Kitwe | The Bride of Christ - Emmanuel Chewe

[00:00:00] Lord Jesus, we thank you for this time. Lord, even as I break and share the word, Lord, I pray that may you speak before I do, Lord. [00:00:12] Lord, I pray that may you help me explain this with clarity. [00:00:18] And Lord Holy Spirit, I pray that even as I speak may you convict my heart. [00:00:24] Even as we look at the the sharing today, Lord, we pray that may it land in our hearts with clarity. [00:00:33] We pray, Lord Jesus, that even as we listen, Lord, may it not be filtered in any other form except through the Spirit. [00:00:43] Holy Spirit, we invite you in this place to explain and interpret everything in Jesus name we pray. [00:00:50] Amen. [00:00:55] Amen. [00:00:56] Oh, let me just catch my breath. You never get used to to this, but all right, so my scripture reading is coming from the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 25. [00:01:10] Ephesians, chapter 5, Verse 25. [00:01:15] Okay, so we begin the read from 25. [00:01:22] No, no, no, no. Start from. [00:01:24] Okay, let's start from, from 21 for context sake. [00:01:29] So the Bible reads, NIV, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. [00:01:36] 22 wives, submit yourselves to your own husband as you do to the Lord. [00:01:43] For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, for which he was the Savior. [00:01:52] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. [00:01:58] 25 husbands, love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. [00:02:27] God bless his word. So basically when you look at the book of Ephesians, it has got so much to do with how the church functioned in the Old Testament, the New Testament rather written by Paul through scripture. Through this scripture we see it's in the same book where we find Jesus, the Paul writing to the the Ephesus church saying, you, you need to live like this. This is how church should look like. It's in the same book where we find God encouraging us to be united in the body of Christ according to chapter four, where we're supposed to be united as a church. [00:03:06] So basically the title of my preach today is the Bride of Christ. [00:03:10] And what that looks like is the chapter Chapter 5 Causes as Believers to live in love and light, then sharpens it into intentional spirit led living with humility towards others, all leading to relationships, especially marriage in this case as a metaphor which basically gives us a picture of Something deeper which will set the tone for the sharing for today. [00:03:45] So when you talk about when Jesus, when the metaphor is talking about loving, and let me just read that again to give it context. So then 25 says, husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Amen. [00:04:19] We're still here, right? So far so good. [00:04:23] So far so good. [00:04:24] All right, all right. [00:04:27] So all the earlier ideas, which is love, purity, sacrifice, being set apart, built up to this picture of Christ's love for the church, that he loved us so much that he gave up His Son just for us to be reconciled back to Him. [00:04:45] So basically from this introduction, I'm just trying to help us see where the church comes from. [00:04:54] God gave Himself up for us so that we can be reconciled back to Him. [00:04:59] In the book of Genesis, we see Adam and Eve, sin, the fall of man, and they were cast out of the Garden of Eden, AKA the presence of God, because of the sin. The sin separated them or us from God through that sin. [00:05:18] And now in this time, we see Jesus Christ coming on earth to die for our sin so that we can be reconciled back to Himself and so that our relationship with him can be restored. [00:05:33] Let me bring it modern times. [00:05:36] You have a relationship with somebody, a friend or girlfriend or what? What, what? What? You have an argument. [00:05:43] You guys stop talking for a while because of that bad thing that one of you did. [00:05:50] Then because of that, you decide to offer up something in order for that relationship to be reconciled. Because you love that person so much that you give something, you forgive them. Yeah, forgiveness, which is basically what we experience as believers, the forgiveness and an atonement of our sin because of the sin we committed. We disobeyed God and we sinned against God. And because of that thought, God gave Himself up for us because he loves us so much. No matter what we do, he still wants us back to Himself. [00:06:31] We're together. [00:06:32] There are relationships that we have treasured so much that would do anything. Even if the people says stop, you still want to continue because you love that person. [00:06:41] Sometimes people will tell you, why are you still doing this? Why do you still love this person? But then at the end of the day, because of that love, we still want to push for that thing to work because we love making sense now. How much more would Jesus do it if we as human beings can still fight for people we know are toxic in our lives, quote, unquote. [00:07:08] We still fight for people that we know that. Okay, I'm with this person. They are toxic, but I still love them. [00:07:14] How much more? This is Jesus who wants that relationship restored. And he sends his son and gives himself through his son to die for us. He says, no, no, I don't want you to pay for that sin you did, but instead I will send. I would die so that our relationship can be restored. Making sense so far, that's where we're seeing the establishment of the church. [00:07:38] So John 3:16 tells us this. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. So when it says husbands should love their wives, it's not a random advice. [00:07:48] It's pointing back to everything that already is being said. [00:07:53] A love that sacrifices, a love that cleanses and something beautiful and holy through the helper and sustainer of the Holy Spirit. [00:08:03] Amen. [00:08:05] Amen. [00:08:07] Right. So Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. [00:08:11] In this case, the church, his wonderful bride. We, the church. [00:08:17] Jesus didn't die for an event or a building. Mark that. The church is not a building. [00:08:25] It's not a building. [00:08:27] The church is not an event. [00:08:33] That's interesting. He died for the bride, you and me, so that we may fellowship with Him. [00:08:40] The cross was pursuit, commitment and sacrifice for a relationship. [00:08:47] Let's take a moment. We know the story of Jesus dying on the cross, right? He was whipped, he was accused, he was spat on. At one point, it was so painful for him that he prayed to God to let this cup pass by me. It's too much to bear. [00:09:06] But for the joy set before him, he endured the cross so that you and I can have that relationship with God again. [00:09:17] Surely if someone physically did this to you right now, as a human being, would you look at them the same? [00:09:24] Why? [00:09:26] The sacrifice is immense. [00:09:31] It's an ultimate act of love. [00:09:38] So Jesus is whipped. Jesus carries the cross just for you and for me. This is where it gets interesting. [00:09:45] The cross was not just about saving us. [00:09:49] It was about securing a people he could call his own. [00:09:57] That's deep. [00:09:59] The cross was not just about pain, suffering, what, what, what, what? The original, the. The main purpose was for that we can reconcile back to him and he can call us his own. [00:10:12] We are God's children. [00:10:14] What does that look like? [00:10:16] Many of the times we look at ourselves, especially as believers, even for non believers, you look at yourself, oh, I'm a mess. I don't have anything. Guard down. I don't pray. I can't do this. But remember, there's a God who loves you more than what society offers. [00:10:33] The world will offer you 10 pro pleasures, but God will offer us eternal life. [00:10:40] This is a God who killed his own son for us to be set free. [00:10:45] I think none of us in here would ever say I can die for anyone. No. [00:10:50] Well, not. Not at least. Yeah, but no. [00:10:55] But at one point I was having a conversation with, with Auntie Rachel and I remember she mentioned to say the love of God is like a mother's love for her child. [00:11:10] And you relate to that because mothers will always protect their kids, no matter what. [00:11:15] Even if a mom knows that this kid stole, she will still try by all means to protect that child. [00:11:25] There is no condition to love. [00:11:28] If I was to just ask, why do we love our moms? [00:11:34] There's no perfect reason. It's like every word you say is insufficient. [00:11:39] And how. That's how God loves us. And that's where our love for God should be. Also where we love God unconditionally. [00:11:48] Love comes with sacrifice. [00:11:52] What I want, for the sake of the God I save, I will sacrifice all of that. I don't need it. All I want is Jesus. [00:12:01] If it's not in the word, we're not doing it because for my love for Jesus. [00:12:09] Amen. [00:12:12] So we can read John 19, verse 33. [00:12:18] John 19, verse 33. Let's quickly get to that. [00:12:24] So John 19:33, the Bible reads, all right, but when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, this was the time when they had already put them on the cross. Put him on the cross. [00:12:37] The Bible says when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Which was a custom when, when a thief dies on the cross, they'll break their legs just to make the death more effective. [00:12:52] Yeah. [00:12:54] Instead, one of the soldiers. That's 34. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus with a spear on the side, bringing a sudden flow of the blood and water. [00:13:13] And now I'll just read that again for context. When they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. [00:13:33] Now there's something about the blood and there's something about water. And that's what we're going to spend time breaking down as we land. From there then we'll be able to learn. [00:13:50] We see the blood contains life. You Agree with me. [00:13:55] Without blood, there is no life. And throughout Scripture we see Cain killing Abel and his blood was crying out to God. [00:14:06] And in Leviticus, the Bible tells us, just go there quickly. Leviticus, chapter 17, verse 11. [00:14:18] Leviticus 17, verse 11. The Bible reads, for the life of a creature is in the blood. [00:14:27] I'll read that again. [00:14:30] 17, verse 11. For the life of a creature is in the blood. And have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar. [00:14:39] So basically that scripture is just amplifying the concept of the blood containing life. [00:14:46] And in the book of Leviticus, the Bible said they were being commanded to kill an animal for an offering on the altar. [00:14:55] So what would happen is the blood contains life, as we have understood. So when Jesus shed his blood, it's not just about pain. [00:15:06] It was his life being poured out to cleanse us through atonement at one atonement, making things right. That's what atonement is. [00:15:23] This is the payment. We get the covering. We also get the settlement for our date that we're supposed to pay because the wages of sin is death. And Christ died in place of our sin. [00:15:35] Which brings us to the concept of atonement. [00:15:38] Now, when you look at the other perspective, two things came out of Jesus talking about the blood. Now we know what the blood is. The blood came out of Jesus to bring that atonement symbolic of the atonement. Now, water means being made new water and the blood, according to The Bible, Ezekiel 36, 25, 26 says, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you'll be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Now, water speaks of the life of God at work within us, cleansing us, cleansing us, giving us new birth and, and continually transforming us. [00:16:28] It washes us, renews us, and shapes us daily by his spirit and his word. So we're not just forgiven, we are being made new, not improved, but reborn, refined and prepared as his bride. [00:16:47] So Jesus dies on the cross, the blood and the water comes out, symbolic of our washing away of our sin, making us new, the cleansing, the blood redeeming us back because the sin we committed deserved our death, which is our life. [00:17:05] But then God says, no, no, no, I will die. And this is a new standard. Whosoever believes in him shall have life and eternal life. Yeah, yeah, right. [00:17:19] So blood means Jesus gave Up his life. Water means we receive new life. And as we receive his sacrifice, we give ourselves back to Him. [00:17:27] Now we don't just believe. We belong to his church, his bride, where we live his new and ongoing life together, encouraging one another as family in the kingdom of God. [00:17:41] So Christ dies. We accept Christ as our Lord and personal Savior. Now we are part of this body. [00:17:47] When we are redeemed, we are called to a community of believers. [00:17:52] We belong to a church. We are adopted in the kingdom of God as His children and his children will become as his children will become his bride, which is the church. [00:18:05] Now, the church is a community of believers who gather and do life together. [00:18:11] In summary, so if the blood gives us life, gave us life, and the water is now working in us to make us, to cleanse us and purify us, and now we belong to his church, which is his bride, then what does that look like? [00:18:31] Now that we are saved or we are about to be saved, now that we're being cleansed by God, how does that look like? [00:18:41] Because the church is not just something we believe in. [00:18:46] The church is something we are meant to live put together. [00:18:54] The church is something we are meant to live. We belong to a community of believers. [00:19:02] This is church. [00:19:05] We belong a community of believers. [00:19:09] It's not just something we believe in as something we do occasionally or passively, but church is a commitment. [00:19:16] We belong to a body of Christ. [00:19:21] We are the church. Each one of us has got a part and a role to play within the church. [00:19:31] Paul makes an illustration of the body having different functions but functioning and to achieve one common goal, which is serving in the kingdom of God. [00:19:42] Some can talk, some can sing. Some can walk. Some can encourage. Others can. We all function differently, but we all make up the church. [00:19:54] Amen. [00:19:56] So Acts chapter 2, verse 42 to 47 now gives us what church looks like, what does church really look like? [00:20:06] And from scripture we see church is not someone standing in front of you and telling you what to do. [00:20:12] That's not in scripture. I don't see that anywhere. But you see a sense where, oh, thanks, thanks for that. But you see a sense where a church is a community of believers that fellowship together. [00:20:28] 42 and they devoted themselves to the apostles teachings and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [00:20:38] Fellowship. [00:20:40] They devoted themselves, they voted themselves to the apostles teachings. [00:20:48] And the apostles teachings held the foundational principles of Jesus Christ and his life, how he lived his life. [00:20:59] They devoted themselves to the apostles teachings. [00:21:03] What are the apostles teachings? [00:21:05] The doctrine of Jesus Christ, Him Coming to die for us and setting us free and adopting us into his as sons in his kingdom, as his children, as his bride, preparing for the wedding which is Judgment day. [00:21:29] 43 and awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. [00:21:39] 44 and all who believed were together and had all things in common. [00:21:48] As we said, as we are part of a church, we belong to a body. Remember, they devoted themselves to the teachings of the Apostles of Christ, which is the Word of God. What does the Word say? If it's not in the Word, we are not doing it. [00:22:04] Just straight up, we can negotiate it. It's in the Word. If it's not, we're not doing it. They devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles. [00:22:19] The other version says the NKJV says, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayer. [00:22:32] Emphasis on the Word steadfastly. [00:22:35] So in this scripture we see a group of devoted people. [00:22:40] That's what church looks like. Devotion. Devoted. [00:22:45] Because the truth is the Bible tells us where your heart is. That's where your treasure is. [00:22:50] In context, if you love something so bad, you treasure it and do whatever it takes to make it work. [00:22:59] Do you agree? [00:23:02] Some of us are stuck with jobs where they're tormenting us, but we're still there because that's where the treasure is. [00:23:10] Quote unquote. [00:23:12] That's where the treasure is. That's how we earn our income right now. If we look at devotion, what we are devoted to make up the decisions we make in life. [00:23:28] I'll leave that there. [00:23:30] So the word steadfastly means not when it was convenient. They didn't go to church because it was convenient. [00:23:36] Neither did they go to church because it felt good. [00:23:41] Not even when it felt comfortable. [00:23:44] But it was about consistent. [00:23:47] Being a bride or groom is not a part time thing. It's a decision of commitment. [00:23:53] That's a side thought. [00:23:56] When you're committed and devoted to something, we don't even ask what, how much it will cost, what it will take it. [00:24:04] You're devoted. You love it. It comes, it flows out of you. You love it so much. [00:24:11] Just, just the other day, okay, I love riding my bike so much. [00:24:16] A little too much, some may say. [00:24:21] So much that we rode a bike to Kalushi and back. [00:24:26] That's how much I love it. [00:24:29] But something interesting happened. I went to just get some air in the tires at some, some guy somewhere. [00:24:37] Because I love the bike so much. I spent about 200 to buy a whole new seat. That saddle thing when you sit? [00:24:44] Yeah, because I wanted to be comfortable. [00:24:47] And after that I was broke and I didn't have food. [00:24:52] Someone might say that's a very dumb decision. Right. So when I got home, I actually was stuck. I'm like, we have no food. We bought a saddle for the bicycle. [00:25:02] And now for me, that is basically how devotion looks like. [00:25:09] Outrightly I can say I'm devoted to the bike. [00:25:12] Sometimes I'll spend time like an hour just scrubbing the tires to make them look black. [00:25:18] Devotion. But what am I trying to say? When you love something so much, nobody has to teach you how to love it. [00:25:26] Nobody will teach you how to give. [00:25:29] Like JT gave a testimony, we oh no. Maybe give. Give 500, give 2000. I don't know. When you love something, love flows out of you. [00:25:40] And that's the kind of love we are all desperately looking for. Unless I'm the only one. But I think we're all looking for some for people to love us like that. Am I wrong? [00:25:52] Exactly. And the moment we don't receive that type of love, we consider it toxic. [00:25:58] Your devotion shows us where your heart posture is. [00:26:05] Another side note, when we say hard posture, what we're all talking about is imagine a cup. Eh? Imagine a cup like a mug cup for those that will be making coffee. [00:26:15] Imagine you're trying to pour in hot water in there and then it tops over or just can't stand up straight. [00:26:22] It just keeps falling off. Trying to pour it and falls off. How annoying would that be? [00:26:29] If you are very hot tempered, you toss the cup against the wall. But here's what it is. When you're talking about a right hard posture, a cup that's steadfast on that table will receive the hot water easily. [00:26:45] So when we are here talking about heart posture, this we're basically saying just stand still and be quiet in your head and let, just let God flow through you. [00:26:56] You chasing other thoughts is like trying to swell the beverage, the hot beverage. Side note. So devotion looks like that. [00:27:07] And we also see a connected people from 44 now, all who believed were together and had things in common. There is a closeness here where you see a sense of togetherness, a shared life, a mutual care. Not just sitting in rows but living intertwined lives. [00:27:32] Church is not just about Sunday meetings. Oh hi. Hello. Bye. [00:27:36] What are you doing on Monday? Or can we meet up for a cup of coffee? [00:27:44] Guys, can you come home and cook your shima? [00:27:48] Basically what that does, it brings that fellowship. I'm not saying you're coming from not now, but still don't have brain issue. [00:27:58] So it's about togetherness, sharing a common God in the body of Christ. It's not just about meeting and speaking in tongues all the time. [00:28:09] It is, but it's not. Sometimes it's just, oh, hey Trevor, let's take a walk to see beyond back. [00:28:16] You never know what conversations you have. [00:28:19] You never know. [00:28:21] Oh, hey jt, are you free? I'm passing through. Then we just spend time talking about dogs or church. [00:28:28] Passively talk about marriage, quote unquote. [00:28:37] Yeah, so it's life shared together. [00:28:41] I want to know what's happening in David's life. [00:28:44] What course did you fail? Which one did you pass? How are we doing life together? [00:28:50] Chauna. Where are you staying? What did you have for breakfast before we start talking about the Bible, probably just need a cup of coffee and everything changes. You never know. [00:29:01] That's fellowship, togetherness. [00:29:04] At times a community group. We actually just do a jihon shima before we start doing community group. [00:29:12] And on that in Shema, we're not talking about church by the way, we're talking about life or what are you doing? What job are you doing? What are you looking at? Maybe I have a solution. That's how church looks like. They fellowshipped together. There was that sense of togetherness. How will I know the church? Or rather we care about one another. If I don't know anything about you, it's not possible. [00:29:37] Even if I come to do correction. You just look at me as some self righteous guy who's just trying to judge you. [00:29:43] But if there's that togetherness, then it comes with the concept of family. [00:29:48] It's like Trevor, no if you know Fabian Terry. But yeah, it's like, nah, we can't do that and stuff like that. So we just need to have that type of relationship. [00:30:02] Oh look, I'm struggling. How do I deal with JTIU Free? [00:30:06] You get what I'm trying to put across. That's what church looks like. Living intertwined lives, a generous people. This one will sting a little bit. However, the church According to 45, it was not just about me, myself and I and what I benefit from this relationship. Yeah. It's one thing to expect a certain treatment from the community of believers, in this case the church. [00:30:33] The question is, once we live devoted lives to God at an individual level, we come with a posture of giving and sacrifice. In the church, it's not just about money, but it's about your time, your gift, your skill set. [00:30:51] Oh, no, we're trying to see how we can slash. Oh, I'm actually good in this. We're trying to paint. Or I can actually do this. [00:30:57] That's giving to the church. [00:31:00] Even if it's chunks, Even if it's bringing chunks. [00:31:06] That time we had a men's fellowship, the guys were like, oh, no, we don't know what to bring. Just bring chunks. [00:31:11] Just bring what you eat. You don't have to stress. [00:31:14] And they did it. And the chunks, people ate chunks here. It was amazing to see. But what am I trying to say? Sometimes we penalize ourselves thinking we have nothing to give to the church. But in actual sense, just. Just give what you have. You can't give what you don't have. [00:31:35] Amen. [00:31:37] And sold their possessions and goods. 45. [00:31:42] And they were selling their position, possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as they had need. [00:31:55] So a generous people sees need. Sees a need and they respond personally, right? Amen. A generous people see a need and they respond personally. [00:32:12] Usually you see Kex there. [00:32:15] Yeah. You see X there. It's people who saw a need. [00:32:21] From here, people buy cakes there. [00:32:25] Not the church, but the people. It's like, oh, let's buy. Let's buy some cakes so we can enjoy fellowship together. [00:32:32] You can do the same. [00:32:34] We can do the same. Even if it's a pack of Joe Biscuit for eight quarter, just bring two. It's fine. [00:32:42] So you don't have to bring mega show stopping gifts. [00:32:47] Print quarter, get some biscuits, Bring it. [00:32:50] That's all you have. [00:32:53] Making sense. You can sing. Come, let's have a chat. Let's make sure you're not singing offline. But come, let's chat. Let's fellowship together. We are family. [00:33:02] Let's meet for rehearsal. If you can sing, even if you can only harm, imagine even if you feel like you can only harm, just come, let's see how we can work it better. [00:33:13] Amen. That's what generosity does. When the blood has changed you, your grip on things loosens up. [00:33:24] When the blood of Christ transforms your heart, your need to hold on to things ceases. That's why Loki. I love when people say I'm an introvert. I'm like, meet the Holy Ghost, then come and tell me. An introvert. [00:33:36] It never works. [00:33:38] When I tell people I'm an introvert, they refuse. [00:33:41] See, you're already saying no. But the point is, there's something that God does. You just want to talk about him so bad because you're passionate about him. [00:33:51] You see a need, just Want to give. [00:33:55] Amen. [00:33:57] So a daily people, not just Twinkies. So I'll just run through these Now. [00:34:03] So from 46, we see they continued daily with one accord, breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with blood and rejoice. [00:34:16] Generous hearts. Yes, generous hearts. So you see a sense of daily connection. They shared meals. [00:34:22] This is not just about Sunday. They shared meals. [00:34:25] They shared lives. [00:34:29] They shared lives, basically. And church wasn't an event. [00:34:33] It was like a rhythm. It was a lifestyle. [00:34:36] It was a lifestyle. [00:34:39] Community wasn't scheduled, it was lived. [00:34:44] Point number five, a joyous and genuine people. From 46 to 45, we see they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God. [00:34:56] You can feel it. The joy, sincerity, the realness, which is not performance. And it's not pressure. [00:35:03] It's not pressure. [00:35:06] Number six, a growing people. [00:35:10] A growing people. You see a community of believers that grew together through praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved. [00:35:29] The swordness of your Christianity is seen in the lifestyle you live. [00:35:37] The light of your Christianity is seen in the lifestyle you lead. [00:35:46] Not. [00:35:46] And now, now here's, Here's a fun, interesting thing. The church has been diluted and its impact is slowly losing its power simply because we believers keep dialing it down. [00:36:02] Or what? Do people think I'm too judgmental? They'll think I'm too righteous. What if I stumble and fall and then they mock me? [00:36:11] Stories Christianity is not about how eloquent you speak the word of God. It's a lifestyle. [00:36:19] There was one time, there was one time people were praying 10 hours of prayer non stop. Not that it's a bad thing, but the problem I had was the people, some of the people in those prayer meetings that I knew had a very, very interesting character. [00:36:38] And now for me, I was bothered because if the Lord you're praying to can make you pray 10 hours, surely can't he touch your heart? [00:36:47] And it's just reality. Like the Bible talks about how you see my people by their fruits, not by their speech, by their fruits. [00:36:58] What do you see when you look at jt? [00:37:02] How does JT treat people? How. How does he handle himself in public? How does he speak in public, say there's something interesting about his life? You know, he's always talking about Jesus. Oh yeah, because that's where his treasure is. [00:37:18] So what you talk about tells us where your treasure is. If one week you can't even say Jesus passively and by passive Remy Bull. Accidentally, you can't even mention Jesus. Accidentally. [00:37:31] You need to check your heart posture. [00:37:35] Even your TikTok algorithm doesn't show anything about Jesus. Yeah, I'm going in your DMs. Guys, if your TikTok algorithm don't show anything godly, you need to change it. [00:37:49] And for some of us, we might think we're too smart. If your WhatsApp can't be placed here unlocked, there is a problem. [00:37:58] And many young people, you need to check the heart posture. [00:38:05] And as students. [00:38:08] Okay, let me not go there. But we need to be very intentional about our relationship with God. [00:38:16] Whenever someone holds your phone, you start fidgeting. Your high blood pressure goes like. You need to check your lifestyle. [00:38:27] No matter how powerful you might seem or be, if you have a problem with being around people, that will correct you. That's another problem. Heart posture. [00:38:41] If you only find delight in secular. Sorry, sorry. If you find. [00:38:47] If you find. [00:38:49] No, he corrected me. The difference between secular and worldly. Don't worry if you only find delight in worldly songs, take your heart posture. [00:38:58] Not even one worship song makes sense to you. [00:39:02] Child of God, Our lives need to reflect the difference. We need to be unique by the way we live our lives. [00:39:14] And that cannot happen if our heart is not cleansed. Like JJ was sharing. We need to allow God to cleanse our hearts. [00:39:24] Every time there is a deal, we're always thinking how to cut shortcuts. [00:39:29] I'm just gonna go in there. [00:39:31] Every time you see a girl, you just want to get a number. Like, yo, control yourself. [00:39:37] Self control. [00:39:39] How would you handle marriage if you can't keep one girl? [00:39:44] Well, I know it's hitting home, but it's the truth. [00:39:48] That's why our sortiness lies. [00:39:50] Our friends will see us like, how is it that you have dated one girl for three years? How. [00:39:56] That's where the sortiness is as an opportunity to share the gospel. Well, the Bible says I need to be content. 1. [00:40:04] Number 2. I need to treasure what I have. 2. [00:40:07] I need to respect what I have. 3. There's a whole lot there. You start preaching from the way you live your life, your status. Not even one scripture ever. [00:40:18] But anyway, let me calm down. [00:40:21] As we land, as we learn, let's be intentional. Especially my brothers, students. [00:40:31] That's especially the context and the quality of our Christian work is diluted terribly. [00:40:40] Where your friends can't even tell that you're a believer because you're secretly praying at night. Because I don't want them to see that I'm for church they will, they will do this, they'll do that. Even in the corporate space, it's so bad now you can't get a tender without corrupting one or two people. [00:40:58] Where is the saltiness as believers? [00:41:02] Anywhere you go, you go to Raza, you go to the passport office, everything, Everything. [00:41:06] And now the standard of life is about cutting corners, shortcuts and all these things. But what does the Bible say? What's our sacrifice? [00:41:17] What the Bible tells us, I think it should be in the book of Isaiah where it says, if you're willing and obedient, you eat the good of the land. [00:41:28] For me, what that looks like is of course it was meant for the children of Israel. [00:41:33] But for me it looks like if I can be obedient to God and I'm in tune with the Holy Spirit, refreshed by his Word every day and night, the Holy spiritually knows where all the good news are. [00:41:46] And not to put myself on the spot, I can also tell you to say, even the jobs I'm working for now, it's not like I knew an uncle who knew an uncle. [00:41:59] It's so weird. [00:42:01] It's so weird. I applied for a job one time. These people never saw me. They're not even from Zambia. They saw me and because we're supposed to send a one minute video and they were like, no, there's just something about you that we want to get. It's like it's high time we start getting Christians in our company. [00:42:21] And for me, that sent a lot. I didn't do any, I didn't preach, I just spoke. And then the highlight of the whole thing was in the interview this, the owner of the company asks me and says, so just, just randomly tell me, did you use AI to respond to my email? [00:42:40] Because I did. [00:42:43] And then I was there, stuck. And then what's interesting is that was a trick question, apparently. Then he asked, did you use AI to respond to my email I sent you? Then I was like, yes, I did. [00:42:58] Well, of course I explained why I did it, because it's a serious job, you don't want to make mistakes, corrections and stuff. [00:43:05] And then it's what he said afterwards. Then he says, I'm so glad that you told me the truth because that was going to be a deciding factor whether we take you on the job or not. [00:43:17] Because the truth is I can read the text and I know AI and how it speaks. So I knew it was AI. [00:43:25] Now, because you told me the truth, we'll give you a three month probation. [00:43:31] Then we see what happens afterwards, and, well, that's how I got the job. The truth is, where hard work is, God rewards. [00:43:40] We remain devoted. Let's remain committed to the church. [00:43:45] Let's give generously. [00:43:47] Amen. [00:43:49] In conclusion, the blood of Jesus again gives us life one, and the water transforms that life. Within us, you have a new life. [00:44:09] The church is not where we go to past time or a place where we endure or a place where we get to all this. This is. But the church is about who we become together because of what Jesus has done for us. [00:44:31] The church is about who we become together because of what Jesus has done for us. [00:44:42] So basically, our perspective of church is not. Like I said again, it's not a Sunday session where we sit for three hours, then endure the sermon, endure the worship. [00:44:56] But church begins. [00:44:59] No. Church is everywhere. Once we just leave these doors, church continues going on with you. [00:45:06] May your speech be seasoned with the word of God. At least may our mouths and our speeches be used to build and not to break. [00:45:17] People need to see. It's like. Have you seen when Joanna just says this? [00:45:21] Just feel encouraged. Well, yeah, we are building. We are believers. And as a believer, your heart posture should always be to receive from God. [00:45:30] Even as we come on any Sunday, remember, the noise will always be louder. Even when you're home, the noise will be the loudest, but you need to be intentional. I would always say this. Imagine you're on a date with somebody, you want to know them, and they keep fidgeting with their phone. [00:45:48] Ah. [00:45:49] Why are we here then? [00:45:52] I don't know if you get the concept. Why are we here then? [00:45:55] We're here to focus, and that's what happens in our minds. You might not have your phone right now, but I'm sure there's a lot of meals going through our heads. Oh, this. How did that movie end? And it's so silly, silly, silly, silly stuff. [00:46:11] I mean, you bear with me. And sometimes even when you just go on your knees, like, you know what? I'm going to pray. Just get on your knees and you have the weirdest thoughts. [00:46:20] What if I knew? And then I just die. [00:46:24] Like, what? I don't know if you relate and some of us give up right there and say, you know what? It's difficult to pray. No, no, no, no, no, no. Quiet down. This is why we have some songs. [00:46:37] Just allow them to calm your noise and allow God to speak. [00:46:43] Amen. [00:46:45] God bless his word. [00:46:48] Let us pray.