1 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:12,760 We welcome you to the VI Zion Sermon Podcast. 2 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:15,640 We are a church based out of Chennai, India. 3 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,520 We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will 4 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,680 be refreshed, revived and energized by what you hear. 5 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:28,000 Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of 6 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,640 purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus. 7 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:37,640 The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess 8 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,160 our promise. We start a new sermon series 9 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:45,600 called Rekindled where we look closer at our own lives and ask 10 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,720 the Holy Spirit to revive and restore things that have gone 11 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,920 dormant in the dry seasons of our souls. 12 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:56,200 We pray that this series will help you dive deeper into 13 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,880 yourself and see where you need more of God. 14 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,360 We start a brand new series, it's called Rekindle. 15 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:07,200 How many of you enjoyed last week's sermon? 16 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,040 Amen. It's one thing to realise 17 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:13,640 Pentecost Sunday. We celebrate Pentecost Sunday or 18 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,560 we celebrate days and we tend to move on to the next. 19 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,800 How many of you do that? You know, we, most of us, we 20 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:23,640 have especially I think because you're so oriented towards 21 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:28,200 celebration of a day is equal to holiday is equal to weekend mode 22 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:31,480 that we sometimes tend to forget we need to live in what we've 23 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,960 celebrated. And so the series that we're 24 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:37,680 stepping into is called Rekindle because I believe the Holy 25 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,480 Spirit has to fan into flame what he's deposited in you. 26 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,680 I believe the season that you're going to step into is going to 27 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:48,040 be an assurance of the position that you have to take. 28 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,240 To possess that promise. That's the word that we saw from 29 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:54,520 the starting of the year. But as we step into the middle 30 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,080 of the year, our positions can be different. 31 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,840 How many of you feel, especially in today's world, it's easy to 32 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,000 get polarized. It's easy to get you open the 33 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:05,280 news. You don't. 34 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,960 You'll end up having arguments even with your spouse over 35 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:11,560 politics. You'll end up having arguments 36 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,200 with Co workers because of what's happening across the 37 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,440 world 'cause they might not see it in your light. 38 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,400 Even the way I prayed. I know I can't talk like that 39 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,480 outside because they won't understand what sovereignty 40 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:25,040 means. And so today, even as we are 41 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,440 stepping into God's Word, I just want us to come to a place to 42 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,760 realize that God's positioned us here in this earth for a time 43 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,000 such as this so that we'll be able to. 44 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,280 Live out his calling on our lives. 45 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,280 And maybe not have a doubt in that. 46 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:48,120 In fact I just flew from Dhaka to Delhi and then from Delhi to 47 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,720 Chennai and had to fly Air India. 48 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,600 And so as I was coming in, I was talking to the air Hostess and I 49 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,040 asked how are you all feeling as a staff? 50 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,600 And she didn't even skip a beat and she said it's very heavy for 51 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,320 US1 We are scared. Lot of their Co workers have 52 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,800 called in sick and so a lot of them are actually doubling up 53 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,400 their duty. And she said one another thing, 54 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:13,080 our parents and our family are scared. 55 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:17,160 And So what happens as an incident trickles down the 56 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,440 entirety. And so and surprisingly, she 57 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,880 also said you're you're an Indian who's coming. 58 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:25,880 Many of them actually cancelled their flights. 59 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:27,760 They didn't even choose to come and Air India. 60 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:33,240 So fear can set in in many number of ways. 61 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,040 And then I said, but this can happen to anyone, anytime, 62 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:39,240 anywhere. It's not, it's not necessarily 63 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,480 only if you fly this aircraft or this, it can happen to anyone. 64 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,360 You can be walking on the road. Just the day when this happened, 65 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,120 we saw that a metro bridge, this fell down in our own city. 66 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:52,920 But today I want to ask you, when we're living out this life 67 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,120 that you're called, are we living intentionally or we are 68 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,400 we living with the fact that, you know, someday I might do 69 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:02,040 God's work because this rekindling that happens is a 70 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:06,560 revival fire that it is that has to revive us now and that we 71 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,360 carry that forward into every space that God's called us to 72 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:11,520 do. God's called us to step into. 73 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,920 Even last week when we when Jeremy spoke, he gave this clear 74 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,160 indication that we're living for a different Kingdom. 75 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:21,839 We're not living for the Kingdom here on this earth. 76 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,720 So he's and and with that I want to come that when you're living 77 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:30,600 for the for the Kingdom of God, we need to live with our hearts 78 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,960 and our spirit man being rekindled rekindled to do his 79 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:35,680 work. How many of you feel you've 80 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:37,760 taken a step back from what God's called you to do? 81 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:44,160 Let's be honest, we've because circumstances change, situations 82 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,120 change, scenarios change and it causes you know what? 83 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,320 Now why should I be doing this? I can just like take a step 84 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:51,920 back. Kids are growing up. 85 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,080 I just, if I listen and obey God, things might become 86 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,880 uncertain and those are the one thing leads to another and 87 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,480 eventually we take a step back. But God's like, can I rekindle 88 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:04,400 that flame so that you can live it out? 89 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,720 Whatever age you are, He wants you to live it out to its 90 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:11,480 fullest so that you'll be able to see His will and His plan. 91 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:19,040 A renewed spirit leads us to rebuild life with purpose to 92 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,800 serve the Lord, and a rekindled heart causes every believer to 93 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:28,600 be motivated by love, to attempt great things for God's glory. 94 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:33,680 Our spirit is renewed and our hearts are rekindled. 95 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:36,040 Why? Because we return back to our 96 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:38,160 first love and on returning back. 97 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:39,280 To our first love, what do you do? 98 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:43,360 You do what the first love requires, that is fulfilling his 99 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,840 plan over our lives. How many of you can confidently 100 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:49,000 say that you're living out God's will and plan for your life? 101 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:52,680 I want you to raise your hands if you have doubts. 102 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,320 Also, it's OK. A lot of us are in that, in that 103 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,040 seesaw. If things are going good, oh, 104 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,080 OK, I think this is God's will for my life. 105 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:04,680 If things are going bad, oh, I don't think this is God's will 106 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,680 for my life. But I pray that as we have 107 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,960 rekindled. Hearts we will be sure where God 108 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,800 is calling us to step into one of the passages that we've 109 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,920 chosen is from one Peter and I want to read 1 Peter chapter 6 110 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:24,920 chapter 1 was a six to seven. I'm sorry if I start blabbering 111 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:27,120 in between excuse me I didn't get to sleep. 112 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,760 It was a red eye flight, but this paused me there. 113 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,080 And they say you're reading wrong. 114 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:34,920 One Peter, one was a six to seven. 115 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:40,600 It says in all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little 116 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:45,000 while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trial. 117 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:47,320 Can we read that again? All of us together. 118 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:48,960 You can look at the screen from the NIV. 119 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,400 It says in all. This you greatly. 120 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:56,160 Rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer 121 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:01,120 grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the 122 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:06,320 proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth and gold, which 123 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:10,560 perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, 124 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,760 glory and honor When. Jesus Christ is revealed. 125 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,720 One of the things I love the Holy Spirit is he confirms and 126 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,320 reconfirms the word that has to be spoken. 127 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,920 In fact, in our youth service, Abhinandan spoke and he said 128 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:27,040 we're not condemned, but we are chosen. 129 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:29,800 And so when we are chosen, what happens? 130 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,160 We fall in alignment with what God's happened. 131 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,320 And when we even the songs that we sang open the eyes of my 132 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:39,240 heart that I might see you. When we say I speak Jesus into 133 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:40,640 every situation, what are we saying? 134 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,240 God? There are I'm, it feels like I'm 135 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,000 having grief in all kinds of trials. 136 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,600 We all will go through different kinds of trials in 20s, we'll go 137 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,240 through different kind of trials, 30s different, 40s 138 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:54,880 different, 50s, sixties, 70s different. 139 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,600 But God saying in everything there are two things that have 140 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,360 to be proven. One, your genuineness has to be 141 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,440 proven and the faith element. And so I just wanted to 142 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:07,960 concentrate on that because sometimes we are genuine. 143 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:14,000 We are genuine, but we sometimes can even tell ourselves that we 144 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,600 are genuine when we are actually not being genuine. 145 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,680 And when I was just studying the word, the Greek word is 146 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,800 document, which means proof of genuineness. 147 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,880 Everything that we think we're genuine of our faith will be 148 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,920 seen in the way we live out, will be seen in the way we 149 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,480 respond, will be seen in the way we are called to do what God's 150 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,440 called us to do. So which means Geshom's 151 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,120 genuineness will be tested and true. 152 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,720 Which means when there will be a season, there might be a 153 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,840 situation where they might rough me up a bit. 154 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:50,080 And when my temper comes up, what is coming out? 155 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,960 Is it the genuineness of my faith or is it the dark areas of 156 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:59,920 my heart, those dark things that I I internally have allowed the 157 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:04,000 spirit not to permeate or in in seasons of sickness and in 158 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,840 seasons of hardship? Am I just taking a step back and 159 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:09,760 thinking everyone else is having it good? 160 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,240 I'm not having it right. Suddenly the spirit of jealousy 161 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:15,920 and selfishness sets in. We can see. 162 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,280 And even when I have to give up these old patterns and habits, 163 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:24,720 my is my genuineness in the forefront or is it back? 164 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:30,040 Because the Spirit of God is wanting to know if we will be 165 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,840 ready to move into this place of genuineness Because this is 166 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:36,640 where approval will happen. And it comes through testing 167 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:40,440 documents. Approval through testing. 168 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:43,600 And how many of you are saying, if you've decided to follow 169 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:48,160 Jesus, which means you will have to go through tests, We will 170 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,280 have to go through tests. The second thing is proven 171 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:55,560 genuineness of your faith and I was just I I spent some time on 172 00:09:55,560 --> 00:10:00,160 faith because many a times we faith is what a hope, our trust 173 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,160 in Jesus. It's the unseen thing and we 174 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,640 think about that. But as I was the word here, the 175 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:09,240 Greek word is pistis, which means persuasion. 176 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,160 And when I was reading on that, there was an interesting 177 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,080 explanation that was given. It said in the. 178 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,720 Scripture faith. Is God's warranty certifying 179 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:23,560 that the revelation he in birthed will come to pass? 180 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,000 What he's in birthed? It's not what I want. 181 00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:29,640 Oh, I have faith that God will give me a raise. 182 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,000 No, it's what he's in birthed in you. 183 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:33,920 What are some of the things that he's in birthed? 184 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,200 In fact, last week when he ended his sermon, he said original 185 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,040 design. Geshom, what were you created to 186 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:44,040 do? Jackson, what were you created 187 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:46,960 to do? Because that's where faith will 188 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:49,960 be seen and that and that's the revelation that comes when we 189 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,000 allow rekindling of our heart. What happens? 190 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:54,680 God's not going to deal with the surface. 191 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:58,800 What is rekindling? It's literally taking it from 192 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,840 down under. He deals with the deep desires 193 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,160 of our heart. He says, is this what ministry 194 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,320 looks to you? Is this what service to me looks 195 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:10,720 like you? Because when he's poking, where 196 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:12,600 is he poking? He's poking on my pride. 197 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,560 He's poking on my ego. And you suddenly see the faith 198 00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:19,800 that we have most of the times is to serve us. 199 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,520 But God's asking the faith that I'm rekindling is to fulfill the 200 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:28,480 plan and purpose I have for you. And why does Peter write this? 201 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,680 Peter writes this because he's living in a time and age when 202 00:11:32,680 --> 00:11:35,280 they're being persecuted because they're followers of Jesus. 203 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:41,600 And today we are, Let's not kid ourselves, we, we might be a 204 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:47,120 minority in our country, but as followers of Jesus, it's so easy 205 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,480 to fall off the way because we are bombarded day in and day 206 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:52,200 out. How many of you struggle with 207 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:55,640 work, with work colleagues because they keep pushing your 208 00:11:56,680 --> 00:12:00,440 boundaries with regard to what you believe in it. 209 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:04,840 It happens in every sphere, every sphere in your societies. 210 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:07,440 It will happen for those of you staying in apartments, you will 211 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:10,280 notice you'll have to demarcate what you really believe in and 212 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:14,360 what you don't believe in. If you have kids, your friends 213 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,280 and kids, your the, the, your kids, friends and their parents 214 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:20,080 will automatically demarcate you. 215 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:25,880 Oh, these people are different. And so today it starts like 216 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:27,440 that. But when it comes, there will be 217 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:33,520 times when God is really asking us, will you stand for who I am 218 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:35,480 today? And today I want to ask you, who 219 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,800 is Jesus to you? Because if you're not careful, 220 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:44,880 when we go through grief and all kinds of trials, so many things 221 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:50,120 get eroded, corroded. If this is get shown, if my 222 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:54,080 heart is here, if sickness comes, a little bit of digging 223 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,960 happens and then the heart carries. 224 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,480 It's not 100% full, it carries only 90%. 225 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:04,520 And then when then financial hardship comes that gets dug and 226 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:08,680 then only 70% is there. And suddenly my heart when I 227 00:13:08,680 --> 00:13:12,920 look at it, going through all the trials and the suffering 228 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,720 that you're called to do will look different. 229 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,880 It'll start corroding one time, one step at a time, one day at a 230 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,360 time. And so today I want to ask you 231 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:26,280 the question is, is our faith being corroded by every trial 232 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:32,680 that we go through or is it being constructed because every 233 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:35,600 trial has to construct our faith and not corrode our faith. 234 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,200 A rekindle heart will always look at it like that. 235 00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:42,960 God, why is this happening? God, why is this happening? 236 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:46,560 God is, is pride really setting in? 237 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:48,800 Is my dependency solely on myself? 238 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:53,480 And when that happens, we will allow God to come through. 239 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:58,760 When you look at a typical definition of what a corroding 240 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:02,600 agent or corrosion happens, it because there's a substance that 241 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,040 are agents and there are there's a. 242 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,160 Person who's causing it to and when I was just thinking about 243 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:13,440 this I realized the substance most more or less for us when 244 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,640 corrosions is the after effects of people and their reactions. 245 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,200 Those lever, those corrode our hearts, corrode our minds, 246 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:23,920 corrode our spirit. Like if someone has bullied you, 247 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:27,800 you have a corroded spirit and your mind automatically is. 248 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:29,640 And so automatically you go into that. 249 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:32,560 The minute someone says like that, your spirit is, you back 250 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:35,960 off that relationship. You put it on a different shelf, 251 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:39,120 bullying shelf. And then the same thing. 252 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,000 You have different agents, situational agents, which 253 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,080 corrode your faith. Oh God, if I come to church, 254 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:46,680 you'll convict me. And so this one. 255 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:49,720 So maybe it's better if I'm not coming to church. 256 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,520 In fact, one of the Christian influencers shared a reel of how 257 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,680 the sheep gathered together when they when a tornado comes. 258 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,320 And as I was watching this, a tornado comes and they just all 259 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:05,320 go to a corner together. And she said, I think we all 260 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,520 need to find our own church. Don't be alone. 261 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:10,600 Don't think you do this Christian life alone because you 262 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:13,360 need. And why is Christian life good 263 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,640 when it when it when it's done together is because when someone 264 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:20,000 is got something good happening, you're rejoicing with them. 265 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,320 When someone is going through a hardship, you're interceding and 266 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,680 praying with them. And that can be seen only in 267 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:28,360 light of a church and nowhere else. 268 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:30,320 You can't see it in your apartment gatherings. 269 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:35,360 You can't see it in your office. If it's if it's something to 270 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,360 celebrate, it's corporate lunch BBQ nation. 271 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,280 But if it's hardship, it's just you quietly crying in your 272 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,760 cubicle. That is the world. 273 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:49,240 But church is where you will see. 274 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:53,120 And so today, maybe rekindle each other's hearts to pursue 275 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:57,240 what God's original plan and will is for us today that he's 276 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,040 called us so that when we construct, we would construct it 277 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:08,400 holy to see his Kingdom, his plan come today I want to ask 278 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:14,320 you, are we giving up on what he's called us to do today? 279 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:19,040 Are we fabricating love? For others, 'cause we don't want 280 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,640 to be misunderstood. All these are after effects of 281 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:24,960 repeated corrosion that keeps happening. 282 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,000 But when we allow God to construct all of the deepest 283 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,360 trials of our lives, trials where we've taken a stand for 284 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:35,160 God, where we've told no to the enemy, where we've not given 285 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,600 into the clutches of sin, where we've stepped away from the 286 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:42,440 power of darkness and invited his light, we see God 287 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:47,480 strengthening our faith. And so today I want us to, we'll 288 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:52,360 look through the lives of Shadrack, Nishak and Abedneko 289 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,480 from the life of also Daniel, of how they live this rekindled 290 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:04,760 faith when they were actually taken as captives into exile. 291 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:10,200 Because how many of you believe some of, I mean, a lot of you, I 292 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,560 don't know whether you term it like that, but do you feel like 293 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:21,319 you're in an exile land? Is it like Tina giving her book 294 00:17:21,319 --> 00:17:24,280 and then as people are reading it, they said I didn't have 295 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:26,200 language to it. I am in a wilderness season. 296 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,640 That's what she's been getting a lot of feedback or people are 297 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:31,760 getting back to a this is my wilderness season. 298 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,720 It explains a lot after reading your book many a times, do we 299 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:40,000 think we are in an exile land? Yes. 300 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,800 No. Lot of us, sometimes we, we 301 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,640 think God, is this the right place for me? 302 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:48,960 Is this the right place? Yeah. 303 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,400 You can have home, you can have family, but you might feel 304 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,640 there's still something unsettling in this place. 305 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:59,440 And even as we're looking through their lives, one thing 306 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:05,120 is very sure what God's asking a response to be God will move us. 307 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,480 God definitely according to his plan and purpose in your life, 308 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,560 He might move you or he might keep you here. 309 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:14,840 You know, for 110 years back, I thought Mumbai is going to be 310 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:19,680 our place where we stay long term until unless God said no, 311 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,200 go back to Chennai. It felt like God calling us back 312 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,520 into a land of exile because we didn't know what to do. 313 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,720 We didn't know what to do. And so it's in these seasons 314 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:34,600 that I ask God, what is it? What is your plan and purpose 315 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,080 for my life? What is your will for my life? 316 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:38,480 Because I need to have faith for that. 317 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,840 It's easy for me to have faith for my children's future. 318 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:45,040 It's easy to have faith for certain provisions to come. 319 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,760 It's easy to have faith or to believe and think, OK, God, 320 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,160 you'll come through in this. I'll, I'll still hold on to you. 321 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:54,160 But Lord in, in, in the plan that you want me to step into. 322 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,360 That's why marriage with the right person is very important. 323 00:18:57,360 --> 00:18:59,080 I was talking to someone, OK, they're not here. 324 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:00,920 I was talking to someone the youth service and they were 325 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:02,600 asking how do you do certain things? 326 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:06,640 I said marry the right person because when that person 327 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:09,320 understands God's will for their life and when you understand 328 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,640 your will for your life, when you join together, you start 329 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:14,560 accomplishing what God has destined for both of you to 330 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,520 accomplish. And I pray that each of us will 331 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:20,280 find that's the first thing I want to take from Daniel and his 332 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,160 friends. Life is allowing God to birth 333 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,560 faith when our surrounding changes, when our surrounding 334 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,320 changes. How many of you love when you're 335 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:35,920 surrounding changes? How many? 336 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:37,520 Why? Is it because the bed is not in 337 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:41,400 the same place? Is it because the toilet is 338 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,920 different? Is it because your mother's not 339 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:45,840 cooking your? Food. 340 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,960 God will keep changing your surroundings. 341 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,600 God will do that. But when he does that, I pray 342 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,200 that Rod will rekindle your faith again so that you'll be 343 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,040 able to stand strong in Him. One of the biggest fears that we 344 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:06,400 have is what will happen. Sometimes we fail to be grateful 345 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:10,000 to God for what he's doing because what if God takes me off 346 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:11,440 from here? How many of you have that 347 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:15,080 syndrome? Oh God, the house is 348 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:17,160 comfortable. Owner's good. 349 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:19,640 I won't say anything. I won't even give this as a 350 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:22,520 testimony point because if I give this as a testimony 351 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,160 tomorrow, the owner will say he's coming from US and then 352 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:30,520 I'll have to give up the house. Lot of us are so careful of what 353 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:36,040 our prayer points and Thanksgiving points are, but is 354 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,920 our faith rested on our physical aspects? 355 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,720 Is it rested on our job? Is it rested on our sometimes 356 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,720 even our family and our spouse, sometimes even in the very 357 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:50,640 surroundings that we have? If you're a single person who's 358 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:52,800 in a paying guest, you don't want to move out from here 359 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:54,600 because all the food joints are close by. 360 00:20:56,360 --> 00:20:58,960 Or probably it's that. Everything that's become 361 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,760 comfortable for you, but I'm asking you today, maybe move, 362 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,200 take a step. A lot of times we have positions 363 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:09,760 that lead up to where God's like son, daughter, I want you to 364 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,280 move here. He takes us up and puts us in a 365 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:14,440 place and he says, now I want you to. 366 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,080 Grow. I want your faith to be planted. 367 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:22,880 I want you to see you grow. He waits for us to make these 368 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,440 decisions. And sometimes the decisions are 369 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:27,160 made. In this case, when you look at 370 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,000 Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 371 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:35,160 the entire country was not doing what was right. 372 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,120 And so they're bearing the consequences of the country. 373 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:41,160 They're not bearing the consequences of what they've 374 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,160 done. The country didn't follow God. 375 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,720 The nation, the king gave up on God. 376 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,080 And So what happens? Nebuchadnezzar comes. 377 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,400 He lays siege and then he takes and what happens? 378 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,200 These are when you re, when you check the timeline, they're 379 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:58,800 probably in their late, late teens. 380 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,000 They're probably 17801920, very formative years. 381 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,280 And so it says that that. In the third year, Daniel 382 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:07,640 chapter 1 verses one to four, it says in the third year of the 383 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,840 reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of 384 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:13,440 Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 385 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,840 And the Lord and the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of 386 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,000 Judah into the hand along with some of the articles from the 387 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,640 temple of God. It's, it's interesting if you 388 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:24,800 can just circle that. And the Lord delivered 389 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,880 Jehoiakim. Sometimes when God wants us to 390 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:33,160 grow, he will deliver us into certain spaces so that we grow 391 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:35,440 intentionally. And what happens then? 392 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:39,480 He carried off to the temple of his God in Babylon and put in 393 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:44,640 the treasure House of God. Then the king ordered Ashpen 394 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:47,920 asked chief of his court officials to bring into the king 395 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:50,560 service some of the Israelites from the royal family and 396 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:54,800 nobility, young men without any physical defect, handsome, 397 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,960 showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, 398 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,200 quick to understand and qualified to serve in the King's 399 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,840 palace. He was to teach them the 400 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:06,560 language and the literature of the. 401 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:11,520 Babylonians and this feels like God. 402 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:16,120 I was born into a certain place. I had a certain pathway. 403 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,920 Suddenly God's picking us up and he's putting us in a place where 404 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,240 he's saying now this is where you need to be. 405 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:27,080 What happens in this situation? The spirits would be broken. 406 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,680 One thing it is you're, you're, you're chained. 407 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:32,480 You're not, you're not in freedom anymore. 408 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,000 You're moving into a place where you have to. 409 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,680 How many of us are tray in certain situations like this 410 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:43,400 where we have to do certain things for, for those of you who 411 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,720 are into freelance, we don't have that option because 412 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,120 whatever comes, you have to take it because that only pays the 413 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,120 bill. It's not like your office where 414 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:53,480 you can go to and one day you're like, OK, today I'll just chill. 415 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,360 You know, I'll, I'll give some reason to the boss or, you know, 416 00:23:57,360 --> 00:24:00,440 I can act like I'm working. But in freelance you can't 417 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,240 because if the product doesn't or the project doesn't get over, 418 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:06,880 they're not releasing the payment and you don't get paid. 419 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,160 And so many, many, at times we feel our hands are tied. 420 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,080 Probably today you're in a relationship like that where you 421 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:16,920 feel probably your marriage is also tied. 422 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,600 The very life is gone out of that. 423 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,120 And I want to ask you, God, would you rekindle the spirit so 424 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:24,960 that we'll be able to see your plan and will? 425 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:27,120 What are some of the areas that is? 426 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:31,240 And on the other side we see Jeremiah, who's also telling 427 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,480 this is what the land of Israel is going to go through, and he's 428 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:36,720 prophesying, but he also prophesied something very 429 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,320 interesting, telling all those who are going into exile how 430 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,480 they need to live. It's interesting that we need to 431 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,440 be aware of what God is telling us in the season as we have 432 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,640 moved into certain spaces, which are God. 433 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:51,800 I don't like this space, but I don't know why you've kept me 434 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:53,680 here. Read his word because that will 435 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,600 sustain you. Because when you read in 436 00:24:55,600 --> 00:25:01,280 Jeremiah it says interestingly. Jeremiah 29 verses 3 to 14. 437 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:06,240 He says he entrusted the letter to El Saha son of Shafan, and to 438 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:11,040 Gemaraya son of Heikaya, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to 439 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,280 Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon and said This is what the Lord 440 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,160 Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carry into 441 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:20,720 exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses, settle down, plant 442 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:22,760 gardens and eat what they produce. 443 00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:24,640 Marry and have sons and daughters. 444 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,880 Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage 445 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:31,000 so that they too may have sons and daughters. 446 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,800 Increase in number there, do not decrease also was 7. 447 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,760 Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have called 448 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,400 you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because 449 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,120 if it prospers, you too will. Yes, this is what the Lord 450 00:25:44,120 --> 00:25:46,080 Almighty, the God of Israel, says. 451 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:49,560 Do not let the prophets and the diviners among you deceive you. 452 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,960 Big circle that. Do not listen to the dreams you 453 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,040 increase them to have. They are prophesying lies to you 454 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:58,800 in my name. I have not sent them, declares 455 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:01,120 the Lord, because there'll be many people in. 456 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,560 This situation who can even take you astray? 457 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:05,520 So be careful. If you're not planted in God's 458 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,600 Word, you'll be listening to something else. 459 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,360 Even today with all the world events that are happening, you 460 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:13,560 know the quick thing they can say Jesus is coming back. 461 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,080 Yes, he's coming back, but most of the world doesn't even know 462 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,120 him. So be rest assured that you need 463 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:21,280 to live your life out well. You need to live your life out 464 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,440 well. Was we will hear was. 465 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:28,920 I mean, if you go out in with a Christian bandwagon, they will. 466 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,760 They might have put all the numbers right down. 467 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,120 They would have calculated who 666 is. 468 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:37,360 They would have done their permutation combination for 469 00:26:37,360 --> 00:26:41,800 everything, but the call is for us to live where God has called 470 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,080 us to live. Seek the peace and prosperity of 471 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,240 the land. If you read Daniel and his three 472 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,960 friends, this is what they did. They went there not without 473 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,720 faith, but with faith. This imagine three guys, four of 474 00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:59,440 them. They could have lived however 475 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:01,880 they want because they were royalty to a certain extent. 476 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:04,120 They were chosen for certain things. 477 00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:08,880 But there they decided to stand strong because they knew whose 478 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:10,840 they were. And so today, it's very 479 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:14,720 important that even in exile, we don't just give in to what the 480 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,800 land has to offer for us. These are men who was killed. 481 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,520 They were taken into captivity. And so today, I don't know what 482 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,680 season or place you're in. Probably you feel your job is 483 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,800 not the right one for you, your marriage. 484 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,000 I don't know why I'm stuck. Or probably some of you are in 485 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:31,920 the country and you're thinking, I shouldn't be in this country. 486 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:36,080 But if you're not doing anything in this country, God can't take 487 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:40,880 you to any other country. If you're not living out what 488 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:44,000 Jeremiah has said, how will he take you to another country? 489 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:48,000 If you don't seek the seek the prosperity of this city, how 490 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,880 will you seek the prosperity of another city? 491 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:53,960 I'm sorry, I'm saying this, but that's the truth because that's 492 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,640 what God, God had to tell me. When I'm taking you to Chennai, 493 00:27:57,880 --> 00:27:59,600 what are you? What are you fulfilling? 494 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:01,320 What you want to do? Are you going to do what I'm 495 00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:04,040 going to do? And it took two years, 2 1/2 496 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:08,960 years to be responded to that. And then we saw God put things 497 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:10,600 in place. Are you seeing certain things 498 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,200 not moving? Go back and ask God, my spirit 499 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,720 has not been right. Rekindle my spirit so that I'll 500 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,640 have faith in the season that you've placed me in today. 501 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:22,400 What are some of the things they would have felt? 502 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:26,000 They moved from comfort overnight, everything for them 503 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,400 changed. They were not free anymore. 504 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:31,520 They were other slaves and they were forced to work under a 505 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:33,800 king. They lost all their rights. 506 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,200 They had to report to a person. They were governed under tight 507 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:41,640 regulations. This feels more or less like our 508 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:45,360 situation today. And I pray that we will move to 509 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:49,800 a place where we'll we won't, we won't give in to what's 510 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:53,640 happening externally. Internally, if you're free, we 511 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:55,400 are free. How many of you are living 512 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,400 internally free if you're a child of God, if you've accepted 513 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,000 Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior, you're no 514 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,400 longer a slave to sin. You are free indeed. 515 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,200 And many a times you're giving in to the external things. 516 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:13,120 And I it's not like I'm not against it's just that we 517 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:16,760 suddenly use a lot of words even on news articles. 518 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:21,640 Now you read be careful. This might trigger you and the 519 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:26,240 word triggered now is taken so much place that we've given so 520 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,800 much importance to trigger nowadays it's not even 521 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,240 triggering. We just lost complete love. 522 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,800 We've caused lost. We're like whatever, but God 523 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:39,880 saying bringing, I want to come bring you back to a place where 524 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:42,240 you'll have faith. Because what we learned from 525 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:47,680 these three, I mean, Daniel and his three friends is they knew 526 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:49,680 whose they were. So when they went into the land, 527 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,480 they were able to live their life to its fullest because 528 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:57,280 internally they knew the faith that we talk about is what keeps 529 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:01,000 us afloat and allows us to take that step every day. 530 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,760 And Jeremiah when he talks, that is it's very important. 531 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,080 It says verse 4, when I read that same verse in Jeremiah 532 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,640 chapter 29, verse 4 says, I carried you into exile. 533 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:15,360 What seems like an exile is God carrying us so that he can grow 534 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:19,800 us more in our faith. He can grow us more in our 535 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:23,200 faith. And the reason why I wanted to 536 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,120 highlight that is it's it's painful. 537 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,320 It's painful. And we all had the savior 538 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:29,920 complex. We all have this. 539 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:36,120 And I remember at a time when I think 2 years into Tina's 540 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,360 treatment, I think I've shared this sometime back in sermon, is 541 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:44,080 I for a certain extent thought the doctor was the one who was 542 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:45,640 actually doing all the right things for her. 543 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:50,520 I failed to understand that God sovereignty was above 544 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:53,000 everything. I, I placed the doctor at the 545 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,080 higher pedestal. So at one point I was telling 546 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,200 her, hey, it's six months, we need to go for a check up. 547 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,400 And I forced her. We went there and I knew the 548 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,080 minute I was sitting there, she was sitting. 549 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,400 He said hey, the doctor said beyond this, I don't know what 550 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:08,160 to do. You're perfectly fine to me. 551 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:13,200 And then my fear spilt out. I started asking questions that 552 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:18,160 were deeply ingrained in my heart as fear, and that's when 553 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,520 God reminded me is because you're looking to him as the 554 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:25,120 source and not me. If I've allowed you both to walk 555 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,360 through this is because there's something that I want to see 556 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,040 accomplished in her life and in our life. 557 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:34,200 But you need to trust me. And so today, I don't know what 558 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,520 part of this that the exile has become so bad, but I would say, 559 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,160 would you take it back to God and say God, I'm here. 560 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:43,160 Would you have your way the second? 561 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:45,640 Thing you see in verse 7, seek the peace and prosperity of the 562 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:49,000 city to which I've carried you into exile. 563 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,880 We just don't go and live grudgingly, but we learn to 564 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,440 serve well under the leader, God's place in the city, 565 00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,840 whatever it looks like. Probably you're an office job 566 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:00,400 right now. It's a switch. 567 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,160 When you're rekindling of your spirit happens, your outlook of 568 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,000 your job also changes. You suddenly are like, God has 569 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,960 placed me here. I work like I'm working on to 570 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,480 God, as Paul says and as Peter says, and suddenly everything 571 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:14,800 changes. Whose mind shift changes in this 572 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:16,760 whole thing. Not your boss, not your company, 573 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:18,560 not the city. You change, you know. 574 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:23,640 One of the things I've been this 2025 marks 10 years of me 575 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:25,800 working with for you version and they've been. 576 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:30,400 Regular intervals in which I've had seasons of discomfort, you 577 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,920 know, things aren't moving the way I have to move. 578 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,080 And Tina will be like, you just need to pray more. 579 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,240 And I start praying about the situation. 580 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:40,800 The job doesn't change, but I change. 581 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,080 I start seeing things differently. 582 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,960 I start seeing things how God wants me to see it. 583 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,400 And so I want to encourage you today, this rekindling of the 584 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:54,360 Spirit is more of us being changed internally to see how 585 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:58,240 God wants us to see it. And worst Dennis, the promising 586 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:01,480 was it says I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to 587 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:06,040 bring you back to this place. God who's carried us so far will 588 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,680 carry us through to completion. When he's saying he's bringing 589 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:13,920 them back to their promised land to back to this country is the 590 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:16,720 fact that he will see us through a promise. 591 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:19,640 So don't. Give up, don't give up. 592 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,320 This gives us confidence. So today as I conclude this 593 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,560 first one, will I will we acknowledge God to be in a 594 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:32,200 season of exile? Today will we acknowledge. 595 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:37,280 Will we seek? The prosperity of our, of our 596 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:42,480 marriage, of our, of our family, of our work, of our city, 597 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:46,080 irrespective of what was happening, because Jesus 598 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:49,240 overseas everything. God is the God of heaven and 599 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,440 earth. The second thing we see from 600 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:57,840 Daniel and his three friends is because they knew what their 601 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:01,720 faith was, they were easy. They found it easy to verbalize 602 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:03,200 it. So second thing is verbalizing 603 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:07,960 what we believe shows who we honor and establishes us in 604 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:12,040 front of others. Verbalizing what we believe 605 00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:15,400 shows who we. Honor and establishes us in the 606 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,719 midst of others. Daniel 1 verses 8 to 10. 607 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,400 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal 608 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:24,280 food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission 609 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,880 not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official 610 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,120 to show favour and compassion to Daniel. 611 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:31,520 If you can just underline verse 9. 612 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:35,920 Now God had caused the official to show favour and compassion to 613 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:38,199 Daniel. The beautiful thing about free 614 00:34:38,199 --> 00:34:40,800 will is when we respond in free will to what God has. 615 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:42,960 Deposited in US. Favour comes. 616 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:49,920 When we verbally tell God, this is what God's causing you to 617 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:54,440 take a stand in favour comes. So if you've been lacking favour 618 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:57,440 in your life, have you been verbalizing what God's been 619 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:02,760 asking you to stand for? Your wife is not your mind 620 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:04,880 reader. Your boss is not your mind 621 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,560 reader. People around you are not mind 622 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,040 readers. You need to tell them what you 623 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:13,360 believe. It's only when you verbalize 624 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:16,000 will God's favor come into fruit. 625 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:19,840 No one in the Bible does it say Moses thought and God's favor 626 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:21,960 came. It'd be very easy. 627 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:26,040 No, that's a problem with a lot of those things, especially now. 628 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:28,960 In this way, I can just stand still and worship God. 629 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:32,920 You can't. You can't when it says lift holy 630 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:34,720 hands. You need to lift your hands in 631 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:38,160 acknowledging because faith causes us to respond in the 632 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:42,000 physical also. So today I would ask you. 633 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:47,080 Verse 10 But the official told Daniel, I am afraid of my Lord 634 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,760 the king who was assigned your food and drink. 635 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:53,120 Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men 636 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:55,840 your age? Then the king would then have my 637 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:59,760 head because of you. And this is where he said test 638 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,200 us and see. Look at how he put faith into 639 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:07,480 action faith into action rekindle faith is ready to be 640 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,320 put into action and I pray because when you're reading the 641 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:15,160 timeline in your late teens and early 20s, if you have access to 642 00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:18,600 buffet every day, what will you choose vegetables or will you 643 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:23,120 choose buffet. The foodies in our church are 644 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:27,920 smiling. You would choose royal food, but 645 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:33,160 because they came from the household of the God of Israel, 646 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:35,920 they knew what was permitted and what was not allowed. 647 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,560 Today, in the cities that we are placed and in the workspaces 648 00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:42,520 that we are placed in, God will require us to take a stand. 649 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,720 Culture will be like a buffet in front of us. 650 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:46,640 It'll say, you know, you do this, it's OK. 651 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:49,840 No one cares. You do this, no one cares this 652 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,240 but God's saying no. Verbalize your faith. 653 00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:56,200 No, I can't stand for this. Yes. 654 00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:58,400 Will I be? Will they paint me as a 655 00:36:58,400 --> 00:36:59,680 different person? It's OK. 656 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:04,600 Let me be known as that because I value being honored by God far 657 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:10,360 more than being honored by men. They had access to the King's 658 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:13,600 table. They had every option possible, 659 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:18,680 but they showed restraint. They showed restraint even as I 660 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:24,000 was spending time this week with Ken, who's 85 years old, 661 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:25,920 sometimes I forget that he's 85 years old. 662 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:29,280 He's sitting there and his daughter-in-law was asking him a 663 00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:35,880 question and asked at 85, what makes you sit in Bangladesh and 664 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:40,680 take language course for two years to sit here so that you 665 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:42,920 can be here? He said. 666 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:48,160 There's a deep level of contentment I have in know in 667 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:53,200 knowing who God's created me to be and it's interesting his wife 668 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:57,240 died 4 years back but he didn't lose purpose for what God's 669 00:37:57,240 --> 00:38:00,600 created him to be. Do you see what faith here is 670 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,320 important? Faith is not because of the 671 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,720 person around, it's because the plan that God deposited in him 672 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:10,160 saying Ken in 85, you should be here to do this. 673 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:11,480 When? Why will it happen? 674 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:14,600 Because he's in tune with what God's called him to do. 675 00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:17,640 So today I want to ask you, at your age, are you comfortable 676 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:19,360 knowing God? This is where I'm supposed to be 677 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,080 because there'll be a time when people around may not be there, 678 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:26,760 but will you still live in the purposes of God? 679 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:31,480 It's it's a real question that we need to ask and what better 680 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:35,440 way to put into practice now. So it's been 40 years later. 681 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,800 It's just this life is this life. 682 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:41,960 You're not you're you suddenly see people differently. 683 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,240 You see everyone needs to hear the gospel. 684 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:48,440 That's all that you see. And so today what is it that 685 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:51,840 God's asking us to do in one Timothy 6 verse 6 it says that 686 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:56,520 but godliness actually is a source in the amplified of great 687 00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:00,360 game when accomplished by contentment, the contentment 688 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,840 which comes from a sense of inner confidence based on the 689 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:10,000 sufficiency of God. Tina was asking me yesterday in 690 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:13,080 the call when you're talking what is God spoken to you in 691 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:16,280 this season when I went for this week and. 692 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:18,160 The definite thing was contentment. 693 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:22,240 Am I content with what God's will for me is today, right 694 00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:23,800 here, right now, in what I'm doing? 695 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:27,720 Because if I'm not content, my heart is set on something else. 696 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:32,160 And So what will happen is I'll grudgingly be in the land that 697 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,640 God's asked me to stay. I'll grudgingly be in the 698 00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:38,880 marriage God's asked me to stay. I'll grudgingly be in the 699 00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:41,440 responsibility of a father what God's called me to be. 700 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:45,080 So today I want to ask you, are we having contentment? 701 00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,760 Because there is definitely a sense of contentment for Dave, 702 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,240 for Daniel, Shadrack, Nisha, and Abednego. 703 00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:53,960 Even though they had access to everything, there was a deep 704 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:57,840 sense of contentment in what they wanted and what they 705 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:07,030 thought will benefit their body. This Greek word for the 706 00:40:07,030 --> 00:40:13,070 godliness that is it says is It's used to be, which means 707 00:40:13,070 --> 00:40:18,320 godly heart response, Godly heart response. 708 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:21,720 And I pray that we will have this godly heart response 709 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,240 because if I'm scheming my way, if I'm calculative, if I'm 710 00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:29,680 measured, that's how God will also treat me. 711 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:35,760 That's how God will treat me. God who's brought me so far will 712 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:37,720 lead me. He gives favour. 713 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:41,120 I don't have to Curry favour up. I don't know. 714 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:47,080 It's not like 20% of people pleasing 1010% of showing up. 715 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:51,240 No, I stand for God. I do what God's asked me to do. 716 00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:54,000 I serve him well. In turn, I serve the place that 717 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,960 He's given me. Also favour comes. 718 00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:02,160 It's interesting what how chapter 1 concludes in Daniel 719 00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:04,600 1:15 to 20. At the end of the 10 days, they 720 00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:07,400 look healthier and better nourished than any of the young 721 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:09,960 men who eat the royal food. So the guard took away the 722 00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:13,600 choice food and wine they were to drink and gave them 723 00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:16,400 vegetables instead. The people that you're 724 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:19,520 witnessing to and you're telling your faith about will test you 725 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:24,280 out, is what you're saying? Are you really living it out? 726 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:26,600 It's only when that happens does the. 727 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:28,840 Chief takes away the royal food from them. 728 00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:34,680 So if so, that's why it's very important that when we witness 729 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:37,640 about what we believe, we are living out what we are 730 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:41,360 witnessing. Verse 17 it says to these four 731 00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:44,920 young men God gave knowledge, understanding of all kinds of 732 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:48,440 literature and learning, and Daniel could understand visions 733 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:51,840 and dreams of all kinds. At the end of the time said by 734 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:55,000 the king to bring them into his service, the chief official 735 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:56,520 presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 736 00:41:56,920 --> 00:42:00,880 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, 737 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:05,080 Hananiah, Michelle, and Azaria. So they entered the king 738 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:07,480 service. In every matter of wisdom and 739 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:10,440 understanding about which the king questioned them, he found 740 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:14,680 them 10 times better than all the magicians and the enchanters 741 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:18,720 in his whole Kingdom. Isn't that a powerful testimony? 742 00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:25,160 All because they testified, they stood for what they asked, and 743 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:27,240 they saw God's favour come upon them. 744 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:32,040 And I pray that we will move in that sphere because if today, if 745 00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:34,960 we have to live in the age of AI, if you have to live in an 746 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:39,000 age of ML, if you have to live in the age of predictive 747 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:42,480 behaviour being analyzed and built, things being built around 748 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:46,640 that, we will suddenly be in that zone. 749 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,360 God saying, hey, no, I needed to you do what I'm calling you do 750 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:51,680 favor will come. All these things are all 751 00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:54,400 predictive. They can change. 752 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,760 And so don't don't get so caught up in everything, especially 753 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:01,200 today. The world is running in such 754 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:04,560 speed that if you don't know something, you feel like you're 755 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:06,200 missed out entirely. And probably that's what the 756 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,520 world is painting the picture. Are you trusting the world? 757 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:13,320 Are you trusting God today Because God created everything? 758 00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:17,080 He will give you the wisdom, He'll give you the understanding 759 00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:20,720 when he when we are truly committed to what He's calling 760 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:25,560 us to do because of their choice personally, which they took, and 761 00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:28,000 saying it verbally, God honours them. 762 00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:32,680 When we open our mouth, we're declaring what we believe. 763 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,920 When we're telling those around us, we also tell. 764 00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:40,800 Who our trust is in who our trust is in. 765 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:45,640 There's a verse which says that your people will serve before 766 00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:48,040 kings and not before obscure men. 767 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:53,400 That's only because when we know God, when we know God, and when 768 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:54,560 we do. What he says. 769 00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:02,320 So if I have to ask you, where should I openly and boldly tell 770 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:06,640 no today? What am I allowing in my life so 771 00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:09,680 that I can enjoy a seat at the table? 772 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:13,680 What am I allowing because the enemy is always looking at that 773 00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:17,360 foothold? What did the enemy do when he 774 00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:21,400 was tempting Jesus? It was always show and tell. 775 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:25,720 He showed something, he told something, but the response 776 00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:28,960 Jesus gave was contradictory, was always the word of God. 777 00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:32,600 So today the world will also show you and tell you something. 778 00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:34,200 But are we going to sit at their table? 779 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:36,480 Are we going to say no, this is not for me. 780 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:41,760 It the the word of God says in the last days they'll only be a 781 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:45,520 remnant. Let's not get dissuaded. 782 00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:50,280 God's asking us to make bold decisions today that as you step 783 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:53,360 out, it'll come. He'll enable us to take that. 784 00:44:54,960 --> 00:45:00,360 Daniel and his friends knew that the seat was given by God, so 785 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:03,880 they chose to honor God and what happens in return? 786 00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:06,880 God honored them in front of everyone who came across their 787 00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:10,560 path. Daniel and his friends knew that 788 00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:16,200 the seat was given by God. By God. 789 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,280 A lot of them asked me especially when I'm when I'm 790 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,280 traveling for you version and all that, they'll ask how do we 791 00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:29,560 land a job with you version. I say I didn't, I didn't pursue 792 00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:32,440 it. You know, Tina can be here as a 793 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:36,240 witness for that. It was out of big heaviness. 794 00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:40,080 You're packed everything here. We are going to so much of 795 00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:44,120 uncertainty in Mumbai and I remember that Aggarwal 796 00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:48,360 container, we've packed entirely the first time you're packing 797 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:53,800 and kids are small and Tina's Tina, I remember asking are we 798 00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:57,120 making the right decision? That was our conversation every 799 00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:00,040 time because we knew we're going to a land where we're not 800 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:01,640 getting enough to sustain enough. 801 00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:05,480 So there was so many questions, but we just knew that God had 802 00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:10,400 told us to go to Mumbai. We packed the day the container 803 00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:13,360 went, I think 2 days before the next two days ago. 804 00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:15,880 You're flying, you're flying. We land there, we land in the 805 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:17,760 house. They've come and put everything 806 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:21,360 in the house in boxes. I open my laptop and I get an 807 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:26,400 e-mail saying Yashum, a friend of ours recommended your name. 808 00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:30,160 We would like to set up a call with you and would love for you 809 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:32,720 to join you urgent part time because you're seeing a lot of 810 00:46:32,720 --> 00:46:39,000 traffic in India. I didn't pursue it and 10 years 811 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:42,960 now that has been the one that's literally been the source of 812 00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:48,360 income for us to as a family. It's not what I've conceived. 813 00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:54,040 I couldn't carry up anything one obedient act of doing because 814 00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:57,480 before that I learned severely if I don't obey God, God will 815 00:46:57,480 --> 00:46:58,760 remove whatever is underneath me. 816 00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:04,000 And out of that today, and so today when I'm speaking this, in 817 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,920 fact, you're just conversing between each other of who should 818 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:08,600 do this. I in fact told her I'm 819 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:10,120 travelling. I gave her a big excuse, I'm 820 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:12,680 travelling, I can't prepare, so you should speak. 821 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:14,560 She said, no, you, you have to speak. 822 00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:17,760 And then I think God's moving into a season where you travel 823 00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:23,800 and you speak, you know, And so, so as I was preparing this, I 824 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:28,200 felt God, thank you. You gave me the courage to take 825 00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:33,600 that step of faith. In my physical eyes, that season 826 00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:36,640 of Mumbai seem like a wasteful season. 827 00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:40,200 But according to God's will and plan, that was the most 828 00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:42,880 necessary season. Because if that didn't happen, 829 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:45,600 none of the things that we are trying to run out of have ever 830 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:47,640 happened. And so that's why we need our 831 00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:53,840 faith in those situations where we close our physical eyes to 832 00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:56,440 what the world has to often. Move to a spirit full saying 833 00:47:56,440 --> 00:48:00,080 God, if this is your will for me, I step into it as yes, 834 00:48:02,520 --> 00:48:06,120 because so let's not. So let's not work towards God. 835 00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:08,280 Honor me in front of her. This it'll happen at the right 836 00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:10,480 time. It'll happen at the right time. 837 00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:14,480 The third thing, and if you see all these are building blocks. 838 00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:19,040 The 1st is when our faith, when we internalize the faith when in 839 00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:21,280 our seasons of exile, it's a building block. 840 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:25,240 On top of that, we verbalize it. And the third is we need to take 841 00:48:25,240 --> 00:48:27,320 a stand no matter what the outcome is. 842 00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:31,520 We need to take a stand no matter what the outcome is and 843 00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:36,600 declare that Jesus is Lord. Church, we're going to come into 844 00:48:36,600 --> 00:48:40,920 a season where maybe in our country they will ask us who we 845 00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:45,400 really believe. We have to say that Jesus is the 846 00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:47,760 Lord. He's not just God. 847 00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:51,320 He is the Lord and the only true God. 848 00:48:53,080 --> 00:48:59,040 In fact, I was listening to a testimony of a person as he was 849 00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:04,600 sharing he his first generation came into faith from the Muslim 850 00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:08,440 background and he as he was sharing, I was asking him, what 851 00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:12,480 do you think is your biggest because there's no career map or 852 00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:15,240 career pathway for them. They they are, they are 853 00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:17,200 literally Evans. They're going into the market. 854 00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:20,440 They talk to people, anyone who's having that open door of 855 00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:22,520 opportunity because what they praise God, you're going to read 856 00:49:22,520 --> 00:49:24,440 into the market, you're going to witness for you. 857 00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:27,320 They go into the market and someone is dead. 858 00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:28,960 They witnessed, they invite them home. 859 00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:32,080 Six months later, the entire families come to faith. 860 00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:37,480 And he said the more this is happening, we know we'll be 861 00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:41,360 targeted next. But this brings us to assurance 862 00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:43,600 that Jesus is the only true and living God. 863 00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:47,040 There's no other God. And so today, each of us will be 864 00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:50,200 positioned in that place. Will. 865 00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:53,160 We take that stand. Some of you have already walked 866 00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:54,720 that hard journey with your families. 867 00:49:55,240 --> 00:49:59,320 You might be disinherited, you might be left alone, but will 868 00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:03,920 you take that stand asking, saying that Jesus is Lord? 869 00:50:04,440 --> 00:50:06,920 And I just want to take specifically from the life of 870 00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:10,960 Shahrukh, Meshak and Abdineko. They were administrators, they 871 00:50:10,960 --> 00:50:13,320 were stationed. And then we see suddenly what 872 00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:16,160 happens. Nebuchadnezzar, even though he's 873 00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:21,800 got the dream from Daniel in Daniel chapter 2 in you, you see 874 00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:24,840 time and again, because of his accomplishments, there was no 875 00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:27,800 room for God. And So what he does, he builds 876 00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:31,720 his huge statue and he says everyone bow before man. 877 00:50:31,720 --> 00:50:34,960 If you look at the interesting thing about kings and Empress 878 00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:37,880 building statues, it's a way of telling the people their 879 00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:40,360 conquest. This region belongs to me. 880 00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:44,360 I may not be physically there, but my avatar is there. 881 00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:49,240 My statue is there. And it's also to show this land 882 00:50:49,240 --> 00:50:52,160 is. My territory and So what he's 883 00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:58,840 asking here them to do is go and bow down and at that most 884 00:50:59,240 --> 00:51:03,720 important situation his eyes are blinded Nebuchadnezzar's eyes 885 00:51:03,720 --> 00:51:07,320 are blinded even though he's he's conversing with Daniel and 886 00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:11,200 all of them so often. Daniel chapter 3 verses one to 887 00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:13,520 three. King Nebuchadnezzar made an 888 00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:17,480 image of gold 60 cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up 889 00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:20,240 on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 890 00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:24,920 Then he summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisors, 891 00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:27,720 treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial 892 00:51:27,720 --> 00:51:30,840 officials to come to the dedication of the image he had 893 00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:35,440 set up. Many a times the people who are 894 00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:40,200 jealous of us will be the ones who tell that this person is not 895 00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:45,240 willing to bow down before you. It's the people around who will 896 00:51:45,240 --> 00:51:47,400 actually cause the problem because they've seen favour. 897 00:51:48,080 --> 00:51:49,960 So don't be surprised when people let you down. 898 00:51:50,880 --> 00:51:52,600 Don't be surprised when people let you down. 899 00:51:53,280 --> 00:51:57,480 The mirror story of this is when we read an Esther when her own 900 00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:02,240 uncle. Was had to bow down to Harman. 901 00:52:02,240 --> 00:52:05,880 He refused to do that and so that he said I only bowed on to 902 00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:10,360 God And those, those those moments when God will ask us to 903 00:52:10,360 --> 00:52:14,320 take those stands and when we take it, God honours it. 904 00:52:14,720 --> 00:52:17,360 In fact, this is it. Seems very extreme. 905 00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:23,520 When you read in Daniel chapter 3 verse 8 to 12, at that same at 906 00:52:23,520 --> 00:52:26,680 this some astrologist came forward and denounced the Jews. 907 00:52:27,080 --> 00:52:28,960 They said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, may the king 908 00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:31,200 live forever. Your Majesty has issued A decree 909 00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:34,760 that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zytha, 910 00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:37,680 lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music must fall down and 911 00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:42,720 worship the image of God, and that whoever does not fall down 912 00:52:42,720 --> 00:52:44,760 and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. 913 00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:48,640 And we see here that they literally made sure that the 914 00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:51,200 burning flame was made even hotter. 915 00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:54,960 It says that the people who went close to it felt the heat and 916 00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:57,080 they itself got burnt and they died. 917 00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:03,360 I pray that when our worship is questioned, we will stand our 918 00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:06,200 ground and say we worship only Jesus alone. 919 00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:10,480 We will worship. Jesus alone, it will be tested, 920 00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:13,680 and that's what Peter writes. We all will be tested. 921 00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:17,240 It says, in fact, he's giving a reference that to gold. 922 00:53:17,240 --> 00:53:21,960 Gold is put at the hottest part of that fire and it's melted, 923 00:53:21,960 --> 00:53:24,520 and so many times it will feel like a blazing furnace. 924 00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:29,040 I pray that we have a response like what Shadrach, Meshach, and 925 00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:31,800 Abednego had. Daniel 3, verses 16 to 18. 926 00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:33,560 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had replied to him. 927 00:53:33,560 --> 00:53:37,080 King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before 928 00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:39,440 you in this matter. If you are thrown into the 929 00:53:39,440 --> 00:53:42,600 blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from 930 00:53:42,600 --> 00:53:47,440 it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty's hands. 931 00:53:47,880 --> 00:53:52,440 But even if he does not, we want you to know, your Majesty, that 932 00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:55,360 we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold. 933 00:53:55,640 --> 00:53:59,880 You have set up and so today the image of gold today can look 934 00:53:59,880 --> 00:54:01,720 very different for each and everyone of us. 935 00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:06,880 What are some of the images that we are bowing to that we've 936 00:54:07,080 --> 00:54:12,800 we're struggling to say God, you have to have you are the front 937 00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:14,320 and cent. I can't bow before This. 938 00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:19,520 Is Money such a image of gold that you're unable to bring God 939 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:23,960 before it? Is certain relationships like an 940 00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:26,800 image of gold that you're only able to bring God in front of 941 00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:29,560 it? Is certain scenarios in your 942 00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:32,640 life that you've that that's that's in front of you that 943 00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:35,240 you're saying this is too good, I can't disturb this, so I'll 944 00:54:35,240 --> 00:54:37,920 just go with the flow and you're not bringing God into it. 945 00:54:41,720 --> 00:54:46,680 When we don't take a stand where we say Jesus is Lord and when we 946 00:54:46,680 --> 00:54:50,200 silence, we in fact are silencing God, we discredit him. 947 00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:56,800 What we see happening in all three of their lives is they 948 00:54:56,800 --> 00:55:00,960 were established like a tree. I pray we are established like a 949 00:55:00,960 --> 00:55:04,600 tree. You know when we put a seed in 950 00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:06,480 and when it grows and becomes a tree? 951 00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:10,080 The tree doesn't say, oh, I can't handle the heat, oh, I 952 00:55:10,080 --> 00:55:12,800 can't handle rain, oh, I can't handle winds. 953 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:16,560 It's just standing there whether it likes it or not. 954 00:55:16,560 --> 00:55:22,120 It has to withstand everything. And I pray we will be like that, 955 00:55:23,320 --> 00:55:27,000 that we won't dry up, we won't be quenched. 956 00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:30,760 We won't. We will flourish in season and 957 00:55:30,760 --> 00:55:35,880 out of season. Jesus is God and Lord for every 958 00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:38,240 Christian. This very statement should 959 00:55:38,240 --> 00:55:42,200 become a firm foundation, should become a firm foundation. 960 00:55:44,760 --> 00:55:47,360 John Wesley says this. When what one generation 961 00:55:47,360 --> 00:55:50,800 tolerates, the next generation will embrace. 962 00:55:52,120 --> 00:55:55,760 And I pray that we won't tolerate Jesus, but we will say 963 00:55:55,760 --> 00:55:59,560 He's everything to us so that they will know that He's 964 00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:02,440 everything to them the next generation they need. 965 00:56:02,440 --> 00:56:04,360 To know. That we won't just tolerate it. 966 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,960 I was reading a story and it was about this person, a Bishop. 967 00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:12,240 In fact, in 8070, Polycarp was a Bishop during a time of bitter 968 00:56:12,240 --> 00:56:15,120 attack against the Christians. At the age of 86, he was 969 00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:18,560 arrested for no other crime than being a Christian. 970 00:56:19,320 --> 00:56:22,120 All he had to do was to avoid torture and death was to 971 00:56:22,120 --> 00:56:27,240 proclaim Caesar's Lord. Polycarp responded. 86 years I 972 00:56:27,240 --> 00:56:30,560 have served Christ and he never did me any wrong. 973 00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:33,440 How can I blasphemy my King who saved me? 974 00:56:34,160 --> 00:56:37,680 For Polycarp, the fact that Jesus is Lord meant that he 975 00:56:37,680 --> 00:56:42,520 could not say Caesar is Lord. Steadfast in a stand for Christ, 976 00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:46,040 Polycarp refused to compromise his beliefs and was burnt alive 977 00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:49,840 with the stake on 22nd February 8156. 978 00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:56,400 This very phrase, Jesus is Lord should be our should be etched 979 00:56:56,400 --> 00:57:00,280 on our hearts and in our mouths that at any situation we say 980 00:57:00,600 --> 00:57:07,760 Jesus is Lord. When we read in my personal 981 00:57:07,760 --> 00:57:13,040 reflection especially, I was going through Job, the book of 982 00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:15,160 Job and it's parallel in the New Testament. 983 00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:19,120 It was in the early chapters of New Testament and it's a there's 984 00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:23,000 a clear demarcation when we see of the response that Job has. 985 00:57:23,640 --> 00:57:26,560 And the response that even Stephen has, it feels like God, 986 00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:30,320 Stephen was so promising of a character that in the next 987 00:57:30,520 --> 00:57:33,400 chapter and a half he's dead God. 988 00:57:33,720 --> 00:57:37,440 But God had destined him for that for for witnessing so 989 00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:39,640 clearly the entire gospel message. 990 00:57:40,600 --> 00:57:44,520 And I pray that many a times we think or some people have lived 991 00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:46,960 short. Now I think God's God knows in 992 00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:48,720 his sovereignty. He knows what. 993 00:57:48,720 --> 00:57:51,600 He's created them to be and when they have identified their, 994 00:57:52,200 --> 00:57:55,520 their God's plan for their life and they've fulfilled it, he's 995 00:57:55,520 --> 00:57:57,520 like son, daughter, I'm taking you home. 996 00:57:58,560 --> 00:58:00,960 And so when you look at Job's life also the, the, the 997 00:58:00,960 --> 00:58:03,400 struggles that he's going through seems enormous. 998 00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:08,160 And then he comes to a place where God tells him to actually 999 00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:09,640 intercede on behalf of his friends. 1000 00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:13,360 He tells his three friends to get bulls and sacrifice it and 1001 00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:16,600 Job will intercede for you. And when we read that, it's 1002 00:58:16,600 --> 00:58:20,040 interesting that it says that and Job had prayed for his 1003 00:58:20,040 --> 00:58:24,000 friends in Job chapter 42, verses 8, it says, and Job had 1004 00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:26,960 prayed to his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave 1005 00:58:26,960 --> 00:58:28,520 him twice as much as he had before. 1006 00:58:28,760 --> 00:58:34,000 But there's many times that. We have to just take a stand for 1007 00:58:34,000 --> 00:58:37,240 God. We don't have to be liked, known 1008 00:58:37,240 --> 00:58:40,080 by our friends. It's OK, they will turn around 1009 00:58:40,520 --> 00:58:44,360 because God will come through. So today, whatever your circles 1010 00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:47,240 are looking like as we. I know this is probably not the 1011 00:58:47,240 --> 00:58:51,320 sermon you wanted to hear after Pentecost, but I pray that as He 1012 00:58:51,320 --> 00:58:53,040 rekindles our hearts, what He'll also. 1013 00:58:53,040 --> 00:58:56,960 Do is He'll change certain aspects of our hearts that are 1014 00:58:56,960 --> 00:59:05,370 very set in its ways. I pray that we will live out 1015 00:59:06,250 --> 00:59:11,210 this rekindle life so well with the help of the Holy Spirit that 1016 00:59:11,210 --> 00:59:14,970 when He births, faith will come into US irrespective of our 1017 00:59:14,970 --> 00:59:17,720 surroundings. We'll be able to verbalize what 1018 00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:23,080 we believe, and we'll be able to honor God in the midst of 1019 00:59:23,080 --> 00:59:26,840 others. And when times come, we'll be 1020 00:59:26,840 --> 00:59:31,320 able to take a stand like how they said, even if we are. 1021 00:59:31,320 --> 00:59:36,320 Thrown in, we won't bow down more. 1022 00:59:36,320 --> 00:59:39,240 The guy told that to Esther. Just because you're seated 1023 00:59:39,240 --> 00:59:44,640 there, don't think we for a time such as this God's place to you 1024 00:59:44,640 --> 00:59:47,480 that you need to respond. And I believe for a time such 1025 00:59:47,480 --> 00:59:50,840 that this God's placed us here. And what is our response today? 1026 00:59:51,400 --> 00:59:54,720 Are we going to allow God to rekindle our spirits so that we 1027 00:59:54,720 --> 00:59:58,640 can live out this call? Francis of Assisi says this. 1028 00:59:58,640 --> 01:00:02,600 It's no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our 1029 01:00:02,600 --> 01:00:07,280 preaching. And so I pray that we will be so 1030 01:00:07,280 --> 01:00:11,400 assured of what God's called us to do, what God's called us to 1031 01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:14,320 do. It's those beautiful things that 1032 01:00:14,320 --> 01:00:18,120 God reveals to us. That's why when we worship him, 1033 01:00:18,680 --> 01:00:22,960 he restores to us those those things that he wants us to take 1034 01:00:23,560 --> 01:00:26,400 those responses that he's wanting us to take that step of 1035 01:00:26,400 --> 01:00:29,520 faith and that we'll take it boldly, saying, God, reveal your 1036 01:00:29,520 --> 01:00:34,400 plan and purpose for my life. That in the season of exile, if 1037 01:00:34,400 --> 01:00:37,680 you can close our eyes and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to 1038 01:00:37,680 --> 01:00:40,320 us, this is going to take a moment because I believe He 1039 01:00:40,320 --> 01:00:43,440 wants to stir in our hearts. For some of us, it could have 1040 01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:46,840 become a way of life. It might be 1015 years, but 1041 01:00:46,840 --> 01:00:49,120 today would you say, Holy Spirit, you can have your way. 1042 01:00:50,880 --> 01:00:55,400 Rekindle Lord Jesus, my spirit. All this while, I just think 1043 01:00:55,400 --> 01:00:58,160 I've been doing it. It's become a pattern. 1044 01:00:58,560 --> 01:01:01,440 But I ask you, rekindle my spirit so that I'll know the 1045 01:01:01,440 --> 01:01:04,320 exact plan and purpose for my life, Lord Jesus. 1046 01:01:05,240 --> 01:01:06,280 So that as I. Wait on you. 1047 01:01:06,280 --> 01:01:09,200 I'll also know exactly what you're calling me to do. 1048 01:01:10,840 --> 01:01:12,520 Your will for my life will be clear. 1049 01:01:12,920 --> 01:01:14,720 Your plan for my life will be clear. 1050 01:01:15,120 --> 01:01:17,440 And I'll exhibit faith in that, Lord Jesus. 1051 01:01:17,600 --> 01:01:21,320 Not in faith, not faith in what I want for myself, but faith in 1052 01:01:21,320 --> 01:01:25,680 what you've created me to do. Lord Jesus, your original design 1053 01:01:25,680 --> 01:01:28,120 as your child, I'll be able to do that. 1054 01:01:28,120 --> 01:01:33,200 Lord Jesus, we thank you. Thanks for listening to this 1055 01:01:33,200 --> 01:01:36,280 message. We hope you were blessed to hear 1056 01:01:36,280 --> 01:01:40,000 more messages like this. Make sure to subscribe and check 1057 01:01:40,000 --> 01:01:42,680 out our podcast channel for past episodes. 1058 01:01:43,120 --> 01:01:46,440 If you like what you are hearing, consider rating us, 1059 01:01:46,600 --> 01:01:49,560 subscribing and even sharing it with friends. 1060 01:01:49,960 --> 01:01:54,320 That would really help us. For more content from Via Zion 1061 01:01:54,640 --> 01:01:58,800 and to connect with us, go to Via Zion dot in. 1062 01:01:59,360 --> 01:02:02,920 Remember, whoever finds Jesus finds life.