1 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:08,240 You've tuned into a mega church. We are people hungry to 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:11,240 encounter God through worship and His Word being witnesses to 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:13,760 the world around us. We pray this teaching blesses 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,320 you and trust God will reveal Himself to you in a new way 5 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,320 today. And if you need prayer for 6 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,600 healing or breakthrough? Want to find out more about 7 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:22,600 Omega? Head to our website or Facebook 8 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:31,610 page through the links below. Let's shout Hallelujah. 9 00:00:31,610 --> 00:00:35,530 Hey, that's good. People are awake. 10 00:00:36,970 --> 00:00:40,680 Very good. So we continue our study on Book 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:46,520 of Nehemiah Chapter 11. Cool. 12 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,360 How many of you have read this chapter today and come? 13 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,800 No, only two people. I think I must reward you. 14 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,320 Definitely. You read faithfully and come. 15 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,560 Just somebody give them the chocolate please. 16 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,800 See this is one of the things I always say is that you read and 17 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:13,240 come for two reasons. 1 you know what is going to be preached on 18 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,080 the subject. 2 because you have read you will have some 19 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,760 questions. Oh I don't understand this and 20 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:25,000 when we are explaining this, oh now I understand what that 21 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,040 means. So that Eureka moment you get, 22 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,160 its just a kind of preparation. You just have to prepare 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,840 yourself to meet God and hear his voice through his word. 24 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,120 Cool. So now we what we are trying to 25 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,880 see in the Chapter 11 is verse one. 26 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:45,280 It reads like this. Now the leaders of the people 27 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,520 settled in Jerusalem and the rest of the people cost lots to 28 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,800 bring one out of every 10 to live in Jerusalem, the holy 29 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,960 city. I want to to observe that 30 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,400 Jerusalem is called holy city. Let's all say holy city. 31 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,640 Was it mentioned? How many times was it mentioned? 32 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:08,520 Jerusalem is holy city in the Bible. 33 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:14,600 The first one to mention it, call it holy city is Isaiah. 34 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,040 After Isaiah, there was another person who called city. 35 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:25,520 Holy city is Daniel. He says so it has been decreed 36 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:28,880 so many weeks, so many years, all that he says to this, to 37 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,040 holy city. And then you see that is holy 38 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:34,280 city is mentioned now by Nehemiah. 39 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,160 So holy city, how has it become a holy city? 40 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:43,120 Whereas you don't see that mentioned so many times anywhere 41 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:48,200 from the book of Genesis until now is mentioned very few times. 42 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:53,480 But in the book of Nehemiah, it is, it has now in Chapter 11 43 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:56,280 being mentioned as holy city. Not until chapter 10. 44 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,080 Only in Chapter 11 it is called Holy city. 45 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:05,640 So how did it become a holy city #1 This is a place where God put 46 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:10,440 his name. And it just begins with when 47 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,800 Abraham was asked to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice and he 48 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:20,200 said, take your son Isaac, the only son whom you love, and 49 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,080 Ioffer him as a sacrifice to me on the mountain that I am going 50 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:26,360 to show you. He didn't tell him the full full 51 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,480 address. He didn't say this is take your 52 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,400 open your Google Maps and go and find this one. 53 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:37,760 No, no, no, no, you just have to follow God is set out and he 54 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:39,840 showed the mountain. He said, that's the mountain. 55 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,120 Do you see? That's where I want you to offer 56 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,200 your son. And that's where he exactly went 57 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,960 and offered his son. And that's the place where they 58 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:54,120 build the temple. How awesome is that for it to 59 00:03:54,120 --> 00:04:00,800 happen after 1500 years? No one knows that that's the 60 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:03,480 place where Jesus is going to die on the cross mount of 61 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:05,640 Golgotha. That's where he offered his son. 62 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,000 Very pretty close. On the same hills, same place, 63 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,760 pretty close. But what I want you to focus on 64 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:18,200 is that this holy city had its glorious days, had its glorious 65 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:23,680 days, but it also had its low times, which was demolished by 66 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:27,280 Nebuchadnezzar. And I mean, different kinds of 67 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:31,960 kings came and burned on, broke down the walls and burned on the 68 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,240 thing. They literally looted the temple 69 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:37,200 of God because it was full of gold. 70 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:43,080 It was inside was paneled with gold and particularly in the in 71 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:48,000 8070 when the the temple was destroyed once for all, they set 72 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,440 on fire because by then all the gold was gone, but your some 73 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:55,400 still gold was still sticking somewhere in the crevices here 74 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,280 and there. They set on fire so that it can 75 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:01,000 melt and come down and they can grab the gold. 76 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:06,200 So not a stone is left standing on each other completely 77 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,600 destroyed. So what am I trying to hint at? 78 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:15,080 Is this Jerusalem, the temple and the city of Jerusalem stands 79 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:19,120 for the church. It has its humble beginnings and 80 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:23,360 it has its glorious days and more glorious days in the 81 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,280 future. So let's trace it how it all 82 00:05:26,280 --> 00:05:29,960 begins. Think of Jacob running away from 83 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,160 his brother, and he travels and he comes to a particular point 84 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:38,200 called Bethel, meaning the House of God, which was later on. 85 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,920 He called it Bethel, but it was called loose before. 86 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:48,160 What did he have there? He had a stone for a pillow and 87 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:53,560 slept under a tree. Was God there in that place? 88 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:58,400 Can I hear us? Yeah. 89 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,200 That's a humble beginning. That's a humble beginning. 90 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:08,800 And you see that? That is how many of us begin 91 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:14,640 like Jacob humble beginnings, but then come down to the times 92 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,800 when Moses again is leading them out from Egypt. 93 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,720 And then you see the pillar of cloud by day, pillar of fire by 94 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:23,280 night. It is continuous travel. 95 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:25,760 During the night also, they were travelling because a light was 96 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,480 shining from the sky, a special light for them, a pillar of 97 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,800 light, a fire, and they were able to see and travel in that 98 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:35,920 light. And that is glory. 99 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,760 And whenever they set up a tent and Moses wanted to talk to God, 100 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:43,120 the glory would come and settle on the tent. 101 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:45,760 And no one was allowed to come near the tent. 102 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:49,720 Only Moses had access and his assistant Joshua would be at the 103 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,560 door so that nobody would enter in. 104 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:58,680 That's second level of glory. And then you see, when they had 105 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:03,200 a Tabernacle set up, when the sacrifice offered, fire came 106 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:07,400 from the sky and burnt up the offering, not because its 107 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:10,200 firewood and is lit up. And then slowly it takes half an 108 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:11,840 hour, one hour to burn the sacrifice. 109 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:16,000 No, the glory of God came and burned the sacrifice. 110 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:21,200 And the temple became a place of reverence, a place of meeting 111 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:25,040 with God, a place of receiving instruction, a place of having 112 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:27,960 fellowship with God, a place where you will receive a 113 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:30,880 blessing because you're interacting, you're coming into 114 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:32,880 the House of God, you're meeting God. 115 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:39,600 And that came to the next level when the king of King Solomon 116 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:42,200 wanted to, I mean, actually, King David wanted to build a 117 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:46,000 temple for God. And God says, not you, but your 118 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,880 son will build it. And he made the preparations. 119 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:52,000 He gave the plans, He waited in the presence of God. 120 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:56,000 And the Holy Spirit gave him the plan of the temple, and he drew 121 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,480 it up. And his son built a glorious 122 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:03,120 temple and the, and the fame was so great, even Queen of Shiva 123 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:09,440 came down travelling hundreds of miles to see Solomon, meet with 124 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,720 him, hear his wisdom, look at the temple, look at the glory, 125 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:19,360 connect with his God, Yahweh. But I tell you what, now it's 126 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:22,600 completely destroyed. And Nehemiah had the privilege 127 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,200 of rebuilding the walls. He had the privilege. 128 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,040 Ezra had the privilege of rebuilding the temple of God. 129 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:33,159 And now it is set up. It is set up and it is now 130 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:36,760 called holy because many things have been reversed. 131 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:39,400 What are the things? They have been reversed. 132 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,840 In the previous chapters, we have seen that they had to 133 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,000 separate themselves from the people around them. 134 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:47,920 Particularly with the mixed marriages. 135 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:52,840 They made a sacrifice by saying no to the foreign wives and the 136 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:54,120 children. They put them away. 137 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:59,800 Costly decision they have made. And then Neema says you guys are 138 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:05,200 not having reverence for Sabbath so he shut the gates before the 139 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,440 sun went down and would not allow the gates to be opened. 140 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,080 And particularly on the Sabbath, gates were not opened on 141 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:13,200 Sabbath. So nobody can come into that 142 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:20,600 city and do trade business. And you have so many things 143 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:24,880 going on there and everything is to cleanse the temple, cleanse 144 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,400 the peoples lives. And now the city is called the 145 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:32,920 holy city. Do you see how there's a price 146 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,440 before you can call it a holy city? 147 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,320 And today the church is also like that. 148 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:44,200 The call of God for the church is come out of Babylon. 149 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,080 What does Babylon stand for? The world. 150 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,240 The worldly system you have to come out of the worldly system. 151 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:54,520 Worldly system of making money, worldly system of prosperity, 152 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,160 worldly system. You have to come out and be a 153 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:04,920 holy people to God. And you see the pinnacle or the 154 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,880 high point of the church is when you see when you enter heaven 155 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,880 where there is no sun. Why? 156 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:15,560 Because God Himself is the one who gives light there and there 157 00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:19,000 is no moon to give you light in the night because there is no 158 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:24,600 night. So we have to go through the 159 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:27,880 stages. This is the story of the church. 160 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:29,680 This is a story of every Christian. 161 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:32,840 Can you tell your neighbor? This is a story of the church 162 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:34,400 and the story of every Christian. 163 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:44,000 You will have a humble beginning, glorious times, 164 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:48,520 struggles, rebuilding, and ultimately you will have enter 165 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:53,680 heaven one day where there is no tears, no pain, no sorrow, 166 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:57,000 everything is going to be great. You will be worshipping God and 167 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,080 you don't need light because God himself is a light and you don't 168 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:05,400 there's no night because this is always God, is always God and 169 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:07,320 you are going to see him face to face. 170 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,560 So that holy city is just not a word there for you. 171 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:15,920 It is an encounter, it is an experience. 172 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,520 It is an experience in the past. It should be an experience in 173 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:21,560 the present, it should be an experience leading you to the 174 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:33,480 future. So into this holy city, after it 175 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:37,560 was rebuilt, the population at the time in Judea must be about 176 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:40,760 50,000 people. So they are all scattered all 177 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:44,480 over. If somebody can access the. 178 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,520 Sorry, I forgot to mention there's a map in the drive. 179 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:55,360 So when you look at the map, you understand how they are all 180 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:57,560 scattered. But the point I'm trying to make 181 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:00,560 is the city itself is rebuilt now. 182 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:05,200 Walls are set up, temple is. Audiences are going up. 183 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:06,480 Yeah. Thank you, Temple. 184 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,080 Things are going up now, but the people in the city, the 185 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:14,840 population inside the city is very less, very, very less 186 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:18,240 meager. And everywhere you see rubble 187 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:22,000 because many houses have been pulled down, many houses have 188 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,200 been pulled down and been destroyed by the enemy, enemy 189 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:27,320 army. So now you have to rebuild the 190 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,560 houses. And if you say if you, if you 191 00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:33,960 are shown a place, oh, this is a place come and live, you'll say, 192 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:35,800 no, I am better off in the where I am. 193 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:38,360 Why would I want to leave my house? 194 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:42,080 Why would I want to leave my fields and come outside from 195 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:46,360 Jerusalem to come inside the Jerusalem and try to rebuild a 196 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,560 house, make a home for myself. It involves cost. 197 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:55,040 So here in the map, you see people were scattered all over. 198 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:58,480 Let's say the Temple Mount is that's where you have Jerusalem 199 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:04,280 and you got people as far as beer Sheba in Hebrew it is beer 200 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,880 sheva, but English is beer sheva. 201 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,480 So all over all the villages, all the townspeople have been 202 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:14,400 populated, but very few people who are living inside Jerusalem. 203 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:20,080 So now because of this, what they have done is some people 204 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:25,720 said, oh, particularly Nehemiah, the leaders say he himself was 205 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:29,600 living inside Jerusalem. Ezra the priest was in living 206 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,120 inside Jerusalem. So all the leaders were there 207 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:34,720 inside Jerusalem. Still the population is very 208 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,280 less. So some have volunteered to say 209 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,440 I want to make my home in Jerusalem. 210 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,920 So some people moved leaving their places and came inside 211 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:48,880 Jerusalem to make them make the home inside Jerusalem. 212 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,560 Now that is very important, very important. 213 00:13:52,560 --> 00:13:56,160 Why is it important? If you don't have people, is 214 00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:01,120 easy again to some enemy can invade and there's nobody to 215 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,200 defend the city, There's no one to defend Jerusalem. 216 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,720 So you need people inside. So what did Nehemiah do? 217 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,720 He had thought about it and he said we need people to come in, 218 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:15,000 but who will come in? We want God to decide who will 219 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,120 come and dwell in Jerusalem because this is a city that 220 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:21,560 belongs to God. So we need God to decide who 221 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,360 will come and dwell here. So he costs lots. 222 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:28,080 Out of every 10 people who choose one family, every ten 223 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:32,120 families who choose one family and say, hey, your God is 224 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:36,680 pleased to say you should move. So from outside Jerusalem, you 225 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,880 leave your house, you leave your field and move with all your 226 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,840 things and your children and come and find a place inside 227 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,640 Jerusalem and look at a rubble and then rebuild the wall there, 228 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:48,560 rebuild the house and dwell there. 229 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:56,280 So when you when God gives you invitation to build the church, 230 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,520 it involves 2 things. One, there's a cost. 231 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:07,640 Everybody say cost. It will shake your zone of 232 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,640 comfort. You will be shaken out of your 233 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:14,760 your own comfortable position and you'll have to make some 234 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:21,400 sacrifice. 2 There is a danger. Why there is a danger when the 235 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:23,800 enemy comes to attack who he will attack. 236 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:26,480 Will he attack somebody who is having a tent outside Jerusalem 237 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:28,440 or will attack the people inside Jerusalem? 238 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:38,760 Therefore, this is what it is. Many of us, we think church is 239 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:44,160 something fun, but when you take church seriously, you become a 240 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:48,000 target of enemy. You become a target of enemy. 241 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:50,440 So you need to be very prayerful. 242 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:53,040 I'm telling you this is a very, very important lesson. 243 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:57,320 But there was one man in history, at least from my 244 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:04,320 knowledge, Alexander Dovey, He is called the farm father of 245 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:10,360 modern healing ministry. And he discovered the healing by 246 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:14,240 the death of Jesus and this healing in the blood. 247 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,000 This is the first guy who really taught it. 248 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,800 And then after he discovered it and after he became very famous 249 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,120 because of traveling and many people started coming, he wanted 250 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:27,200 to, he wanted to build a city called Zion. 251 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:29,520 Zion. He built a city called Zion. 252 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:36,280 And what he did was he bought huge land and built a city, and 253 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,280 he would tell the people, OK, you want to come and live here, 254 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:43,040 you sell your property, come and buy your property here. 255 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,000 And he would sell the property to the people. 256 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,440 And he made heaps of money as well because of that. 257 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:52,960 And he built a city, but it involved cost for people. 258 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,760 But we don't do that anymore. That's not a model for every 259 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:58,440 church, every city, every nation. 260 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,160 That's not the model. But what the general principle 261 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:08,480 holds good is when church becomes serious matter, it will 262 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:10,960 shake you out of your comfortable zone. 263 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:13,920 It will expose you to become a target of the enemy. 264 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:17,200 That is the reason why we need to be prayerful people, people 265 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,400 of prayer, people of prayer, and that is what is going to save 266 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,359 you and make you an effective Christian. 267 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:33,320 So people give 110th from what they have tithe to the temple of 268 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:38,120 God. But Nehemiah said you give 110th 269 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:43,120 of the people to the to the city of God tithing people. 270 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:50,280 Did you hear about it? It looks funny, but what it 271 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,880 means is that you are saying I belong to God. 272 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:58,400 And I was thinking a little bit more about this tithing thing 273 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:00,400 somewhere. I came across an idea where it 274 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:05,600 says when you tithe, you're actually wanting to become like 275 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,720 Christ because Christ gave all his life. 276 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:14,640 And when you are giving your 10%, you're telling God I want 277 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,560 to be like Christ. It is a privilege. 278 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,520 It is something to shake you out of, shake us out of. 279 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:30,400 You can call it greed or self centeredness or just me, just 280 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:32,120 me. I need to be quite well. 281 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,920 I just me and my family, my children, my property, my 282 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:38,080 business. God will shake you out of the 283 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:43,520 out of the mentality by instituting this system called 284 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,520 tithing. It just not only valid for Old 285 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:49,280 Testament is valid for New Testament too. 286 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:52,600 But we don't make it compulsory here. 287 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,760 That's the good news. We just want people to 288 00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:02,440 voluntarily partake in the in the will of God, in the plans of 289 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:06,720 God, in the purposes of God in the Kingdom of God South. 290 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,040 This is something you do voluntarily. 291 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:13,240 So we don't impose anything because some other time I spoke 292 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:17,000 and I didn't mention about this, I was told of so I am. 293 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,440 This is not very easy, compulsory, but just a way of 294 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:25,080 like many other disciplines. If you can give your time, let's 295 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:29,000 say for prayer one hour a day because you want God's Kingdom 296 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,400 to come into the world, Can we ties our time? 297 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:38,800 Is that a challenge? If we begin to ties time, I tell 298 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:44,360 you revival will come tomorrow. You begin to pray 2 hours a day. 299 00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:47,080 God, I want the fire to come down on city of Christchurch 300 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:48,600 very soon. It's going to happen. 301 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,560 We are not willing to give. Its easy to give money than to 302 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:55,560 give your time. Its more difficult to pray. 303 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,320 But if you do, that revival is going to come very soon. 304 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,560 OK, so they volunteer to live in Jerusalem. 305 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,400 So what did the people do? The people commended all the men 306 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:09,040 who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. 307 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:11,920 The two categories of people, one category is those who 308 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,240 volunteered. The second category is the 309 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,480 people who are chosen by lot. It is commendable if people are 310 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:23,440 do things voluntarily. Voluntarily, whatever you do is 311 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,480 more commendable than being forced to do or being told to 312 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,600 do. And the Kingdom of God is more 313 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,360 willing to bless those who do things voluntarily. 314 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,760 You on your own decide, I love God, I want to do it. 315 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,440 It's easy to sing. Oh, the alabaster bottle is 316 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:47,800 broken, poured at your feet. Very easy to sing, very 317 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,920 difficult to do, very difficult to do. 318 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,080 I am telling you so many things. We sing. 319 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:58,880 I say, oh, it's not that easy. Just imagine today I was 320 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,120 imagining myself, my neck broken like this because alabaster 321 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:06,280 bottle was broken, You know, I said, oh, my neck is broken and 322 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,560 being poured out at his feet. Oh, that's too difficult. 323 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:14,040 But I said, Lord, give me grace. Give me grace that I may not 324 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:18,320 withhold anything, that I may be completely sold out to you, Your 325 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:20,120 purpose, your will, your Kingdom. 326 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:27,160 Next time you sing, imagine that. 327 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:36,600 OK next thing that we see here is that was very challenging 328 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:40,960 thought to me. Basically progressing from stone 329 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:46,520 as a pillow to walking into the heavens where Gods glory is a 330 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:48,600 son. You don't need a son because 331 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:52,680 God's glory lights up the whole place and you're going to live 332 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:56,640 there for eternity. Not for one year, not for 10 333 00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,120 years, not for 100 years. You're not going there on a 334 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:01,720 lease. It is your citizenship. 335 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:07,480 You belong there and you have to put some effort now to merit it. 336 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:13,960 It is free basically by faith. At the same time the disciplines 337 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:17,720 are given so that you will not lose that vision of heaven. 338 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,720 The discipline of prayer, the discipline of sharing the 339 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:23,480 gospel, the discipline of giving, the discipline of 340 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,520 helping people out is so that you will not lose sight of the 341 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,600 heaven. Everything has a place. 342 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:38,080 Its all working together like a well oiled machinery is 1 big 343 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,320 picture. Christian life is 1 big picture. 344 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,760 Not in parts. You don't see Part 3 today and 345 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:46,920 part 7 tomorrow. Cool. 346 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,560 And then what happens here is all there's a variety in the 347 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:55,160 church. Everybody say variety in this 348 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,360 city. Who are the people who came to 349 00:22:57,360 --> 00:23:00,720 dwell there in verse 3? These are the provincial leaders 350 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:06,720 who settled in Jerusalem. Now some Israelites, priests, 351 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,160 Levites, temple servants, descendants of Solomons, 352 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:13,600 servants, lived in the towns of Judah, each in his own property. 353 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,880 And then you see people from Judah and Benjamin, they wanted 354 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:21,360 to live in Jerusalem. And then you got priests, and 355 00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:25,600 then you have the Levites and you got the gatekeepers. 356 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,360 You know, when you look at this whole city of Jerusalem, it is 357 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:33,120 one living Organism. Its not just people. 358 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,840 Somebody is living in this house here, somebody living in the 359 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,160 house there. No, they're all one. 360 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:42,680 Imagine if there are no Levites, how will the church, how will 361 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,800 the temple function? Imagine if there are no priests, 362 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,880 who will offer the sacrifices? If there are no gatekeepers, who 363 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:53,000 is going to protect the temple? If there are no all kinds of 364 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:54,880 other kinds of people who are involved there? 365 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,440 There are people who used to bring water for the sacrifices, 366 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,160 who are people who cut wood? This everything is in the right 367 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:04,440 place. Only then the whole temple 368 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:10,040 functions normal. It's very easy for me to stand 369 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:15,200 here and preach. OK, but who will put the chairs? 370 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:16,760 If nobody puts the chairs, who am I? 371 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:18,040 Who is going to come and sit? Who? 372 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,360 How am I going to preach if the people are not making the 373 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:25,200 morning tea? And after the service, how will 374 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,280 you have a good time talking to each other? 375 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,280 And if there's nobody, no volunteers, how will the 376 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,880 children be nourished? And how will you feed children 377 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:40,680 and prepare them for future? Everything has its own place and 378 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,120 there is a variety and there is a part for everybody to get 379 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:47,960 involved. Everybody has a part to get 380 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,280 involved. Only then the church functions 381 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:55,360 well. Otherwise it will be only few 382 00:24:55,360 --> 00:25:00,240 people, always taxed. You want to have a meeting, same 383 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,040 7-8 people. You want prayer meeting, same 10 384 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,800 people. It is going to be like that, but 385 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:11,080 if everybody says I want to be part of this church, then find 386 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,520 something that you can do. Particularly right now, this is 387 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,160 the time we they're crying out there every Sunday. 388 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:19,400 They're saying we need people to volunteers to help with the 389 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,840 Sunday school to help with this, to help with that. 390 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:27,160 Find a place that suits you and say I want to contribute 391 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,840 something and then the church will function normal. 392 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:36,680 It becomes normal not be wanting anything cool. 393 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:42,200 During the time of Nehemiah, the tribe of Judah mainly consisted 394 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:45,360 of or the Judea areas or the southern Kingdom consisted of 395 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:47,920 people from the tribe of Judah and from Benjamin. 396 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:57,360 They are the two basic tribes and you have a place for leaders 397 00:25:57,360 --> 00:26:00,240 as well, because leaders are the people. 398 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:04,400 When they come into the city, they give strength to the city 399 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,640 and they give honor to the city, dignity to the city. 400 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:12,680 So we need them. It depends on the size and 401 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,920 things like that. But here they have, whenever you 402 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,480 read this chapter, you see there, let's say here in verse 403 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:23,160 12, it says there's a big list of people. 404 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:25,600 And then who carried on the work for the temple? 405 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:29,600 822 men. And then it says and his 406 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:33,360 associates who are heads of families, 242 men. 407 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,800 And then it talks about other set of people, associates who 408 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:42,480 are able men. 128 Their chief officer was Jabdi al son of 409 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,600 Hagido Lim. Among the Levites. 410 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:51,240 You see again they were about among the Shamwa son of Galal, 411 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,000 son of Jerusalem was 18. The Levites in the Holy City 412 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:59,080 totaled 284 people. So they there is some the system 413 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,640 was very accurate. They counted. 414 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:07,000 Now here the for those people who are more brainy and you want 415 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,000 to find some fault in the scripture, there are some 416 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,680 mistakes here. In Chapter 11, when you read 417 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,800 these numbers and compare it with the numbers mentioned in 418 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,800 First Chronicles, there is a variation. 419 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,560 It's not the same number. So if you're taking count, 420 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,560 you're taking a census of the tribe of Levi or the priests or 421 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:32,320 anybody for the group of people during the same contemporary 422 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,200 time. The same number should be there, 423 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:38,320 but there is a variation. The variation can be explained, 424 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:41,520 but you need to sit down with the commentary. 425 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,200 OK, They will give you reasons why it is variation. 426 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:50,360 Like Nehemiah, he took just one head of the family and he 427 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:53,480 counted the number in that family and he gave a number. 428 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:57,080 But in the first one, because there are 4 heads of family, so 429 00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:58,800 you got more people recorded there. 430 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:01,960 And in some other place there are six families and whereas 431 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:03,920 here he may be counting only four families. 432 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:05,640 So this is that kind of a variation. 433 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:08,440 It is not a mistake. It's not an error, it's just a 434 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,360 perspective. Hallelujah. 435 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,240 That is to encourage us that the Word of God is reliable. 436 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:20,040 But if there is a mistake, this is just human way of 437 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,200 argumentation. If there is a less error in the 438 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,040 number, is it going to change your salvation? 439 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:29,680 Is it going to mix up your message of salvation? 440 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:31,840 Is it going to make you less holy? 441 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,080 So if somebody says there are eight people or somebody says 442 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:38,360 there are nine people, that's not going to make a difference 443 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,680 in the main purpose of the organization. 444 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,320 So that's how I look at it. And it's not a major mistake. 445 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:50,840 It's not going to, particularly when you are talking to Muslims, 446 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,280 they find these kind of mistakes and they say, oh your Bible has 447 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,480 errors. You can laugh at them and say 448 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,440 what is error? Is it changing your destiny? 449 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:08,480 No, still go to heaven. OK, then let's look at something 450 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:13,960 else. Cool. 451 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,680 Then we see why this called city is called Holy City. 452 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,120 I think I'm not here over the Holy city, looks like, isn't it? 453 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:27,280 This is the place you have this temple and inside the temple you 454 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,720 have got the Ark of the Covenant, and inside the Ark of 455 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,680 the Covenant you have the 10 commandments of Moses. 456 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,160 The city is interested, the temple is interested with 457 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,480 guarding the 10 commandments. And that is the basis for the 458 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,480 whole world. Whether you live in Russia 459 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:48,520 without God or China without God or some other country with with 460 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:51,520 God, still those 10 commandments you cannot escape. 461 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,280 Every nation is governed by those 10 commandments. 462 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,400 Show me a country which says we don't have a court of law, we 463 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,040 don't have Police Department, we have got no jails. 464 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:08,320 There is no country like that. The church is given today in the 465 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:12,840 same way, a repository, it's been a deposit of the message of 466 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:14,760 salvation is given to the church. 467 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:21,600 And when the church fails to proclaim the gospel, what 468 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:23,960 happened to Jerusalem can happen to the church. 469 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,840 In fact, what did Jesus say to one of the seven churches he 470 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,000 talks about in the Book of Revelation? 471 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,760 If you don't change, I am going to remove the lampstand. 472 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:37,520 That means the church is going to disappear. 473 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:43,880 We need to be carefully guarding the truth, carefully guarding 474 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,600 the message God has entrusted to the church. 475 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:52,600 And we are the people who hold the treasure of the gospel of 476 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,240 Christ, which is salvation for everybody. 477 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,920 So 10 commandments given by Moses was to influence the 478 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,120 world, but not to be influenced by the world. 479 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,000 It is wholly get treasure. So also the Church is 480 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,440 commissioned to take the gospel to the whole world. 481 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:15,560 No other philosophy or God or religion is going to save 482 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,200 mankind. The Church has a unique deposit 483 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:23,880 of truth, which is the truth. As I was meditating, I just 484 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:30,600 wrote it down. Secondly, the Third Point, there 485 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:34,880 is order. Everybody say order, order in 486 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,840 the way things were done during Neymar's time. 487 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,640 You got people who were responsible for things outside 488 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:45,480 the city, outside the temple, and there are people who are 489 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:47,640 responsible for things inside the temple. 490 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:53,200 Let's look at it, verse 16. What does this verse 16 say? 491 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:58,960 Verse 16 says Shabbathai and Josepha 2 of the heads of the 492 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:02,080 Levites who had charge of the outside work of the House of 493 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:04,880 God. They had charge of outside the 494 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:06,840 work of the House of God, that is the temple. 495 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:08,800 Outside the temple they were in charge of it. 496 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:15,760 And then you have somebody else. In the verse 2022 onwards, the 497 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:20,040 chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzi, son of Bani, 498 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:24,440 the son of Hasabaya, the son of Matanaya, the son of Micah. 499 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,840 Uzi was one of Asaph's descendants who were the singers 500 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,560 responsible for the service of the House of God inside the 501 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,200 temple. Everybody say inside the temple. 502 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,160 Worship is the main business inside the temple. 503 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:47,640 What is the main business? So when we say worship, we had 504 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:49,840 to be here on time. There's nothing to be offended. 505 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:57,000 That's the main business of us. We had to come on time to sing 506 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:02,560 to the Lord and to worship Him, because He paid for you with His 507 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:08,560 own life. And it is fitting and right to 508 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:12,880 worship God through singing. And this has been regulated by 509 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:15,840 King David. How did it all begin? 510 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,720 Because David loved God, He was a man after Gods own heart, and 511 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:24,960 he had appointed sons of Asaph to lead in worship and to sing. 512 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:28,320 And all these people who are from the Levites were supposed 513 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,760 to be completely in the right uniform and come to the temple 514 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:39,760 and be holy and worship God and to prophecy and to prophecy. 515 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,360 People who are singers who are also prophesying. 516 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:47,400 When, when you do so, when you worship God in the Spirit and 517 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:49,720 the same Spirit gives you utterance and gives you 518 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:54,000 prophecy. So music time, music, I mean, 519 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:58,640 one day expect the worship team to begin to prophecy. 520 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:05,200 That is your next goal. That is the challenge. 521 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,760 That is the challenge. So that is instituted by King 522 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,600 David. It was rewired by Solomon. 523 00:34:13,159 --> 00:34:16,600 Oh, my father did this. OK, let's this new temple I'm 524 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:20,080 building now, glorious temple called the sons of Asaph, The 525 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:24,159 descendants of Asaph, let them be the livers who will lead in 526 00:34:24,159 --> 00:34:26,719 worshipping God, to sing unto him. 527 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:30,480 And they did lead in singing and worship. 528 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,080 It continued for some generations, rewired by 529 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,520 Hezekiah, again rewired by many other kings. 530 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:40,239 But now the temple, the temple was destroyed, walls were 531 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,120 destroyed, the temple is rebuilt, walls are rebuilt, and 532 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,920 now the worship is being reordered. 533 00:34:46,199 --> 00:34:49,159 So what did they do? They called for descendants of 534 00:34:49,159 --> 00:34:53,239 Asaph because they are chosen by King David. 535 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:57,520 So they called for descendants of Asaph to come and lead in 536 00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:02,440 worship singing to God. I tell you singing to God is not 537 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:06,960 a new idea, is not a new idea. Its centuries old. 538 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,320 It is deeply rooted in the worship of the temple and that 539 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,240 is how we engage with God is by singing to him. 540 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,120 It is. Tell me, somebody who says I 541 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:25,640 want to come late next Sunday. No, no, no, that's not what we 542 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,080 are promoting here. All this energy I'm putting in 543 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:31,280 to make us all expect to meet with God. 544 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:36,320 The singing is not just somebody singing there and I just sit 545 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,160 there or stand there or have a snooze. 546 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,760 That's not the purpose. Purpose is to stand in the 547 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,160 presence of God. And as I told you, when you 548 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:47,760 sing, you engage with the meaning of the words. 549 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:51,640 As I talked about my neck being broken and offered, that is how 550 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:55,200 you engage with the words and you mean what you're singing and 551 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,640 sing what you mean. And then the presence of God 552 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,560 comes so powerfully in your midst because of the same 553 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:04,520 reason, because you're engaging with God, your heart, your soul, 554 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,600 your spirit is engaging God. That is singing. 555 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:16,320 Cool. So here you have outside Inside 556 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:20,040 all kinds of things are going on and this is the same thing. 557 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:24,360 Things have to be done in order. So Paul talks about how things 558 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,240 should be done in order inside the church. 559 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:30,120 He talks about in one Corus chapter 14 for God is not a God 560 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:33,760 of disorder, but of peace as in all the congregation of the 561 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:35,960 Lords people. He's saying, OK, this is not 562 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,080 just listening to 1 church is for all the churches. 563 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:44,480 Things should be done in order. One Corinthians chapter 14 was 564 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:48,560 40, but all things should be done decently and in order. 565 00:36:49,240 --> 00:36:51,280 One Corinthians Chapter 11 was 16. 566 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,680 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, anybody 567 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:59,720 wants to argue about this, we have no other practice, nor do 568 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:03,400 the churches of God. What is He trying to say? 569 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:09,800 We don't compromise on this principle of doing things in 570 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,760 order. We do not have any argument 571 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:17,160 about it. Cool. 572 00:37:26,150 --> 00:37:31,110 So, so much there to talk about inside, outside, and above all, 573 00:37:41,780 --> 00:37:44,780 I wrote so much on my Bible. But I think I will conclude it 574 00:37:44,780 --> 00:37:48,720 now is going on and on. It's not going to end so 575 00:37:48,720 --> 00:37:51,400 quickly. But I'll read from somebody by 576 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:57,000 name W Clarkson, from what he has written about all these 577 00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:58,920 things. Summing up, I'll read it for 578 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,440 you. There is an unsuspected strength 579 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:04,880 in the truth she holds. He's talking about the church. 580 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:10,160 The church is holding truth. And there is an unsuspected 581 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:14,040 strength in the truth she holds in the weapon she wields. 582 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:19,080 The church has weapons, and we have to begin to use those 583 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,560 weapons as a church, not as an individual, but as a church 584 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:25,480 together. So we have weapons to wield in 585 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:30,200 the cause of which there she is a champion in ways and by means 586 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:34,560 quite unsuspected by her enemies and equally unexpected by 587 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:37,400 herself. You are not expecting. 588 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,760 But together, when we begin to use the weapons of the warfare 589 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:43,800 God has given to the church, we are going to see breakthrough. 590 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:47,480 You are going to see new things happen which we we may not even 591 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:50,120 be expecting to see, but you are going to see them. 592 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:56,080 God will make His church His agent for the redemption of the 593 00:38:56,080 --> 00:39:00,040 world. The hope of the world is in the 594 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:03,880 church, not in the political system that is making rules. 595 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,480 They should be influenced by the church. 596 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:13,240 They should be influenced by the church, and the communities 597 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,080 should be influenced by the church. 598 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,840 And we are a people, a peculiar people. 599 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:22,440 The Bible calls us a peculiar people, called out from the 600 00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:28,840 world to belong to him, and the Jerusalem Temple is an example 601 00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:30,680 of it. But today you don't have the 602 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:34,240 temple anymore, but we have the church to replace it. 603 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,640 But don't don't misunderstand me. 604 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,600 This is not I'm, I'm not talking about replacement theology 605 00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:41,680 saying Israel is not important anymore. 606 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:46,080 Now I'm not saying that. But church has that unique 607 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:50,600 place, position, call power to do things in these times. 608 00:39:50,720 --> 00:39:54,120 And when you realize it, church becomes meaningful to you. 609 00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:56,760 When you don't realize it, it is a drudgery for you. 610 00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:02,760 So we need to. As John read out today in the 611 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:08,760 morning, we are the pillar, Church is a pillar. 612 00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:13,840 So we need to understand the unique portion of the church and 613 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,720 when we understand who the church is, again, remember 614 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:19,840 church is not calling out individuals to live as 615 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,320 individuals on islands, different islands. 616 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:27,400 No, it is a community. Church is a community where we 617 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:29,920 care for each other. When somebody hurts, you go 618 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:31,880 alongside and say, hey, how are you doing? 619 00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:36,240 Put your hand up on them and you somebody needs a meal, you cook 620 00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:39,640 an extra meal and take it to them and you visit them, you sit 621 00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:43,800 with them, you pray with them. That is a community. 622 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,600 This is not again, a place where we want to show off. 623 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:53,720 It's a place of service, not a place of show off. 624 00:40:59,240 --> 00:41:05,720 So yeah, we have variety, we have unique call, we have unique 625 00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:09,240 position, we've got unique characteristics and unique 626 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:12,520 capabilities. And you are equipped differently 627 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:15,800 from the world. We are equipped differently from 628 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:17,760 the world. Somebody asked me a question, 629 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:21,600 how do I become successful in my career? 630 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,640 How do I become successful in as a Christian? 631 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,360 I didn't reply immediately, but I thought about it. 632 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:35,640 I said we don't plan, plan according to our own thing. 633 00:41:35,720 --> 00:41:37,880 I want to be become a billionaire. 634 00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:41,400 I am going to do this, this business, it's not me. 635 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:46,000 First requirement is to go into the closet and hear the voice of 636 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,200 God. Say what is your purpose for my 637 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:54,120 life? When God speaks, then you have a 638 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:59,680 plan or you have a goal. That's how you begin hearing the 639 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,360 voice of God. That is a uniqueness of the 640 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:05,160 church. Everybody should hear the voice 641 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:06,800 of God. It's not for a few people. 642 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:13,840 It's not for a few people. Whoever pays the cost, they can 643 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,360 hear the voice of God. Staying in the presence of God, 644 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:21,960 waiting to hear God, waiting to hear God, is very, very 645 00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:24,000 important. Very, very important. 646 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:25,920 Actually, I had a word of knowledge. 647 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:32,720 I forgot God wants to save somebody, somebody in this 648 00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:35,480 church who doesn't know Jesus yet. 649 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:40,680 And what the Lord said is how long you want to fight with me, 650 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:42,840 how long you want to question me? 651 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:49,120 Just say Jesus, come into my heart and you will see that I 652 00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:53,920 really come into your heart. All that requires is to say 653 00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:58,080 what? Jesus come into my heart. 654 00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:02,120 So somebody God was he somebody God was to save. 655 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:06,720 And all that they have to do is stop the argument and say, 656 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:10,360 please come into my heart. Shall we bowed on our heads in 657 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:13,160 prayer? Father, we thank you for your 658 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:15,880 word. We thank you Jesus. 659 00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:19,480 Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord, for you made the city of 660 00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:23,040 Jerusalem a holy city, but it doesn't exist anymore. 661 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:26,640 But you're longing and looking for a holy city which is going 662 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,840 to come down from the heavens, bright and beautiful shining is 663 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:34,560 coming down from heaven. And we are citizens of that city 664 00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:36,400 and we are looking forward for the city. 665 00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:39,280 And we praise you for the hope you have given us and thank you 666 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:43,920 for giving us the grace to believe in your Son Jesus so 667 00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:46,680 that we can be part of that citizen, we can have citizenship 668 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:49,320 in that city. We praise you, we worship you, 669 00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:51,400 we honor you. You have called us with the 670 00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:54,280 unique calling and You have gifted us with the unique gifts 671 00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:56,120 you have. Oh Father, You have gifted us 672 00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:59,920 uniquely so that we can contribute something for your 673 00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:02,520 church, and we praise you for your enablement. 674 00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:07,000 The enablement for us comes from your enabling us. 675 00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:09,000 We give you glory, honor, and praise. 676 00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:11,720 We bless your name, magnify your name. 677 00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,320 We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your grace. 678 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:20,640 Bless everybody this morning. Help us to understand why church 679 00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:24,840 is your idea, not a man's idea. We worship a lot in Jesus name. 680 00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:28,320 We ask. Everybody says Amen. 681 00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:33,160 Thanks for joining us at Omega If. 682 00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:36,280 You need prayer for healing or breakthrough, or simply to find 683 00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:39,040 out more, please head to our website or Facebook page in the 684 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:39,720 links below.