1 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,240 You've tuned into a mega church. We are people hungry to 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,240 encounter God through worship and His Word being witnesses to 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:11,760 the world around us. We pray this teaching blesses 4 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:14,360 you and trust God will reveal Himself to you in a new way 5 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:16,320 today. And if you need prayer for 6 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,600 healing or breakthrough? Want to find out more about 7 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:20,640 Omega? Head to our website or Facebook 8 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:29,440 page through the links below. So now we will go into we 9 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,200 continue our study with the book of Galatians chapter 5, verse 13 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,640 onwards. You my brothers, were called to 11 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:42,000 be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful 12 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,120 nature. Do you remember? 13 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,240 It is the same kind of a verse that he used in verse one. 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,680 What did he say there? It is for freedom that Christ 15 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,080 has set us free. Stand firm. 16 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:56,800 So he starts saying for freedom you have been set free. 17 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:59,320 So stand firm. That is verse one number one. 18 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:04,599 Now in verse 13 he says were called to be free. 19 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,720 Everybody say called to be free, you are called to be free. 20 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:11,840 But what does freedom mean to you? 21 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:18,080 Can we do whatever we like? Just because I am free, I can do 22 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:19,960 whatever I like. Can you do that? 23 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,200 I will tell you a story about two villages. 24 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:27,640 This is a fictional story. Basically. 25 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:32,600 What to drive home the point, I am just not trying to create any 26 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,880 aura around the story. There are two villages and they 27 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:41,520 had a wooden bridge and people who travel from this village to 28 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,160 that village and vice versa. And they had very good. 29 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:49,680 It was meeting their needs. Basically it was servicing both 30 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,680 the villages. But one day the government says 31 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,440 to the two villages, we want to set you free. 32 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,400 You are free. You don't have to pay taxes, you 33 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,800 can have your own government. We are not obligated to have any 34 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:03,800 rules. You know you are free. 35 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,160 So both the villagers celebrated it. 36 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,360 They are dancing and singing and they said oh, we are free, we 37 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,360 are free. Then very soon they started 38 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:17,320 misusing the freedom they had. What they did was they were 39 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,000 carrying heavy loads across the bridge because they want to sell 40 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,640 more stuff on that side and that village. 41 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:28,240 People also were trying to bring more heavier vehicles or loads. 42 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,480 And the wooden bridge, you know, has only certain limitation. 43 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,680 And some people were trying to, you know, do all kinds of 44 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,360 mischief. Freedom is, I will tell you what 45 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,760 they were doing. Farmers drove heavier carts 46 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,520 across the bridge to save time. Then merchants push their way 47 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,240 through to get to market. First I want to be first, you 48 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,600 know, into the market. So they are coming rushing. 49 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:54,080 They were just trying to use their freedom. 50 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:58,120 Before there was some kind of a restraint that somebody would 51 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,720 look at you and say, hey, be careful, you cannot drive like 52 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:02,640 that. But now nobody is there to ask. 53 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,760 So they are just rushing. Children played on it, shaking 54 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,280 the rails. That was it past time for the 55 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:14,440 children go push, pull. And some people thought I am 56 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,320 free to use the wood, go chop the bridge railings and things 57 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:20,120 like that, take it home for a firewood. 58 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:24,640 So what happens now after some time? 59 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:27,920 After some time the bridge was about to break. 60 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:32,720 The very purpose of the bridge was to make them give them 61 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,120 freedom. So they got freedom and now they 62 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:38,040 are using their freedom in a wrong way. 63 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,440 So now the bridge is going to collapse. 64 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:46,240 So elderly gentleman by name Elias, he gathered the people 65 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,640 around and he said to them, guys, one morning an elderly 66 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,160 Carpenter named Elias gathered all the villages. 67 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,320 He pointed to the splintered beams. 68 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,680 This bridge was strong enough for all of us, he said. 69 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,560 Until each of us used our freedom only for ourselves, 70 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:08,520 Freedom for only. Its like Mega make America great 71 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,240 again. You know, you say to yourself 72 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:15,520 Ramana is great again or somebody will say Rao will say 73 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:21,160 make Rao great again. You know stupid, very stupid 74 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,200 slogan and people are running after it and every country wants 75 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,640 to say the same thing. Brazil may say I want to make 76 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:30,680 Brazil look great again. You know that kind of a thing. 77 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:32,680 India will say make India great again. 78 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,920 No, no, no, it is globally. We are one human race. 79 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,560 You cannot be putting yourself above others. 80 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,240 Your interest above others is sinful. 81 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,440 That's what I am. I want us to understand 82 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:50,760 sometimes politics are good, but we have to distinguish bad 83 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,200 politics when you see it, that's the job of a Christian. 84 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,680 OK, now that I did not think of saying it before, you know I 85 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:04,200 didn't plan to say it. So now this man, he realized it 86 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,640 and using freedom selfishly, they are nearly destroyed. 87 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,800 Everything they connected them, so they build the bridge 88 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:12,720 together. Now both the various said now 89 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,520 let's make it strong again. So they brought wood and made it 90 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:20,320 strong. And this time they agreed. 91 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:25,720 We will use our freedom to serve one another, not to serve 92 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:29,440 myself. We will serve one another and 93 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,440 they rebuild the bridge and the bridge stood stronger than ever. 94 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,080 Now this story is very, very useful story because so many 95 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,280 times we are very self-centered selfish people. 96 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,560 I have something on slides on the drive I forgot to mention. 97 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:48,360 Can you please retrieve it for me? 98 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:53,680 Thank you. So there was 13 you, my brothers 99 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:57,280 were called to be free. But then what does he say? 100 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,400 But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. 101 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,360 Do not indulge to do whatever sinful nature is demanding. 102 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,560 That is a picture. I put it there to explain how 103 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,320 should a Christian be? What is special about that? 104 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:23,480 That photograph there, you know, it's just few trees in the open 105 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:27,760 land where this breeze, the breeze is very strong for 106 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:33,120 decades, 10/20, thirty, 4050 years, the wind is blowing and 107 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:38,600 blowing and blowing and the tree has been rooted so strong. 108 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,400 But the branches are not really cannot do much about it. 109 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,400 So branches were yielding to the wind and they are all blown in 110 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,400 One Direction. They are all blowing in One 111 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:52,240 Direction. Have you seen some trees like 112 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:53,800 that? Hey, that's good. 113 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,040 Down South, that is right. This is from New Zealand, 114 00:06:57,720 --> 00:06:59,160 southern most part of New Zealand. 115 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:01,280 You have got a tree like this. There is one more. 116 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,760 Can you can we see the next one? That one? 117 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:12,920 How do you like the tree? It is completely, the wind has 118 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,760 done its damage in such a way, but the tree is very strong 119 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,800 still. All the leaves are intact, 120 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,600 branches are intact, but it is completely bent by the wind. 121 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:27,760 You know the sin also the wind of sin keeps blowing on every 122 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:30,200 Christian. But the question is where are 123 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:35,160 your roots? Are your roots strong enough to 124 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,200 withstand the wind? But the difference between a 125 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:41,880 Christian and a tree is the Christian will stand straight 126 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,800 after all the winds. He because his roots are in 127 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:50,080 Christ strong, he will stand straight, not bend like the 128 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,800 tree. Here are we together. 129 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,400 How are you handling the issue of sin and temptation? 130 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,080 This is very very important because in us we have got 2 131 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:05,560 natures. Those who do not know Jesus have 132 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:10,240 only one nature, sinful nature, but those who are saved by Jesus 133 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:12,800 Christ. You believe in Jesus, you have 134 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:17,800 imparted this spiritual life and you have become a living person 135 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:20,440 because a life of Christ has come to live in you. 136 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:22,240 The Holy Spirit comes to live in you. 137 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:27,720 So now you have two natures. 1 is demanding holiness and other 138 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:31,480 old nature is continuing to say do not worry just enjoy your 139 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:37,000 life use your freedom. So Paul says don't use your 140 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,080 freedom to indulge in sinful nature. 141 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:45,800 Now the word indulge in NIV is different words in different 142 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,040 translations. I think it is used as an 143 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:50,840 occasion. The word don't give occasion to 144 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:55,120 sin is King James and there is another word called opportunity 145 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,240 in few modern translation. Don't give opportunity for sin 146 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:01,400 to take root in your life. Why? 147 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:05,640 Because it is going to ruin your completely, is going to ruin you 148 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,720 completely. So he says the world actually is 149 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:11,720 a military world. You know, right now I'll give 150 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,480 you an example, modern example. You know, I want to keep it 151 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,280 modern. So the US is wanting to attack 152 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:20,560 Iran. How can they do it? 153 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,560 They need some base. So what they are trying to do is 154 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:31,000 they want to use the base from UAE, Oman, Qatar, you know all 155 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,360 those kind of countries. They say can we use your air 156 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,040 base? Can we keep off flights, land 157 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,040 there and take off? They said no, we don't allow you 158 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:43,000 to use our airspace or our airports to attack Iran. 159 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,880 Are we understanding here? So what is it demanding? 160 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:54,280 I want you to give me a base. Why he was attacked, Iran, When 161 00:09:54,280 --> 00:10:00,000 you give base to Satan, by obeying sin, you are giving him 162 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,160 that base. And he will attack you more 163 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:05,560 strongly. He will attack you. 164 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:07,000 He will completely obliterate you. 165 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,520 I mean, it is not by accident that we are praying. 166 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,240 We pray for people, you know, all the time, every day we are 167 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:16,440 praying for someone or the other. 168 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:22,120 So I got a call from a different country, supposed to be a strong 169 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:27,520 Christian, very strong Christian, and I said what is 170 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:31,000 happening in your life? I do not believe God anymore. 171 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:35,720 I thought you are a very strong Christian and how come you have 172 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,880 now come to a point where God does not mean anything to you? 173 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:45,160 I got problems in marriage. So OK, how did you arrive there? 174 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,720 Because I did this. How did you do that? 175 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,160 Because I have done that other thing. 176 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,760 How did you do that? Because I did some other sin, so 177 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:59,000 it was just linked to 1 after the other and it was one of the 178 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:03,840 main things was pornography. That is the one that was 179 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,800 captured, the young man's heart. I said now for 15 years I am a 180 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,840 captive to it. That thing has opened the door 181 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:15,120 for the devil to come in. And when the devil comes in, you 182 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:17,960 are given a base for the devil to work in your heart. 183 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:21,640 And from there he destroys you. He destroys your faith, he 184 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,960 destroys your witness, he destroys your passion for God. 185 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,960 He takes away the desire to worship, desire to obey God, to 186 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,360 read the word. So I told him, OK, we, it is 187 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,160 possible to help, but you know The thing is you need to repent. 188 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:41,000 And then I said you read this book, I sent the book and I said 189 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:43,920 take time and confess the bed of Christ. 190 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,480 This is very simple thing. We do the same instruction to 191 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:49,520 everybody. If he follows it, he, that young 192 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:51,240 man will come out, his marriage will be saved. 193 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:57,680 This is very simple like that. So giving base is what it is all 194 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:00,360 about. You don't give base to the 195 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,720 devil, don't give him a room. It's like a springboard of 196 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:05,560 action. When you go for swimming, you 197 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:08,200 want to jump from a high and then they want to dive. 198 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,160 Then you got a springboard and you go jump, jump, jump, jump 199 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:14,440 into the air and dive. What you are doing is by 200 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,720 opening. When we practice in and we say I 201 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:22,800 love to do this thing, the devil comes into your life and uses 202 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:25,680 your life as a springboard. He enjoys jumping on it. 203 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:35,600 So I just want to make it very, very practically and simple way. 204 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,800 I want to say we don't play with sin just because we have 205 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:41,560 freedom. If we do that, we are going to 206 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:44,760 destroy the bridge. The very bridge that was making 207 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:48,040 life convenient and comfortable will be destroyed. 208 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:53,880 So that's the whole point of what Paul is saying here, is do 209 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:58,440 not indulge the sinful nature, do not give base for operations 210 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:03,080 of the devil in your life. Can I see a hand up if you are 211 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,520 understanding what I am saying? Yeah, that is good. 212 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:08,960 That is good. So we should be very careful not 213 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:13,520 to give room to the devil. And then if you do not want to 214 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:15,840 give room to the devil, how should we do it? 215 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,680 How should we live? We have one more next one. 216 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:24,680 What is the picture you see there? 217 00:13:32,220 --> 00:13:35,320 It is a self indulgence. I put it there. 218 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,000 Self in your life is self-centered. 219 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,480 The center is all about you, all about me. 220 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:44,480 What is my breakfast? What is my lunch? 221 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,840 What is my dinner? What am I wearing when I walk 222 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:49,880 in? Does somebody appreciate my 223 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,200 clothing? Does somebody appreciate my new 224 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,040 haircut? Somebody is all about, you know, 225 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:59,560 someone talked about this self centeredness so much that one 226 00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:02,360 man wished he were a dead man in a coffin. 227 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,320 So everybody will keep looking into the coffin. 228 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:10,960 How is that so? This is self-centered life. 229 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:13,800 Ultimately we will drive to that kind of a situation where you 230 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:16,640 are dead and in the coffin so people can come and look at you. 231 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:22,960 So that is the self-centered kind of a life. 232 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,840 Let us see one more picture. What do you see now? 233 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:33,040 You have two circles. In the previous one we had one 234 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:36,760 circle with a center dot to represent the center of the 235 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,680 circle. And unfortunately in in Google 236 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,440 Slides, you cannot draw a circle with a dot center. 237 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:45,520 It is. You had to create it. 238 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:47,880 I didn't have so much of time. I put a black dot there. 239 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,400 That is the center. But here on the left is your 240 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:53,880 life. Where is the center now? 241 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,240 Your neighbor. You care for them. 242 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:05,040 You look at their need. Oh, you have your you are not 243 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:07,640 Well, I see that you are not. I didn't see you come out of 244 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:09,920 your house for two days. So what is happening? 245 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:11,640 I am sick. OK. 246 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:13,880 Have you been to the doctor? No, there is no one to take me. 247 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:15,840 I am so sick. So you drive them and take them 248 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:20,360 to the clinic, take them to the hospital, whatever the what I 249 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,480 am. Usually you can call an 250 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:23,800 ambulance. These days that is a different 251 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:25,600 matter. But what I am trying to say is 252 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:29,760 you care for your neighbor and then you say, ah, you need help. 253 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:31,720 I am here to help. Now. 254 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,040 There are so many kinds of neighbors these days. 255 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,320 Some neighbors think I do not need your help. 256 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:41,520 You look at them and say, I think you need help. 257 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:43,360 No, no, no, no, I don't need your help. 258 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:45,840 How can you help them? It's very hard. 259 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,400 But in the Christian fellowship we are supposed to care for each 260 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,800 other. And when the center shifts from 261 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:57,640 your own life to the other person's life becomes your 262 00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,440 center. And you say, I need to help you. 263 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:01,840 I, you want, I want to give you advice. 264 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:05,040 Maybe it will help you. And you speak kind words, good 265 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:08,640 words, words of wisdom. And if they do not want to take 266 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:11,360 it, that is their problem. But we have to keep doing that 267 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,640 until God has mercy on them and gives them an opportunity to 268 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:17,760 change their life. You know, that is very, very 269 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:21,160 important. But I was thinking, how is this 270 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:23,720 anything? Everything that we are talking 271 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:29,520 about is rooted in the nature of God, say rooted in the nature of 272 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:34,880 God. The law, the 10 commandments, 273 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:38,040 the book of Genesis until the book of Deuteronomy which is 274 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:42,800 called Torah, is a reflection of the nature of God. 275 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,000 It is an expression of the nature of God who is God. 276 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,840 Read the Bible, you will find out who God is because he does 277 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:55,400 not like sin. He is holy and he says love your 278 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,360 neighbor as yourself is not a new commandment that Paul is 279 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,120 trying to say oh now we are Christians so we have to love 280 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:03,720 each other. No, he is quoting from the Old 281 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:08,079 Testament book of Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18 and he says 282 00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:11,440 they are the same words. Do not seek revenge or bear a 283 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:15,200 grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor 284 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,200 as yourself. Why I am the Lord? 285 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:26,640 Is he your Lord? If Jesus is your Lord, if Yahweh 286 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,480 is your Lord, if God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is 287 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:33,200 your Lord, you should not be able to have grudges against 288 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,960 your neighbor. You do not hate them, you love 289 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:36,920 them. Why? 290 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,960 Because He is God, and if you worship Him, if you have 291 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:44,200 allegiance to Him, you need to have the other people's life as 292 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:47,120 your center and their well-being as your center. 293 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:57,520 This is rooted in the nature of God, at least the same thing 294 00:17:57,520 --> 00:17:59,240 Paul writes again in Romans 13/8. 295 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,640 Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to 296 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,640 love one another. For whoever loves others has 297 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,320 fulfilled the law, has fulfilled the law. 298 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,440 But you know sometimes this looks very, very, very nice. 299 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,600 But I ultimately say one thing is you cannot earn your 300 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,240 salvation by doing good works. There are many people out in the 301 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:25,840 society who can do it. I will give an examples. 302 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:31,320 One example like that you know you in India you got more on the 303 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:35,360 road or three wheeled transport we call auto rickshaw. 304 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:37,720 It is a rickshaw which is mechanized. 305 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:40,840 So it carries people, two or three people it carries in it. 306 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:46,800 So there was there is one guy in Bangalore who goes around doing 307 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,600 his job, driving people, making money. 308 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:56,000 But when when he sees somebody who is helpless, dirty clothes, 309 00:18:56,120 --> 00:19:00,880 unshaven face, dirty hair, he will go to that guy, put him in 310 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,840 the auto rickshaw, take him home, give him a bath and then 311 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:09,200 he will shave his hair, beard and give him a haircut, give him 312 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:15,040 new clothes and give him food. That is, he does it every day, 313 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:17,160 seven days a week. There is no day off for Him. 314 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:25,440 Will that kind of being out? I mean loving people take person 315 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:27,800 to salvation and give them salvation and go to heaven? 316 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,680 No, it is first you need to have a relationship with the living 317 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:37,200 God first. You have to believe in this, in 318 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:42,320 the one God the Father sent into the world as your Savior to die 319 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,760 in your place, to take your punishment. 320 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,280 You have to believe in Jesus Christ of Nazareth 1st. 321 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,320 And the second thing is you will love your neighbor as yourself. 322 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:57,680 Then the salvation is complete. All the commandments are 323 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:01,280 fulfilled in one, he says. Actually, it can be summed up 324 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:03,280 into two. One, love the Lord your God with 325 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:05,440 all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with 326 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:09,240 all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. 327 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,520 These two commandments are the essence of the all of the law. 328 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,160 But why is it so? Because it is rooted in the 329 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:24,200 character of God, nature of God. God is, by by definition, the 330 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:28,960 uncreated Creator. He doesn't have a beginning and 331 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,320 He doesn't have an end and He is the one who brought everything 332 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,360 into existence, so we owe our existence to Him. 333 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:39,680 We exist because He exists and we need to make connection with 334 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:43,560 Him and believe in the One who came to reveal that Father, 335 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,240 invisible Father, in the person of Jesus Christ. 336 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:51,920 We have to believe in the name of Jesus 1st and secondly love 337 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:56,240 your neighbor as yourself. Whatever help they need, you 338 00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:02,160 just spring up into action and do what is best for them because 339 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,720 that is what is Gods heart. You don't have to ask for a 340 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,720 revelation to help somebody. You don't have to ask for 341 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:16,400 revelation so many times. Some people say there was one 342 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,400 particular teacher who came who claims to be healing people, 343 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:21,000 raising people from the wheelchair. 344 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:25,560 So we had advertised it and we went around calling people who 345 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:27,920 were in the wheelchair, hey, come, this man is coming. 346 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:32,240 And that man came and never went and prayed for anybody who was 347 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,840 sitting in the wheelchair. We asked him why. 348 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,480 He said, oh, I only pray. If God shows me to pray, then 349 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,120 why do you want to advertise that you can raise people from 350 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:45,280 the wheelchair? AM I making sense here? 351 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,960 You don't ask God. Is it your will to raise this 352 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,320 man? Oh, God says yes, so I'm going 353 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:55,640 to pray for him. Jesus paid the price already. 354 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:57,000 He's not going to do anything more. 355 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,560 That is the fixed truth on which you operate and pray for 356 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:03,840 everybody and leave the healing to God. 357 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,440 We don't go down because we prayed and nothing happened. 358 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:12,280 Oh, I prayed for that man. He's not healed. 359 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,360 Oh, something is wrong with me or something is wrong with him. 360 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,120 Don't worry about those things. You've done your job. 361 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:23,160 You have prayed so many times. I say to God, after I prayed, I 362 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:27,280 have prayed in your name. My job is done now. 363 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,480 Release your Angel to heal the person. 364 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,640 Release your Angel, give them breakthrough, release your Angel 365 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,080 to solve their problem. Oh my God, I can't do more than 366 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:39,080 that. My ability is limited. 367 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:44,720 But in your name I have prayed. That is how I cover myself. 368 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:49,240 Can I keep on praying for somebody? 369 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:54,720 Some people when they call me and they say mostly from India 370 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,640 or US or anywhere, please keep praying for us. 371 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:03,680 I said do I have any other job? I am not trying to belittle 372 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:04,960 them. What I am trying to tell them is 373 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:07,960 you agree with me and receive your healing now. 374 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,240 Agree with me, receive your healing now. 375 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:13,560 That problem that means you are fixed. 376 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:19,000 Receive it now by faith and it will be yours very soon. 377 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,680 See, we pray for a guy who had no sense after an accident. 378 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,360 He had no sensation on his in his hand, from the shoulder down 379 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:33,680 into the hand, no sensation. You prick him, he feels nothing. 380 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,920 And somebody said, oh, there is my colleague and his son who has 381 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:41,720 this condition, can you please pray? 382 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,960 I said no problem. And one day he came on the phone 383 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:50,440 video call and I prayed in the name of Jesus command that 384 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:52,880 healing to happen now in Jesus name. 385 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,880 And he said, do you feel anything? 386 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,320 He said nothing, OK, do not, you do not have to feel anything but 387 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:01,560 look at your hand now, do you feel anything different? 388 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,920 See anything in your hand? And he moved only one finger 389 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:10,720 just like that a little. Ah, I said that finger is 390 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:14,240 moving. I said, what was it not moving 391 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:19,480 before? He said no, it was dead 19, 21 392 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,000 or 22. He had an accident. 393 00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:24,760 Since then that hand has been dead, no movement at all. 394 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,080 I said OK, let's pray again a second time. 395 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,960 I prayed and then he was moving. 2 fingers are moving little more 396 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:34,160 than it ever moved. And then after three or four 397 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:39,560 hours, he sent me a video of fingers moving very, very 398 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,960 clearly. And then latest that I update I 399 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:48,280 got is that now the sensation is is now come into the hand. 400 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,760 He never had sensation before. Now the hand can feel the pain 401 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,040 and he can move the fingers. So he is continuing to do the 402 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,000 physiotherapy so he can improve more. 403 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,960 How long did it take? 5 minutes. 404 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,160 I must have given him 5 minutes. I said, you see, if you believe 405 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,120 like the lady who went and touched the hem of the garment 406 00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:15,240 of Jesus, the bleeding that she suffered for 12 years stopped 407 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:19,000 instantly. It is not about me praying, it 408 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:24,640 is you have to believe, touch Jesus, rope now by faith and it 409 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:29,800 worked. So we have to do what we can, 410 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,800 but beyond that you cannot take responsibility for certain 411 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:34,840 things. That is what I am trying to say. 412 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,960 There are limitations for functioning, limitations for 413 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,680 loving people, but we have to love people unconditionally and 414 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,880 we have to demonstrate the love also in the same way. 415 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:48,880 Cool. So we had to be other center, 416 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,600 not your center. It's not me, me, me all the 417 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:53,320 time. It's about other people's 418 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,320 comfort, other people's betterment. 419 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,760 They, we should help them. That is how we should live. 420 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,000 Cool. So next thing that we see here 421 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:09,120 is I was looking at all these verses, you know that I see the 422 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:15,240 same thing spoken by Matthew, Mark, John, Paul to Corinthians, 423 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,680 Romans, Philippians, Colossians, Galatians. 424 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:23,480 Apostle John first episode talk so much about love, a surprise 425 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:31,120 and James talks about love. So what did these apostles who 426 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:34,360 were in touch with Jesus in the 1st century, what did they 427 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:38,800 grasp? They grasp that God is love and 428 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,400 we need to love each other, and if we don't love each other, we 429 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,680 don't know this God. It's very simple. 430 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,160 If somebody says I know God, do you love your neighbor? 431 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,080 Do you help anybody? No, I don't have time. 432 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,760 Then you don't know your God. It's very simple. 433 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:03,080 If you are saved, you must care for somebody else to be saved. 434 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:05,520 Open your mouth, share the gospel. 435 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,280 So these are the very, very important things. 436 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:13,520 So Paul is now saying, my brothers, you are called to be 437 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:18,480 free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful 438 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,640 nature rather so one another in love. 439 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,080 So he is giving you a problem and giving you a solution. 440 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,960 Do not indulge in sinful nature. So if you want to come out of 441 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,320 it, how do you do so one another? 442 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,680 That's the answer to that problem and answer and then he 443 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,760 says the entire law is summed up in a single command. 444 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:44,600 Love your neighbor as yourself. If you keep on biting and 445 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:48,880 devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each 446 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,280 other. Now this is the Paul is now 447 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,600 giving you an animal kind of a behavior. 448 00:27:54,480 --> 00:28:02,760 Have you seen any animal videos on YouTube how they try to kill 449 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:05,480 another one? In some cases they get killed 450 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,680 themselves. You know that is also funny to 451 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:12,720 me. The cruel nature in them is just 452 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:17,080 so cruel when it comes to killing the other animal. 453 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:21,240 But sometimes they underestimate the other opponent. 454 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:25,760 Example for example, you you think a bull may not be very 455 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,560 strong, but have you seen a bull killing a lion? 456 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:35,680 It does just puts his horns and flips into the air and and next 457 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,800 thing you see is that land force dead on the ground, the one 458 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,320 shot. So your strength can become a 459 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:48,360 weakness. But in Christian context, in the 460 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,920 Christian context, if you keep criticizing, if you keep biting 461 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,520 and devouring, we are going to destroy each other. 462 00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:01,280 It's like 2 wild animals which are trying to have a breakfast 463 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:03,600 on the other one at the expense of other ones life. 464 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:08,000 So we should not feed ourselves, think of all breakfast, our 465 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,080 lunch, by looking at another Christian and destroying them. 466 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,800 Because it is going to decimate both. 467 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,480 It is going to make you useless. You are going to. 468 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:22,000 We lose our witness, we lose our power. 469 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:26,480 If you want to devour somebody else, you want to eat somebody 470 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:30,760 else, it's not right. So Paul is saying this is, see, 471 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:35,480 Paul is a very powerful writer. He is exemplifying what love is 472 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:40,680 by appealing to what cruelty is. What is cruelty is to kill 473 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,040 somebody. And Paul says, no, no, that's 474 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,400 not what it is. If you yield to it, you are 475 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,760 going to be dead one day. Somebody more powerful than you 476 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:54,800 will come and you will be dead. So that is how Paul is 477 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,120 exemplifying it. So now my time is almost 478 00:29:58,120 --> 00:29:59,560 finished. Only three verses. 479 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:03,720 We are done. See the one of the other things 480 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,880 that he says here there was 16. I will give you a little one 481 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,920 minute introduction and leave it so we can carry on next week. 482 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:17,520 So I say live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires 483 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:20,440 of the sinful nature. So he says the sinful nature is 484 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:26,200 there, how do you overcome it? He says you can do so by living 485 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,280 by the Spirit. You yield to the Holy Spirit. 486 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,080 Holy Spirit, I know I am very angry. 487 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,080 Can you please take over my life now? 488 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:39,240 And when you desperately cry to God, that anger will leave you 489 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:44,400 towards the other person or you are unsettled about somebody, 490 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,360 something people have said against you who are backbiting 491 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,080 you, just say God, I am coming to you. 492 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:52,160 Can you please give me your grace? 493 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:55,840 Holy Spirit, take over my emotions, help me to control my 494 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,920 tongue and the whole Spirit will say, OK, I take over. 495 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:05,000 Yielding to the Holy Spirit is the way to overcome sinful 496 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,440 nature. So you can either yield to this 497 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:12,040 or you can yield to that. That is how it is very simple. 498 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,280 So someone was talking, this is not the best example, but one 499 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:17,600 simple example. He says, oh, there are two dogs 500 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:19,600 inside of me. One is white, one is black. 501 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,120 So who is winning? The dog you feed wins. 502 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,160 You feed the black dog, it's going to finish the white dog. 503 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:30,880 But if you feed the white dog, it's going to finish the black 504 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:35,640 dog. So this this tension is talked 505 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:40,080 about by Paul in Romans Chapter 7 and it is now talking further 506 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,280 in this chapter, he talks about the what are the fruit? 507 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:47,920 I mean, how to identify the fruit of the flesh and fruit of 508 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:49,760 the Holy Spirit and he talks about it. 509 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,320 We will look at it hopefully next week. 510 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:54,840 Shall we bow our heads in prayer? 511 00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:59,960 Father God, we thank you, we bless your name, we magnify your 512 00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:03,520 name, we praise you because you are our godfather. 513 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:06,240 I pray deliver us from sinfulness, deliver us from 514 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:10,240 selfishness. And Lord Father, wherever there 515 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:12,840 are misunderstandings, wherever there are things that needs to 516 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:16,480 be clarified, help us to do so in love to the glory of your 517 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:18,920 name. And we worship you, we honor 518 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:22,240 you. Lord bless us as your children 519 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:26,320 that we may demonstrate your love to someone who deserves it, 520 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,120 someone who needs it to the glory of your name. 521 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,480 In Jesus mighty name we ask, Amen. 522 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:38,280 Amen. Thanks for joining us at Omega. 523 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,520 If you need prayer for healing or breakthrough, or simply to 524 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,480 find out more, please head to our website or Facebook page in 525 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:45,280 the links below.