SPEAKER_00: Thanks for the worship.
SPEAKER_00: That that uh song with the you know that old bit in there was was a nice refreshing um coming back to that old song.
SPEAKER_00: Um I remember from the nineties that came out.
SPEAKER_00: I when I woke up this morning, I was um we'll pray in just a minute, but I'll I had this sense of being I've had this before where Psalms 23 becomes an actual place in my mind, and where the Bible says that He brings us beside still waters, and those waters become very real in my mind.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's part of my imagination that the Lord uses, and I can see that stream running past me, and I can reach in with my hand and get you know cups of water, just cup it in my hand and drink from it.
SPEAKER_00: And I was drinking and just enjoying that that time with the Lord, and I felt like the Holy Spirit says to me, just get caught up in what I'm doing, just just be caught up in this moment, caught up in this in this place of his presence, just being caught up.
SPEAKER_00: And I was really enjoying, but and I was thinking, Lord, what I'm gonna talk about has nothing to do with being caught being being caught up in his presence or in his glory.
SPEAKER_00: While everything that we do allows us in a moment to being caught up in his presence, certain topics require more cognitive approach and more, you know, you have to be there, you have to be present.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's the type of uh the the topic that he gave me today, that the thought process around it requires us to be to be present.
SPEAKER_00: And then I got here as I was driving in again, the same thing, just be caught up in his presence.
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, wow, Lord, you you're definitely trying to lead somewhere here.
SPEAKER_00: And I come here and Glenda's opening and uh talks about the set so the well in Samaria, like if you knew the gift of God.
SPEAKER_00: That is such a powerful place uh in the in the passage in the in the scriptures because Jesus is actually revealing himself that if you knew the gift of God and who it is who speaks to you, you would ask him.
SPEAKER_00: Living waters.
SPEAKER_00: The only two places I feel in the Bible that Jesus actually, well, there are a few places later on, but the two most significant, three most significant are is this one place here at the well in Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: The other one was in Cana of Galilee, where he revealed his nature, his power by doing that miracle.
SPEAKER_00: He knew that he would be exposed, his true nature would be exposed.
SPEAKER_00: And the third one, one of the most significant, is at in the boat with Peter, where he says, put the net down again.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter gets a revelation and he says, Lord, I'm not worthy to be in your presence.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like the Lord wants us to be caught up in an atmosphere of his revelation, in an atmosphere of his greatness, his power, his majesty.
SPEAKER_00: Being caught up in his presence and his glory.
SPEAKER_00: One of the passages, I've re-reshuffled my talk since in the midst of all that was happening.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I was also doing stuff in my talk because the Lord was, he's telling me, Zimi told me this amazing stuff, but surprising stuff.
SPEAKER_00: He says in his exams, so he's um third year, fourth year engineering, third year engineering, and um his exam, there was corrections next to the examination paper, and then the examiner was on the phone writing corrections on the board while the students are doing the exam.
SPEAKER_00: So that was very, very strange.
SPEAKER_00: But uh they're all appealing for you know, some extra, uh, probably higher percentage of you know lenient marking uh because of time issues.
SPEAKER_00: But I was doing corrections here.
SPEAKER_00: I had I thought I had something ready, but the Lord was giving me corrections.
SPEAKER_00: No, do this, no, correct that, correct this.
SPEAKER_00: So I have corrections here, which is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully it will get us somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: Being caught up in his presence and his glory.
SPEAKER_00: One of the places where Jesus makes an open invitation for everybody to come and drink was John 7, 37.
SPEAKER_00: We all know that.
SPEAKER_00: John 7, John chapter 7, verse 37, the Bible says, and on the last day of the feast, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
SPEAKER_00: Now, oftentimes in a charismatic circle, we sort of get entrapped in the reality of Jesus offering a drink.
SPEAKER_00: But there are details for us to focus on, which is the Bible chooses to tell us that, which is on the last day of the feast.
SPEAKER_00: So there was a certain celebration, and there were people who were there for that celebration.
SPEAKER_00: So the invitation was to them.
SPEAKER_00: The people who were there for the celebration, the people who chose to make the journey, the people who chose to go through the effort of packing up whatever they needed to pack.
SPEAKER_00: It was important enough for them to go to Jerusalem or wherever Jesus was at that time, go to that city and worship God there.
SPEAKER_00: They could have worshiped at home.
SPEAKER_00: But they chose to go certain place, to a certain place, at a certain time, and in that moment Jesus makes this available to them.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone thirsts, I believe true thirst, the kind of thirst that Jesus is offering quenching for can only occur when we are pursuing Him.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a worldly thirst, it's not a thirst that doesn't cost us anything, it's a thirst that requires a bit of effort.
SPEAKER_00: And it's most of the time I see this thirst happening when we step out into the path, onto the path that He sets before us.
SPEAKER_00: In Exodus chapter 17, most people know this again.
SPEAKER_00: The waters of Meriba, as they say, because the area was the area of Meriba.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus chapter 17, let's go to it and reading from verse 1 onwards.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a huge passage here.
SPEAKER_00: Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin according to the commandment of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So they had an they had an instruction from the Lord, move from here to there.
SPEAKER_00: And so they moved.
SPEAKER_00: The whole congregation of the children of Israel set out on this journey according to the commandment of the Lord and camped in Refidim of Maribah, but there was no water for the people to drink.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the fact that the Bible makes no mention of the nation of Israel throughout their lifetime, generations of being in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: They were never thirsty.
SPEAKER_00: They never, they never, the Bible doesn't tell us about that thirst.
SPEAKER_00: Physical thirst, maybe.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody gets physically thirsty.
SPEAKER_00: But I feel like there is a certain thirst, there's a certain hunger that comes upon us when we pursue the path and the and the road that the Lord puts before us, and we subdue ourselves to his commandments, and we position ourselves into his word and follow his word when we love him.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a place where we get thirsty.
SPEAKER_00: When we love him, when we pursue him, when we when we when we are desperate for more of him.
SPEAKER_00: That is a thirsty place to be in.
SPEAKER_00: When we are pursuing him, when we're going according to his word in our lives, there's a certain thirst that rises, and there's waters available for that thirst.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of thirst that Jesus wants to quench.
SPEAKER_00: No other kind of thirst he's interested in.
SPEAKER_00: I guess most other thirsts and most other needs get automatically fulfilled because we're pursuing him.
SPEAKER_00: All things get added to us.
SPEAKER_00: Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin according to the commandment of the Lord and camped in Rephidim.
SPEAKER_00: But there was no water for the people to drink.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the people contended with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink, as if he was some kind of magician.
SPEAKER_00: He's just a man equipped and empowered by God.
SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of heaven came to him and somehow convinced him to lead these people into freedom.
SPEAKER_00: And they come to him as if it was his fault.
SPEAKER_00: So Moses said to them, Why do you contend with me?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you tempt the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses and said, Why is it that you have brought us out of Egypt to kill us?
SPEAKER_00: So there was no thirst in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: This kind of thirst, of course, they were having physical thirst there, but the Bible's trying to make a point here.
SPEAKER_00: The point is that when we set out on the path that the Lord puts before us, we will end up into situations.
SPEAKER_00: We will end up into trouble.
SPEAKER_00: We will end up into times of trial.
SPEAKER_00: We will end up thirsty, desperately looking for to quench our thirst.
SPEAKER_00: Sarah does uh a soaking session on Friday afternoons here from five to six, and she shared something and she she mentioned a message that she had heard from somebody.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things they said that if you if you are walking with Jesus and you don't feel the weight of the cross, you may not be carrying anything.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like there is this thirst, there is this weight that comes upon us, and we're not looking for that weight.
SPEAKER_00: The weight is not the defining fact here.
SPEAKER_00: We're not looking to get into trouble, we're not looking to become martyrs, but there needs to be a willingness, and there needs to be an awareness that if I go down this path, I will have to face certain circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: And we're not left there, we're not left in that moment of thirst and hunger and need and desperateness.
SPEAKER_00: We're not abandoned in that place.
SPEAKER_00: That is the best part of it.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord doesn't abandon us in those moments, in those places.
SPEAKER_00: But it is, I feel like it is important for us to go through those seasons and times and we come out victorious.
SPEAKER_00: Victory awaits on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: But if we never go through these times, we never get to victory.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read, continue reading.
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 17, verses 5 onwards.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said to Moses, Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people may drink.
SPEAKER_00: And Moses did so in the sight of the Lord, and of the sight of the elders of Israel, and so he called the name of the place Masa and Maribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
SPEAKER_00: That is the key.
SPEAKER_00: How do we react?
SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe I'm getting a little bit of lessons right now in this area of pressure.
SPEAKER_00: Glenda pointed out, you know, that you were just I was just trying to maintain this, you know, the last thing I want to do is roll on the ground here and beat my fist on the ground in front of everybody, saying that, why is it not working?
SPEAKER_00: You know, but I I think my my point is when we get into situations like this, how we react determines what the Lord's going to do.
SPEAKER_00: Moses took that really seriously.
SPEAKER_00: He prayed to the Lord, he contended with the Lord because the people contended with him.
SPEAKER_00: Earlier in the passage, I skipped that.
SPEAKER_00: Moses says, Lord, the people have almost ready to stone me.
SPEAKER_00: And that was the degree of frustration that the people had.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like we have a choice whether we go into frustration or whether we go into an area of pursuing the Lord because the victory awaits us.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 103, verse 1 onwards.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is incredible.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 103, verse 1 onward, it says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
SPEAKER_00: We can memorize this.
SPEAKER_00: I had it memorized.
SPEAKER_00: I I knew that much even as a child.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the Lord, O my soul.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you sing songs like that in in we used to sing songs like that in Sunday school.
SPEAKER_00: We sang songs like that as a grown-up in church.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.
SPEAKER_00: Bless His holy name.
SPEAKER_00: There's a key there right there.
SPEAKER_00: Bless His holy name.
SPEAKER_00: Holy means that He gives Himself to nothing else except to you and me.
SPEAKER_00: So He's fully committed to you and I.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't do anything for anyone else except for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: And if we have the Lord in our lives in that way, I can guarantee you we can bless His name every day, all the time.
SPEAKER_00: There are Psalms that uh I caught up with them, uh, those Psalms a few years ago, and they say, I will bless the Lord at all times.
SPEAKER_00: I will bless his name forever.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that is a cry that needs to be in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: That is a cry that needs to be present in the human heart, that I will bless the Lord at all times and forever and ever I will bless his holy name.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 14 is where I want to get to.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just quickly pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we give you honor and praise Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Father, for all that you've done in each and every one of our lives through through the majesty, through the glory, through the presence, through the awesome nature of your son Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We honor you, Jesus, this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We honor your name.
SPEAKER_00: We have sung songs that praise you.
SPEAKER_00: We have sung or sung songs of worship.
SPEAKER_00: And we come before you in worship and in praise.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we pray that you tune our hearts to the rhythms of heaven, that you tune our hearts to the frequencies of heaven, that you bring us into alignment with everything that heaven is bringing before us in this season, in this hour.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that we are in a special season right now.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that we are in a holy moment in this season.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that there is a certain flavor in this dispensation that we are in right now.
SPEAKER_00: In this dispensation, they call it the dispensation of grace that we are in post-cross.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness is available, but I feel like there is a certain strength that is available, there is a certain moment that is available, there is a certain equipping that is available for the church in this hour, there is a certain capacities and abilities that the Lord is putting before us, and if we so choose to put them on, we will become victorious.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, we pray that we get all that you have for us, Lord, in this season.
SPEAKER_00: Today is not the completion of it, but our pursuit of Him would be, our pursuit of you, Jesus, would take us there.
SPEAKER_00: Our pursuit of you, your holiness, your greatness, your majesty, your presence, our pursuit of drinking from that river that flows out of you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That the prophet Ezekiel talks about in chapter 47.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we want to drink from that river.
SPEAKER_00: We want to jump into that river, we want to wade into that river, and it's a river that cannot be crossed, it's a river of giving up control, it's a river of that I can't do it anymore, it's a river of us giving ourselves in you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to get it to that place, we want to get into that moment, we want to be caught up with what you are doing, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We want to be caught up in the river, and the river takes us wherever it wishes.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you, Father, for your promises.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for what you have made available, we thank you for the invitation that's before us, we thank you for all that you are making available before us.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for all the potential that we have in you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We worship your name, we worship your name, we bless your holy name.
SPEAKER_00: I bless you, my Lord, and I bless your holy name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 14.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 28 onwards, for which of you intended to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes I've understood this passage in the area of our personal finances.
SPEAKER_00: And this was a guiding scripture for me.
SPEAKER_00: This was a guiding verse for me when it comes to sowing and reaping.
SPEAKER_00: There are a few principles that I follow.
SPEAKER_00: It's nothing to do with this message, but I'll just mention it.
SPEAKER_00: I say this because it's just has become my line.
SPEAKER_00: How much spare cash you have has got nothing to do with how much we earn.
SPEAKER_00: Because that spare cash allows us to live generously, and generosity.
SPEAKER_00: Is a heart condition, is a mindset.
SPEAKER_00: And we can actually, actually live in that freedom.
SPEAKER_00: That's how much spare cash we have has got nothing to do with how much you get paid, how much you make every week, fortnight, month, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: But it comes down to a generous heart and a generous living.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, um it then brings us into that whole concept of sowing and reaping.
SPEAKER_00: And we all know that if you oversow, it's counterproductive.
SPEAKER_00: The seed will just get crowded in into the ground and they will just rot out and not yield the fruit that we may have received if we had just seeded properly, the right amount.
SPEAKER_00: So overseeding doesn't yield much.
SPEAKER_00: It actually reduces our return.
SPEAKER_00: So what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we ask the Lord to increase the area that we can seed in.
SPEAKER_00: Increase the area.
SPEAKER_00: Give me more land, Lord, so I can sow.
SPEAKER_00: Show me areas that I can sow.
SPEAKER_00: That's what that's my mode of operation.
SPEAKER_00: When I know that the Lord is, I need, I need to increase the free amount of cash that we have.
SPEAKER_00: I ask the Lord, Lord, show me areas that we can sow.
SPEAKER_00: There's no point sowing more here, unless the Lord says, if we're not seeding enough, of course there's room for seeding properly, but if you're seeding proper amounts in the area of the ground that the Lord has given you to reap harvest out of, we need to increase that size.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where this passage actually guided me to get that understanding.
SPEAKER_00: For which of you intending to build the tower does not sit down and first count the cost whether he has enough to find it.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus actually is saying in a different context.
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes, lest after he has he laid the foundations and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.
SPEAKER_00: Or what king going to make war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he's able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000.
SPEAKER_00: Amazing passage.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, in a way, is implying that it is possible to take on a bigger enemy than yourself.
SPEAKER_00: But he's saying that there are certain steps we gotta take before we jump into the battle with our 10,000 soldiers against someone who's coming with 20,000.
SPEAKER_00: Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.
SPEAKER_00: So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.
SPEAKER_00: So he gives these analogies, but what he's really trying to say is pursue me.
SPEAKER_00: There is a cost in pursuing me.
SPEAKER_00: There is a cost that you need to do, there are steps that you gotta take, and he likened those steps to a king going to war against the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: He likened those steps to somebody who's planning to build a high tower.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to get us into a place where he's saying, find out whether you have what it takes to pursue me.
SPEAKER_00: Find out if you have what it takes to pursue me, because it is like engaging an enemy coming against us with twenty thousand soldiers while we have only ten thousand.
SPEAKER_00: It is like building a tower which is going to cost something, and there is a potential of running out of resources and unable to finish the job and becoming a laughing stock.
SPEAKER_00: So, likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.
SPEAKER_00: The way to overcome it is that we give all that we have.
SPEAKER_00: We give all that we are.
SPEAKER_00: Salt is good, but if it's if the salt has its lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?
SPEAKER_00: It is neither fit for the land nor for the dung hill.
SPEAKER_00: But men throw it out.
SPEAKER_00: He who has an ear, let him hear.
SPEAKER_00: It's a very, very strong, stern warning that the Lord is putting before the people who want to pursue him.
SPEAKER_00: And the way we lose flavor is if we go into negative attitude, like the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: That was a hard, very, very significant step that they took in in Exodus 17.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord points out here in Luke 14, same thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's like going out to war if we desire to pursue Him.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 16.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna just keep running.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where I'll get to, it's already 12.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 16, verses 24 onwards, then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
SPEAKER_00: There's that truth again.
SPEAKER_00: That if we try and protect what we have right now and refuse to go through that journey, we won't have what we're trying to protect.
SPEAKER_00: But if we just abandon ourselves and just say, Jesus, I'm coming after you, we will get to the other side and find our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 14 puts it really amazingly.
SPEAKER_00: He says, And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
SPEAKER_00: There is a cost of discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: There is a cost, and again, Jesus goes in Luke 14.
SPEAKER_00: He he flips up the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: He says, If you're not willing to take up your cross, you cannot be my disciple.
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes, For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down and count the cost?
SPEAKER_00: He goes through that same thing again.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like we are the Lord is calling us in this season into a place that there would be people that we know who just doing whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And that's not what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about you and I actually taking account, you and I just coming before the Lord and just going, Lord, show me, show me the path, and he will show you the path.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, and our response to him has to be, Lord, I don't care at any cost.
SPEAKER_00: There was a season in my life, probably 15, 20 years ago, that I would just be spending time with him and I would cry out to him, Lord, at any cost, I'm gonna pursue you.
SPEAKER_00: At any cost, I'm gonna follow you.
SPEAKER_00: I want more of you at any cost.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't even go into those prayers that I'm I'm just gonna tell you.
SPEAKER_00: I used to say, Lord, I'm the most thirsty person on the planet.
SPEAKER_00: I used to say that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how arrogant is that?
SPEAKER_00: You may think that's that's really that's an assumption.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there are more people more thirsty than you are.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know of anybody else.
SPEAKER_00: As far as I'm concerned, I need to be at a place in my life where I consider myself as the most thirsty person on the planet.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, you and I can get to that place because when it's between you and him, he's not looking at anybody else, he's he's just looking at that one person on the planet in that moment, and I used to cry out to him and I said, Lord, I'm the most thirsty on the planet.
SPEAKER_00: Come and quench my heart, fill me with more of you.
SPEAKER_00: I need to drink from your river, I need more of your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And in those moments, I feel like there is this there is this alertness that we gotta have in our spirits that this, what I'm crying out for, this what I'm asking for, it's gonna cost me dearly.
SPEAKER_00: And am I prepared to play that cost?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, it is costly to pursue Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It is not easy.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 9, there's a secret here.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 9, verses 23, then he said to them all, not just to his disciples, but the people who were following him as well.
SPEAKER_00: But it is an open invitation.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just for a select few, it is for all of us, and no one qualifies except going through this.
SPEAKER_00: Then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let them deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: It's an all-the-time lifestyle, it's an all the time moment.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta watch our attitude, we gotta watch our words, we've got to watch how we're behaving, we've got to watch, and we're not perfect beings, we make mistakes and we come before the Lord and we go, Lord, wash me, cleanse me, keep me in that place, drinking from your river.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's why we need it.
SPEAKER_00: The draw on ourselves of walking in this pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ, that draw is so heavy, heavy draw, that it will run you dry, and we have to drink from his river.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he made it available.
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't make it available to whoever.
SPEAKER_00: Only the ones who are willing to make the journey, only the ones who are willing to come to that place.
SPEAKER_00: Notice in Acts 2, you know, this lifestyle of going around and talking to whoever, this has become a culture of the church these days.
SPEAKER_00: We're going out witnessing.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord doesn't do that here anyway.
SPEAKER_00: When the Spirit fell in Acts 2, it was an atmosphere of worship.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, and all these people, different types of people, that the uh creeds and uh proselytes and and and Jews from all over the place and from different cities, they had all come to Jerusalem for worship, and they were the ones who got touched.
SPEAKER_00: Not just random people walking around on the streets.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like this this giving, this this invitation of coming to the kingdom, it's for the ones who are thirsty, it's for the ones who are who are hungry, it's for the ones who want to more, who want more, who are in pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, you may come in contact with people who are hungry, who are thirsty, but they are the they're the ones that the Lord is moving on in this hour, in this place.
SPEAKER_00: But it has to be a daily choice of taking up the cross daily and following him.
SPEAKER_00: See, the cross used to be uh a very, very uh significant.
SPEAKER_00: We wear it, you know.
SPEAKER_00: There was a culture uh of wearing a cross, you know, get it tattooed.
SPEAKER_00: All sorts of things people people do with the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is wrong, but I'm telling you, in Roman times, this time when Jesus is saying this, the cross was a pretty significant thing.
SPEAKER_00: It was a sign of death, it was a sign of shame, it was a sign of the absolute, the most torturous death you can imagine, was the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It was the symbol of the height of Roman punishment.
SPEAKER_00: Extreme suffering, extreme circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: The person stretched out on it, sometimes, oftentimes tied.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' case, he was pierced with nails and just left out there in the sun to just helpless.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: That was the that was the picture of the cross, and Jesus says, if you don't take your cross daily, you cannot be my disciples.
SPEAKER_00: That's the cost.
SPEAKER_00: But there is something amazing that happens.
SPEAKER_00: But I don't wanna I wanna I don't wanna diminish the cost aspect because I believe, and Sarah had pointed out on Friday, that if we're pursuing him and don't feel the weight of the cross, something's not right.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like there is a call to all believers today, in this season, in today's time, to have this kind of resolve in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: At any cost, at any cost, Lord, I am coming after you at any cost, Lord, and that resolve is required to overcome and to come into that place, and it's not the persecution, by the way, it's not the persecution, it's not the hardship, it's not the distraction, it's not the fame either.
SPEAKER_00: You know, oftentimes we get the fame, become very famous, speak in big conferences, get put in hotels, picked up from the airport, driven to places.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying anything wrong, but I just I just want to feel there is a requirement.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says you've got to pick up your cross daily.
SPEAKER_00: If we're not feeling the weight of the cross, I don't know what we're carrying.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean?
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean on a daily basis?
SPEAKER_00: Denying ourselves, surrendering to the will of the Lord, surrendering to the will of the Father, at any cost connecting with Him.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying you gotta have, I I I often sort of imply as if you've got to have that dedicated time.
SPEAKER_00: As long as you are connected through the day, connected, you know, do you have your heart connected?
SPEAKER_00: I think that complies.
SPEAKER_00: But we got to have our connection with the Lord, embracing the sacrifices the Lord is asking us to make.
SPEAKER_00: Happy to stepping into the potential suffering that we that's going to occur if we step into certain places the Lord is asking us to step into.
SPEAKER_00: However, not choosing that because of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But most things that he calls us into can be difficult.
SPEAKER_00: They will have a cost.
SPEAKER_00: Radical commitment and surrender, daily choices, a mindset shift, focusing on his kingdom and his ways and what he's saying is to do.
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, stepping away from a misery mindset.
SPEAKER_00: There's a risk in accepting uh uh you know the cross or the lifestyle of the cross, there's a risk of developing a misery mindset where we just are attracted to difficult things, are attracted to misery.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what the Lord says because his his promise is overcoming life, his promise is that we will overcome.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we are being yoked.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 11, verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna quickly run through.
SPEAKER_00: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_00: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
SPEAKER_00: That's the place when we come into alignment with heaven's will for our lives, when we come into total submission of what the Lord is calling us into, we get yoked with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The aim is to keep track with him, the aim is to keep walking the way he came, is to keep the same direction as he's going into.
SPEAKER_00: Keep that direction, keep pace, otherwise, we're being dragged by him.
SPEAKER_00: And if we are dragging into a different direction, it's going to be very, very difficult dragging Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But as long as we are together with him, it becomes easy.
SPEAKER_00: This is where it becomes easy.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we start stepping into that place of peace.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we start getting into the place of promise.
SPEAKER_00: I'm rushing through this.
SPEAKER_00: John 10 10, there's a promise of abundant life.
SPEAKER_00: John 16, he promises peace.
SPEAKER_00: Pressure causes distress, and distress suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering brings us into a place of dependency, and dependency moves us into a place of his faithfulness, and his faithfulness takes us into a place of fullness.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna finish with this.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Paul here says, he says, and and not only that, but we also glory in trebulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character, and character hope.
SPEAKER_00: That's the transition.
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's so important to go into these places of trials and testing.
SPEAKER_00: If we are avoiding it, we never get to hope.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance.
SPEAKER_00: Character and character hope, and then triumphantly, the writer Paul, the writer of Romans declares, now hope does not disappoint.
SPEAKER_00: Hope guarantees breakthrough.
SPEAKER_00: Hope does not disappoint.
SPEAKER_00: If we get to that place, we are guaranteed to see breakthrough.
SPEAKER_00: Hope will not disappoint.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: All we got to do is just keep going.
SPEAKER_00: Keep going.
SPEAKER_00: Keep plowing with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Co yoke with him.
SPEAKER_00: Just keep plowing with him.
SPEAKER_00: For trebulation produces perseverance.
SPEAKER_00: And perseverance produces character.
SPEAKER_00: And the kind of character that can entertain hope.
SPEAKER_00: And hope does not disappoint.
SPEAKER_00: For the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
SPEAKER_00: Now suddenly we're not alone.
SPEAKER_00: The moment hope rises in our hearts, we are in that place, in that atmosphere of the love of God being poured out upon over us like a waterfall of his grace, his love, his compassion, his mercy, and everything else that the Holy Spirit brings for freedom and breakthrough in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Paul writing to Timothy in the second letter to Timothy in chapter 4, verse 7 onwards, he says, I have fought the good fight.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, I'm telling you, we are in a fight.
SPEAKER_00: It's like engaging an enemy that comes with twice the amount of force compared to us.
SPEAKER_00: It's like stepping into a task which is so huge that if we don't take it seriously, everyone laughs.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul over here, he says, he says, I have fought the good fight, and I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes on, because we often just quote that much and we stop, but there's more to it.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day.
SPEAKER_00: And not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone that has seen Jesus appear into their lives in any way, whether we've seen him physically, whether he's turned it up, whether he's entered our lives, he's revealed himself.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about him revealing.
SPEAKER_00: If you knew the gift of God and who it is who speaks to you, you would ask for living waters.
SPEAKER_00: This thing is available to all who have Jesus in their lives, who know him today.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a fight, there is a race, which requires a certain diligence, it requires a certain approach.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, where he's introducing his letter.
SPEAKER_00: He does a great job just in one chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, he's talking about this, this.
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you about salvation, but I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
SPEAKER_00: He's calling, he's encouraging the fellow saints, fellow believers to contend for their faith because I believe there is a war going on right now, there is a fight we are in.
SPEAKER_00: And the way we win it is back to Psalms 103.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
SPEAKER_00: When?
SPEAKER_00: At all times.
SPEAKER_00: In what circumstances?
SPEAKER_00: In every circumstance, in every situation, bless the Lord, O my soul.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
SPEAKER_00: What benefits?
SPEAKER_00: He forgives all your iniquities, that benefit, who heals all your diseases, that benefit, who redeems you, who redeems your life from destruction, that benefit.
SPEAKER_00: Who crowns you with loving kindness?
SPEAKER_00: That benefit.
SPEAKER_00: And he showers you with tender mercies, that benefit.
SPEAKER_00: Who satisfies your mouth with good things, that benefit.
SPEAKER_00: And who renews our youth like an eagle, that benefit.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we pray that you bring us into that place of realization, that you bring us into that place of being able to see your mighty hand and all that is available.
SPEAKER_00: All the breakthrough.
SPEAKER_00: These are areas of breakthrough, these are benefits of breakthrough that the Lord is listing.
SPEAKER_00: David is listing in Psalms 103.
SPEAKER_00: Freedom from iniquities, freedom from all sickness and disease, redemption from destruction, crowning with loving kindness, being surrounded and overcome by tender mercies, satisfied with every good thing that we can imagine, renewed like the eagle.
SPEAKER_00: We give you thanks, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We praise your name.
SPEAKER_00: All that is within me.
SPEAKER_00: Bless your holy name.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us and strengthen us, Father.
SPEAKER_00: Bring us to a place.
SPEAKER_00: You know, people sometimes get to, you know, they see something and they go, I don't care how word it costs, I'm buying that.
SPEAKER_00: There is a parable that Jesus taught to that effect.
SPEAKER_00: That a man found a pearl of great price.
SPEAKER_00: And he sold everything he had to acquire that.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that we become so consumed by your son Jesus, we become so consumed by his presence, we become so consumed by his glory that we become so consumed by his mercy, by his love, by his compassion, that we are willing to lay our all down to have you to pursue you.
SPEAKER_00: We want you at any cost, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We're the hungriest generation on this planet.
SPEAKER_00: We can all say, I am the most thirsty before you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I am the most hungry before you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Come fill me.
SPEAKER_00: Draw me into that place.
SPEAKER_00: Have mercy upon me, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It is not the denial of pain, and it's not a deliberate choice to find trouble, but it is a deliberate choice to let every part of me worship him in every circumstance, in every situation, where your soul can bless him in the middle of the storm, because of who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Not just because his presence makes us feel amazing, feels good, no, because of who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Let all that is within me, my thoughts, my feelings, my pain, my joy, my weakness, my strength, bless your holy name.
SPEAKER_00: Even when it's hard, I choose to bless your holy name.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You're worth it.
SPEAKER_00: You're worthy.
SPEAKER_00: You deserve all our praises, all our shouts and cries of blessing your name.
SPEAKER_00: You deserve it all, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Bless you all.