I've been speaking on the new covenant.
I'm going through about six or seven of
them.
I wanted to speak today on fellowship and
it's going to tie in with what we've
heard today.
The word fellowship is a word that is
not found in the old covenant.
It wasn't an old agreement word.
It is one of the characteristics and the
benefits of being in the new agreement.
I want to ask all of us a
question as we've been hearing today.
What is the greatest benefit of being a
Christian?
What is the greatest benefit of being under
the new covenant?
God took us out of the old covenant,
tore it up and gave us a new
covenant.
What is the greatest benefit?
We've talked about this before, but it is
a repeated thing that we must keep on
holding on to.
The greatest benefit of being under the new
agreement beats everything else.
Among a lot of good ones that you
may be thinking of is that we get
to partake of the divine nature.
You can't beat that.
So when we say that we are part
of the new agreement, that we are part
of the new covenant, dear brothers and sisters,
dear family of God, let us never, never
let anything come close to that supreme benefit.
That me, broken, wretched worm, has the opportunity
to partake, to share, to be one with
the divine nature, not divine virtues, divine nature.
This is by far the greatest perk.
It's like me going to work and they
offer free water and I glory in the
water, but not realize that I got a
paycheck.
Thousands of dollars coming in and I go
to work every day like, hey, I get
free water.
This is what a lot of us Christians
do with the new covenant.
When we say we're going to go to
heaven, how can we compare going to heaven
compared to being one with the divine nature?
It doesn't even come in the same league.
And we've been missing the paychecks.
We've been missing going after the paycheck saying,
God, the reason why you've put me into
the new agreement is that I can have
fellowship, union with the divine nature.
This is straight from scripture, 2 Peter 1
verse 4, that God has given us beautiful,
magnificent promises by which we partake.
That word fellowship, that's that word, that's exact
same word.
It's translated elsewhere as fellowship, that we fellowship
with the divine nature.
This is the thing you must long for.
Children getting sick, not sick.
Children getting healed, not getting healed.
Pastures, crown, goliaths, what does it matter?
Trivial compared to fellowship with the divine nature.
Even David didn't have it, but he had
a heart that was after God's heart.
That's what it means to be a man
after God's heart is to be a man
in the new covenant who wants the divine
nature.
This is fellowship.
So if you go to the next slide,
I use these words to define the word
fellowship.
It's to have communion, to have unity.
So the two words that I think of
when I think of fellowship are fellowship and
unity.
2 Peter 1 verse 4, and what we
see about this word fellowship, and this is
so amazing that we have to meditate on
these words that I believe that all of
us have not at all unpacked these words,
that the fellowship we ought to have to
another brother and sister in Christ is the
fellowship that we share with the father and
the son.
Turn to 1 John chapter 1.
1 John chapter 1 verse 3.
1 John chapter 1 verse 3 says, what
we have seen and heard, what did John
see and hear?
He saw the physical Jesus.
He saw the physical Jesus walking on water
and he says what we saw and heard
we proclaim to you all just because of
one reason.
Not so that you can also walk on
water.
Not so that you can also multiply the
bread.
All so that you also may have fellowship,
union, unity with us.
And here's the fellowship I have.
This is the fellowship we have is with
the father and the son equal.
What is the fellowship that we must have
with the father and the son?
Unconstrained, unlimited.
That's how much access we have through Christ
to the father.
And he uses that same fellowship to say
vertical, horizontal.
That same fellowship must be there.
And the fellowship that word is unity.
I could use that word unity because for
us unity is probably an easier word to
understand.
So the same unity that I have with
the father and the son I have with
one another.
Now I cannot have unity with one another
if I don't have unity with the father
first.
This is not a unity with everybody on
this world because we're all humans.
That's what New Age will say.
New Age will say we all have to
accept one another because we're all humans and
we all come from mother earth or all
kinds of different things like that.
That is not where our unity comes from.
Our unity doesn't either come from people who
call themselves Christians because many will come in
the last days saying I was had the
label of Christian not only that I cast
out demons in your name.
And the father will say and the son
God will say I never knew you.
So it's not even unity with all people
who claim to be Christians.
But it is with everybody whose longs and
desires and is striving and has that unity
with the father and the son themselves.
For any such person I must long to
have the same unity that I claim to
have with the father and son with the
other brothers and sisters.
This is not how it was in the
old covenant.
You had individual people like David, like Jeremiah,
like Elijah, lone prophets walking around trying to
fulfill their ministry.
But when Jesus came he sent people out
two by two.
Even when Paul had a fight with Barnabas
and they split up he had this much
knowledge of the new covenant to say I
need to find somebody else.
Paul was clearly more qualified, more gifted than
Silas.
But he knew he needed to be united.
Fellowship was so critical.
So when we encourage people to meet together
with the saints, to fellowship with one another,
to have times, it is not getting together
to have coffee and chat about sports scores.
It is supposed to be something that is
because I have a relationship with the father
and the son.
And if I find that somebody I'm having
fellowship with doesn't seem to have a fellowship
with this father and the son, I will
find that I can't have fellowship with that
person.
They're interested in just making money.
They're interested in just having a comfortable life.
They have not seen that the greatest benefit
of the new agreement is to grab ahold
of the divine nature.
But when I find some other brother who's
just been born again yesterday and who's also
gripped that this can be possible, my arms
should be open wide and I must seek
to have fellowship with them.
So I wanted to share some of the
things that I think of as I think
of fellowship which is another word for that
is unity.
In the next slide.
The basis of our fellowship is unity of
the spirit.
That's the next slide.
Okay.
Unity of the spirit.
That's Ephesians.
We can turn to Ephesians chapter four because
there are two words.
I owe 100% of what I speak
today as almost any other message to my
dad.
So this is something that I can tell
you almost word for word.
I just steal from my dad because he's
shown me everything I know about this because
I don't know anybody else teaching it this
way.
One of the greatest perks of the new
covenant which is fellowship is mostly misunderstood and
made so superficial that we don't understand the
great calling we need to have in fellowship.
Ephesians chapter four.
I therefore brethren urge you to walk in
a manner worthy of the calling which you
have been called with all humility and gentleness.
With patience showing forbearance to one another in
love being diligent to preserve the unity of
the spirit in the bond of peace.
The unity of the spirit in the bond
of peace.
The unity here is the unity of the
Holy Spirit.
So what I have been saying so far
is the beginning of the unity I have
with anybody else that the fellowship I need
to have is with somebody else who has
the unity of the spirit where the Holy
Spirit has come upon them and they too
have the spirit living in them.
That is the foundation.
That's the basis on which we can have
fellowship with anybody else.
From there on if we keep going we
go to Ephesians chapter four verse 13 which
says not just the unity of the spirit
but the unity of the faith.
So I start from having a unity of
the Holy Spirit.
The unity that I'm seeking to have that
the Lord asked me to have is with
others who have the Holy Spirit also dwelling
in them but then I need to be
seeking to grow in unity until I get
to a unity of the faith.
Unity of faith.
So what does that mean for me?
Unity of faith is where there is nothing
of myself and everything about God.
Think about that.
It is nothing of myself and everything about
God.
That is the unity of the faith.
We know that when we are Christians we
don't have this attitude in which we're nothing
and God is everything.
We have the seed of that through the
Holy Spirit but what God wants us to
grow is to grow in the faith and
to grow in faith to where my fellowship
is with a group of people who are
all nothings and to whom God is everything.
Don't worry about it.
We are nothing and God is everything.
So let me ask you this.
Can I have fellowship with you?
Here's what I have to have fellowship with
you.
What I need to have from myself and
here's what I need to have with you.
I don't care whether they're coming to NCCF.
I don't care what doctrinal statement you believe.
I can have fellowship with you if I
bring to the table the spirit of I
am nothing and God is everything and you
bring to the table I am nothing.
My ego is nothing.
My ambition is nothing.
My thoughts about myself are nothing.
God is everything.
You find two people who do that they
can be perfectly united.
Now Jesus and God have this attitude about
themselves that everybody else is nothing and God
is everything.
So they come with this and so when
we seek to have fellowship with the father
and the son we can truly have fellowship
union with the father and the son when
we come to God with Lord I am
nothing Lord you are everything.
That is faith.
It is impossible to please God without faith
because he who comes to God must believe
that God is.
That means God alone is.
I am not.
I'm nothing.
God you are and that you are a
reward of those who diligently seek me.
So if I have to have fellowship with
God I must come with faith which means
I am nothing God is everything.
If I want to have fellowship with any
one of you both of us must come
with this attitude of I am nothing and
God is everything.
This is the unity of the faith that
God longs for.
It says in until we all attain to
the unity of faith and the knowledge of
the son of God that God is everything
to a mature man to the measure of
the stature which belongs to the fullness of
Christ.
So I hope you've understood the starting point
and I hope you've understood the final point
that we start with the unity of the
spirit and we end up with the unity
of the faith.
So you can go to the next slide
I just drew a little picture.
Here is the journey we are on.
We start with the unity of the spirit
but set your minds on things above.
We ought to be growing more and more
to have our mind set on heavenly things.
What happens when we are in heaven?
I'm going to be a little blip among
billions of people, billions of souls that have
been saved by the blood of the lamb
who are dressed not in their own righteousness
but in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
I'm just going to be a dot and
so are you and we're going to be
all dots, dots of nothing worshiping the son
of God full of faith, full of this
virtue of faith which is I am nothing
God you are everything.
This is fellowship.
This is not coming together to talk about
the bible.
This is not coming together to unpack Haggai
or Zachariah or Malachi.
All those things bible study, prayer, teaching, listening
to sermons, having coffee with one another are
all just things to support what must be
in our hearts to have fellowship.
Is am I coming with I am nothing
and God is everything and then is he
coming with he is nothing and God is
everything.
Two people get together for five minutes and
they have blessed fellowship.
Two people can walk and they didn't even
know it was Jesus and they can say
didn't our hearts burn within us as Jesus
reduced them to nothing so that they could
see that God was everything.
You foolish men didn't you see that the
scriptures were testifying about Jesus Christ and he
broke down all of their doubts till when
the end of that walk to Emmaus and
Luke chapter 24 their hearts were burning.
We are nothing but God is everything.
He made a way out of nowhere.
This is what we ought to seek to
have fellowship with other people.
We don't need lots of time with each
other.
We waste time oftentimes.
Look I'm not talking about we can't talk
about sports, we can't talk about music, we
can't talk about interest, we can't do all
those things.
Of course we can and if you've seen
my life you've seen the way I've interacted
with you that's the way I've been too.
So I'm not saying that that's wrong but
let's not call that fellowship.
The fellowship we have is equal to the
fellowship we have with the father and the
son and that is spiritual.
The physical, the emotional, they all add to
it.
Those are things that God has given us
to add to give a little bit of
joy to it but it's not there if
we don't have spiritual and the spiritual is
I am nothing and God is everything.
Dear brothers who are married, sisters who are
married, that's fellowship that we ought to have
with each other.
I am nothing, God is everything.
Am I coming at my idea more important
than yours?
Are we seeking to resolve arguments with I
am nothing, God is everything?
Some people say you have to go with
the attitude of honey I'm nothing you're everything.
That's not fellowship.
What is true Christian marriage?
Unity.
Lord we are nothing, you are everything and
when both husband and wife come to any
decision with that attitude there's unity, there's fellowship.
We have to seek for that dear brothers
and sisters in the context of this church
and we must long for that.
Now we just don't presuppose every single conversation.
Okay guys let's talk, I'm nothing, you're everything.
Let's kind of have our whole half an
hour.
You've been around us you know for long
enough to know that's not how we act.
This is not some new revelation I got
this week.
It's become a little clearer but it's something
that I've known for a while.
This has been taught to me but we
must bring that with us in every interaction
especially with a member of this local church
because these this is the Christians you see
the most and definitely to your family we
must get better at bringing that spirit with
us.
Lord I am nothing, you're everything.
Let me bring that with me to the
table and then he comes in and starts
complaining about how hard he has it at
work.
It's difficult for me to have fellowship with
that.
I'm not saying I can't listen to it
but I must with all gentleness in Galatians
chapter 6 seek how to restore him back
to faith till he realizes hey man you're
nothing, we're nothing.
God is everything.
He's sovereign.
He's got everything under control.
It doesn't look like your child is getting
better.
We prayed.
It doesn't matter.
God is everything.
Let's not speak words of doubt.
Let's speak words of faith.
Not that my child will be healed.
That's not the word of faith.
The word is the faith is that God
is good and God has everything under control.
That is the word of faith that we
can leave with.
That though he slay me yet will I
trust him.
This is faith.
Contradicts so much that we hear in Christendom
but we have to hold fast to this
faith that Lord we are nothing, God is
everything and it may be hard to tell
that to your wife when she's coming with
something.
Ask God to give you grace to wash
your spouse in the word.
We're nothing and let me demonstrate in my
life that I'm a nothing.
Let me set the example especially us men
as leaders.
We must set the example.
I'm a nothing.
God is everything and we find the best
way to gently draw husband and wife whoever
is the one trying to bring their ego
and bring their opinions and matter to gently
draw them to we are here to have
fellowship.
We're here to be united.
We're here to have communion.
We're here to partake of the divine nature.
We can't come with one percent of Sandeep
and commune with the divine nature.
It's all fit for the garbage.
Zero percent of Sandeep can partake with 100
percent of the divine nature.
We can't adulterate the divine nature with even
the holiest of our thoughts.
It's not worth it.
And so as we think about unity of
the spirit, these are the words that I
think of as I see in Ephesians chapter
4, the next slide.
As I think about unity of the spirit,
when you think about united, the very basis,
so going back to the foundation, the things
that virtues that we bring with us is
with all humility, walk in a manner worthy
of the calling.
What is the calling?
What is to be worthy of the calling?
You want to know what's worthy of the
calling?
Read Ephesians 1 through 3, chapters 1 through
3.
You've been loved and God's lavished everything for
you in the beloved.
And then it ends with Ephesians chapter 3
verse 14 through 21 where we memorize that
I bow my knees before the father so
that I could be rooted and grounded in
love.
And all that is so much love.
Walk in a manner worthy of that kind
of love.
I beseech you brethren as a prisoner, I
entreat you Ephesians 4.1, walk in a
manner worthy of that.
As you interact with other people, walk with
humility and gentleness.
Reminds me of Matthew 11.29. Learn from
me, humility and gentleness.
With patience, showing forbearance to one another in
love.
These are the virtues that we bring if
we want to have fellowship in the spirit.
So though people are struggling, though people are
at a lower maturity than them, we don't
come after them.
We don't come at them saying, you guys,
you're useless, you don't understand the new covenant.
With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing
forbearance to one another in love.
This is how we preserve the unity of
the spirit.
Not lecturing, not seeking to teach, not seeking
to lord over other people, not seeking to
instruct, not seeking to just parrot what we've
anyways learned from somebody else.
No, with humility, gentleness, forbearance, patience, and love.
This is how we preserve the unity of
the spirit.
And then, that's Ephesians 4 from 1-6.
But then how do we gain in the
unity of the faith?
That starts with verse 7, onwards to verse
13.
And this is where I want to explain
a little bit the next thing.
God has given grace to the church.
That's what it was given.
It says that.
He has given grace, verse 7, according to
the measure of Christ's gifts.
God decided how much grace to give.
And he gave, it says in verse 11,
some, not all, to be apostles, some to
be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to
be pastors and teachers.
So don't beat yourself up because you're not
one of these.
Because God gave it according to his gifts.
He gives certain people the apostolic ministry to
be able to plant churches and to have
oversight over multiple churches.
God gives some people the ability to teach
God's word.
God gives some people the gift to evangelize
in a very special way, more than just
being able to communicate our faith.
God gives it to some, not to all.
And it's according to his grace that he
has given.
But why has God given it only to
some?
Does that make them more special than others?
No.
God has given certain gifts to some.
Verse 12, such an important verse for every
single one of us to understand.
For, the teacher is here for, the prophet
is here for, the evangelist is here for,
the equipping of all the saints.
So who's the most important person in the
new covenant church?
All the saints.
The pastor and the teacher and the prophet
and the apostles are all been given gifts
to dump it on you, the saints, all
of us saints, so that the saints may
be equipped for the work of service.
Are women excluded?
No.
Men excluded?
No.
Every single person.
We just have different gifts.
And God selects.
I don't, you don't need to have 25
teachers.
You just need one.
You don't need so many evangelists.
One or two is enough.
I know how big your church is.
I know how big your church can handle.
Even if you would either bring 50 people,
more new people to here, you won't know
what to do with it.
I'll just give you one evangelist.
I'll give that other church, maybe 500 evangelists.
God bless you.
Grace has been given to each church, specific
gifts.
There's nothing we can do.
No, no amount of prayer meetings can give
you the gift of teaching.
No amount of fasting.
God chooses to give it to you.
But it's not that glamorous of gift because
that is only meant to dump it on
all the saints.
So that every single saint can do the
work of service, which is to build up
the body of Christ.
So who builds up the body of Christ,
the teacher or the saints, the saints, you,
me, us together, every single one.
That is why we're so much against the
clergy.
We're so much against any kind of priests
that separate different classes of believers.
That's why I don't, we don't believe that
there's any class of people in this church.
There are certain leadership roles that we have
to play, that we have three elders to
help maintain order.
That's it.
But our role, whatever gifts we have, there's
no gift called an elder.
It's just an organizational role.
But even the gifts that are demonstrated in
this church, whether it is prophecy or teaching
or evangelism, they're all supposed to be to
dump into all of us so that every
single person is doing their part to build
up the body of Christ.
How can you do that when you don't
spend any time with anybody?
How can you do that if you're not
seeking to be involved with other people in
their lives?
How can you do that if you're not
seeking ever God, who have you put on
my heart that I can reach out to?
Lord, I'm, I don't have any gifts.
I'm, you know, I'm the quiet one.
I just, I'm going to be, I sit
in the back.
I'm still, you know, working on things.
No, Lord, you, Ephesians 4.12, you have
given all these prophets and teachers, people like
Zach, whom I really respect.
Well, why was he given?
What is his ministry for?
For you, for you to build up the
body of Christ.
Are we doing that?
That's what we ought to do until verse
13.
And it's in that context that we can
then understand until we all attain to the
unity of the faith, which is in Christ.
Imagine the unity that Christ had in all
of perfection.
God says, we all have to keep laboring
until we get there.
As verse, next go to verse 14.
As a result, we are no longer tossed
around.
So many Christians are tossed around by waves
of doctrine.
I'm talking about this within the church.
This is not some, we're talking about new
age and Hinduism and Islam.
We're talking about in the church.
There are so many people tossed around verse
14 by every wind of doctrine.
And God says, you don't have to be
that way.
You were supposed to be established.
And the local church was supposed to be
the place in which you would be established,
finding your role, not looking for some big
gift.
I'm the one who speaks.
No, I'm here to lift up.
And man is involved.
Woman is involved.
Children too, if they're born again, can be
involved too in building it up one another.
Christ causes the growth.
But that last two bullet points are held
together by the proper working of each individual
part.
Read those verses, verse 15 and 16, carefully
when you got time at home and see
the significance God has put in the body
of Christ.
Christ is the one who causes the growth,
but it says there that each individual part
is what holds these pieces together.
You play such an important critical function in
holding together based on each individual part working
properly.
And then, of course, that doesn't mean we're
somebody.
Christ is the one working through it all,
causing us to grow.
The desire for this message is to really
amplify the need for fellowship and unity to
be built up.
As I said, it starts with the unity
of the spirit, with all humility and gentleness
and forbearance and patience until we attain to
the fellowship, the unity of the faith, where
we are nothing.
We're all nothing.
God is everything.
The best gathering together of this on any
Sunday was when God looked from heaven and
saw the most number of nothings in this
room.
The sermon may have been useless.
The message may have been using music, may
have been useless.
I did both of them so I can
speak to that.
May have been pitiful, but God said that
was the best one.
That was the best one because it was
the most number of nothings that were ever
collected at NCCF before.
And we have to strive.
There's nothing we can do to help you
with that.
You have to decide to come before God
and say, God, I'm going to bring my
nothingness before you and I'm going to bring
your everything.
Because just my nothingness is depressing and glorifying
the devil.
If you don't also bring God's everything with
it, that's not faith.
That's doubt.
That's an insult to God when God says
we are everything in him.
I want to share lastly some slides, some
things that my dad has written.
I copied it.
Last slide.
Unity is organic.
That means it's based on organisms.
Organ.
Think of body.
It's organic, not organizational.
And so that's why there can be no
union between the living and the dead.
That's why our unity of the spirit is
where this unity ought to be done.
Started from.
Satan hated the body of Christ when Jesus
was on earth.
Today, Satan cannot attack the risen Christ.
He tried to kill Jesus' body while on
earth.
He succeeded, but he didn't kill Christ.
And today he can't attack Jesus anymore, but
he can't attack Jesus' body.
He is.
His primary target is the church.
Not society out there.
He's already got that under control.
He wants to attack the church through disunity.
That's why his attacks are therefore directed at
Christ's body, the church.
Now listen to this last statement from my
dad.
This makes our church rather unique, even compared
to most bible-believing churches.
Fellowship in a church is more important than
evangelism.
How many of us would say that's true?
Luke chapter 15 verse 7.
This is where my dad, and again you
can find this, there's a book that my
dad has written called One Body in Christ.
It's on the, obviously not free, it's on
the website.
You should read it.
I don't know if he says it in
there, but in one of his articles he
wrote this.
Fellowship is more important than evangelism.
And where he got that was from Luke
chapter 15 verse 7.
Where it says, this is the story of
the one sheep that was lost, and he
says in there, there will be more joy
in heaven over one sinner who repents than
over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.
So the shepherd goes out and leaves the
99 to get the one sheep.
But there's something that characterizes these 99.
They are ones who have no need of
repentance.
Why do they have no need of repentance?
Because they're constantly judging themselves before God and
are constantly saying, Lord we are nothing.
That's the state of the 99 that God
says, I can go and bring one other
sheep into this midst.
Otherwise I bring this one lost sheep into
a midst of people who are just fighting
at each other and biting each other.
It may be better out there than to
bring them into a church where Christians are
fighting with one another and are not repenting
over their sins because they're all thinking they're
somebody.
All trying to seek that they'd be the
greatest.
All seek that they may have a ministry.
And God is saying, I'm more interested in
getting two people where two or three are
gathered in my name.
And the only thing that matters about these
two or three people is that God's name
is there.
That's enough.
Because they're not fighting with one another.
Then God can send evangelists and he can
go and bring one more.
And he knows that when they bring them
into this flock of two or three, those
sheep are not going to bite him and
say, you go massage my hooves or whatever
it is.
That's really like, come and be one of
us.
It's not going to be while you're going
to have to do your time on the
outskirts before you come in and really be
one of us.
That's not the heart of the 99.
If that is the heart of the 99,
which is maybe there in many churches, maybe
it's true about NCCF.
Maybe that's what's timing up.
That's what's limiting our growth.
Maybe because God says, I don't see a
bunch of nothings here.
I don't want to bring outside sheep and
bring them into this place and have them
just be bit all over by ego and
culture and cultural preferences and whatever else.
Intellectual preferences.
God wants us to be a bunch of
nothings.
And when he sees a flock of 99,
which they have no need of repentance because
they're already repenting and judging themselves and walking
in the light as he's in the light.
God says, I can bring other sheep to
him Fellowship, such an important word.
Dear brothers and sisters, the most greatest perk
of the new covenant is to partake of
the divine nature.
Far exceeds anything else.
Ask God, what does it mean?
What will it be like if I tasted
of your nature?
What will be my response to temptation?
Not to sin.
How will I respond when I see the
temptation to love money?
I know I must resist the love of
money.
But Lord, I want to taste your divine
nature.
What is God's response to sexual lust?
Hates it.
It's the temptation of it.
I want that nature.
I'm not settling for victory over sin.
I want to have that revulsion to sin
that God has.
That's divine nature.
Throw out your track record.
We want that, dear brothers and sisters.
This is the perk, the greatest benefit.
What incredible lives.
And we'll never have his divine nature.
We'll never have it, but we can taste
of it.
God is God.
God's going to have his own nature.
That's his nature.
I don't believe we're going to have it.
It's my best understanding of the doctrine, but
we can taste of it.
And I want to taste of it more.
I don't want to settle for just me
saying I didn't lust after women today, or
I didn't run after money today.
But were you attracted to it?
You're longing for it.
Please don't be condemned, dear brothers and sisters.
Please don't be condemned.
You have not sinned if you didn't give
in to temptation.
But I want to have the nature of
Jesus Christ.
I want to have the nature of God,
the divine nature that has that revulsion for
it.
And it's just saying, Lord, I want to
have a hatred for it.
I want to have this hatred for this
unforgiveness that I keep holding on to.
I want to have not a, Lord, help
me to be better, but I want to
have a hatred for the anxiety that comes
into my heart that makes me doubt whether
you're a good God.
I want to have a hatred for this
love of money that keeps coming up 25
times a day.
I'm going to fight, Lord.
I'm going to do the best I can.
If I fall, I know I have your
blood to cleanse me.
But, Lord, I'm not looking just to have
a good track record today.
I'm looking also at my appetite.
I want my appetite to be like your
appetite.
Some of you, this may be the first
time you've heard of it.
Some of you, this may be a repeated
time you've heard of it.
But this is not going to be the
last time you hear about it.
We'll remind you over and over again, as
I need to be reminded too.
The greatest perk of the new covenant is
the divine nature.
David was such a man like that.
Man after God's own heart.
He never got it.
It wasn't available to him in the old
covenant, but he wanted it.
That's why God says, I'll send Messiah through
this guy.
I know he's going to commit adultery.
I know he's going to commit murder.
He wants my heart.
That's what we are seeking for.
Preserve that.
You can start today.
Set your track record aside and say, Lord,
I want to aim much, much higher.
I want your nature.
I want to see something of this in
2018, 2019, 2020, Lord.
Let me start today to have a longing
for it.
To catch myself and say, what are you
doing, Sadiq?
Lusting after these filthy things or even being
drawn in that direction.
We can cry out to the Lord and
say, Lord, change my appetite.
I want to have an appetite for what
you value.
I want to love righteousness.
I want to hate sin.