He's a defender. We are sometimes so worried,
God, will we be crushed under this, But God saying, no, I will
work things out and we have to come to a place where we
realized that we can be still and yet do what God's calling us
to do. Psalm 37, verse 7 says be still
before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
Do not fret when people succeed in their ways when they carry
out their wicked schemes. The reason why I'm reading this
is because the mandate for us is to respond to what the cry of
our city is. And when we respond to that cry
for justice and mercy to flow, God is saying I want to be in
that place to restore all of humanity.
And so today, even as we go into this, there are three things
that I want to take as lessons from this 19 and the first thing
is the outcry of the land should break our hearts and move our
hands. The outcry of the land should
break our hearts and move our hands.
Yeah, we saw last week, it's similar to the lines of last
week where we saw that God, we asked her, what breaks your
heart? But today I'm coming to a place
is the outcry of the land breaking our hearts.
I want to talk to people, especially for those who think
they're settled in that particular city, for those who
really made those big investments of buying a House
of, you know, probably being there because your kids are all
there is the outcry of that land breaking your hearts and moving
your hands. The reason is when it breaks
your hearts and move your hands, the outlook that you have on the
city will be entirely different. You suddenly will be involved in
making sure that there are certain things you're fulfilling
because you know it's far bigger than what you've been dreamt.
Of. God will start using you in ways
to change the Society of that city.
Let's read from Genesis chapter 19 was one to three.
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was
sitting in the gateway of the city.
When he saw him, he got up to meet them and bowed down with
his face to the ground. My Lords, he said, please turn
aside your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend
the night and then go your way early in the morning.
No, they answered, we will spend the night in the square.
But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered
his house. He prepared a meal for them,
baking bread without yeast, and there they ate.
We see that these two people left Abraham and God was talking
to Abraham and as they left, they moved towards Sodom and
Gomorrah. And we as we read from Lot's
life, you see Lot was there probably was a person of
influence when you read an ancient literature, especially
how they functioned. The Gate, City gates were all
the the influential people of the city where that's where they
met with the people who came into business.
They understood what was happening across other cities.
They were people who were at least to a certain extent to
make important decisions for the city.
And we see Lot being there and he sees these two men's and he
invites them to his house. There's probably a reason why he
invites them. We don't know the reason, but to
us, as we read this passage, it looks clearly that there was
definitely an intention. Probably if he kept them in his
house, hosted them the next day, he would have revealed it.
But things looked different and as we see there, I strongly
believe God has placed an influence on each of our lives.
A lot of times we are doubting that.
And so a lot of times when we fight, we're fighting that very
influence that God's caused us to have.
You're asking Pragya Sham. I moved to the city.
I don't know anyone, no. But you will eventually know
someone the the when you move into a city.
We. Bring our influence into it,
whatever God's laid into our hearts, whatever God's been
using of our hands and as we serve the city in whatever
capacity. And when I say serve the city,
probably some of you are led towards certain nonprofits or
certain good works that are happening in different places
that your contributors for that and you're putting your hands
into it. You're serving the community on
a weekly basis or probably your hearts are towards certain non
profits where restoration has been happening.
You're probably moving to certain non profits where
education is seen because education made a difference in
your life. You want to impart that this is
where we see when we get our hands into what God's calling us
to do, we will see greater things happening.
And the reason why I'm saying this is not had influence, but I
believe it just stayed with his eyes and didn't go beyond his
heart and hands. Because if it moved beyond his
heart and hands, I think the. Outcome of the.
City would have been different. The outcome of Sodom and
Gomorrah would be different. If he was living the life that
God had called him to do, he would have been a big difference
in that city. And in fact, I think to a
certain extent, Abraham knew about his cousin and that's why
he contended with God. He said, God, I know these
people. And it's interesting because
many a times because Abraham also had gone there and rescued
Lot and the entirety of Sodom and Gomorrah with with his
people. And that's why he gets to meet
Melchi said they can. So when we see this, what are we
doing with our influence today? If I have to leave you with that
question, because we all have certain influences, like you
might be like I'm just starting my career, you will eventually
build an influence. You will move to your local
church there, which you're part of a move to a local place where
God's doing something. Seek God and he will move you to
a place where you'll be able to use your influence.
Everyone of us have something to give.
Everyone of us. I strongly am a firm believer
that everyone of us have influence.
It's comes down to whether we want to give, whether we want to
choose it to give towards God because when he chose it to give
towards God, what does it look like?
It looks like we are serving people.
It's a mirror reflection of serving people.
We're not serving ourselves. You're not like, OK, I'll come
here. I'll just make sure I own I no,
you suddenly will think, you know what?
Even that's why the beauty which I see in India is we all have
people who help us, you know, because of the different runs of
economic society. We have people who come to Tina
houses. We have people who come to help
us with cooking and we suddenly care for them much more.
We suddenly start, you know, I, they're helping me and then they
say their son, he's in school and you know, he needs certain
things. You start helping in small ways.
That's where our influence moves.
Find out God, in this season when I'm 30, what do you want me
to do? What is the what should my
response be to the outcry of the land?
When I'm 40, dot, what should my response be to the outcry of the
land? Are we just progressing towards
our wants and making ourselves comfortable today?
I would love to say church. The response of the church to
the outcry of the land is only probably 5 to 10%, five to 10%.
The remaining 90 are so comfortable this coming and
being served. But the gospel of Jesus is not
about being served but to serve. And so if you're looking to a
place of being served, you will be served for a season or
probably for a, but you will leave out empty and you'll feel
unfulfilled. And so I want to ask you today,
our own cities that we live has its own deep roots of sin and
things that are plaguing it. Can we invite God and can we
seek God diligently and pray? Can we ask God to open our
spiritual eyes so that the strongholds are revealed?
Can we claim the blood? Can we rally Christ's body to
intercede the bride? It's not what we can get from
the city, but who we can be for the city.
We need to start asking God. God, give me these eyes to see.
One of the beautiful things we see about cities in the Bible is
the fact that cities is where the gospel spread because they
were places of influence, Because from there it's moved
across to different territories surrounding it.
And this is what Peter says in One Peter chapter 2.
And I want to leave this thought as we complete this point.
It says, friends, this world is not your home, so don't make
yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the
expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life in your
neighborhood so that your actions will refute their
prejudices. Then they'll be one over to
God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he
arrives. So I pray that you won't just be
like Lot who uses the influence for their own personal gain, but
it'll be for something bigger, it'll be for something bigger,
it'll be for something bigger. The second thing that we see is
the outcry of the city or the land that we are in should cause
us who are the remnant to relent for God's righteousness, to
relent for God's righteousness because, because if we are not
relenting and asking God, God may your righteousness come down
because we need, we will be plagued by it.
The very thing that God wants us to have in terms of convictions
won't go down deep into our hearts.
Genesis 19 was a six to 11 lot went outside to meet them and
shut the door behind him and said no, my friends don't do
this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who
have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you and
you can do what you like with them.
But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under
the protection of my roof. Get out of our way, they
replied. This fellow came here as a
foreigner and now he wants to play the judge.
We'll treat you worse. Than them, they kept bringing
pressure on Lot and moved forward to breakdown the door.
But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the
house and shut the door. Then they struck the men who
were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so
that they could not find the door.
As we read this, I'm reminded that there's definitely a clear
case as to his influence not permeating or not going beyond
business. His convictions were not seen to
the people of the land. And he probably thought, you
know, I'm a foreigner here, why should I?
No, as a foreigner, you can ask for God's mercy.
You can ask for God's hand. And today's a lot of us will
feel like a foreigner in the places that we are in.
But that doesn't stop us from playing for that land, for
praying, for the for, for praying.
And interesting God bring this thing down.
This is none of you. This is man's selfish motive
that's become a stronghold today.
So today the response of the people in Lot was questioned has
nothing to do with spiritual conviction.
Clearly it's evident that this aim was just business.
He grew it. He was an influential person,
but he did protect his own interests.
And he probably didn't state his own convictions because he
thought, you know what? This is this, this doesn't make
a difference. But the truth is, you and I are
called to be a light on a hill so that we'll be seen, which
means our convictions have to be clear.
Let us not wait for the knocking on our front doors to happen so
that people know what our convictions are.
They people should have known that they can't go to Lot's
house because this is not who Lot is.
They should have known we can't go here because this is where
he's a different person entirely.
They shouldn't have been able to cross the gates of his house.
But the depravity is so that it's so clear that he was so
wishy washy that they came there knocking on the door.
Let us not wait. Maybe be known as Christ
followers who are living with His values.
Yes, we don't bribe. Yes, we don't.
We don't partake of injustice. We are people of integrity.
We stand with the longing what God has put in our heart to see,
to act justly, to live, to show mercy.
When we do this, we stand in the gap and we respond to the outcry
of the city. Each of us are in need of
redemption, each of us, and I believe the cities are in need
of redemption. And that's why I believe God has
positioned us today as his bride to pray and intercede for the
city. Lord's story is an example where
when we have certain convictions, but you know, we
keep it and we're like, what do they think?
No, allow it to permeate. May it may what you believe be
seen in your hands so that it's seen and evident you won't
partake of it. You standing up for the truth is
taking the side of God, taking the side of God.
When we can see that the culture of the land when we allow it to
linger long enough, it permeates in us.
It permeates in us. It moves in and through us.
It suddenly makes us numb. Certain things.
We are like, you know what, can't be dealing with it.
Let's just go with the flow. No, we are called to be
different. Large story is an example of how
we allow us being comfortable taking the forefront.
So today, where can we start from?
Let's move down into our own lives.
Where did Christ save us? He saved us from our own wreck.
And a lot of times this is where I beautifully love God's
salvation plan, where we are called to minister, where we've
been saved from. If we have been saved from an
emotional mess, God uses mightily there because that's a
sphere of influence. If God saved us from the
addictions of alcohol and drugs, God will use us that because
that's where we found true freedom.
If God restored our marriage, we will serve that because that's
our point of influence. Where is our redemption story?
For me, it's abandonment. When I when I realized God saved
me from abandonment, that I have a God who sees, a God who hears,
a God who knows me. That becomes my biggest area of
influence. And so today I love it when I
can tell people, hey, you're more than what you believe in.
You might feel like a stranger in a foreign land, but God has
positioned you here to do something far bigger.
So can we start from where we've been saved?
And start picking life because that's where we've received the
most from God and that's where we are giving off most what
we've received from God. Two Corinthians, chapter 5,
verses 16 to 21. And this is what it says.
Reading from the message. Because of this decision, we
don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look.
We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong.
As you know, we certainly don't look at Him that way anymore.
Now we look inside and what we see is that anyone united with
the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new, the old life is
gone and new emerges. Look at it.
All this comes from God, who settled the relationship between
US and Him, and then He called us to settle our relationships
with each other. God put the world square with
himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start
by offering forgiveness of sin. God has given us the task of
telling everyone what he's doing.
We are Christ's representatives. We are Christ's representatives.
God uses us to persuade men and women to drop the differences
and enter into God's work of making things right between
them. We are speaking for Christ
himself now. Become friends with God.
He's already a friend with you today.
I would ask you, let's take our head out of the pit.
You know, ostriches are known to put their head, dig a hole and
put their head in. And as I was reading up, they
said that that's a myth. You know, a lot of times they're
doing that because they have long necks.
They are doing that because they are caring for the eggs that are
there inside in the ground. But an interesting trait of the
ostrich is when troubles, when they sense trouble around, they
think they can camouflage themselves by putting their neck
into the ground and burying it. And it got me thinking, as
Christians today, are we like ostriches, burying our head into
the ground because we don't want to respond to what's happening
around us? We can't be threatened by what's
happening in our cities. We need to respond with what's
happening in our cities today. The strongholds of sin have to
break the impact and the the the the strongholds that are taking
shape in different forms have to be pulled down.
Things that are collapsing, families and marriages have to
be pulled down. And today, are we burying our
heads into our holes just so that we'll be comfortable?
If you want to save ourselves, we can go.
The world as the world. Leads.
But if we are here as Christ follows, we need to respond in
the way God's calling us to respond.
I would encourage you to read 2 Timothy chapter 3.
It talks about the world that we're living in today, of who
will be. Surrounded by and it's not
changed much, but today, what is our response towards this?
What's our response towards this?
Because God is saying if I have called you into this city, you
need to respond for righteousness to come down.
And that will come only when we understand.
Are we first in the right standing with God?
Have we really dealt with the sin patterns in our life or have
we been covering it up? The third thing is when the
outcry of the land should make a hearts beat for the eternal and
not for the temporal. Genesis 1923 to 26.
By the time Lot reads or the sun had risen over the land.
Then the Lord rained down sulphur and Sodom and Gomorrah
from the Lord out of the heavens.
Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying
all those living in the cities and also the vegetation in the
land. But Lot's 5 looked back and she
became a pillar of salt. And I'm going to read from
worse. This is the first where Lot's
wife turned back. The second is when Lot's
daughters took things into their own hand.
It says it was 36. So both of Lot's daughters
became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son,
and she named him Moab. He's the father of the Moabites
of today. The younger daughter also had a
son, and she named him Benami. He's the father of the Ammonites
of today. Clearly, it's evident that
Lord's trust in God and Lord's understanding of the God of his
uncle did not go past him. His wife definitely didn't catch
on to it, Didn't have an understanding of who this
goddess, the God of Abraham, his daughters didn't seem to care
because they seem didn't seem to understand that this God of
Abraham will sustain us because if there's anything that's
happened in Lord's life is because he is sustained them.
Even the sons in law that lot had didn't trust him, didn't
take him at his word. So it's clearly evident that
there was, there was so much of confusion in Lord's life.
And when things became worse, people settled for what was
temporary rather than what was eternal.
And we can see today, this can be any one of us.
You know, it's sounds OK, we won't be like Lord's wife.
But the truth is when when it comes to the reality, we can
become because a lot of us have a lot of things tied to our
physical things here on this world.
A lot of us have our hearts and our attention tied to the money
that we make to the things that we have deposited and our
growing or we to the things that we've bought to the things that
we have. God will deal with our heart
idols. So I don't know what your heart
idols are today because God clearly constantly does a
cleansing of our heart idols. If you've been dependent on
something, God hits it down. If you've been prideful, God
knocks it off. If you've been if you think
you're too good, God makes us aware that you know, I think we
we, we still a lot of work in progress, but God's clearly
saying. That we need to know what is
eternal, because when we make decisions based on what's
eternal, we will start living our life here with greater
purpose. What does it look like when the
outcry of the land? We will start looking at things
that and why do we start playing against dominions over the paths
of darkness we pull down? Because those are things that
will plague the following generation.
Those are things which if left untouched now we'll just grow
into something and it'll just become like will will have it's
own nature which will define the city, which will define the
people living in that city. We can't allow that, not on our
watch. So that's why when we move
towards things eternal, we suddenly are moving towards,
hey, these are things which will deflect us from following God.
These are things which will create a false sense of idols in
our heart that will cause us to steer away, which will say, you
know what God, we don't need you.
We will move towards other things.
God is asking us today, can we make a heart check?
Right? Because the outcry of the land
is moving us towards eternal things.
What is that? Finding Life.
From the life giver who's Jesus eternity sin no more where sin,
the clutches of sin are breaking.
The daughters took matters into their own hand.
And we see King Saul had to fight the Moabites and the
Ammonites. We see that they waged war with
Jehoshaphat. We see Balam coming and speaking
was caused to speak against Israel.
And then we see the entire episode where a donkey opens his
mouth. But it's interesting that after
that, when we read that passage, it says that the women were sent
out to go and distract the men of Israel.
And many of them had sinned. Many of them had sinned.
And we see a Levite who drew a spear right into the men in the
into an Israelite man and a woman who was sinning right
there. That is what God's calling us to
take a stand on, that we stand to pull down the schemes of the
enemy, the schemes of the enemy, because the schemes of the enemy
works with the heart of man and causes man to respond towards
that. God did give a command to the
Israelites in Deuteronomy that the Ammon, no one from their
generation can enter, 10 generations can enter into the
God's temple. And we see that there was a
point of time when after that, God redeemed and brought a
Moabite woman into the lineage through which David was born,
eventually through which Jesus was born.
Ruth, her name is, she was a Moabite woman.
Why? Because she trusted the God of
Naomi. She came with Naomi and she
married Boaz. And we see that God has a
redemptive plan. But our focus, God's redemption
plan, his love for his kind, is far bigger.
But are we responding to the outcry of our land?
Are we responding to the outcry of our land?
And so today, as I conclude, I want to conclude with one thing.
How OK the outcry of the land? How can we?
Move. Or what can we do?
And that's what I wanted to leave us with as I was part of a
prayer movement. And as we were talking, they
came up with this particular way of praying.
And I believe it's very important for all of us,
especially when you're moving from a city to a city.
When you're driving, you will encounter something called a
check post. A checkpost is when the
territory of one land finishes and the territory of another
land begins. And so eventually there's a
trading off of even the jurisdictical power.
And so the police or the checkpost, the authorities are
there. And so I would ask us to have
this checkpost prayer. What is the checkpost prayer?
That we have a territorial we will.
Stop it right there where it is, which means you're alert to
what's happening in our cities. We are reading the news we are
seeing, we are understanding what are some of the things that
are happening in our cities. We see that that there's a huge
thing for bribe and receiving money that's not accounted for,
that we'll have to pray against that.
We are constantly getting news that there are so much of drugs
that's being peddled into our city.
We are praying against that. So see, these are things.
So when we have this checkpost prayer in every area that we are
situated and we will start seeing things do, we'll ask God
alert us, God will show us different aspects of the news
which we need to really look at. Why?
Because that's where God wants to escape.
Because whatever we allow to get through this checkpost will
diminish the work of the Great Commission will put us back by a
few years. And we can't allow that.
We need to allow God to keep us at the forefront to see it.
And so today I would challenge you as you heard this, probably
you've been like, you know what? I, I've been always cribbing
about this. Start thanking God now God,
thank you for bringing me to the city.
Start thanking God and saying, God, thank you for keeping me
here. Thank you for enabling me to be
here, part of this. And today I want to give glory
and honor to your name and ask him God, what is it that I need
to do for my city? Start getting your hands dirty
because today God wants us to come to a place that we'll be
people because we are that. The city prospers.
Just imagine what that will look like.
A testimony comes up because the Christians are here, the city
prospers. The early church moved to that
different places. The gospel spread across cities.
I believe God is establishing us today.
To take reign. So that these strongholds won't
rule it, but God will rule it. His people will be welcoming and
will allow things to thrive in the right sense where God is in
centre of everything. Jeremiah chapter 29 was 4 to 14.
When Israel is going into captivity, this is what God says
to them. He says build houses, settle
down, plant gardens and eat what they produce.
Marry and have sons and daughters.
Find wives for your sons. Give your daughters in marriage.
Increase in number that do not decrease.
Also seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which
I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because
if it prospers, you too will prosper.
Today we cannot allow the outcry of the land to reach God.
We need to stop it. We need to stand and say God, we
are pulling down all the altars that man has created all the
strongholds that are there to say that you deserve the glory,
you deserve the honour Sutri as I conclude I want to ask this
can the outcry of the land may break our hearts and move our
hands made causes us the may cause us who are the remnant to
bring down God's righteousness because we have allowed it to
into our lives. Now it has to move from our
lives to outside to others. The third may our hearts beat
for the eternal and not for the temple.
Because things will fade away, buildings will be pulled down to
40 years because they don't meet the guidelines.
But things of God will last. Things of God will last.
Lord, I just thank you, Lord, as we've heard your word.
I pray Lord, the Holy Spirit move in the hearts of us.
Lord, today we are all in different cities.
Lord Jesus, I pray we'll have a deep longing, Lord, for the what
you are calling us to do in the city.
I pray, Lord, we'll start with our salvation story, Lord, where
you redeemed us, You lifted us from the mighty clay.
And I pray that Lord, a heartbeat will be for that
mighty clay to be pulled down. Lord, in our own very own
cities. Lord Jesus, move in and through
US. Take charge of us.
Keep us in the center of your will.
Lord. I pray that Lord, the outcry of
the land will be so evident. Lord, show it to us that I pray
the scales of our eyes will come down.
The comfortable things that we are longing for will be torn in
our lives like how you told the wheel.
Tear it Lord Jesus, expose our heart idols.
Lord Jesus, that we will run after you, we will chase after
you, we will look for you. Lord, be glorified, be honoured.
Go Lord, go and do great things. Lord Jesus, we declare you are
great, you are worthy. Lord, we want your Kingdom come,
Your will be done on this earth that we are living in.
Lord Jesus, I pray that you will bless each and everyone.
Lord, help us to respond to the outcry of our land.
Your most holy name we pray. Amen.
Church.
I pray that as you go, God will be glorified in and through your
lives. Have a blessed week.
God bless you. Thanks for listening to this
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