We welcome you to the We Are 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.
This summer we are going deeper into heartwarming movies to find
gospel gems and Kingdom truths for our everyday life.
As you listen in, we hope that through these familiar
characters and sweet stories, you have a fresh revelation of
the victorious life we have in Christ.
Hi Chess, This is a joy and a privilege to be able to bring
God's Word to you today even as you just watch the sermon
Bumper. We are doing an entire series
this summer called At the Movies.
My main intention is to take these cultural moments of some
of these movies that have come out, see what God's kind of
speaking to us through some of these narratives that have been
told. And many times it might come
across contradictory, but that's because the Word of God is clear
as to what it has to do in and through our lives.
And last week we saw from this movie Zootopia 2.
We've been going through that entire movie and the last week
was the first part of the series and we saw the title was Snakes
are Not Cute. And in the entire movie, they
bring out this entire storyline of how the snake needs help.
And even as Tina spoke, there were three key things that she
actually spoke about with regard to the entire sermon as to what
actually happens when we allow snakes to be around us.
You know, one of the things is a lot of us probably are fearful
of these animals like snakes and all these other reptiles.
But. And so our immediate response is
there, but we forget to understand the implications that
it has on a spiritual level, especially with some of the
things that happens around. We saw what the venom does.
The venom often takes the life out of us.
It injects poison and we start bleeding out and sooner or later
we become incapacitated. We are unable to do what gods
called us to do. And so there were two key things
we also saw with regard to how we can combat this.
First thing is the presence of God, which has to we have to be
consumed by God and we won't be consumed by the poison.
And so today I want to ask you, as we even continue on to the
series, there's a lot of overlap because again, we're referring
our reference point is back to a movie.
But when you look at these themes, am I willing to be
present in the presence of God? It's that experience that we saw
what Moses had, where he went to the Bush and the Bush was
burning, but it was not consumed.
That is what God wants to do. And 2nd we saw is people, people
of God boldly proclaiming the truth, but especially in love
when it comes to people around us and the people that God's
placed in our lives. Many a times we realize we kind
of keep all that God's teaching to ourselves.
But God is also like, now that you've been freed, now that
you've tasted me, now that you've experienced freedom, now
that I've removed this poisonous venom of what Satan has been
wanting to do in and through your life, I have set you free.
Now go and speak boldly to others.
And in fact, when we look at the entire New Testament from the
churches being established across all the different, one
thing that's evident is the people of God spoke boldly of
what God was doing. And so even as we come into the
second part today, we the second part is about this entire fox
who plays the main character. His name is Nikki.
And when you look at that character, what do you realize?
You see that he's this too cool a fox, he's cunning, he's
finding his way out. But as I was watching through
his entire movie, The entire theme was that he he learns, he
changes his behavior, he becomes a friend.
He looks out for this person. He suddenly starts caring.
He's not concerned about his own interests.
But as I was dwelling deeper upon this, I realized there are
so many areas in our lives that we've allowed foxes to come and
trample over what God's doing in and through us.
And these are not just, these are small little foxes that keep
coming in season out of season just to taint our faith, taint
the fruit that God's giving us, do something so that we will not
be able to bear. We will live in guilt.
We will live in shame. And so today my title is Foxes
are not friends. Foxes are not friends.
The reason being we realize that this Christian life is 1 where
we are journeying and we are on the camp of Jesus.
We are in the camp of our Lord and Savior and there's a
boundary line that's been marked.
There's a battle line that's been drawn.
The enemy is there. We are here, and often times he
is trying to come and mess with what God is promising us.
And I don't know where you're at today in your Christian journey,
but I want to see that we are we living the fullness of what
God's calling us, especially in the area of the what we are
bearing in terms of our food. When you read through Psalm one
and all those other things. He plants us by still waters.
He restores my soul. And often times it's these
foxes, which the Scripture keeps referring, little foxes that
comes and causes confusion, causes dismay, causes, you know,
distress in our lives. And so I want us to come to a
place of how we will be clear as to what is happening in and
through our lives. You know, many a times we are so
clear about our physical lives. We are so clear what our career
path is going to be. We are so clear of what our next
steps are in this decisions that we are doing.
We are so clear if you're investing a house, we are doing
certain things. We've done our research.
But when it comes to a spiritual life somewhere, we think God
will take care of it. But God's like, no, I want you
to be more intentional because a lot of us have entertained these
foxes. Foxes.
When you look in as we in the character, when you look at
Nikki, he comes across as this guy who's not interested.
Especially you see Part 1 and then when you look at Part 2,
he's growing to love this partner of his.
He's growing to, you know, care for someone else.
He's always looked out for himself.
He's always, like, been there. He's figured his way around
people. And so at the end of the day,
they don't trust him. And so how are you going to
identify these foxes in your life so that you'll be able to
work God's plan all your life? Because all these things are
distractions for us. So we see in this movie, Nikki,
he his rest is important. When you look, you know, he
everything about him that he wants to do for himself is
important. He's not bent on justice.
He's impressing on his terms and want to get things going.
He's looking down on others. And we know that when we when,
when he's around other people, he wants to stand off.
He doesn't strive for unity. He's like, I'll be a loner.
That's the whole thing. He wants it his way, literally
his way. And he doesn't want it to bend
to what other people are doing. And so when you look at this,
there's a passive scripture that Solomon has written in the book
Song of Songs. And you might be like, guess
from Song of Songs, isn't that poetry?
Isn't that what he wrote towards, towards what a lover
would look like? And many a times it's a
relationship between God and us and how we defile ourselves,
keep defiling ourselves because we are unable to overcome the
temptations and the pleasures and the and the things that are
surrounding us here on this earth.
Yes, that's in that passage. He writes something beautiful as
a verse, which I would love to read and I that will be the key
verse for us today because I want us to identify what are
these key things that is distracting us away from what
God's calling us to do. Solomon wrote three books, Song
of Songs, wrote Proverbs, and then he wrote Ecclesiastes.
And then you look at the chronology in which he's
written. Song of Songs was early in his,
you know, into his reign where he was operating out of wisdom.
And so he there was this desire for everything, an appetite for
everything. Proverbs comes with instructions
where don't go take this road. It's like when you look at
Solomon's life and what he's written, it's like a playbook of
what you and I have to follow. It's not like 1 which you read.
Oh yeah, that's how that's that's his advice.
No, it's one which is lived out. It's one which is coming out of
a place of, hey, I've done this, I've made some mistakes and I'm
I want to tell you. And when you look at the
Ecclesiastes, he goes on to see what are the deep pursuits of a
heart because everything will look important, but not
everything is beneficial. And so when we move in this
direction, what are we looking at?
And so when he wrote in this Song of Songs, chapter 2, verse
15, this is what it says. Catch for us the foxes, the
little foxes that ruined the vineyards are vineyards that are
in bloom. Catch for us the foxes, the
little foxes that ruin the vineyards are vineyards that are
in bloom. And I want to read again for us
from the Passion translation, it says you must catch the
troubling foxes, those sly little foxes that hinder our
relationship for the raid, a budding veneer of love to ruin
what I've planted within you. Will you catch them and remove
them for me? We will do it together.
And the reason why I chose this particular version is because
God saying I can help you identify, I can help you see it,
I can help you remove it. And so today, what is the
Vineyard of our lives here? Clearly he's talking of his
beloved, you know, as as a person who's in love with this
girl. This is how I would say that
What are some of the things that's bringing into our
relationship? But when you look at our
vineyard, what is what, What is our vineyard looking like today?
You and I all have a lawn to take care.
You know, there are so many lawn jokes that we have in marriage.
But when you look at our lawns, how intentional are we?
Lawns require a lot of hard work.
Lawns require us to really maintain at a particular height.
Lawns require us to make sure that you're water they're not
dried. Lawns require us to make sure
that there's no infection there so that we put medicines.
Lawns require us to tend to week after week take care of it.
And so at the end of the day, it's we we can easily judge a
lawn by the way it looks. It'll show whether it's taken
care of or whether it's just left up to ruins.
And so today I want to ask you, what are your vineyards looking
like? Because the scripture you
reference here as vineyards, I know we are entire theme for
this year in Divine takeover. We have the seed, we have the
vineyard, we have the ground, and then we have the dew of
heaven. And so as we look at all these
four things through the year, one of the things I wanted to
ask you today is what is your vineyard looking like?
Do you have a vineyard which is unable to bear fruit?
Do you have vineyards where it's it's bearing fruit, but right
when it's bearing, something goes wrong.
Are you trying to cultivate something?
But there are patches of these places which look dry and empty
and you're unable to do anything.
It's the patch which is on our feet, which we are on right now
that God entrusts us to Take care.
So I want to ask you, what is it that He's entrusted you?
Because in every stage of our lives today for me as Geshum,
who's here, who's a parent, who's a son, who's a son-in-law,
who's a father, who's a husband, those are all the different
roles that I play. But they're all also, they all
come under the same patch. So which means I need to tend
every area. And if I'm not careful, there
will be these little foxes that tend to come in and ruin some of
these roles, some of these areas that I'm doing.
And the fruit that I need to see as a father may not be the fruit
that I want to see as a as a in our marriage may not be the
first. Some of us.
It could be the fruit of being a son-in-law may not be the fruit
of actually being a son may not be.
And so these little foxes will constantly come.
What do they come and put? Resentment.
What do they come and put? Fear.
What do they come and put? Deception.
What do they come and put? They come and put the confusion,
they put they, they dig out the good that is there and they
leave it desolate. And you're like wondering, I've
been tending to this suddenly, why is there something like this
happening? And this is where we need to be
aware of what these little foxes are.
And so today as I just take you, walk you through the sermon
which you've prepared, I wanted to ask you, are we in a serious
relationship with Jesus? Are we in a serious relationship
with Jesus? Even during Easter, I spoke
about the hinges and many a times the, the, when you look at
these hinges, they seem insignificant, but they are
things that actually open our doors.
They are things that keep doors open.
They got things which keep communication open for us with
God. And so if we are not careful
with these, we will soon realize we are allowing these foxes,
little foxes, they come in, but after they come, they all will
be running around amok in our vineyard, trampling everything
that God's called us to build. And so today, why is our
vineyard important? Because the minute we come into
our understanding of Jesus, the minute we, you know, pray the
sinners prayer, the minute we come into the waters of baptism,
the minute we start living out the life God's called us to
live, our vineyard is starting to look different.
We suddenly attending it with God eyes.
We suddenly attending it with God insight.
We suddenly are realizing we are praying for everything.
We just don't rely on the reins to come and just the work of our
hands. But we are committing everything
into God. And suddenly we start yielding
fruit. Suddenly we start understanding
we are bearing fruit. We also understand the seasons
in which the fruit bears. Then there's time for rest.
Then there's time for certain things to again die and
experience the freshness of the Holy Spirit and move forward.
And so in this cycle, I want to ask you, how healthy is your
veneer today? How healthy is your if you're
single, how healthy is your veneer today?
Is it, is it marred by abuse? Is it barred by inflicting
destruction over your bodies with all that you've consumed in
terms of things that can harm? Is it consumed by by alcohol?
Is it consumed by drugs? Is it consumed by your different
relationships that you're thinking if I pursue all these
time, 1 of it might bring me peace?
If for those of you in in marriage, are you safeguarding
it or are there things of the past that keep visiting and
ruining that vineyard of yours? For some of us, we are so good
that we can, you know, just fake it because during this fake
grass, we can clear the entire thing.
Just keep fake grass and it's and we feel like we can put this
entire persona out in different places.
I have a persona for church. I have a persona for my family.
I have a persona for my work. But God's like, I'll strip
everything down for you to be real with me because at the end
of the day, as we mature in our walk with Christ, as we grow
older, we will start bearing fruit.
And the, the thing with the vineyard is when you actually
understand the fruit of the vineyard is the older vineyards,
when they produce wine, their fruit, they taste so good
because by then they have become stable.
Their fruit is concentrated. They, they are willing to go
deep. There's so much to the taste of
it. And so today I want to ask you,
will you and I make this conscious decision even as
you're watching this. I mean, in a light hearted
sense, the movie is nice, but when we look at this, the the,
the nature of how the self preservation, you'll soon
realize, no, I can't be like that.
And so Psalm 92, verse 12 to 15 says the righteous will flourish
like a palm tree. They will grow like the cedar of
Lebanon planted in the House of the Lord.
They will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age.
They will stay fresh and green. Proclaiming the Lord is a pride.
He is my rock and there is no wickedness in him.
So today you can't discount yourself saying you are done.
And it's interesting. The psalmist here says they will
be. They will flourish in the courts
of God. They'll be planted in the House
of the Lord. Today, even until your old age,
if you're planted in the House of the Lord, you will realize
that you will stay fresh. And you notice being planted in
the House of the Lord, me it. I'm falling back on last week's
sermon. You understand the importance of
the presence of God. You understand the importance of
the presence of his people. You will realize you are bound
to flourish. There's nothing else that can
happen. A lot of times, anyone who's
taken a step back from the presence of God, anyone who's
taken a step back from the people of God don't tend to
flourish, don't tend to flourish.
And the reason is you become ripe ground for the foxes to
come and disturb you. They come and disturb your
spirit. They come and disturb your mind.
Sooner or later they are starting to disturb things in
the physical because everything starts acting up.
God's promise is that He will sustain us.
So today if you're old here and thinking, oh man, I can't be
doing this into my old age, remember?
And what says in Isaiah 46, Ford, even to your old age.
And Grey has I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you.
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
You know, yesterday, even as we were praying here for open
heavens, Tina was leading us into a time of intercession and
need. She took us to this passage in
John chapter 15 where Jesus says I am the true wine and my Father
is the gardener and he. And there's this beautiful thing
about pruning and this constant thing.
The minute we realize we are part of his vineyard when we are
under his car, when we are under his car, caring eyes, he will
prune us. Why?
Because he wants us to yield much fruit.
So today, if you're thinking, you know what, last year, I, I
think spiritually I was doing, but God will actually still
bring in something for you to depend on even more, even more.
And so today I want to ask you, as you and I give, as we strip
down everything that is not of our of us, as we strip down
things, as we allow God to walk in and through us, will we be
ready for God to touch us so that when he touches things that
are not needed will fall off, we'll scoop it out and throw it
and we'll be able to tend to what he's given in our care.
So I want to ask you today, will you don't discount your
vineyard. Don't think, oh God, I was
treated badly my ear. No, but God's sake, now you're
in charge. This is your piece of land.
This is something which you need to safeguard.
And often times it's very similar to what salvation is.
Salvation is personal. Your redemption was for all of
mankind, but it's also specifically for you.
And so when you appropriate that redemption into your life, when
you appropriate a lot of Jesus into your life, you are claiming
it for your ground, for your vineyard.
Sooner or later you will realize that, yeah, you are a parent,
Yes, you have spouse, but again, they have to make the same
decision of allowing Jesus to be their gardener, for God to come
in and say I will prune you, I will do this.
Oftentimes you are trying to do things kids when we lead them.
A lot of us today are unable to speak into the life of our kids
because we've not even made church important.
We've not even come. We don't even bring them to
church regularly. Coming to church depends on how
I decide to wake up. You know, coming to church is to
come from a deep place of God. I want to hear you speak because
this is what enables me for the remainder of the week.
So I want to ask you today, are you willing?
To fake it or you're willing to do the hard work of really
seeing God grow your area of the vignette, what he's given under
your care. And so how can we be on God?
See, The thing is, probably as much as we have to realize what
some of the tactics of these foxes are.
These foxes are cunning. These foxes are sly.
They come in quietly. These foxes are sharp.
They can see through night. These foxes are ones who will
come in, they will do their disruption and then they'll go.
These foxes will come for things that are smaller, less
insignificant, but when we when, when more insignificant things
in our life starting getting disrupted, everything starts
shaking. And so I have three things which
I want to lead you to understand what these foxes can look like.
And if it's if you're looking at your own winner and like God,
these are some of the things I've allowed, we'll see God, how
can we repent? How can we come back to you?
How can we stop striving so that we can see God?
You're in control. The first thing which I want to
talk about with our with the foxes, that is the distraction
they bring, because the distraction leads to deception.
If you're not careful, if you don't pick up those
distractions, we'll soon move to a place of deception.
Foxes by nature are deceptive. As I said, foxes by nature are,
are ones who are steeped in deception.
That's their game. They, they can act like they're
going here, but then they'll come from another place and
they'll grab the, the prey and they'll, they'll start targeting
and they'll do that. Foxes are you won't even know
that they've come and gone. It's it's when you think you
need that rest. But to be ready to always know
if I am lethargic in this area, I'm leaving room.
And so we are meant to be on some kind of alert whether we
like it or not. Today you and I are living in a
world where we are distracted by so many things.
You know, it's interesting when I'm looking through some of
these financial apps and I was just browsing through, they
start off with a good intent. I started using cred thinking,
you know, it's a one place where I'll be reminded to pay my
credit card bills on time and all that.
But sooner or later they bring in so many other distractions
and suddenly they make sure that they are offering loans where
we'll be. And that's probably the larger
business strategy. But at the end of the day, when
you look at it, if I'm distracted, if my provision has
to be on God, if my, if my sole source has to be on God, and if
I'm not praying and asking God what is what next?
I will soon tap into a loan which is so easy on my
fingertips, which I can just do. And before I know I can justify
as to why I'm taking that. And then suddenly I realize I'm
struggling. I'm struggling.
Suddenly I, I thought I was debt free, but suddenly dead started
mounting. Suddenly things just started
gathering way too much. And so these small distractions
will lead to deception. It could have been that just
that one, one text which I was entertaining.
It was just in a day, that distraction was just good.
But down the line doing it that my colleagues suddenly
distracted me away. And before I know it, my entire
vineyard is being deceived. I'm suddenly not liking what
God's given. There's suddenly a discontent.
And so today I want to ask you, what are your distractions?
Because the distractions take our eyes from the promise, our
emotions are through a roller coaster.
We start majoring on a minor, our focus suddenly changes and
without careful thought, we are deceived.
When you look at what deception is, deceiving someone for
personal gain, it's deliberately caused to believe something that
is not true, especially for personal gain.
So especially for when, when, when someone is wanting to
deceive you, they're doing it for themselves.
And often times we've camouflaged it.
We are also some on some level deceiving.
We, we say certain things, we do certain things so that it'll
work in our favour. And so I want us to come to a
place God in my vineyard. Am I distracted and have a left
room for deception? Deception comes in the form of
people. Also in Ezekiel, when we're
reading this, Ezekiel 13, one to six, there's this message that
is being given by God warning that there are a lot of false
prophets who are going around today.
What are the distractions that you're looking for?
Suddenly you feel as you're doing this Christian journey,
God, I think I need to, I need to be prosperous.
And so suddenly you're subscribing to the prosperity
theology. You'll soon realize that those
will be the lies of the enemy. Suddenly you'll suddenly be
truncating gospel message for one which is without suffering.
You'll realize that you will take the good and you leave the
bad. But the realization is in the
gospel that God's calling us to live in, there's everything.
There's everything. There's seasons of blessing.
There's seasons of tough hardship, but it will take us to
a place to realize in both seasons of blessing and
hardship, it's God who sustains me, not me.
And so today I want to ask you, are you giving here to false
prophets? What are the false prophets
telling you? They'll be hollow.
That's what the word of God says.
They'll be like whitewashed. They'll tell what your eyes want
to see. But before you know it, when
foundations are shaken, they will they will fall down.
So let's read that from Ezekiel chapter 13, verses 1 to 6.
The word of the Lord came to me, Son of Man, prophecy against the
prophets of Israel who are now prophesying.
Say to those who prophecy out of their own imagination, hear the
word of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord
says. Woe to the foolish prophets who
follow their own spirit and have been nothing.
I've seen nothing. Your prophets Israel are like
jackals among ruins, who have not gone up to the breaches in
the wall to repair it for the people of Israel, so that it
will stand firm in the battle of the day of the Lord.
Their visions are false and their divinations are lie, even
though the Lord has not sent them.
They said the Lord declares and expect Him to fulfill their
words. Have you not seen false visions
and uttered lying divinations? When you say the Lord declares,
though I have not spoken? You know when you read verse 10
in the amplified it talks about foxes, it says, it says jackals
and foxes. It's the same group of animals
because they leave my people as they saying peace when there is
no peace, and because when a flimsy wall is built, they cover
it with the whitewash. Therefore tell those who cover
it with whitewash that it is going to fall.
Rain will come in torrents, I will send hailstorms hurling
down, and violent will will burst forth when the wall
collapses. Will people not ask you, where's
the whitewash you covered with? So today, you and I, are we
giving room to be distracted by false prophets?
So what happens to counter the false prophet?
You need to know the true. And the true comes only when
you're sitting and when you're meditating.
True comes when you're willing to be still.
By the presence of God, someone becomes very pivotal for us.
It starts by saying, oh, the joys of those who don't follow
the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners or
join in with the mochas, but they delight in the law of the
Lord, meditating on it day or night.
And so today, what are you and I standing around?
What are we entertaining around? Yes.
If we are not careful, we will start being in places where we
need not being. We'll entertain those things.
It's easy to gather around people to talk bad about
something else. It's easy to gather around
people who are willing to pull down something.
It's easy to gather around people and move around what will
work out because some things aren't working according to how
they see it. It takes a lot more to actually
wait in the presence of God and say God, is this something
that's happening? Is this something that I need to
stand here? Is this something I need to do?
And so as you wait on God, as you start applying the
scriptures into your life, you will soon realize these foxes
that are coming in are causing distractions.
Today. The enemy can come in different
forms. Just imagine you can be
witnesses to the miraculous. And then when Moses goes up to
meet with God, he's that longer. He's he's in the presence and
before you know it, our hearts are turned.
We suddenly are asking for a God thinking that God's gone.
He brought us here and he's left us.
No, He just wanted us to remain calm.
Just imagine, God wanted to give 40 days His people rest.
Rather they got so fluttered and so many a times.
The vineyard that God's given us takes time.
The vineyard that God's given us has to go through its course,
which means if if a certain breakthrough or a certain
harvest has to come and the growing period is 9 months or
you know, couple of years, it has to take its course so that
you mature. When you look at the entire
Scripture timeline, every character of the Bible has come
at an appointed point according to God's will.
There is a Kronos and there's a Kairos, and I believe your
miracle will come in God's appointed time.
My miracle will come in God's appointed because that's when
I'll be able to handle it. I'll be able to work with it.
I'll be able to see God do His work.
I'll be able to understand a part of the unfolding of His
will for you and me. So today, are we giving in to
distractions because people around us are restless?
Are we operating out of deception?
How we are operating? Everything starts with
addressing something that's happening in your body.
A lot of us have started to entertain yoga.
I would ask you, be mindful because you can't have the Holy
Spirit and have another spirit where you're trying to Incarnate
and trying to draw attention to God is already in you.
He is life. Don't dim the light and the life
that's in you through Him. You might say, yeah, you need
enough peace. Your body has to come to a place
of realizing God is in control. It's interesting that before we
know it, you, if you're not able to take a stand, your children
will not be able to stand. And then suddenly you're like,
oh, we need to find a Christian School.
You can find all the Christian schools possible and put your
kids. But before you know it, they'll
go into colleges, they'll go into workspaces.
But because they're not founded right, they were not given the
right armor. They were not allowed to stand
and believe for what is true. They were not taught how to
resist the enemy they were given.
So today, don't think Christian schools are the big are the
answers. It's the Christian way of life.
It's that word of God. Are you teaching them to resist
the enemy manifesting your own wishful thing today 2026, you
you can go into any bookstore. There are books on manifesting
what it is. They take this, speak it out.
They just needed encouragement today.
The Holy Spirit is your encouragement.
He says I want to talk to you. Will you talk to me as much as
you're talking to a mirror. He's saying talk to me because
talking to a mirror, you're talking if you're broken, you're
talking to a broke, broken version of you.
You're manifesting saying you're whole, but your body is broken.
You're manifesting that you're you're healed, but your body is
broken. You're manifesting your spirit
is right, but your spirit is in the wrong.
Stop manifesting things when your entirety isn't broken.
You need the healer. You need someone who will work
you inside out. So today, don't fall to the lies
and the the deception that the enemy brings with regard to
manifesting sudden interests and things and others.
Suddenly you'll realize you, you, you, you.
You've lost that love. When Solomon writes this, he's
talking about the distractions that are coming into his own
vineyard. He's not being able to be
faithful to the one. What are some of the things
you're willing to give up? Give it up so that the spouse
feels important. Give it up so that your children
know that this is a stable family.
This is a stable home. Give it up so that you can raise
up a godly generation. You and I have a mandate.
The minute God gives us children, he's saying I'm going
to trust you with some. Would you do your job?
And then when we dedicate a baby in church, he's also asking the
church, would you guys live right so that the child has an
atmosphere to grow and see him. And so today, what is the thing
with regard to overcoming deception?
This entire thing of deception is disclosure.
You need to make known to God everything you're struggling
with. God, this is my area of
struggle. God, this is the area I'm
struggling with. Just a couple of days back, we
were sitting and talking to a friend and as we're talking,
this is the power of dining table conversations.
I would say where we where we sit, where we can put down and
disclosing happened of things that that that that need that he
needs help. We need help.
We're able to freely talk. Why?
Because it happens in a place of realizing I need help.
So today, where are we disclosing?
Because if you're not careful, we'll give room to people who
are not supposed to be telling us the truth.
And we'll be struggling in that. Our faith has to be in Jesus
alone, our fruit has to be borne.
When we are rooted in Him, when we are rooted in His Word and we
are rooted in the garden where He is the gardener.
Our future does not end here on earth, but continues with Jesus.
And so with this understanding, we may should not be deceived.
We should not be deceived. Ephesians 5 verses one to seven
says this. Follow God's example, therefore,
as dearly loved children walk in the way of love, just as Christ
loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be
even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of
impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's
holy people. Nor should there be obscenity,
foolish talk, of course, joking, which are out of place, but
other Thanksgiving. For off this you can be sure no
immoral, impure or greedy person, such a person as an
idolator, has in any indentance in the Kingdom of God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words.
For because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are
disobedient. Therefore do not be partners
with them. So my prayer is that we will not
give it to the distractions that the foxes bring, lest we get
deceived. The second thing these foxes do
is they always go and target things that are smaller to them.
They're not big in size. They're like like like a regular
dog, a large breed dog size. And so you'll realize they
always follow the tactic of a large truck, small truck.
They'll go and intimidate things that are smaller.
They won't go to things that are bigger.
And So what, when they come into a farm or when they come,
they'll go attack a sheep, a chicken, and they, they, they,
they plunder more than what they need also.
And so when you're thinking about this, when I was thinking
about this, God was reminding me foxes, when I'm not leaving, if
I'm not careful, if I'm not alert, they dig out what is
planted. So the second thing, that first
one is distraction. So lest I be deceived, second is
they dig out what is being planted.
So as Christ's followers, we need to be on a high alert.
What is it about the enemy that we entertain that he comes in
and decides to take things? Because the enemy is clear.
He's got his agenda clear. Steal, kill and destroy.
He steals it in that emptiness. He will kill it when once we are
down, He'll destroy us entirely. He'll, he'll, he'll remove any
form of hope. And so today I want to ask you,
who are you allowing? Why are your gates left open?
Put doors on your gates. Put, put, put.
Just don't leave the gates open. close it, be on alert, allow be
on watch who's coming close. John 10 verses 9 to 10 says I am
the gate. Whoever enters through me will
be saved. They will come in and go out and
find pasture. The thief comes only to steal,
kill and destroy. I have come that they may have
life and have it to the foot. So to even you are not careful,
put good gates around what you listen to.
Keep guardrails in your relationships that you have.
Keep guardrails around your finances.
Keep guardrails around your heart and the and the affections
of your heart because it's in this he'll always come and take
what is planted because it's interesting when they're digging
out, all they need to do is disrupt what is going good.
All they and when they dig out, what do they dig?
They don't go for the stem. They don't go for the branch.
No, they dig out the root. They kill the root.
They they make sure that they are killing you from within.
And so today I want to ask you, the enemy knows where to hit us.
The enemy knows where to hit us. Where are you and I lacking in
protection? Can we be deeply ingrained
knowing that God, I want to be protected by you.
So today I want to ask you as Christians who love God, his
word, what is the one area I need to work on?
Because he's constantly coming and digging for those of us.
He digs our areas of contentment, especially you.
You, you're content and but suddenly there's this unhealthy
appetite that he's giving. And so suddenly you, you realize
you're spending more than what you actually ought to spend.
You're scrolling more than what you're what you usually do.
Suddenly a discontent sets in and you're suddenly are looking
at images and things which you're not supposed to see.
You're suddenly entertaining people who you're not supposed
to be even giving room to because you know that the
choices that they make are completely wrong.
So I want to ask you today, what are you giving room for the
enemy to come and dig God your vineyard, You know, the, the,
the, it requires us to constantly keep tending, knowing
the condition of our route. You know, we've been living in
this house, it's been 8 years and then periodically there's
some work or the other, you know, I'm realizing because we
are close to a lake, we can see a lot of rust settling in.
And so we need to get that sorted out.
We have so much of pesticide and other things that we have to do.
We also have a lot of other things which electrically we'll
have to do. So for example, suddenly when I
was in the room that I'm working, there's a fan that's
running. Suddenly the fan started slowing
down. And in peak summer, you know
what the fan speed usually is. And I knew what the issue was.
It was a condenser problem. And so when I'm not getting the
right condenser, if I get a. If I go to the hardware store
and I get a condenser which is not.
The, the, it's a duplicate or it's a knock off version.
Within a matter of a week or 10 days, the condenser will act up.
But there's this interesting thing.
So in the condenser actor, because I'm already caught up in
so many other things, I am not bothered about going and getting
the correct one. I am surviving in that same
mode, going in that same speed where whereas I'm supposed to be
actually having the right one and doing it.
And so today I want to ask you, God was reminding me, many of us
are operating like that because of things that are gone.
We are not going to the root. God is like, can you go back to
the root before he digs it out entirely?
Go back to the root issue, fix it, go back to the things that
break that has broken you and fix it.
A lot of us are wanting superficial fixing.
Now God's like, go to the root because the foxes are coming for
the root. They, they, they will dig out.
They will that very identity that God's built over time,
He'll come and dig that out. It's interesting, the more I'm
starting to see people and journey with them, I'm seeing
the minute you love him and he digs out your very identity in
Christ. He digs out, he puts doubt, he
puts shame, and then suddenly you are just drifting away.
And so today I want to ask you, what is your prayer times
looking like? Are those times where He's able
to talk to you or are you just talking to Him?
What is your Bible reading time looking at?
Because when you're spending time in His Word, is this Word
coming alive and telling you what you need to do?
Because the changes that we need to make are from His Word only.
We can see that we will constantly have these foxes to
come and dig these things out of our lives because we have been
busy with something else, but it comes back to us.
Can we go back and fix these issues?
Can we be intentional? Can be intentional in two,
Peter. One versus 5 to 9 Peter says
this, so don't lose a minute in building on what you've been
given. Complimenting your basic faith
with good character, spiritual understanding, alertness, alert,
discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder and warm
friendliness and generous love. Each dimension fitting and
developing the others. With these qualities active and
growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet.
No day will pass without it's reward.
As you met here in your experience of our Master Jesus.
Without these qualities you can't see what's right before
you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off
the books. What does this mean?
It means that you and I have to constantly be tending to things
with such because the enemies out to attack us.
The talks, especially when you read was the same.
When I'm reading the Passion, it says if you bow alone, God's
awesome presence, he'll surely exalt you and you'll leave the
timing in his hands. Pour out all your worries and
stress upon him and leave them there.
This is from one Peter, for he always tenderly cares for you.
Be well balanced and always alert because your enemy, the
devil roams around incensely like a roaring lion looking for
it's prey to devour. Take a decisive stand against
him and resist his every attack with strong vigorous faith.
So today when he comes to dig out those plants, you're going
to say no in Jesus name. These roots belong.
I'm rooted in them. There's nothing going to change.
I am going to be generous. Yes it it might seem like lack,
but I will still be generous because that is the God I
worship. Yes, when there is faithlessness
because of the situation of no God, my faith is in Jesus.
He will come through. If you're saying the joy, God's
saying the joy of the Lord will be my strength, not these things
which I think will bring me joy. The joy of the Lord will be his
peace that sustains me and keeps me in perfect peace.
Those are the things that I will run after, not things that will
give me temporary peace because it's in that you'll be able to
dig those, put those roots back and say whatever the fox has
come, I will buttle it with the I will rebuttle it with the word
of God. Take that stand.
Everyone is going through this. So if you and I have to do what
God's called us to do, can we take that stand?
Because the distractions that He brings, the digging that He does
is so that we will become a wasteland.
Which takes me to the Third Point.
Dead end areas become wastelands.
You see in these patches when they start happening a couple of
places, if you're not alert, as I said earlier, because he goes
for the roots, we will allow that to spread.
And before we know, what would seem like one thing will
suddenly start spreading and look like a wasteland.
Dead in the areas will become wastelands.
So I pray that these, when you talk about these foxes running
and pulling out, what do they come and pull out?
What do they, what do they take out of you?
Suddenly? This is Geshom here who's a
Christian, but he's without joy. Guess who I'm here.
It was a Christian who's without love.
I might have certain things, but this one area patch which
supposed to have the love is missing because that's waste.
That's become a wasteland now, because he attacked that
particular thing continuously, and I didn't go back to the root
before I knew there was nothing else.
It didn't bear fruit. It died.
That's why I realized so many people today have a wrong
understanding of God. Systematically, they're taking
you out. Systematically they're keeping
you busy from the pursuits of God.
Systematically, they are bringing things so that you will
be away from His presence. So find what is it that I can do
to be in the presence of God? Find what I can do.
What are what are the things that I would subscribe to?
Everything might look important, but not everything is
beneficial. Find out what's beneficial.
Stick to what's beneficial. Accept that this is what God's
created you for. He's not created me for
everything. You know, this is a reel that
comes where a wife is trying to sing and the reel says just
checking if I can sing so I can have a career change.
And when the song starts, she sings on a whole different key
and she's going out. Be aware of what you're called
for. Just because 10 other people are
doing something doesn't mean I have to do it.
A lot of us are trying to pursue and do things based on what
we're seeing around us here with amongst the people of God too.
No, but what does God called you uniquely to do?
Are you confident in what he's called you to do?
And So what are these wastelands today that we have because when
God wants to set us free and want to wants to grow us, the
when you read Psalm one, that's what it says he, he keeps us
besides the streams. And what happens in those
streams? They are like trees planted
along the river bank bearing fruit in each season.
Their leaves never were there, and they prosper and all they
do. And because they do not allow
the wicket, they are like worthless shafts scattered with
the wind. They'll be condemned at the time
of judgment. Sinners will have no place among
the godly, for the Lord watches over the path of the godly.
But the path of the wicket leads to destruction.
You and I have to realize that we cannot operate with patches
of wastelands in our lawn. With patches of wastelands, a
lot of us today are wanting to do life.
With a patch of a marriage not functioning, a lot of us are
wanting to do life. With a patch of us not being a
right parent, a lot of us are not wanting to do the life, the
wanting to do Christian life with a patch of us, you know,
having other things that we give in to and thinking it's all OK.
But God's asking us today, what are these patches that are done
in your life? It's become a wasteland.
Is it joy? Is it peace?
Is it health? Is it finances?
Is it your sexuality? Because broken sexuality you
suddenly are exploring what are the other things that culture is
dictating? Is it your mind?
Because when your mind is not at peace, your your mind is
circling back for so many other things.
Is it marriage? Because you're not?
Because you think your marriage has become a waste and you're
starting to look out for others. Is it your friendships?
Because you've not you, you, you you've you've made friendships
look very disposable that you're looking and thinking now, OK,
maybe I need to change my entire circle family relationships.
God's like I can still breathe and do my work.
Would you come to a place of realizing that those are dead
end things? Because what happens when the
fox overcomes these things, The minute they cause you to
distract, they dig it out. The minute it's a waste and they
make it their home, they will lie that they their weeds will
grow. It's interesting that parable in
it says where Jesus talks about the weeds.
He says the good are planted and then the weeds are there.
But at the time of the harvest, the weeds are taken and they are
thrown into the fire. There is a season for the weeds
to be taken. There will be times when bad
things will be thrown in, in a season identified.
God will alert you that season, you take it out, you throw it.
Seasons changed in a couple of months.
That's where God's alertness alerting us, find it, take it by
the root, pull it out, throw it so that you'll be able to have
the harvest that is needed. So today you and I, what are our
dead end areas that we have been OK, because we can cover the
patch with a fake patch. We can cover those patches with
the fake patch where God's like, I want to be in a place where
you're not deadened to it because if it becomes a waste
and I can't do anything because when it becomes a waste and is
when we discard the vineyard and we move off, we choose another
territory. For all those of us who've been
here last year, our eyes were on the promise.
We are moving in that promise. And with this year with a divine
takeover saying God you take over.
Can he take over these dead end areas so that they won't become
wastelands. Foxes continually sit, linger
and then they create a habitat. One Peter chapter 2 verses one
to three before I close so abandoned every form of evil,
deceit, hypocrisy, feelings of jealousy and slander.
In the same way what nursing infants cry for milk, you must
intensely crave the pure spiritual milk of God's Word,
for this milk will cause you to grow into maturity, fully
nourished and strong for life, especially now that you have had
a taste of the goodness of Yahweh and have experienced His
kindness. Don't let the foxes sit on these
areas of wastelands in your life.
Offense and I would ask you, would you speak the word of God
and the nature of God over every offense?
For those of you who consider, oh, this is not happening, would
you trust God and know that he's taking you through it?
He's not kept you there, but He's taking you through it for a
breakthrough, not insight. Would you still show up and
boldly say God even in the midst of this breakthrough, which is
not insight? I still don't show up because a
victory is yours. Victory is yours for those of
you who are waiting in a place of you feel like you've been
completely neglect. God is saying I am with you for
you. Those of you who feel isolated,
he's saying my presence is complete.
My glory will come down for those of you who are like God,
I've, it feels like I've inherited a lot of this and he's
like come submit to the altar and I will do everything.
Stop striving. Let me tend to these roots and
allow God to go deep in because when he goes deep in what
happens is he shows us things we've carried far too long.
We've just come through Good Friday and Easter.
You'll realize in the Good Friday the cross always brings
us to a place of deep realizing that the past does not define
us, that the future is through the blood.
So allow the blood to permeate. Sprinkle the blood on the
wasteland. Sprinkle Jesus.
Declare Jesus, take the shovel and go and dig it and see in the
name of Jesus, I break ground on the wasteland.
So suddenly you'll see what you thought was dead and start
springing with life. As I conclude, there are two
passages I want you to read specifically for us as we wait
on God to ask us so that we will not give in to distraction lest
we be deceived. For those digging off, that has
been planted for whatever was going right, but yet the foxes
came and dug those out. That He'll give us alertness so
that we'll be alert to what He's coming and doing.
And to the third, for those patches which we've forsaken,
but God does not forsake, and He's telling us, will you trust
me so that I can turn these wastelands into something more
prosperous? You'll be amazed when we commit
our wastelands to God, what He can do.
So don't allow these foxes to inhabit these places.
So I pray and ask that as we conclude, there are two verses I
wanted to read and I wanted to pray because the lifespan of our
vineyard is our entire lifetime and God wants us to come to a
place where we have a rich harvest of producing and then
even into our old age. He's saying so in the old days
is when there's concentrate of wine when he's in these
vineyards. And so in that, what does it say
in Amos chapter 4 verse 9, many times I struck your gardens and
vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew, locust
devoured your fig and all of these, yet you've not returned
to me says a lot. So what is it?
God's sometimes allowed these things to come so that our focus
will go back to him, but yet we've become people with
soulless conviction and apathy that we're just saying God, it's
OK, I'll just sit here. This is I'll take this as my
Lord. God said, no, I want you to
fight for it. I want you to pursue it.
Anyone who's actually found victory in the Bible has
actually stood on the battleground, said not given
into the lie of the enemy. Isaiah chapter 65, verses 21 to
23. This is what it says.
They will build houses and dwell in them.
When you tend to your vineyard, when you don't, when you respond
to God's alarm, when you respond to God's cry to sing, find when
He says that, and I wanted your attention now I got it.
Yes, these foxes were allowed into your lives so that you will
know who the true God is, so that your pursuits will be real
if you pursue me. In Isaiah 65, this is what it
says. They will build houses and dwell
in them. They will plant veneers and eat
their fruit. No longer will they build houses
and others live in them, or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree, so will the days of My people.
My chosen ones will be long. Enjoy the work of their hands.
They will not labor and vain, nor will they bear children
doomed to misfortune. For there will be a people
blessed by the Lord today and their descendants with them.
So today, you and I, I want to come to a place if you've been
stubborn, if you've been saying God, that my parents trusted
you. And so I'm seeing this lack.
And so I, I can't believe you're like this.
God's like I want you. I want you.
Don't formulate everything based on what has happened in the
past. As I said earlier, we came
through Good Friday and Easter. Good Friday tells us the past is
not what dictates our future. So today you and I are coming to
a place where we're like God, I trust you, I trust you.
So I want to ask you today if there is a place in your heart
where you're saying God, there are wastelands in my life.
There are areas where I did mistake after mistake and today
it's this barren. You're going to say, God, I'm
going to ask you for that rain. I'm going to ask you for that
supernatural rain. I'm going to ask you for that,
for that, for that wind that will come and clear off things.
Lord Jesus, I pray that, Lord, that the word of God will come
and will come and become alive. And so today, even as I pray, I
want you to, can you be on vigil so that these little foxes don't
come? One thing is that we stay on
God. We are alert, which means we
don't take anything lightly. If anything, if even in doubt,
we take it to God. We say, God, this happened.
Is this from you? What is happening?
Let it allow it to linger because it's in that you will
identify that there are even more smaller things that God
wants to change in and through us.
So can we pray right now? Because I believe there are many
of us who are struggling in an area where we are comfortable
with our wasteland because we can build things around it and
make it look nice and we can comfort ourselves saying you're
OK. But God's like, no, I want to
set you free. I want to make you whole.
So loving Heavenly Father, Lord, we pray right now, Lord Jesus,
that even as we heard your word, we thank you, Lord, that Lord,
you're making us aware of what we need to stand for, what we
need to do. And I pray we won't take it
lightly, Lord Jesus. I pray even as we read every
wasteland, Lord Jesus right now that your river will just run
through it. Lord, as we read Lord in Psalm
one that we will, we will find ourselves by a river.
Lord Jesus we will we will be so in tune of wanting to be around
the river. Thank you Jesus, would you start
working in through US? I pray especially Lord for all
of us who are so easily distracted.
I pray Lord, would you guard our hearts?
Would you guard our spirit man? Lord, would you guard our
eyesight? Would you guard our mind?
Would you guard our spiritual eyes so that we are not falling
into deception? Lord, I pray for those of us,
Lord, who allow these foxes to come and dig out, Lord Jesus,
right from the root. We're so sorry, Lord Jesus, that
we've, we've just, we've been so caught up with the fruit that
we, we didn't tend to those roots.
And we pray right now. Would you help us tend to the
roots, Lord, Help us find answers, Lord Jesus, so that
we'll be able to do it right, that we'll give room to you,
Lord Jesus, please, Lord, we ask that you would come through.
Please, we're, we're waiting for you, Lord, we want you to come.
We want you to do your work. I pray and ask even right now,
Lord Jesus. Lord, the third thing for those
of us who think because we've just allowed these dead end
areas to become wastelands, that Lord, would you allow you, we
allow your river to run over it, turn, wash us clean, breathe
life into it, walk. Would you would, would your wind
come upon that land, your wind which brought shaped the earth,
which brought light into the darkness, which brought life?
Would you do that down to our wastelands?
Be glorified, Lord, be glorified.
Take charge, Lord. We're so grateful, Lord, for
you. We're so grateful that we come
get to be in the company of people and in your presence.
Lord, I pray your world will come alive.
Your your wisdom will come alive.
Lord Jesus in US, take charge, be glorified.
More than anything, we want to give you the glory and the honor
because you believe in you is all things.
Lord Jesus, through you are all things.
So we give our hands, raise our hands and say, Lord, you take
all the glory, because whatever comes out of the vineyard is for
your glory. We've tasted, we've seen, and
the fruit of it. You want to give it back to you.
Lord Jesus, be glorified, be honored.
Your most holy name we pray. Lord, Amen.
Amen. Amen.
Pray even as you go out this week, do watch the movie.
It's really fun. But more than that, I pray that
these things will be of alertness for us, but we won't
allow these little foxes to come ruin our vineyards.
God wants us to thrive in every area.
That's what the more I'm reading His word, I'm realizing He wants
the whole of us to thrive. So I pray whatever is
struggling, whatever area is struggling, committed to God,
because when you allow that, He will shine His light through you
so that others will see Him through US.
Pray that even as you step out this week, God will bless you.
We hope you enjoyed today's message and we're blessed.
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Most importantly, remember that whoever finds Jesus finds life.