Latest / Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons / Trusting in God to manifest His Kingdom pt. 3
Transcript
- 0:00Hi there, welcome to NECF. We're excited to share today's message with you. Don't
- 0:10go anywhere, stay with us to the end for some valuable resources to enrich your faith.
- 0:17Here's today's sermon.
- 0:23What we are doing is establishing the importance of our trusting in God, establishing the important
- 0:29of our trusting in God and understanding our identity. Trusting in God, understanding our
- 0:36identity because you cannot manifest what you don't know. Praise God. You cannot manifest
- 0:42what you don't know. So we are going into understanding our identity, understanding that we have a union
- 0:48with God. We sang about it. We have a union. We are one spirit with this God that we serve.
- 0:53And what we're going to be, what we saw in the last time, we saw a bit of how Jesus Christ used
- 0:58figures of speech, such as metaphors and metonyms, things to communicate this truth, spiritual truths.
- 1:06He used that and we saw a couple of that in the last teaching that we had. Spiritual truths,
- 1:12profound spiritual truth. So in this teaching, what we're going to be doing now is that we're
- 1:16going to be going deeper into what or who we believe in and how our believing will translate
- 1:24into exercising our faith, which will lead, which will cause a practical and a visible
- 1:29manifestation of this kingdom that we are part of. Praise God. Because our union with Christ is the
- 1:36foundation, is the basis by which we are able to manifest the kingdom. And hence our going back
- 1:42at in the teaching that Pastor Emmanuel had walked us through also emphasized that is in our union,
- 1:47that foundation. And in the midweek service on Wednesday, he talked about certain elements and
- 1:52what faith was included. And I love the way he defined believing during the course of the service.
- 1:57I don't know how many of us were around for the midweek service. Praise God. Looks like in the
- 2:01meetings, very few of us that attend the midweek services. And I encourage you that you don't miss
- 2:06out because everything builds up on itself. Every teaching that we have, this pastor teaches, the
- 2:13next pastor builds up on itself. And what he said, believing, who can remember, who remembers what he
- 2:17said believing is. Okay. There are a few people, so I don't expect anybody from this, but he said,
- 2:23believing is exercising our faith. Believing is exercising our faith. I want to, that's very
- 2:28important that we pen it down because this is going to be very, it's, this team will repeat itself in
- 2:33the course of this teaching this morning or this afternoon. Exercising our faith, believing,
- 2:40believing means exercising our faith. And the last time I taught, I explained to us that the,
- 2:48the text we just read, that is in John 14, this, which is, which we have before us. Notice,
- 2:55believe is used twice in the text. Believe in God, believe also in me, believe in God, believe also
- 3:03in me. And I said the word, the Greek word there is pisto. And the word believe has several
- 3:10words in Greek. In fact, it has eight words in Greek. So this one word believe in English
- 3:16language. And that's why most times we go to the Greek to help us understand. Not that's just,
- 3:21not because we just love calling out Greek words. The word it's in English, it's believe,
- 3:28but in Greek you have eight words that points to the same. It can be believed. It can be not believe,
- 3:38but we have eight words. And in Hebrew there are two of them. Even though the two words in Hebrew,
- 3:43one is Aramaic, the other one is Hebrew, it's just two words in Hebrew. So if you're reading
- 3:48your Old Testament and you see the word believe, I think it's in Daniel that the Aramaic is used.
- 3:54The same word believe. In Daniel the Aramaic is used, but in every other part of scripture
- 3:59it's just one. It's in the Greek that you have varied. And I said in the last teaching that
- 4:05John uses the word a lot. Amongst all of the disciples, amongst all of the apostles, John
- 4:12is one person that uses the word believe a lot. A lot. I think it's up to 90 something in his
- 4:20letters. He uses the word. And I pointed out something very clearly. In the Gospels,
- 4:27for those of us that are new to this church, you notice that when we teach, we emphasize that
- 4:33in the Gospels, the four Gospels as against the Epistles, the mode of communication, if you pay
- 4:39attention, you'll notice that even the word believe used in the way believe is used in the Gospels,
- 4:47slightly different. You notice that when John writes, I think I read this to us, I read it again
- 4:54in this particular text and also in John 20-31. I want us to go to John 20-31. We'll do that.
- 5:03We'll go back there a couple of times. It says, but these things are written to you, that you may
- 5:12believe that Jesus is Christ. Note that all the writings that we have, all the writings that
- 5:20all of the writings that the writing that John writes, he says he's writing this, this text he's
- 5:27writing or the book he's writing, he's writing that you may believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of
- 5:33the Living God and that believing you may have life in his name and that by believing and that
- 5:40believing and that believing you may have life in his name. And notice the way when he writes
- 5:48in the Epistles. Now this is the Gospel of John. When you go to the Epistle, 1 John 5-13,
- 5:541 John 5-13. I want you to, I want us to read it from the NLT because the King James adds a B
- 6:02part which is not there in the original. It adds a B part which is not there in the original. That's
- 6:06why in the NLT it doesn't include that part because it's not there in the original. It says,
- 6:12I have written this to you who believe. Now it no longer talks to them as okay people who don't,
- 6:20he's writing to people who have believed now. He's writing to them and the communication is very,
- 6:25that's why when you read the Gospels you don't always jump into, you don't put yourself in
- 6:30everything you see there. Don't always assume that okay this is making reference to me because you
- 6:35can, you can be confused because you read the Epistles and it says this and then you go back
- 6:39there and they're saying something else. It says, I'm writing this to you who believe in the name of
- 6:45the Son of God so that you may know you have and that is the key word there so that you may know,
- 6:52you may know because you have believed and you have received the life of Christ. What you now need to
- 6:59do is to study, to know what you have received and that is why we take our time to teach, take our
- 7:07time to open scriptures for us to understand what we have in this our union with God. What is our
- 7:13current realities and many, many people turn up to, yes they would have believed in God but there's
- 7:22no growth and what ensures a person grows is the feeding of themselves with the word of God. The
- 7:29same way a physical feeding of your body ensures that you grow and grow effectively. The same way
- 7:33spiritual feeding of yourself will ensure that you grow in your understanding. You are able to
- 7:38exercise the authority because if you don't know you have something you don't exercise that thing
- 7:43and what empowers you and ensures that you, you exercise the things that we have in God is the
- 7:49knowledge that we draw from God's Word. Knowledge is very important in this Kingdom if you want to
- 7:54make progress and taking your, your, your walk with God very seriously ensures that growth is seen in
- 8:02every area of your life. When we say manifesting the Kingdom there's, there's, there's no manifesting
- 8:09the Kingdom where you don't know what exactly it is that you're manifesting first and foremost and
- 8:12then there are the things that you have to know to be able to know that this is my identity, this is
- 8:17the authority I have in Christ Jesus, this is what I'm able to do. Praise God and we are going to take
- 8:22time in subsequent teaching that's very shortly to, not in today's teaching to be able to look at the
- 8:30different use of the different places the word used or the different use of the word or different
- 8:36Greek renditions of those of the word believe. We're going to take time to do that but not today
- 8:41but I want us to go back to a passage of Scripture that Pastor Manoban brought to our attention in
- 8:47the Midweek service in Titus. Titus 1, 1 to 4 and the faith that we exercise is a common
- 8:55faith, is a faith that we have in Christ and this is a letter that Apostle Paul writes to Titus
- 9:03and it starts off in the first by saying, Paul a born servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ
- 9:10according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which
- 9:17which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie, very important
- 9:25God who cannot lie, promised before time began. Three now which is where I want to see some things
- 9:32is what has in due time manifested, that word manifested is another I think Pastor Emmanuel
- 9:39taught us one word for manifest. The word manifest has 11 Greek words, the word manifest. When you
- 9:46see, anytime you see the word manifest it can be it can be one of the 11 praise God, one of the 11
- 9:53and it just has one in Hebrew, just have one word in Hebrew but in Greek has several and this
- 9:59particular one is Fenero. This particular one is Fenero, is P-H-A-N-E-R-O-O P-H-A-N-E-R-O-O. This one
- 10:12means, the Fenero means to make manifest, to make manifest, to make manifest and not what is tied to.
- 10:22It says in due time manifested his word through preaching, manifested his word through preaching.
- 10:30So note that there's a manifestation of God's word that happens that as a result of preaching,
- 10:37is the preaching of God's word that results in a manifestation. We're going to take time to also
- 10:42talk about the different or bring our attention to the different words so that we can see and pay
- 10:47attention to how the nuances of his use and it goes down to say in the next, go to the next verse,
- 10:54it says to tithe us a true, to tithe us a true son in our common faith. That there is
- 11:04is not in the original, the hour there is not there, if it was it would be etalized. It says
- 11:10common faith and you have a column there and it says grace, peace, even the and there
- 11:18and then grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. So the
- 11:25source is clearly stated there. The source of this faith is anchored on God and what Christ has done.
- 11:32The moment your faith is not anchored on Christ and what he has done, you are still a non-believer.
- 11:38Praise God. You might turn up to church as many times as you can. The moment your faith is not
- 11:45anchored on what Christ has done, the truth is this, you are still a non-believer and in fact
- 11:51your work and experience is proof of it. But someone who has placed their faith and their
- 12:00trust in God, they had heard the gospel, they had heard the gospel, brain preached and they had
- 12:07accepted what Christ has done for them. They come into that union that we talk about.
- 12:14I say this and I'll say it again, the faith we have in Christ was done, is brought about through
- 12:21our union with him and you have to have been communicated to about what he has done and then
- 12:28you receive and believe in what he has done for yourself and then you now start a walk and that
- 12:34is where you now come to be referred to as a believer. I want us to see something else in
- 12:40Hebrews. Hebrews 4, which is another place that beautifully communicates this. Hebrews 4.1,
- 12:48it says, Therefore since a promise remains of entering his rest, entering his rest, let us
- 12:56fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. I want you to notice the rest that is used
- 13:04there. That rest is not the verb, it's a noun. That rest there is not a verb, it's a noun.
- 13:13Then two, for indeed the gospel was preached. Remember what I said about preaching? The gospel
- 13:22was preached to us when he says us there is referring to the auto and the people is communicating to
- 13:29us as well as to them. For context, note that the reference will be of the children of Israel,
- 13:37to the children of Israel as at a time when they were in the wilderness. I'll explain that further.
- 13:43But the word which they heard did not profit them. Why is that? Not being knew by the people,
- 13:50but not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. So note that the preaching of God's word was
- 13:59done even to the people in the wilderness, even to the children of Israel in the wilderness.
- 14:05Preaching was done to them. Moses had spoken to them, but not being mixed with faith, meaning that
- 14:13these individuals heard and still went ahead to disobey. They heard and still went ahead to disobey.
- 14:21Three, for we who have believed, we who have believed, remember what I said? In the gospels,
- 14:30you'll notice that the word believed is used in the past tense, not in the present because the
- 14:39individual is communicating to people who have believed. Praise God. He says, for we who have
- 14:46believed do enter that rest. Speaks of the rest. Remember I said, if I said I rest or I rested,
- 14:55that will be a verb because it's an action. But when somebody tells you enter rest, and I said
- 15:01it's a noun, the word there rest, it's a noun. And it's almost speaks of a place, right? Speaks of
- 15:12a place, not met. And that's, that's the way I'm going to now. The Greek word there is cataposis.
- 15:20It's catap- k-a-t-a-p-a-u-s-i-s. K-a-t-a-p-a-u-s-i-s. That word is a noun. The verb version or the verb
- 15:36of that same word, you just change it to, instead of p-u-s-i-s, you just make it, it's p-u-o.
- 15:43That's p-a-u-o, sorry. The kata. And then it ends with the a-u-o, instead of the s-i-s.
- 15:53The same exact word. You're just changing the end of it. That's the verb of the word.
- 16:02The verb of the word is used in the same, the verb of the verb rest is used in this same chapter.
- 16:10It's used in four. We'll see it in the next verse. It's used in four. And in four, if you're very
- 16:17familiar with your Bible, you know that this is a quote from Genesis. Genesis 2 verse 2.
- 16:25There's a quote from Genesis 2 verse 2. It says, for he has spoken of a certain place, in a certain
- 16:30place in the seventh day in this way. God rested on the seventh day from all this work. This,
- 16:38and you notice the quote there, that he rested from, and I say this quote is from Genesis 2 verse 2.
- 16:45And the Hebrew word there, which is a verb in that sense, and that's why I said the word,
- 16:51the words you want to be able to know when it's referring to a verb, when it's referring to,
- 16:55just so to properly understand and not misunderstand what is being said. And I want us to go back.
- 17:00When he speaks of entering rest, the rest, the now, the rest that speaks of in verse 3, it's used
- 17:08twice in verse 3. The rest that it speaks of is, it talks about a resting place, that the now.
- 17:15It speaks of a resting place and speaks of that same union with God. It's where the individual
- 17:23that is in, the individual that comes into union with God finds rest. And you see that scattered
- 17:28through the gospel. You see that in Matthew 11, where it says, come unto me, and the verb is what
- 17:33is used, and you will find the rest for your soul. Praise God. So, this individual refused,
- 17:40and it says in the line there, which is a quote, this is a quote from Psalms. And I want to,
- 17:47when I put the quotes, I want you to know that all of scriptures, all of scriptures are very
- 17:55connected. You can, we're reading Hebrews and we're finding ourselves, we're finding it quote,
- 18:00Psalm. And we know that Psalms, that this particular Psalm, Psalm 95 is 11, which is a
- 18:07Psalm, yeah, because even it mentions it in verse 7 of this particular passage of David, even though
- 18:12in the Psalm, you don't see it there, but here, the writer of Hebrews says, is of David, is of David.
- 18:19And I want us to go to the Psalm, just to see Psalms 95 verse 11. We'll go there and then we go to
- 18:28what actually David was quoting, what exactly was he quoting or talking about. Psalms 95 verse 11.
- 18:36It says, so I swore in my rot they will not enter my rest. So I swore in my rot that they will not
- 18:44enter my rest. If you read the whole of the passage, you discover that he was talking about
- 18:50the journey of the children of Israel in the wilderness. And you'll be thinking to yourself,
- 18:56is it fair? How will you just stop people from entering? Think like why, what's happening?
- 19:02I just want to walk us through why that is. Walk us through the effect of a promise given to you
- 19:10and then you deciding to go against it. A promise, something is offered to you and you turn it down.
- 19:17That is basically what happens. Know that it's your decision to turn it down that brings the
- 19:22consequence of you not experiencing what you would have experienced if you had accepted it.
- 19:28Praise God. Because some of us are quick to say, oh, that's not fair. Oh, why, why, why, why, why
- 19:34would they not enter? Know that they will not enter because they chose not to enter. Praise God.
- 19:42They chose not to enter. So let's look at Numbers 14. We'll just read from 20 to 24 Numbers 14,
- 19:49so that we can see for ourselves Numbers 14. It says, then the Lord said, I have pardoned
- 19:56according to your word. And this is for context, this is Moses having pleaded for the children of
- 20:03Israel. And then God now makes a statement, I have pardoned, but truly as I leave, all the earth
- 20:12shall be filled with the glory of God. Let's mark the use of the word, just mark glory of God. All
- 20:19the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Next. Because all this men who have seen my
- 20:28glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and have put me to test now this
- 20:3610 times, this 10 times. So put me to test this 10 times and have not heeded my voice. So let me
- 20:46make it practical. You know, you have a friend, you invite them over to your house. This friend,
- 20:52you know that they are in need. You know, there's some people that are in need and they just,
- 20:57they want you to force them to receive help. I know some of us have that or some of us are
- 21:02that friend that will want to be helped to be shut down before they accept. So you know this
- 21:10person needs help. This person is going to probably die of starvation if they don't come
- 21:15to receive the invitation that you're giving to them. You invite them first time, they said no.
- 21:20Second time, they said no. Third time, they said no. Fifth, sixth, I'm counting seven, eight, nine,
- 21:26up to the 10th time. You know, will you bother? Will you go with like, you just say, okay, let me
- 21:33do one more. Because you did the first time, it's almost like an, you know, you're going to die of
- 21:38starvation. It's not like the first time it's almost like, and they are aware. It's not like I called
- 21:43you and then you missed my call and then you didn't know what I was going to talk about or I called
- 21:48you second time, you missed my call. You didn't know what I was going to talk about, but all of
- 21:51the times I kept on reaching out to you and you still kept on denying or denying yourself the
- 21:59opportunity that you have to experience what I have to offer. Praise God. So the same thing,
- 22:05now there's 10 times. Go back, go back a bit. Go back, just go back. They didn't heed his voice.
- 22:10Praise God. 23 and says, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers,
- 22:20nor shall any of this who reject me see it. 24. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different
- 22:31spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land which he went and his descendants
- 22:41shall inherit it. Notice that here he speaks of a physical location, but in this church, I think we
- 22:50have communicated this several times. Yes, it's a physical location, but it's pointing to something,
- 22:55it's called someone and something that is not necessarily a physical location and we'll
- 23:02establish that very shortly. All of this has built its context in the previous verse, which is 13.
- 23:09So we'll just go to 13 verse 23. I want you to follow me as we explain this. Everything will
- 23:16become a bit clearer when we go back. So 13, 23. I want us to see the story which most of us are
- 23:24familiar with. It says, then they came to the valley of Eshkol. The word Eshkol means cluster,
- 23:31you see down. And they had cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes. So they went to a land
- 23:39and then the land had grapes. They cut down the cluster. You know when you have a whole bunch,
- 23:45or like clusters, what was referred to, but let's just refer to it as a bunch. They carried it
- 23:50between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. So this land
- 24:01had fruits. This land had fruits. Then 24, it says, the place was called the valley of Eshkol because
- 24:09of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there. Next, so they named it. And they returned
- 24:17from spying out the land after 40 days. 26. Now they departed and they came back to Moses and Aaron,
- 24:25all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Peran at Kairdash. They brought
- 24:31back the word to them and all the congregation and they saw them and they showed them the foot
- 24:37of the land. So note that there's evidence. They shown them the foot of the land. 27. Then they
- 24:46told them, they told them and said, we went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk
- 24:54and honey and this is its fruits. So it says milk and honey. Was it milk and honey that they got?
- 25:02Was it milk and honey they got? No. What they got was fruits. So going back to what I said,
- 25:07what we said in the last teaching that when certain words are used, you shouldn't take that
- 25:12literal. You shouldn't take that literal because we read from the passage that what they got was
- 25:17fruits and grapes. The grapes, the grape, pomegranate and then figs. So if you're thinking
- 25:23of milk and honey now, where did you get that from? Because it was said doesn't mean that that's what
- 25:28you see there. So the next verse which is 27, right? It says, no, go back. It's 26.
- 25:35Go back. It's 26. Or 27. Okay. Then he told him and said, we went to the land. Okay, it's 27.
- 25:43Next 28. Nevertheless, the people who dwelled in the land are strong. Not that they have admitted
- 25:49that the land is fruitful, right? And by the way, this land was the land promised to, was what was
- 25:54promised to them. So one key thing I want us to take away from here is that you have promised
- 25:59something. There is your responsibility, right? Which is to claim that which has been promised
- 26:05to you. I've done all this. There's certain things you can purchase something and then they give you
- 26:12like a voucher for something that you should claim. Note that if you're given that voucher,
- 26:19if you just say, I know, I just, there's a tendency that you might miss the voucher or something will
- 26:23happen and then you will lose it. But you have to add an extra effort. Yes, you did something to get
- 26:28it or something was given to you, but you need to put an weight. It means that you want to exercise,
- 26:33which is the word I want us to remember. You want to exercise your faith in what has been given to
- 26:39you so that you can be able to lay claims of what is yours. Because the land given to them is theirs,
- 26:45but you need to go and fight and lay claims to the land. And now what they say now is that
- 26:50nevertheless, the people that dwelled in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large.
- 26:56Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there, 29. It says the Amalekites dwell in the land
- 27:04of the south. They now list all the people that are around. The land itself is not,
- 27:08they now start talking about the surrounding cities. Go to 13. Then Caleb quieted the people
- 27:15before Moses and said, let us go up at once and take possession for we are able to overcome it.
- 27:24Does that sound like faith to you? That sounds like somebody that knows that regardless of what
- 27:28they saw, they're able to surmount, they're able to conquer. But these other people had seen fruits,
- 27:37they had seen evidence from that land. They said, okay, this land is fruitful. This land will
- 27:42benefit us. But look at how they shut down what exactly it is that is theirs. They shut it down
- 27:49by saying, there are people there that we just not, just, just, let's not. And we do this all the time
- 27:56or we do this some of the times in our work where we have promises that are ours and then we feel it
- 28:02doesn't apply here. It doesn't apply there. It only applies, we take the part of least resistance. We
- 28:08don't want to do too much. And that in itself doesn't allow us lay hold of what is ours.
- 28:15It doesn't allow us lay hold of what is ours. I want us to read down to 33, 31 says, but the men who
- 28:22had gone with him said, we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we.
- 28:29It gets even more, they keep on and they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land,
- 28:37which they had spied out saying, the land through which we had gone to spy is a land that divorces
- 28:44inhabitants and all whom we saw in it are men of great stature. They were, they were, there we saw
- 28:56the giants, the descendants of Anak come from the giants and we were like grasshoppers in our,
- 29:03in our own sight. And so we were in their sight. Note that now it shifts to where they now see
- 29:11themselves as something else in front of these individuals. Yes, they were giants, but we are
- 29:16familiar with the story of David. We know that there's nothing, there's nothing too big that can
- 29:21come down when there's a promise, when there's, when the, when the individual has God at their
- 29:26back, they are bigger than what they look like. When you stand in front of a challenge, stand in
- 29:29front of a situation, what should be before you is, is the understanding knowledge that you have,
- 29:35that you have, that you serve a God that is far and beyond what stands before you.
- 29:39And that gives you confidence to move ahead. Same thing. We talk about the different things
- 29:44that we have in, once you are faced with whatever situation, you know that you have this in God,
- 29:49you apply it to the situation. You don't give excuses of reasons why it will not work.
- 29:55Praise God. Reasons why you cannot open your mouth and speak to the situation. Reason why
- 30:00you cannot open your mouth and talk and exercise your authority on that particular matter, on that
- 30:06particular matter, on that particular situation. I want to challenge you and I know that God is
- 30:12bringing this to you at this point in time to bring you to a point where you don't allow doubt.
- 30:18You don't allow the things you see limit what you have, what you have received, what you are,
- 30:26who you are. Praise God. You want to exercise the power that you have in God by the Spirit of God.
- 30:33You want to be able to exercise it and see to it that you are able to make manifest that which you
- 30:40have on your inside to the world around you. Because you yourself, it has to influence you.
- 30:47Influence you so mightily that anybody that stands around you will be affected or be affected by what
- 30:54it is that you carry. Praise God. It's very powerful to know that this is the reason why
- 31:00these people were not able to and that's why when he says Joshua and Caleb were the ones to,
- 31:05it's just a decision of where, how do you see yourself as against what it's through of you.
- 31:11Don't allow physical things or the things around you deter you. We sang, we are spiritual. So the
- 31:18source of our energy is beyond physical. The source of our energy is from God and He by His Spirit
- 31:26inside us empowers us to do whatever it is that He has called us to do because He is the one that
- 31:32has called us to do these things and He is the one that powers us. So one key point I want you to note
- 31:37is that because our confidence doesn't come from our abilities. Our confidence never comes from
- 31:44our abilities. Our confidence is in the God that gives us or has given us all the abilities that
- 31:51we have and some of the abilities we have we don't even know. We find out. You know some people,
- 31:57they never believe that they can pray for this amount of, they feel like what do I pray for?
- 32:02After five minutes it's gone. But once you insist and you desire, you see that your capacity increases
- 32:10and you are amazed. You know, Nigel you say you are shocked at what extent but you have to insist
- 32:20that this is mine and I lay claims to it. And when I say lay claims to it, you know sometimes
- 32:26because I'm thinking of lay claims to, your identity is spiritual and what you're laying claims to
- 32:33is, should be because we said the spiritual influences the physical. So what you are laying
- 32:38claims to is those things that will yield or cause the Kingdom of God to be manifested. We're not
- 32:46saying you should lay claims to car, lay claims to this. Those things are good because they are needed
- 32:51physically, right? They are needed here on this plane. But what is more important to God is the
- 32:56things that he has given you that is spiritual. That's what he wants to see manifested. Every other
- 33:01thing you want to see manifested is probably what you desire to see manifested and that will not be
- 33:07or that might not be at any given point in time in line with his will. But one thing that is the will
- 33:13of God is for us to grow in our knowledge of him. When you exercise yourself in that direction you
- 33:20will see, you will see growth praise God. But you just need to yield yourself to the activities or
- 33:25to the things that warrants or that results in that. Praise God. As I said earlier, I said there's a
- 33:32slide you want to see how Jesus communicates, how the disciples even word and write down the things
- 33:41that they are writing to communicate clearly to us what is our reality or what is our identity. And
- 33:46I say pay attention to the difference in the gospels as against the epistles. Just pay attention
- 33:53to those differences and you will be amazed at the things that you will see or the things you will
- 33:57learn if you're looking at it from there. I want us to see also how Jesus communicates in John 2.
- 34:05John 2 18. John 2 18. He says we're going to read to 22. It says, So the Jews answered and said to
- 34:15him, What sign do you show us since you do these things? And this particular incident happened
- 34:22after he had cleansed the temple. John's a rendition of it. It says, Jesus answered and said to them,
- 34:27destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And note that when somebody says destroy
- 34:34this temple and three years you raise it up, you'll be thinking. Then you see that they said,
- 34:38then the Jews said it has taken 46 years to build this temple and you will raise it up in three days.
- 34:49It was like what's going on here? 21 it says and he was talking. Now you see that makes it clear.
- 34:56It said, but he was talking about the temple of his body. He was talking about the temple of his
- 35:01body. Going back to what we have always emphasized about you understanding that when something
- 35:07doesn't make sense, it's likely not what you think it is. Praise God. It's most likely not what you
- 35:13think it is. So when he was talking there, he was actually pointing to the temple of his body and
- 35:20note that there's this what should happen to get us to that point. Right? He said, therefore,
- 35:25when he had risen from the dead, when he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered.
- 35:34I'm going to first remember when I think Pastor Victor was teaching us. It says when they remembered
- 35:39that he had said this to them and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
- 35:48Note that when it had happened, note that what had happened is on him being resurrected, on him
- 35:56being resurrected, that was the fulfillment of what it says. Destroy this temple and in three days,
- 36:00I will raise it up. Speaking of him dying and him being resurrected and remember what we said or
- 36:09remember what we've been pointing out that it's in his resurrection that we experience that union
- 36:14with him, that we have the Spirit of God residing in us and that is very important that we note
- 36:20that Christ when he was on earth, yes, he was preaching, he was teaching, he was doing all of
- 36:26those things but the Spirit of God was still not in man but at his resurrection that is when that
- 36:33happened. He said destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. There was a physical
- 36:38temple which he used to point to the spiritual, the one that we are now because we say this in
- 36:45this house that we are the temple of the Lord. It's not just the physical, it's not the physical
- 36:50building. We are where God dwells and it's important that you remind yourself that
- 36:55when you go anywhere you go, you go with him. When he says I will be with you until that is what he
- 37:01meant by making himself a place where you and going back to the text that we read it says in my father's
- 37:08family there are many dwellings, many places. In my father's dwelling there are many places just
- 37:15establishing that and we said that that word remember. You know that you can remember something
- 37:20and still not understand what you're, you can remember something and still not understand or
- 37:25you there's a lot of things we remember but we don't understand how it connects.
- 37:29So know that that remember there will imply that something had happened for them to understand
- 37:35what he had said because why didn't you understand it as when it was said there was something that
- 37:40didn't like hadn't connected. Praise God. So when he says when it's when Jesus teaching in Luke 24
- 37:48verse 45 says and he opened their understanding right to comprehend and if you are reading it in
- 37:55the New King James or yeah in the Old King James it would be understanding to understand and those
- 38:01two words are not the same word. This is open the understanding to understand meaning that when you
- 38:07come to this you will see that what had happened was that when being taught they understood what
- 38:14had been communicated previously with greater clarity and that is what happens to us when you
- 38:20keep coming and keep coming and certain things will make sense certain things will make sense
- 38:26you keep coming at it and in John still the same John John 7 verse 37 to 39 John 7 verse 37 to 39
- 38:39so says on the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried out saying if anyone
- 38:45tests let him come unto me and drink that it now says he who believes in me he who believes in me
- 38:55as the scripture said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water 39 now says but this he
- 39:03speck concerning or spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive
- 39:12for the Holy Spirit has not yet been given because Jesus has not yet been has not been glorified
- 39:18praise God going back to just connecting he was speaking referring to something that will happen
- 39:26referring to something that will happen and the individuals in this place that's the promise of
- 39:30the spirit and it refers to it as the living water living water refers to it as the living water
- 39:38and a similar incident happened in John 4 if you notice all of this were just in John
- 39:44all of this were just in John John 4 verse 7 John 4 verse 7 it says a woman of Samaria came
- 39:51to draw water Jesus said to her give me a drink eight for the disciples had gone away into the
- 39:59city to buy food nine then the woman of Samaria said to him how is it that you you being a Jew
- 40:09ask a drink from me a Samaritan woman for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans Jesus answered
- 40:16and said to her if you know the gift of God and who is it who says to you give me a drink you would
- 40:24have asked him and he will give you a living water not that word living water 12 oh sorry 11
- 40:32and he said to her and he and she the woman said to him sir you have nothing to draw it and the
- 40:40you have nothing to draw it and the well is deep where then do you get that living water note that
- 40:47as I said earlier when it doesn't make sense there's a high likelihood that you don't understand
- 40:53what has been said so what you need to do is to ask questions which what smart woman did he says
- 41:00and where then do you want to get the water then the stroke says are you greater than our father
- 41:06Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself as well as the water that he drank from
- 41:14it and drank from it himself as well as his son and his livestock now she goes deep with it
- 41:23Jesus answered and said to her whoever drinks of this water will test again 14 but whoever drinks
- 41:36of the water that I shall give him will never thirst but the water shall that the water that
- 41:44I shall give him will be coming him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life springing
- 41:54up into everlasting life the promise of the spirit referred to the living water and that will spring
- 42:02up once the person believes accepts note that he's not in any way speaking of a physical water
- 42:11when he says living water you already know that he's talking about something that is beyond
- 42:18physical and he says that if you drink of it you will test again praise God and I want you to also
- 42:25move to 14 John 14 that's it our text John 14 John 14 verse 7 John 14 verse 7 it says that if you know
- 42:37if you had known me you would have not at this in response to Thomas's you would have known my
- 42:44father also and from now on you know him and him see and and have seen him eight Philip said to him
- 42:55Lord show us the father and it is sufficient for us so these people are accessing this
- 43:02he Philip still actuals the father here oh it's almost like all he has been saying fell on deaf
- 43:07ears and Jesus said to him have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me Philip he who
- 43:17has seen me has seen the father so how can you say show us the father Jesus Christ is amused
- 43:26at the question that they are accents show us the father he says if you have seen me you've seen it
- 43:31he has been communicating that from the beginning but it seems like they were not understanding
- 43:35it seems like they were not understanding they were not understanding and I want you to see
- 43:40something very interesting let's move from here and Moses says something similar to what he says
- 43:49in Exodus 33 verse 18 Exodus 33 verse 18 Moses says please show me your glory show me your glory
- 44:01and the glory there in the Hebrew is cardboard the glory there in Hebrew in Hebrew is cardboard
- 44:07and it's used for different things possessions for things is used for that and in the Greek
- 44:14is doxa and the Greek is doxa but I want us to see the narrative going down 19 says we're going to
- 44:23stop at 21 he then said I will make all of my goodness this is God speaking I'll make all of
- 44:31my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you and I and I will be
- 44:37gracious to whom I am gracious and I will have compassion to whom I will have compassion 20 but
- 44:45he said you cannot see my face for no man shall see me and leave 21 and the Lord said here is a
- 44:58place for me and you shall stand on the rock I want you to live it here he says show me your glory
- 45:06and then God now starts talking about his face he's talking about his face and then you'll be
- 45:13thinking to yourself like okay glory face okay and this is a man Moses if you're familiar with
- 45:21the way Moses Moses was someone that he had done a lot of things in fact he had had times when he
- 45:26has seen a man what will happen is that you will just see smoke and we've had all those instances
- 45:31where he had not necessarily seen him in person right he has not seen God in person and you'll be
- 45:37and when he says no man has ever seen me and you're very if you if you go to John 1 I just
- 45:45leave it just leave it there let me just read John 1 verse 14 to us it's 18 John 1 verse 18 it says
- 45:54no one has seen God at any time no one has seen God at any time not that if Moses
- 46:02sees God he would have been someone has seen God Moses had seen God and then others have not
- 46:06would have that would have been the narrative but see something beautiful that happens in this text
- 46:14where the Lord said there is a place for me and it's very interesting and I said this when I was
- 46:22talking earlier I said all the things we see in the Old Testament they are when Jesus Christ steps
- 46:30in when he's teaching he puts everything together I think we've said in this church that the things
- 46:35in the Old Testament are silent but when Jesus Christ comes he makes it loud and note that I'm
- 46:42going to show us two texts of scripture the one we had discussed previously that ties what just
- 46:48happened here or what's happening here in the New Testament note that it says here is a place if you
- 46:56remember the text of scripture what we're looking at it says in my father's house there are many
- 47:00mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place I go to prepare a place
- 47:08the place there and the place here is the same is place and that place is only what God is able to
- 47:15prepare we can't prepare that place praise God we cannot prepare that place it's only God that is
- 47:22able to do and then he says and you shall stand on the rock you shall stand on the rock when we come
- 47:31to the old the New Testament we remember in Matthew 16 some people have connected already I saw
- 47:37somebody who spoke in Matthew 16 he says on this rock I will build my church says on this rock I
- 47:47will build my church and we know that he's not talking about a physical building he's talking
- 47:51about what spirit praise God he's talking about man now being the dwelling place of God and all
- 47:58of that is tied in here and you know when he says no man has sinned no man has sinned I said no man
- 48:05has sinned you know John 1 says the word became 1 verse 14 says the word became flesh and it
- 48:15dwelt amongst us and we beheld the glory we beheld the glory John speaking we beheld the glory means
- 48:23that he saw Jesus in the flesh and seeing Jesus in the flesh remember what Jesus was telling
- 48:29disciples says if you have seen me you have seen him and as believers have we beheld the glory
- 48:36have we beheld the glory it looks like some of us are not here have we beheld the glory
- 48:41we know you know that we beheld we behold the glory in the person and it's not and we say that
- 48:45this thing is not physical it's not it's not by knowing the person it's a spirit weakness right
- 48:53is something that is better than you by the spirit of God is someone that is something that is better
- 48:59than you by the spirit of God Moses pleaded show me show me show me your glory show me your glory
- 49:07show me your glory and and John says we have beheld that glory in a person and for us seated here the
- 49:18glory is not just in space the glory is in us glory to God the glory is in us and that in itself
- 49:25should excite anyone that knows this for a fact you know some of us we have just head knowledge
- 49:33of the fact that of this fact I want that head knowledge to translate to your heart and translate
- 49:40to your hands and get you to rise up and get you to believe that what you have is not ordinary
- 49:47what you have is supernatural what you have is beyond you you might look small in stature you
- 49:54might be big in stature but you so the what resides in you is bigger than yourself so you don't want
- 50:00to limit that the glory of God is in us the moment we believe and have received we have seen the glory
- 50:10of this God that we serve and we have no choice but to manifest this to the world around us
- 50:17so when we speak when we preach I love the songs that we sang this morning if there's if you are
- 50:23in church and then you don't you don't you don't you know there's there's there's songs that you
- 50:28listen to you can't sit down your leg will just be moving by itself you will just have to stand up
- 50:34and exercise stand up and move the same way the spirit of God on your inside is quickening you
- 50:41equipping you empowering you to do the things that you can do by yourself praise God
- 50:49thank you for listening to today's sermon your journey matters to us let's keep walking together
- 50:55this is our website for more resources and follow us on social media to stay updated
- 51:01feel free to check the show notes for additional insights if today's message was a blessing
- 51:07shared with a friend until next time be blessed