1 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:12,720 For anyone who was here last time I read Scripture, I'll be 2 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:18,400 reading it slower. I don't know if anyone did you 3 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:21,480 remember when Julian? Julian did it in his preach and 4 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:23,760 I did something entirely unpredictable and tried to read 5 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,440 the whole whole chapter in a minute or 30 seconds, whatever 6 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:34,760 it was. OK, so 2 Corinthians 112 to 211. 7 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:41,320 Now this is our boast. Our conscience testifies that we 8 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:45,120 have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our 9 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:49,600 relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. 10 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,720 We have done so relying not on worldly wisdom but on God's 11 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:58,240 grace. For we do not write you anything 12 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:02,040 you cannot read or understand, and I hope that you have 13 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:05,160 understood us in part. You will come to understand 14 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:09,440 fully that you can boast of us, just as we will boast of you in 15 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:13,960 the day of the Lord Jesus. Because I was confident of this, 16 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:17,400 I wanted to visit you first that you might benefit twice. 17 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:22,120 I wanted to visit you on my way back, on my way to Macedonia, 18 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,640 and to come back to you from Macedonia and then to have you 19 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:30,520 send me on my way to Judah. Was I fickle when I intended to 20 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,840 do this, or do I make plans in a worldly manner so that in the 21 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,480 same breath I say both yes, yes and no? 22 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:43,160 No, but as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is 23 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,440 not yes and no. For the Son of God, Jesus 24 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:51,360 Christ, who was preached among you, who was preached among you 25 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:56,480 by us, by me and Silas and Timothy, was not yes and no, but 26 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,680 in him, in him it has always been yes. 27 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,840 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes and 28 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:06,640 Amen. Oh, they are yes. 29 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:08,400 In Christ. I was ahead of myself. 30 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:13,200 And so through him the Amen is spoken by us to the glory of 31 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,840 God. Now it is God who makes both us 32 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:23,440 and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of 33 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:27,640 ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a 34 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:30,480 deposit guaranteeing what is to come. 35 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:34,720 I call God as my witness and I state my life on it. 36 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,440 That it was in order to spare you that I did not return to 37 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,360 Corinth. Not that we Lord it over your 38 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:46,080 faith, but we work with you for your joy because it is by faith 39 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,080 you stand firm. So I made-up my mind that I 40 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,680 would not make another painful visit to you. 41 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:56,360 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I 42 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,480 have grieved? I wrote as I did, so that when I 43 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,600 came I would not be distressed by those who would who should 44 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,080 have me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you 45 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,320 that you would share my joy, for I wrote you out of great 46 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:15,360 distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to 47 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,640 grieve you, but to let you know the depth of my love for you. 48 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:24,280 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he 49 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:26,800 has grieved all of you to some extent. 50 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:31,480 Not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him 51 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,640 by the majority is is sufficient now. 52 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:38,720 Instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him so that he will 53 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,000 not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 54 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:45,360 I urge you therefore, therefore to reaffirm your love for him. 55 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:49,200 Another reason I wrote to you was to see if you would stand 56 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,200 the test and be obedient in everything. 57 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,200 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. 58 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:59,240 And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I 59 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:03,760 have forgiven in the sight of Christ, for your sake, in order 60 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:08,440 that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his 61 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:10,520 schemes. Thank you very much. 62 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:15,360 Let's pray, Lord Jesus, we thank you for your word and God, and 63 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:20,120 we pray that as we discussed this this morning, that you 64 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:24,440 would change and mould us God, that you would make us more like 65 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:25,800 you. I pray, Lord God, that we're 66 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,520 you've already challenged some of us already through our entire 67 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,600 worship, that you would continue to challenge us and that we 68 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:36,600 would leave here not the same, but more like you. 69 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:41,960 Amen, Amen. So we started last week this 70 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,560 journey through the book of two Corinthians. 71 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:48,960 And this is this is our second instalment in it. 72 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:53,240 And last week I alluded to to the fact that this wasn't Paul's 73 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,520 second letter to the Church of Corinth. 74 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,720 There actually were other letters and in this passage that 75 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:03,760 we have just read, Paul actually alludes to other visits and 76 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:05,720 other letters that he has written. 77 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:10,680 And what we can get by what he is saying here is, I mean, if 78 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,520 any of you have read the book of Galatians, Paul gets really mad 79 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,720 in the book of Galatians. But we can, we can kind of guess 80 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,280 that from what he says here that the book that we don't have, the 81 00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:28,480 letter that we don't have was slightly less inspired, slightly 82 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,400 less inspired than than one in two Corinthians. 83 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,800 Paul probably got really, really, really mad and probably 84 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,000 said some things that probably God wasn't quite OK with. 85 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,000 So, So what we've got here is that actually that Paul part of 86 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,240 his writing here to the to the Corinthians in this, this letter 87 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:51,080 is that he wants to make sure that there is no division. 88 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:56,080 He wants to make sure that there is love between them and him. 89 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,680 That they know that he loves them and that he knows that they 90 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,320 love him. Because he is all too aware, as 91 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:06,520 he says at the end, that we have an enemy who loves to divide. 92 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:08,480 We have an enemy who loves to lie. 93 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:12,520 We have an enemy who loves to sow lies and division between 94 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:17,040 his church. You see, when God, I mean, it 95 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:19,600 was brilliant when Michael was, was here because actually, I 96 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:21,320 don't don't know if you picked up if you were here. 97 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:24,920 He was talking about church planting and church planting, 98 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:27,360 especially into places like Benin. 99 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,280 And it kind of blows our mind as Westerners really. 100 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,200 But he's talking about church planting into a nation. 101 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,120 And he said one of the first hurdles that they have to get 102 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,560 over is cult worship of other gods. 103 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:44,560 Actually, they have a, there's a, there's three national days 104 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:48,320 to other gods of the land. And we, we, that kind of blows 105 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:53,000 our mind as, as Westerners. But the reality is the Bible 106 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:57,040 talks about that there is a physical world and there is a 107 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,040 spiritual world. And that as human beings, we are 108 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:05,840 made both physical and spiritual, that we are made-up 109 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:10,240 of, you know, carbon and, and magnesium and potassium and kind 110 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,400 of all this kind of stuff that's this, this physical and you can 111 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,000 see it. But we are also made-up of 112 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:21,200 spirit, which you cannot see. And it says actually in the book 113 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:25,120 of Genesis, it says that God created the land, He created the 114 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,680 sea, He created the air, He created everything that we can 115 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,760 see the trees, and he filled it with animals like birds and 116 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:36,400 cattle and, and fish. And he created the end. 117 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:41,840 He creates mankind, you and I, to subdue it, to rule over it, 118 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:45,920 to have dominion over the physical world. 119 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,920 But actually the Bible also talks about that. 120 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:54,400 He made a spiritual world and actually He made what the Bible 121 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,600 calls holy ones to have dominion over that that spiritual world. 122 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,240 I'll just read Genesis 116 to 18. 123 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,880 You may not see it straight away but I'll explain what it what it 124 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:08,440 means. But it says Genesis 116 to 18 125 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,760 says God made 2 great lights, the greater light to govern the 126 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,400 day and the lesser light to govern the night. 127 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:21,960 He also made stars and God set in the vaults of the sky to give 128 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,320 set them in the vault of the sky to give them light on the earth 129 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:30,440 to govern the day and the night. Same word as mankind people to 130 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:34,360 govern the the land he gave. He gave stars to govern the day 131 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:38,840 and the night and separated the light from darkness and God saw 132 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,240 that it was good. I mean, to go into this a bit 133 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,160 deeper, the Bible Project, if you've heard about them, they do 134 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:52,160 a great series on one's called the the Second Born and the 135 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:55,600 other one is about spiritual beings. 136 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:57,960 And they they used this, this verse. 137 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:00,720 And what this verse is saying, even though we may not see it 138 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:07,360 straight away, is that in the ancient mindset, the stars, yes, 139 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:11,080 they were twinkly lights in the sky, but they they represented 140 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:15,320 the spiritual world, especially the planets. 141 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:18,160 They represented spiritual beings. 142 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,920 And so when the Bible talks about stars, yes, it's talking 143 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,000 about twinkling, but it's also talking about spiritual beings. 144 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,760 And see, see if you were to go, if you were to look up in the 145 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,880 sky and maybe with your phone app or whatever, and you'd be, 146 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,200 you'd point out, you know, there's, there's Jupiter. 147 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:37,840 Actually, you know, that in itself we name after the Roman 148 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,560 God Jupiter. But if you were Greek, you would 149 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:43,920 have looked up and you've gone. Oh, that Zeus, if you were, if 150 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:45,600 you were Babylonian, you were looked up and you'd gone. 151 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:49,920 Oh, that there's Marduk. And what scripture tells us is 152 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:56,760 that these holy ones, that he created, some of them through 153 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:01,720 lust for power, some of them through lust and jealousy of 154 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:07,680 mankind, rebelled against gods. They rebelled against his holy 155 00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:16,160 order and they set themselves up as gods against the real true 156 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:19,560 one and only gods. These are the, these are the the 157 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:24,080 sons of God in Genesis 6. These are the, the watchers in, 158 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,560 in the book of Daniel. These are the principalities and 159 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:31,440 powers that Paul writes about. And Ezekiel the prophet, he 160 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:36,800 writes in Ezekiel 28. He tells a story as he's as 161 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,400 he's, as he's prophesying against the king of Tyre. 162 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:44,960 He tells a story of how one of these holy ones fell from grace. 163 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:49,120 I'm just going to read it. It says it in Oh, sorry, let's 164 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:50,960 start this. So some of you would have seen 165 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:52,640 before. I've used this, this kind of Cos 166 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,680 this is how the ancient world saw how the world works, how 167 00:10:56,680 --> 00:10:59,920 cosmology was. And So what you see is we have 168 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:03,160 we talked about before that the air that we breathe, they called 169 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:07,400 the 1st heaven where the stars and the sun were in the that was 170 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,400 the 2nd heaven and that's the spiritual realm. 171 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,160 And then above that was the 3rd heaven, which is where God's 172 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:17,440 throne room was. And so God gave us dominion over 173 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:21,640 this first realm, the land, the earth, but he gave spiritual 174 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:26,800 beings this, the realm to rule over the the 2nd heaven. 175 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:28,680 And like I said, some of them rebelled. 176 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:32,160 And in Ezekiel it tells us a story of how one of those 177 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:37,720 rebellions took place. It says in Ezekiel 28, you were 178 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:42,360 the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 179 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,320 You were in Eden, the garden of gods. 180 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:47,760 Every precious stone adorned you. 181 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:50,760 And it talks about a load of stones and stuff which I get 182 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:52,480 wrong every time I read them. So I'm going to miss that bit 183 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,400 out. It says you were an anoint. 184 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:57,800 You were anointed as a guardian cherub. 185 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:00,360 That's cherub. Think of the the amazing 186 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:04,080 creatures on top of the the ark, these golden images. 187 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:09,280 You were anointed cherub, which was a throne guardian for so I 188 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:12,760 ordained you. You were on the holy mountain of 189 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:15,760 gods. You walked among the fiery 190 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:21,000 stones. Think of a think of Isaiah and 191 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,360 as Isaiah's in the throne room of gods, it's holy. 192 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:28,800 It's it's it's coals, burning coals that come and touch him 193 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:30,800 that Seraphim brings to touch him. 194 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:35,040 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created 195 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:39,280 till wickedness was formed in you through your widespread 196 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:41,640 trade. You were filled with violence 197 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,920 and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from 198 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:50,280 the mountain of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, 199 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:57,080 from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud in in 200 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,000 verse 2 of this very same chapter, it said you became 201 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:04,040 proud, you said and you set yourself up as God. 202 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,320 It says that you became you became proud on the account of 203 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:15,680 your beauty and you you corrupted your wisdom because of 204 00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:18,200 your splendour. So I threw you to earth. 205 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:24,400 I made you a spectacle of you before kings by your many sins 206 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:29,080 and dishonest trade, you have desecrated your sanctuaries. 207 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:36,200 You see what this is telling us is that these rebellious 208 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:42,240 spiritual beings, God threw them out of his presence, they fell. 209 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,240 These are like I said, these are the sons of God, the holy ones. 210 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:50,240 This is the the Satan. And in pride they set themselves 211 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:55,320 up as gods. And you may not realise this, 212 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:02,040 but the moment you became a Christian, you became an enemy 213 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:04,840 of them. They hate you. 214 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,280 This is why you know next week when we baptise two people that 215 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:15,240 that Satan hates it. Satan hates it because what he 216 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:17,800 wants, he wants everyone to perish. 217 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,520 He wants everyone to to turn on gods. 218 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,640 But if you choose to follow him, he wants you to keep that 219 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:26,920 private. He wants you to keep that to 220 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:31,560 yourself, but he hates. This is why if you become a 221 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:35,120 Christian in a Muslim culture or or Hindu culture or things like 222 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,320 that, that that your life becomes in great danger if you 223 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:43,200 become baptised because the enemy hates it so much. 224 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:47,760 You see, when we become a Christian, we become his enemy. 225 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,760 See the serpent, the the dragon, the Satan, the devil. 226 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,880 He never really liked you. He might have pretended to like 227 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:58,400 you, but he never really liked you. 228 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:05,000 But once you raised your flag of allegiance to Christ, he sets 229 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:09,400 out war against you. And his plan, scripture tells 230 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:14,480 us, is loss. His plan is death, and his plan 231 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:19,320 is destruction for you. He is a schemer. 232 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:23,600 He schemes thinking of ways to try and fool you, to try and 233 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:27,040 trick you, to try and bring you out of community, to try and 234 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,920 trick you into not following the one true gods. 235 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:31,680 I mean, do we have any schemers here? 236 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:38,360 No one's putting their hand up. Anyone been called a schemer as 237 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:44,320 a little girl and an adult? OK, but yet when I think of 238 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,880 schemers that I think of, I think of, you know, you think of 239 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:52,160 children, they, they, they're planning, plotting. 240 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,720 We had a funny instant when we were on holiday of, of, of of 241 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,040 family. We were visiting and, and their, 242 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,400 their sons scheming to tie up the girls. 243 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:05,880 And I'm not, he's going to remain completely nameless just 244 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:08,680 in case I get in trouble. But that's what I think of when 245 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:10,840 you think of when you're, you know, grown-ups, if you've got 246 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:13,640 children, especially little children. 247 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,240 It's like they're crying, they're screaming, they're 248 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:17,880 wanting your attention all the time. 249 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,680 And then they go quiet and you think that's nice until you 250 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:26,160 realise what are they scheming? What are they plotting? 251 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:29,600 What are they planning to do? I mean, for those of you who are 252 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:33,480 old enough to remember the the Hannah Obera cartoons, Dick 253 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,320 Dastardly cartoons, that he was a schemer. 254 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,680 He was a schemer. He, you know, the wacky races, 255 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:43,800 he would, he would always get himself ahead to plot and plan 256 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,760 to try and bring destruction on the other races, which would 257 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,200 always backfire, always go wrong. 258 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,160 And I never really understood it because if he managed to get so 259 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:55,880 far ahead, why didn't he just win the race? 260 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,480 That was the whole point. And then the other one, you 261 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,120 know, you had this, this little pigeon that had a that carry a 262 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,280 pigeon that had a note to bring to, to headquarters. 263 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,079 And he would have his motley crew to stop that pigeon. 264 00:17:07,079 --> 00:17:08,240 That's what it's called stop pigeon. 265 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,319 And and he, he would, he would come up with all these schemes 266 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:15,119 to stop the pigeon and it would always go wrong. 267 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:18,319 Either he'd do something, his men would do something or Mutley 268 00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:21,440 would do something. But however it ended, Mutley 269 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:24,960 would always desire a a medal. Well done. 270 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:26,319 Thank you, Ian. You've seen it. 271 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:33,200 So he was a these are schemers plotting, planning to do wrong. 272 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:39,240 And like I said last week, we have a God who, yes, lets us go 273 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:43,760 through trials, lets us go through storms to build us up, 274 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,560 to encourage us to let us know more of him. 275 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,320 But he does not scheme. He is not planning on ways to 276 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:56,000 bring you down. You see the enemy? 277 00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:03,040 He's described as a roaring lion prowling rounds waiting to pick 278 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:07,120 us off. He's described as a sea dragon 279 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:13,400 with venomous, spitting venom. He's described as fiery arrows. 280 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,760 And his desire is to deceive and to divide. 281 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:25,040 That's what he longs to do. Jesus said Satan is the father 282 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,240 of lies. That's how he knows how to 283 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,240 speak. He can't do anything else. 284 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:34,240 And it is it is. It is his native tongue, this 285 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:38,160 spiritual being. As he enters the scene of 286 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:45,720 Scripture in Genesis 3, he comes up to Eve and he says his first 287 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:50,680 thing is, did God really say trying to sow doubt? 288 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:57,520 No, God didn't mean you die. You will not die. 289 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:04,800 You will be more like him. He comes to deceive, to bring 290 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:10,360 doubt, to separate us. That's why Paul in the scripture 291 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:16,120 we've just written, we've just reads, reads, writes this for 292 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:20,800 the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by, 293 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:26,240 by us, by me, Silas and Timothy was not yes and no, not 294 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,320 sometimes God will be yes. And sometimes it will be no. 295 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:31,720 Like, like God will say something and sometimes he'll 296 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,120 say, yes, that's what I meant. And sometimes I'll go, yeah, I 297 00:19:34,120 --> 00:19:37,720 meant that, but not this time or yeah, yeah, I am like this, but 298 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,280 not now. No, he's, he says he's always, 299 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,120 but in him it is always been yes. 300 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,720 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in 301 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,720 Christ. And so through him the Amen is 302 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:56,520 spoken by by us to glory, to the glory of God. 303 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,840 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. 304 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:06,400 He has anointed us, set a seal of ownership on us, and put His 305 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:11,480 Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to 306 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:15,720 come. See, God has spoken promises 307 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,800 over you. God has spoken promises over his 308 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,760 church. Now I hope and I pray that some 309 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:26,600 of you can remember some of these promises and you call them 310 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:30,720 to mind. I was reading a book by a, a, a 311 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,800 pastor called Bill Hybels and he, he is saying that every time 312 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,000 he goes on a trip, he's got a list of kind of post it notes 313 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,400 with the promises of gods. And he just, he just memorises 314 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:43,200 them over and over and over again. 315 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:47,360 It's so good to remember the promises of God, but but here's 316 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:49,360 some here's some of God's promises. 317 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:52,080 I just wanted to read some out to you rather than just it being 318 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,440 very fairy or God's promises. But here we go. 319 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,040 He will never leave you or forsake you. 320 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,400 He will never. That means that if you are in 321 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,720 Christ, no matter how alone you feel, you're never alone. 322 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:12,920 He is never, ever going to leave you or forsake you, Jesus said. 323 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,640 I've cut, I've overcome the world. 324 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:20,120 Everything that you come against, Jesus is more powerful 325 00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:23,200 than it. There is nothing more powerful 326 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,880 than Jesus, he says. Come to me, all who are weary 327 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:31,280 and burdened, and I will give you rest. 328 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:36,360 Sleeps great. Many of us, we love to rest by 329 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:44,160 bingeing programmes on Netflix. Jesus says I am rest, you find 330 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:49,800 rest in me. My grace is sufficient for you. 331 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:53,720 Whatever you are going through, whatever you've done, whatever 332 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:58,480 you said, whatever trials you're through, Jesus says come to me 333 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:02,040 and my grace will be enough for you. 334 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:06,480 Since for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper 335 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:11,880 you and not to do you harm, plans to give you hope and a 336 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,000 future. This was said by Jeremiah to a 337 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:19,720 people going to exile. So this doesn't mean that every 338 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,920 day is going to be amazing and rosy, but what it means is God 339 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,480 has a plan for you. He has thought your life 340 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:33,160 through. He has a purpose for you, as 341 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:37,440 we've read earlier this morning. If my people, called by My name, 342 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,040 will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from 343 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:46,760 their wicked ways, then I will not, might not today or 344 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,960 tomorrow, but I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their 345 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:57,760 sin and will heal their lands. He says if we confess our sins, 346 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:04,280 He is faithful and just and forgive our sins and purify us 347 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,800 from all unrighteousness. It doesn't matter whether you're 348 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:13,280 a Christian here or not. Today, if you come to Jesus and 349 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:18,880 you say please forgive me, I want to follow you, He will not 350 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:23,000 turn you away. He says He will forgive you 351 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,680 because of Christ's death on the cross. 352 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,480 Your sins are forgiven if we come to Him. 353 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:32,760 It says for for God so loved the world that he gave his one and 354 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:37,840 only Son, that whoever, anyone, the person furthest from God, 355 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:42,280 that you can possibly imagine, if they come to gods, if they 356 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:48,640 believe, they shall not perish but have eternal life. 357 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,160 All of these and many more. I could have gone on all day 358 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,280 with just these, but all of these and many more promises. 359 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,560 God has spoken over you. He has spoken over your church. 360 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:03,240 And they are not sometimes yes, in Christ Jesus, they are always 361 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:08,080 yes and Amen. See, without Christ, without his 362 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:14,320 death on the cross, they are a hope, a dream, A wish, but 363 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:19,000 through Him they are all yes and Amen. 364 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:27,280 See, we are in a war church, but we have a God who has equipped 365 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:32,200 us to overcome the enemy. You do not need to be fearful. 366 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:37,080 You do not need to cower because we have a God who has equipped 367 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:40,360 us to overcome the enemy. And I believe He's given us 368 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:44,360 three key ways in this Scripture, especially of how we 369 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:48,800 can overcome the enemy. The 1st is truth. 370 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:54,720 So He has given us His truth. He has given us His scripture. 371 00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:00,360 Satan comes to Eve and the problem was she didn't know what 372 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:03,320 was true. She didn't know what was true 373 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,960 and what was false. And so how easy is it for the 374 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:12,240 enemy to deceive us if we do not know what is truth? 375 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:17,520 And let me tell you, you do not need to study all the ways that 376 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,760 the enemy might try and fool you, all the false gospels that 377 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,520 are out there, because there are more false gospels everyday. 378 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,920 You don't need to do that. As bank tellers, they don't need 379 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,520 to know every single way of making false currency. 380 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,320 They just need to know how real currency feels, what it looks 381 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:39,200 like, the watermarks, the metal link in it. 382 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,920 They just need to know what it really looks like and therefore 383 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,680 when they see something that's not real, they know it's fake, 384 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,720 it's not real cover and see it's the same is with Christ's truth. 385 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,280 See Paul says from the truth of God, it's like a it's like a 386 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:01,320 belt buckled round our waist that holds everything together. 387 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:05,680 It is like the gospel is like shoes on our feet that ready us 388 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:09,120 to take us over any terrain into battle. 389 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,960 Secondly, so we must know God's truth. 390 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,280 Secondly, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. 391 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,760 Paul says, using the analogy again of, of a, of a, of a 392 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,360 soldier. Paul says the Holy Spirit is our 393 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:28,200 sword. It is how we can attack the 394 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:31,000 enemy. It is our sword is the sword of 395 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:35,240 the Spirit. And he says that he dwells in 396 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:36,400 us. If you're a Christian, the 397 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:41,480 Spirit dwells in you. And as Paul writes, he will say 398 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:46,080 that that spirit in US is a guarantee of our salvation 399 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:51,680 because that Spirit in US longs for Gods, longs him, calls him 400 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,040 Father. And it's because of that longing 401 00:26:55,040 --> 00:27:00,000 in us we know that we are saved. It is a down payment of what is 402 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,840 to come in the future. So we must know truth. 403 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:04,200 We must be filled in the Holy Spirit. 404 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,960 And thirdly, we must keep in community. 405 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:13,560 See, I've used this analogy before, but soldiers, they can 406 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,840 have all the best armour, they can have all the the right belt, 407 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,400 the right shield, the right breastplate and a helmet and 408 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,560 shoes. But on their own, you know, they 409 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,280 are no John Wick. There are no real John Wicks. 410 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,840 OK, Jesus is the only John Wick who can kill anyone and take 411 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,520 anyone else. No, in reality, there are no 412 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,160 lone soldiers. There are no John Wicks. 413 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,320 OK, we are a soldier, a Roman soldier. 414 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,920 If they had all the right stuff. But we're on their own. 415 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:44,840 They were a dead man. You need. 416 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:49,760 We need our brothers and sisters left and right behind us, in 417 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,400 front of us. We need each other. 418 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:58,440 As I said last week, you need me and I need you to speak truth, 419 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,080 to encourage, to uphold one another. 420 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:04,480 Think of Moses, so the greatest prophet of them all. 421 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,760 He needed Aaron and her. And you read the stories. 422 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:12,040 Neither of them are that impressive, but he still needed 423 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,160 them. He needed them in his life to 424 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:18,520 uphold him, to support him. We need one another to pray for 425 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:24,800 each other, to be prayed for. And you may be saying, yeah, but 426 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,520 I can. I can receive truth. 427 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:31,480 I can be filled with the Holy Spirit at home. 428 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,680 You know, I can listen to podcasts and I can listen to 429 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,040 online sermons and I can read books. 430 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,440 I can receive God's truth. And yes, you can. 431 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,080 Should you? Yes, you should. 432 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,320 Is that God's best? If it's the only way you're 433 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:53,560 receiving truth, No, You say, well, I can, I can be filled 434 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:56,240 with the spirit. I can sing songs, I can play my 435 00:28:56,280 --> 00:29:01,200 instruments or, or I can listen to, to, to worship music on, on 436 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,240 Spotify or on YouTube or whatever. 437 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:04,640 Should you? Yeah. 438 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,120 Is it good to? Yes. 439 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,160 Is that the if that's the only way you're receiving the 440 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:17,040 presence of God, is it right? No, no. 441 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:24,120 God has designed us to be in community, to be a family that 442 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:28,000 we hear the public reading of scripture. 443 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,440 You read the Bible. Actually there is there's very 444 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:33,240 little reading the Bible on their own. 445 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:36,720 It does happen, but it's much more the public reading of 446 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,920 Scripture and the whole body. Here's the scripture. 447 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:44,440 So so here for us, we hear the public reading of Scripture and 448 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:46,760 then we talk about it and we don't always talk about on a 449 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:48,880 Sunday, but that's what we do in home groups. 450 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,000 So we do a women's group on men's group. 451 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:54,640 So I'm I encourage you get involved in those things because 452 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,600 that's where where truth doesn't just fly over our heads, but it 453 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:03,080 gets rooted in US. Same for for being filled the 454 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,720 Holy Spirit. Yet we should be praying in 455 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:10,120 tongues and and and asking God to fill us every single day. 456 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:15,200 But actually also there's a real specialness that God has created 457 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:19,240 us, that as we come together as the body, one person brings a 458 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:22,000 tongue, one person brings a prophetic word, someone brings a 459 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,880 prayer. And that lifts my spirit like 460 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:30,760 nothing can when I'm on my own. The Bible speaks about over and 461 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:35,080 over again about laying hands on that putting your hands on 462 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,880 someone and praying for them to be filled in the spirit. 463 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,560 I can't lay hands on anyone if I spend my whole day on my own and 464 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,000 no one can lay hands on me either. 465 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:51,080 But there is a power by having by people touching one another 466 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:57,200 by by in a good way. Let's let's make it by by 467 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,080 hugging one another by, you know, a hand on the shoulder in 468 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:01,800 prayer. Let's just make this perfectly 469 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:08,880 clear, OK? But none of that was in my 470 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:16,920 notes, by the way. When we come together, we are 471 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:21,760 to. When we come together, God does 472 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:27,360 something special amongst us, something greater amongst us. 473 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:33,120 That's why one of Satan's biggest desires is to get you on 474 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:39,360 your own. And like I said last week, God 475 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:43,400 uses you to grow each other. He uses me to grow. 476 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:47,360 He uses you to grow me. And he even does it through the 477 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,280 weak and the brokenness of our lives. 478 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,520 You know, I love it when we come together and, and someone has a 479 00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:56,920 prayer or someone has a prophetic word. 480 00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,800 Prophetic words aren't about telling the future, by the way. 481 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:03,600 Prophetic words are about we have this kind of smog that 482 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:07,320 we're seeing life through our own lenses, and then a prophetic 483 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:10,600 word lifts our eyes above so we can see what God is truly doing 484 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,280 in that moment. That's what prophetic words are 485 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,320 for. And I love it when God brings 486 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:21,080 prophetic words amongst us. What God calls us to do is when 487 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,240 prophetic words are brought, He calls us to weigh them. 488 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,600 That's why we say if you've got a prophetic word, if you feel 489 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:30,440 like God's speaking to you, come to the front, share it with one 490 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,120 of us, and we'll weigh it and we'll determine. 491 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:33,800 Is that? Is that? 492 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:35,880 Is that from God? Is that right? 493 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,360 Is it right for now? Actually, it might not be. 494 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:40,760 It might be right, but it might not be right for now. 495 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:47,680 You see, so often you get people who they hear from God. 496 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:55,720 But because we see life through our own lens, we sometimes 497 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:58,160 struggle to interpret what we hear. 498 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,760 You say, well, why would God speak to us if we can't always 499 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:06,600 interpret it? That's why he has the church, so 500 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,520 that one can bring a word and one can discern. 501 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:15,520 That's why we need one another. You know, sometimes people hear 502 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,920 stuff and I've, I've got countless examples of people 503 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:22,760 hear it saying they've heard from God, but their response to 504 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:27,000 it goes against Scripture. It's unbiblical. 505 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,720 And let me tell you, if God speaks to you, he will not speak 506 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,720 against his Scripture. He will not counter it. 507 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:42,240 But also, you know, sometimes God may not be speaking to us at 508 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:44,600 all. It could just be us, could just 509 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,520 be our own thoughts. You know, actually, the Bible 510 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,840 talks about more seriously, the Bible talks about deceiving 511 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:53,600 spirits. And that's why in the church he 512 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:56,720 gives those with the gift of discernment. 513 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:01,200 You know, when when were it devoted? 514 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:04,880 You know, there was there's so many people with words and with 515 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,199 things they wanted to bring. And that's why they what people 516 00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:11,199 would go to the front and they would share it with a few people 517 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:13,480 and they would discern is this from God. 518 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:17,000 And for almost all the time they'd be going, yes, that's 519 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:21,920 from Gods, but we haven't got time or that's just for you. 520 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:25,320 You know, it was, there was, but there was a real encouragement 521 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:29,679 there to share and to hear from God and have it weighed. 522 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,239 You see, we do that. We do that at the front of 523 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:34,520 church. But actually, if you feel God 524 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:39,560 speaking to you, you should also have that wait, share what God 525 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:43,560 speaks to you, to others, and let them help weigh it. 526 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:47,800 There is safety in numbers, but God loves to get, no, not God. 527 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:53,120 Satan loves to get us alone. He loves to get us alone and 528 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:58,400 where he can easily deceive us. You know, the gift of a prophet, 529 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:02,640 the gift of evangelist, the gift of an apostle, they are amazing 530 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:07,040 gifts. But a solo prophet or a solo 531 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:12,880 evangelist, they are dangerous. We have to be in the church and 532 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:17,840 accountable to one another. We can all get things wrong and 533 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:20,120 so when we have something, we should bring it in a sense of I 534 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,440 feel God is bringing this, what do you feel? 535 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:26,880 What do you think I'm willing to be wrong. 536 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:32,200 It's like I said, Satan loves it when we're on our own. 537 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:38,400 So how does he get us alone? He says in Two Corinthians 538 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:44,000 chapter 2 verse 9, he says anyone you forgive, I also 539 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:47,520 forgive. And what I have forgiven, if 540 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:51,760 there is anything to forgive, I have forgiven in the sight of 541 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:56,880 Christ for your sake, so that Satan might not outwit us, for 542 00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,960 we are not unaware of his schemes. 543 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:02,960 How's he get us alone? One of the biggest reasons is 544 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:06,040 unforgiveness. Unforgiveness. 545 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:08,480 I mean, think Jesus tells the story, doesn't he, of the 546 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:11,400 unforgiving servant? And we've got this, this this 547 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:13,920 servant who's called into the master's house. 548 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,000 And the master says you owe me what? 549 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:18,560 And today's money would be billions of pounds. 550 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,680 He says, I'm going to throw you into prison where you are going 551 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:24,200 to rot. And the servant gets down on his 552 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,000 knees and he begs and he says I'll pay you back. 553 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,480 I don't know how, but I'll work out a way and I'll pay you back. 554 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:30,680 And the master says I forgive you. 555 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:33,800 I'm writing it off. He's been forgiven. 556 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:35,520 That's how great God's begin this is. 557 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:39,400 But that servant then goes into the world and another and a 558 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:44,240 friend comes to him and he owes him the equivalent of £100 and 559 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,960 he goes, you pay that back to me this instant. 560 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:49,680 He says I can't, please forgive me. 561 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,240 He's like, no, and he has no forgiveness on him. 562 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,160 So. So Jesus says that the original 563 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,760 servant is then thrown into prison where there is gnashing 564 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,720 of teeth because his the forgiveness he received was not 565 00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:06,040 truly transforming. See, some what? 566 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:10,600 Some of us, actually, no, not some of us, all of us are easily 567 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:12,840 offended. We are. 568 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:19,320 We're easily offended and we can find it difficult to forgive, 569 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:27,600 and Satan loves that. But forgiveness, true 570 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,960 forgiveness, is a sign of what it means to be saved by Christ, 571 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:33,560 what it means to be chosen by Him. 572 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:39,720 And for those of us who practise forgiveness, we will not be 573 00:37:39,720 --> 00:37:46,160 picked off easily by the enemy. You may be saying, but I know 574 00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:51,720 I've done wrong. I know I'm a mess up, but how do 575 00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:55,040 I make it right? There's this guy that Jesus 576 00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:57,920 meets called Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is a chief tax 577 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,440 collector, which basically means he's hated by everyone. 578 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:03,320 I mean even more than he would be now. 579 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:08,000 He's hated by everyone and he wants to see Jesus, but no one's 580 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,680 letting him see Jesus. So he climbs up a tree just to 581 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:13,880 get a glimpse of Jesus, and Jesus sees him up the tree and 582 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:15,920 says, Zacchaeus, I'm coming to your house. 583 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:21,600 And Jesus saves him. He meets with the with Jesus 584 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:27,040 Christ and in saving him, Zacchaeus says if I have wronged 585 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,320 correction, he has wronged everyone in his community. 586 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:34,880 If I've wronged anyone, I will pay them back four folds. 587 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:39,520 Now, the story doesn't let us know what happened to Zacchaeus. 588 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:43,080 He doesn't doesn't let us know whether he gets welcomed back 589 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:46,360 into the community, whether he gets friends or not. 590 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:50,680 But in the words of the book of Romans, he did. 591 00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:56,440 As far as it was for him, he did all that he could to make it 592 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:59,240 right. And that's all that you can. 593 00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:04,200 We can ask if you know that you've wronged someone, do all 594 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:09,560 that you can as far as it depends on you to make it right. 595 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:13,040 If they choose not to forgive you, that's on them. 596 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:17,040 But we are called to be forgivers, so we cannot make 597 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:23,600 others forgive us, but we are called to do all that we can to 598 00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:27,400 make things right. Not everyone will forgive us, 599 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:33,880 but when we do all that we can to make things right, we make 600 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:38,080 sure there's not an in for the enemy to gain a foothold. 601 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:42,600 You see, to end with that, let's just end with this. 602 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:48,480 Jesus says that if we do these things, if we abide in His 603 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:53,000 truth, if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, if we live in 604 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:57,200 community, we will not just overcome the enemy. 605 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:01,400 But Romans 8 says we will be more than conquerors. 606 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:05,440 More than Congress, that means that we will excessively be 607 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:09,040 overwhelming in our victory. It means that we won't just 608 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:14,600 defeat the enemy, but actually, just like Jesus does, we will 609 00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:20,600 turn the enemy schemes on their heads and be a weapon against 610 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:25,160 him themselves. How many times Genesis ends with 611 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:29,960 doesn't it? For what you meant for evil, God 612 00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:33,560 used for good. That's what God has for you, 613 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:38,520 that the enemy schemes that are there to do you harm, to do 614 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,960 evil. Jesus will turn them on their 615 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:47,800 head and he will do good, you see. 616 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:56,560 And one day Jesus says that not only we will reign, we will rule 617 00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:01,840 over this physical world, but actually heaven and earth will 618 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:08,680 become one. And those rebellious angels, 619 00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:14,240 they will be cast into the pit of fire, they will be destroyed. 620 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:19,760 And Scripture teaches us that we will replace them and we will 621 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:24,160 reign over heaven and earth with Christ. 622 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:30,200 We that is your destiny, to rule and reign over heaven and earth 623 00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:36,720 with Christ our brother. So we must conquer with truth, 624 00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:40,680 empowered by the spirits and in community. 625 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:45,440 So as we go, I just want to ask you these questions. 626 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:52,040 Are you reading scripture? Are you in your Bible? 627 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:58,840 How often are you, are you making a priority really, of 628 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:04,040 coming to a Sunday service, to being fed, to being a men's 629 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:08,600 group, being a women's group, being at Home group, of hearing 630 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,880 the public preaching of scripture and discussing it? 631 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:17,640 Are you being filled daily with the Holy Spirit? 632 00:42:19,240 --> 00:42:24,000 Are you coming to a place like this and being willing to be 633 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:28,360 prayed for but also being prepared to pray for others? 634 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:35,520 And are you actively seeking fellowship? 635 00:42:36,240 --> 00:42:40,680 Is this just a Sunday morning club for you or are you actively 636 00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:46,240 seeking fellowship? It may be for some of us. 637 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:52,920 Who do we need to forgive and who do we need to ask for 638 00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:57,760 forgiveness from? I'm just going to pray and I'm 639 00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:00,120 going to ask God just to search our hearts right now. 640 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:08,560 So Jesus, you know, you know that we have an enemy who wants 641 00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:16,760 to do us harm, who desires to steal, kill and destroy, who 642 00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:26,200 desires to separate us and so lies and deceit, who desires for 643 00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:32,720 loss and death and destruction. But thank you, Jesus, that your 644 00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:38,320 plan for us is family. Your plan for us is abundance. 645 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:43,160 Your plan for us is life. Lord God, I pray that every 646 00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:48,240 single one of us who hears this will be rooted in your truth. 647 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:53,640 Would would prioritise being filled with your spirit, 648 00:43:53,760 --> 00:44:00,160 empowered by you Gods, and make changes in their life to be 649 00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:06,720 fully engaged in community. God, if we need to forgive, show 650 00:44:06,720 --> 00:44:10,640 us where we need to forgive. If we need to ask forgiveness, 651 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:14,120 let us be humble and go and ask for forgiveness. 652 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:19,000 Lord Jesus, we pray that there'll be no root, no crack 653 00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:22,120 that the enemy is able to exploit in here. 654 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:25,440 God, I pray for your overwhelming protection over 655 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:30,400 every single person here. God, we ask for your Holy Spirit 656 00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:33,000 to fill us now. May we not leave this place 657 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,840 without doing business with you. Amen. 658 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:37,280 Amen.