The Path to Christian Living – Part 1

The Path to Christian Living - Part 1

**Dr. Madasu Home Version 2:** [00:00:00] we are going to look at this, uh, topic for today. The path of divine living or the way how you can live for God. Basically that is a simplified version, the way of how you can live for God. Steps to fulfillment in God are obviously. These are some steps. Not all of them, I should say. These are some steps of how we can come closer to God, how we can grow closer to God, how we can draw ourselves close onto living God because there is only one.

And only one living God in this universe. Everybody. Everybody else, as we learn from the word of God, are some statues that are made by the hands of men whom they worship, but they will all be destroyed on the day because Jeremiah chapter 10. Clarifies and confirms that the images made by the people of this world will be destroyed, obviously, along with them because they live in unbelief and worship.

That which is not God and made by hands. Therefore, Jeremiah says, these things that you [00:01:00] made are, they don't speak, they don't hear, they don't do anything. They don't even feel anything but you so blind forwardly go and worship these things as opposed to worshiping Yahweh and in our sense. As opposed to worshiping that yes, you are Jesus Christ.

We have our own idols and little bit of a little small images in us. In fact, if you and I are not careful, we can be our own idol, which God would a bow and rejects altogether. So we gotta be mindful. So there is that one living true God of the entire universe who calls our attention to himself for what is he saying by the way?

Yeah, I have saved you by my grace, and therefore you have to be doing something that I demands through my word. You shall not look to the left, not to the right, but be focused on the word of God on the gospel message and what have called you to do. Therefore, we as Christians and the people of God as the, have the obligation that we must live in a.

Accordance with the will of the Lord Jesus [00:02:00] Christ. And what is the will of Lord Jesus Christ? Of course, we have to be living in him or walking in him, and we have to be confirming to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we said, uh, as we read from Romans eight, when the Lord said, I have called you before the foundations of the Lord.

I have predestined you to be confirmed to the image of his son, then that simply means that we have a greater, much bigger obligation in our lives that we have to fulfill, not to escape. We have to fulfill. That is we ought to become or be confirmed to the image of his son, and how can we be confirmed to the image of his son when we do the word of God, not just listen to the word of God, when we physically literally follow the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is so very important. I. And especially in the past week or a couple weeks, we learned about bearing the image of God. That is, we have the name of God in us. We have the image of God in us. In fact, we are [00:03:00] carrying the Lord in our hearts. Because the privilege that Christians have today are since the day that Christianity began, and those who started to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is that when they believe in the Lord, in faith, holy Spirit, God resides in them immediately.

We have the Lord who comes and dwells in us. The triune God lives in us. What a privilege, what an honor that is the triune God comes and dwells in our hearts. And they tell us what to do. They direct us what to do. God is one, even though he's three persons. And so, uh, I, I, I move on from triune. Discussion to the single one.

God. That is the Lord who's in three persons. He says, you've got to follow my commandments in order to be my child, in order to be my son, in order to be my daughter, in order to uh, be what I've called you to be. We have to transform our lives because it is not simply the responsibility of the Holy, holy Spirit, God who lives in us, but also it's our task that [00:04:00] we need to initiate the transforming work in our lives.

Of course, God helps us. But if you and die don't want to transform and shut off our minds and hearts from obeying the word of God, there's no business for God to transform our less. In fact, I don't think he would even be involved. Of course, he would be grieved by our actions, but he would not force us.

He might remind us over and over again, son, my daughter, come back to him, come back to me, come back to me. But then we may not, I mean, what? What would God do if we insist and persist in rejecting him? He is gonna let us go. Well, we have this great task. We are, we've learned that we bear the image of God.

We are the name bearers. We're the image bearers. We carry the Lord in our hearts from place to place no matter where we go. I mean, once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ dwells in you. Father dwells in you, the spirit, the comforter, has pro as promised by the Lord Jesus Christ. He would come and dwell in you.

They're not going anywhere. They, [00:05:00] you can't just throw 'em away. It's not gonna work out. But of course, those. The Lord who is in us, of course he's gonna be grieved because of our attitude. We have to be mindful. We take God with us and we have to be mindful of that. We are not some sort of somebody, some remote, untouchable person where we don't belong to anybody.

That is not how we ought to be thinking. We are not somebody to think we can live however we want to after we are saved, but we must think in the terms that we are somebody. That belongs to Christ's body. In other words, we are not somebody. Some, uh, some again, some alien. Though we are aliens to the world that we live in now, we are strangers in this strange world.

That's why the world looks at Christians in a strange way. What's wrong with these people? I mean, they live so differently. What's wrong with this? People? They're just proclaiming the name of Christ. What's wrong with these people? They try to convert everybody into Christianity. Nobody's trying to convert anybody into anything.

Christianity is not a religion to begin with. It is the way. The only way for eternal life with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is [00:06:00] never a religion, but people made that into religion. Therefore, the world says, okay, how wonderful. Now this has become a religion. Therefore, devil use the term religion to threaten people to, to destroy the very Christian.

Because now it's become a religion. It is not a religion. It is the way the door. Christianity is a way of life, a way of living. Unlike any other religion in the world, religions would teach. There's no so-called religion. That is comparable with the living word of God or even the gospel. There is no other gospel in this world besides the Gospel of Christ.

So we cannot think like, okay, I'm just somebody, an alien and a stranger. Even though we are alien, stranger, we are not an alien or a stranger to the Lord. We were once darkness. We were once aliens of strangers. Yes. But now after the. Faith in the Lord Jesus West after we are saved by the beautiful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Based on Ephesians, we [00:07:00] now become the heirs of Christ. We become the body of Christ. We belong to Christ. I. Because of the great gift of salvation that Christ has given us. How many people in this world deserve grace of God? Nobody. I mean, we still fight with our flesh, with our spiritual life. We still fight with the Lord.

Let's, let's be realistic. I mean, the Lord says, don't do this. Don't do the, we do just that. Sometimes I see my son and say, don't do this. He goes, no meaning he'll do whatever. I said, no, he's gonna do just that. Of course he's gonna learn, but still, you see that is how we are. I mean, we are. How, how? How old are you?

Well, if it doesn't matter if you're in fifteens or 10 years old, or five years old, or 20 years old, 25 years old, or 55 years old, God doesn't care if you are 60 years old, 80 years old, doesn't matter if you're a hundred years old, doesn't matter. You're still a little child to God. You see, that's why God is never exhausted with us.

I mean, we have grown up in this [00:08:00] world. Of course, for every one of us, we're just a, oh, I'm in my thirties and twenties and forties and fifties and sixties. I'm just a big person. Well, to God, you're just a little, little, little, little teeny infant. That's why he says he's forgiving us. That's why he's waiting for us.

That's why he's so compassionate, obviously, and because God sees us like his own little ones, dear ones. And so when we say, when God says, do this, and we say, mm. Not now, Lord. Maybe tomorrow, maybe day after we come up with excuse, God's just waiting with patience. At the same time, we also have to be mindful.

If things are going insane, then we are hurting God by coming sin. We've gotta be careful. We were once living in the darkness, but God, by his grace, called us based on four Spirit chapter two, onto this marvelous light. We no longer are of our own. We are of Christ. We are his holy nation. We are his priests.

We are his family, and we [00:09:00] have to live up like that. Not like somebody, but somebody who belongs to Christ. It's very important. So we are carrying that name because we belong to God and this Christ's body, which is in us and obviously, and the church, the body of Christ, uh, in other words, we are the body of Christ and the churches.

It's great responsibility to live up to the standards and commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord said, do this, we have to, we have to do what the Lord says. It's, it's, uh, mandatory, it's required, it's, it's a must. He sometimes we think of, uh, you know, somehow ignoring the word of God and coming up with our own excuses.

And God is super aware of all that. He is aware of what we do, what we say, and how we come up with excuse. But God still demands us to obey his word. We can always, always, and we must always seek the forgiveness of the Lord for our lives and attitudes. In fact, we fight every single day with the Lord.

That's called special warfare. We fight with the devil. That's [00:10:00] special warfare. But most of the times, instead of fighting with the devil, we fight more with the Lord because the Lord wants us do what is right. But our, our, our, our fiber in our every fiber of the body was once darkened and contaminated by this, uh, sin, which is so lovable to the world.

I say the world loves sin, and we were part of it. At one point, now we are living as aliens and strangers to the world. Therefore, it's gonna be very, very difficult and the devil and the influence of the world will be dragging us. Our flesh only would drag us. Our anger, our issues, our concerns, everything else are gonna keep us away from the Lord, from growing in the Lord.

But we have to be so very mindful. We have to come to senses that I no longer belong to this flesh or to this world. I'm a child of God. I'm a son of God. I'm a daughter of God. Therefore, I have a unique call to live in holiness and I shall live. A holy life is what ought to be our resolution, but we fail and we don't care much about it.

We fail as if God's gonna be all right, but [00:11:00] maybe God's gonna teach all of us a lesson. Sometime we won't even recover until we see his face. Very, very important in this Christ body, which is in us. That is the church has this great responsibility to live up to the standards and commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ and this beautiful gospel that we learn that is gospel of Lord Jesus Christ.

In Gospel of John. For example, in 1415, we learn what the word of God says. Powerful, powerful word. If you love me.

If you love me, you will keep my commands. What a powerful statement that is by the Lord Jesus Christ. What if one doesn't keep or do the commandments of Christ? Then there is no love for Christ in that person, and when there is no Christ, in other words. In that person that he doesn't [00:12:00] belong. He or she doesn't belong to the church of God, to the family of God, he or she belongs to the world very careful.

If conditional clause, you love me, you will keep my commandment in Greek is call a third class condition. Obviously. In other words, there's a possibility if you love me, you're going to keep my commandments. There's a possibility, but there's also possibility that you won't keep it if you don't be careful.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Doesn't mean I love the Lord with all my hustles, heart strength of mind, or love your neighbor. I mean, sometimes we have hard time loving our neighbor. I have every now and then there's no God knows the fact. It's very difficult for us to love everybody. I mean, sometimes we want to just go to war with somebody,

but the Lord says, love everyone. How can I love when some so and so people are just so ugly in their heart? Well, that's enough. Your business. I mean, we just read the word of God, right? So I'm learning today, [00:13:00] we just read Psalm 37. Don't worry about the devils or the, or the enemy of the word of God, the wicked people.

Wicked will prosper. How is the Lord? Look at these worldly people. They're just billions and billions of dollars. They're just doing all kinds of trades and marketing and everything else. They're growing exponential elements so much. I mean, they don't even need all the money. We can cry about all this stuff.

The Lord says, don't worry about the wicked people. The wicked always run around from the poor, rob from the poor, but their day is coming. Their day is coming. They might think that, oh, look at me. I have a golden yacht in hope made with full of gold and silver. This massive, massive, $1 billion yacht, whatever the thing is, or a cruise ship or a fighter private jet.

You can have all these things, but just like the grass is going to weather because of heat, there's a day. The day of judgment where the wicked who prosper shall be destroyed. Maybe they were gonna be turned into ashes. Maybe God will bring him back again to throw him in Lake of fire. We don't know, but they going to suffer as word of God just said, Psalm 37, he's talking to [00:14:00] people, encouraging people, don't mind.

Be mindful of what's going to have happen to wicked people. Have your focus different. And so we as Christians, were given the call by the Lord Jesus Christ that we must love. So if you must follow his word, that is, if you love me, you will keep my commandment. Jesus is not playing around. He is not simply saying, oh, by the way, you know, yeah, you love me.

You gotta follow my words. That's not what he's saying. He is very strict about these things because he's God and this is his word. This is what he wants us to do. If you say I love Christ, then you do it. It's not simply like quo. His most famous two verses another. What is the, what is the commandment of the Lord?

Uh, the Christ summarized the whole Old Testament from. All kinds of commands to tomb. Oh, we know. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength, and then love your neighbor. Yeah, it's not just two. We have number of commandments, imperatives in the word of God, and we have to follow everything that is set by Christ and also by the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, who's written us [00:15:00] number of books in the New Testament.

We have to follow the commandments of the old given the Old Testament, because without old, there's no New Testament. There's no Paul, nobody without Old Testament. Well, we have the word of God, complete Canon 66 books where we have to be mindful and, and, and even memorize the whole commandments of God. So we can do that.

In fact, we have to pray every single day. Every single day. Lord, give me wisdom. Remind me how to live a alive that brings you glory. Help me recall your beautiful, powerful, life-changing word. When I am about to commit something wrong. So your word, which is powerful, sharper than two, it sword can confront me, convict me, and command me to do what is right.

We gotta be praying of these things. So Christian life, of course, if you love me, you'll do it. I mean, we don't want to be hanging on the, if we have to be loving the Lord and we have to be doing his commandments. And so what if everyone doesn't keep or do the commandments of Christ and [00:16:00] there is no love for Christ?

And when there's no love for Christ, there's no, there's no Christ in the person. However, for a Christian life should be radically different their lives, Christians' lives and our lives should follow Christ. And what does it mean by following Christ? Taking up the cross every day and follow him. That's what it is.

Following Christ, not with wrong motives, understanding false ideas, false, trusting in false concepts that are not biblical. Christ never promised. If you only follow me, I'm gonna make you somebody that you would never dreamed of. In other words, that you would gain the whole world. He never promised that.

In fact, he said, even if you gain the whole world of no use the Lord even said by the rich guy who rich young guy master, what do I do to attain or to receive eternal kingdom or eternal life? Oh, love your neighbor. Of course I know what that means. Go sell it. I'm a love your neighbor is when is what started the Prodigal [00:17:00] Son concept.

But there's this rich guy who says, go sell Christ. Told him, go sell everything and follow me. And the boy didn't like it. He left. He didn't come back. You see where your heart is or where your treasure is. There is also your heart. That guy's heart was on his money. And sometimes our heart might be something on this world, some somebody, something and whatnot.

We have to be mindful of that. We have to focus in Christ and follow Christ alone, Christ, Christ alone. If the desire, our lives are not in alignment with the Apostle Paul said in Philippines 1 21, then that is for me to live with Christ, but to die is gay, then we have some problems that we need to resolve with God.

Look at Paul's life. I mean, we can just talk about his life for the rest of month or maybe semester.

He was so insanely, I mean, it's in the [00:18:00] right way, in love with the Lord who transformed his life. He is he, he, he supremely revere God more than anything in his life. He gave his life as a living sacrifice to serve God. When you hear his words, some people think Paul is so beyond arrogant. I think he is.

It's the opposite. I mean, if Paul wants to be arrogant, nobody can stand. Not even the great so-called Corinthian. People who love wisdom. What is their worldly philosophy compared to God's wisdom? If Paul were to just shut him up, he would've done that. But that is not the point. He was changed person. He was changed because Christ transformed his life and he meant it.

And that's why he said, by the way, folks, if you were to follow, follow me, imitate me. Why? Because he was living up a hundred percent his life. I. Christ called it, and we are probably at 10% of living up that life. We have 90% to train [00:19:00] ourselves to subject our body, our mind, our emotions, everything, and to focus on the things of the Lord because we ought to be so very mindful of the things of the Lord.

We have to be seeking the things of the kingdom of God. Paul saw Christ we may say. I didn't see Christ. I mean, there is no encounter in my life like Paul had in Damascus Road. I don't have a Damascus road experience. So how can you say that? I have to experience, I have to transform my life and give my life to God.

Just like Paul didn't have to obey him. I mean, of course, uh, that guy can speak because he saw Christ on the way to Damascus. I don't, there's not even lightning in my, in my, in my mind when I was sleeping. So of course I didn't see it. I didn't hear any voice. He didn't call my name, nothing. He didn't say, just like you told Saul.

Saul while you persecuted. He didn't say. George, why not? Listen, he didn't say it. Another sort. So how can I believe like Paul, that is not fair for the Bible to ask me to follow Paul, to follow Jesus Because we didn't have such encounter. We don't need such encounter in our lives. [00:20:00] The moment God convicted us of our sins is that very moment the encountering with Christ has happened already.

We shouldn't be long for seeing the face of Christ. I wanna see the face of Christ today. We live in AI world. You can ask AI to print, uh, the face of Jesus. It's gonna come up with something because that thing that, no, how Jesus looks, because it's just artificial. It's not real. So it gives fake images and people will think, wow, look at that.

It's just so amazing. The artificial created, everything's artificial. Artificial inte. Life is artificial. It's made by people. So it's not gonna be real. We shouldn't be eager to say, oh, I gotta see the face of Jesus and my vision and my dream. That's what I'm going to believe in him. But you're missing out.

Christ said, what? You believe in me through faith, you put your faith in me. You've seen me. In fact, the Lord said that those apart from the apostles, because apostles, the disciples of the Lord saw him and he told Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, you said you wanted to see me. Okay, come test me. But then I tell you what, Thomas blessed out you.

But then [00:21:00] hold on a second, Thomas. Blessed out those. Blessed are those who believe in me, yet not seen me. Can you just imagine we don't need to come be coming up with all kinds of excuses to live up our lives. Uh, because Paul had the experience. I didn't have the experience. We don't have to have the same experience, but thank the Lord we don't have that experience.

But God gave us even more. Than that.

We have witnesses and testimonies from Paul and onwards that how many people came to the saving knowledge of Christ and how many people proclaimed this very gospel Paul proclaimed, the disciples proclaimed how many people were eyes were opened onto this marvelous light, and that's what salvation is about.

We believe in the word of Christ. We see in Christ, we do the Word of Christ. We are walking with Christ. When we open the word of God, we see the face of Christ. Though we may not [00:22:00] design and and print out his his face or even draw his face. We don't need to know all that stuff, but we see the face of God in the Word of God.

Uh, yet somehow we think it is unfair for us, you know, to live like Paul or Jesus because other people, because we didn't see him face to face. That is one obnoxious, weak point. Faith, that's why is so very important. Even when Christ lived with the disciples almost all the time, because early in the morning he would go and pray, but even when Christ lived the disciples, he, he taught them the importance of faith.

Just because you simply saw me, it doesn't mean you're gonna live up to my standards. No. Did people live up to Christ's terror because they saw the creator God? Of course not. What happened to this wonderful Peter, my friend? I mean, he denied Christ three times. He was with Christ, the inner circle. What happened to you, Peter?

What's wrong with you? Didn't you see Christ face to face and yet you have to deny? Did you not see what he is done and you denied him? [00:23:00] He said, just because we see the face of Christ doesn't mean we are super beings, the cool beings where we can just really follow Christ like that. Now, God taught them to be stronger in faith.

Just because Christ was there doesn't mean they're exempt from all kinds of problems and misery. Once Christ is going to leave, he told them, once I leave, you'll be brought before Kings and authorities and so on and so forth for my namesake. Be strong, have faith. Gospel of Mark teaches us. How disciples struggled with that concept of faith.

They were un in unbelief even though they're walking with Christ, eating with Christ, and running around in ministry and so and so forth, helping and aiding Christ with whether it is giving food to people or doing things and little bit small works, they lack complete faith in the Lord. For so long to the point where when Roman soldiers came and arrested, tried to arrest Jesus Christ, they ran away.

There's not [00:24:00] one with Christ. But then they came back because they were of course convicted of the Lord. I believe they came back. They knew Christ is real Messiah, Israel. They the word his gospel until their death. So that shouldn't be an excuse for us. I have to see the face of Christ that you didn't believe him at all.

You don't have faith in him at all. Even if Christ is right, standing right in front of us today, if you, if you say, well, I believe you because you're here, that there's no faith,

faith is so important because we see the examples of the old how by faith Abraham was declared righteous. How? By faith, the forefathers, the patriarchs lived. How by faith, there's Joshua who lived, who moved, continued taking the mantle from Moses and how Moses lived by faith. Of course, he wanted to die.

He even asked God to kill him. I don't want to live. Just get rid of me. Thank you so much. But God said, Nope. I have some work with you by faith. [00:25:00] We learned about Rahab by Faith. Hannah lived by Faith. Sarah lived. By faith, of course, many other women also lived in the scripture. Ruth Naomi. Naomi has some complaint, but still, uh, she's got some issue with the Lord probably that was fixed a long time ago.

And we see many other people in the Word of God who lived by faith.

That's very important, living by faith. And so Christ didn't teach something strange. He was teaching what was known to them from the old that it is faith. You gotta have faith. And so we have to have faith. If you and I don't come to the point of, of, of submitting ourselves to the Lord, like Apostle Paul by saying, for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.

If you don't come to those terms, then, then your life in this world is so much more important than. Your ministry for Christ. I'm not advocating, I'm not saying we gotta, we gotta die pretty soon. No, but we have to live as if there is no other business for [00:26:00] us in this world except glorifying Christ. You know how people fall in love and they become insane.

Right? I just heard from my wife this morning some, some girl at some place stabbed somebody else to death because it's a triangular love story. You know? Two girls loving, liking one guy I. She didn't like it. She killed one girl. I mean, that's insane. That possessiveness, we are possessed with certain qualities of that sort and we, we can be so possessive.

Someone belongs to us. We think we, they belong to us. Nobody can take 'em, touch 'em, look at 'em. Any of the stuff I,

but we gotta be mindful. We have to be such. Such like that in our relationship. Uh oh. I'm a, we have, we have to be such like that in our relationship with the Lord.

We have to be mindful of the Lord. We have to be taking care of [00:27:00] our lives with the Lord. We have to be insane in our relationship with the Lord. So, so very, very important for us. So, in other words, if you don't come to the terms of what Paul said in the Philippines, 1 21 terms in the sense like if you don't see yourselves in that, in, in that position, then we have problem For me to live is Christ, but to die is gay and then we have some problem we need to fix with the Lord.

If you don't, if you don't think that is where you are. Our ultimate goal ought to be Christ living in through us, within the lifetime God has given us on this earth. That is so, so very important. So why is so important? Because others might come to saving knowledge of Christ. Why is that important?

Because our lives would then be in alignment with the will of Christ and when we live a life that is God honoring. When we live a life that is transformed and, and so mindful of Christ, people will see that, [00:28:00] people will see, will learn, will acknowledge, and come to saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that is why the Lord Jesus said, message five, Hey, you have a light in you, and let that light shine. Why? Lord, of course you gotta shine because that's the light is me. But more than that. Because the world, the people might see you and glorify the Father. We want more and more people come to saving knowledge of Christ.

Therefore, we have to be living up to the expectations of God and what he is told us to do, not only to fix our lives and not only to transform our lives. Not only that, our lives will be in alignment with Christ. We'll also have to work hard so that other lives might come. To Jesus and have that salvation.

We are the ambassadors for Christ. We are the mouthpiece of Christ. We [00:29:00] are the church. We ought to be proclaiming Jesus to the world, and we are the church we ought to be, which ought to be inviting people to come to church because church. A true church that is proclaims the gospel, the word of Jesus Christ, so that those who pay attention, give the undivided attention to the listening of the word of God, that God might speak to their hearts, con convict them, con convict them, and transform their lives for his glory.

In other words, God might save them.

We gotta invite people with right motive, right attitude. Right desire. Sometimes people might invite other people to church just so they can show off, say, see what I've done. Our motives are very important for Christ. Very, very important for Christ. If we do whatever that might [00:30:00] be saying that I'm doing so and so for the glory of God.

And if your motive and your desire, uh, if that is evil, if that is anything far from Godly, God will not honor that. You might bring thousand people, but God would not honor what you've done. The thousand people might be saved and going to heaven, but you might be cast to hell. Not because God predestined, but because you've done so wrong in the eyes of holy God.

And so that's very important when we bring people to church, it ought to be with a desire that they would listen to the word of God. They will be saved if they're not saved. If they're saved, that they will be growing in the word of God. And that is my responsibility to help myselves and help others also to grow in garden.

Of course, every day I face all kinds of pressures, but God's grace is also sufficient. That he continues to pour out his grace, not only in my life, also in your lives. We've got to be living for [00:31:00] God. We've got to be living in accordance to the word of God. We've got to be living in alignment with Christ.

We've got to be bringing glory into honor. To Christ through our lives by living a radical life of a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, you gotta be so radical, the word must think that you are different compared to the word, and they that must stir up something in them. What is in this person that I don't have?

Ultimately they ought to recognize and learn. Hopefully so prayerfully by the grace of God that they have in them Christ, and I don't have it. So what do I do? In order to get that life? I must believe in Christ. Therefore, there is that avenue of God opens the doors. Obviously He opens the doors of this massive, massive thing that is the gospel proclamation.

He opens the doors of this person and this person would come to saving knowledge of Christ. Our lives matter a lot for [00:32:00] gospel preaching. We have to be so mindful that we are the children of God. Children, we have to be so mindful. We have to be thinking, for me to live this Christ where to die is again, but it's not simply thinking.

In fact, we have to be living out that life. I. Therefore we have, we'll be looking into the next, in the near few, uh, weeks about the, from this passage, so therefore, the passage of Psalm 37 that we just read, James 4, 7, 4, 7 to eight Galatians two 20 collectively illustrate that living for God and involve not only desires aligned with his will, but also requires an active commitment to him, and that is so most important.

Active commitment for us to live for Christ involves our desire to align with the word of Christ, with the commandments of the Lord,

but it doesn't stop there. It also requires us an active commitment for [00:33:00] Christ. In other words, we have to. Be working on the transformation though. Holy Spirit, God would help us. We have to be working. In the direction because God wants us to do such a thing to work in growing in the knowledge and grace of Lord Jesus Christ.

So this scripture much more in the Bible, encourages us to actively work towards our spiritual goals through reliance on God's strength and guidance. So what is this big idea where we will end here and carry on from the next week? What is the big idea? True fulfillment comes from a deliberate pursuit of God's desires, a humble submission to his authority, and a radical embrace of our new identity in Christ.

In fact, we have to absorb all of that, transforming how we live each day for him. I mean, we've gotta be working on it. You see people who work out. Or who knows? Martial [00:34:00] arts, the fighting skills. What do they do? Do they achieve those skills in overnight, single day? No. You practice, you practice, you practice, you practice.

The more you practice, the more you'll be fine tuned. The more um, practice, the more good you'll become at that art. Whether it is drawing or writing, or playing instruments or singing. Fighting. It doesn't matter. The more you practice, the more you become good. So is the Christian walk. The more you practice the word of God, the commandments of Christ, given in the Word of God, by the help of Holy Spirit, the more and more and more you become like Christ.

That ought to be our ultimate goal. That should be our goal. To be like Christ, to become like Christ. In other words, to have his mind, his attitude, uh, and also to be confirmed and [00:35:00] transformed to be like him. That is very important for us.

And of course, we'll be in fight every single day for our lives because we'll be dragged. We are in a tug of war. We'll be dragged by the devil on all kinds of sites, but hey, he that is in us. He is mightier is stronger. He is powerful than the one who is in the world. We should never forget that. The devil cannot do whatever he wants to do.

And when we racist the devil, it's not like he's gonna run away, but he's got no power. He'll still try, he'll still try to drag us into all kinds of unnecessary things, but sometimes we may even fall with a blink of an eye. In other words, we, we will commit something that is horrible sin by the blink of an eye, just like a half second.

Our decisions might be in such a way, but we have to be very careful, very careful if it helps [00:36:00] put out the reminders of the word of God all over your house. So you can constantly see them, but then for some people that be too much. Oh, every time I look, I see this. You have to constantly be surrounded by the Lord, by his word, by his message, so we can constantly be in him.

That's a good thing to do, to keep ourselves enlisting the word of God so that we can grow. And the grace of God. Maybe from this day on, we can make a commitment to transform our lives, that every day we'll spend time with the Lord. Every day we will deliberately work towards reading the word of God, praying, thinking of the things of God as opposed to things of the world.

And nobody's going to go anywhere. In fact, you know, [00:37:00] sometimes we may think, oh, if I don't do the worldly things, I'm gonna miss out a whole lot. Actually, no, because the world is going to be fried up one day. It's gonna be turned out to be like a big charcoal. I don't think you want this world and nobody wants this world.

It's filthy, it's ugly, it's sewage. We need to be desiring, be hunger. For the eternal world of God, kingdom of God, we should be thirsty for the kingdom of God. We should be anticipating the return of God, but we cannot do that if we don't have a proper life in the Lord. Therefore, we can make a resolution.

We can make a commitment because as you see here in the, the true fulfillment comes from the deliberate pursuit of God's desire. A humble submission to his authority and a radical embrace of our new identity in Christ, transforming how we [00:38:00] live each day. For him, we have to take the action. We have to do what we have to do.

In fact, if it, if it's necessary, we have to force ourselves. To do what is right. We have to force ourselves to do what brings guru to God. We have to force ourselves to drink the word of God, to be in his presence all the time. Think of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus when he entered house and she was listening to the Master's teaching.

I don't blame Martha for cooking. No, of course you gotta cook, right? You, you like nice beef and stuff. You have to cook nice food, no problem. But then for some reason, Jesus thought, okay, Martha, I don't condemn what you're doing, and I understand, but this is much more important. Nourishing eating, being fed by the word of God [00:39:00] is much more important than the physical food that we receive.

And I hope we will deliberately dedicate time for the Lord. We will deliberately pursue God. We will deliberately pursue transformation of our lives starting today. We don't have to wait until next week. Start today and see what happens in a week, how you would grow in the Lord in a week. I hope that will happen.

God has called us to live in alarm with him. God has called us to live for him and we must. Live for him. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We did not go into the passages that I have for today and the words that you've given us today, but you spoken to our hearts. So Father, help us to be desperate, deliberate in our actions of glorifying you, [00:40:00] of nourishing ourselves in your word.

Of growing and drawing ourselves closer to you so that you may draw closer to us. Help us, oh Lord, that we would forget the world and everything that is in it, but be mindful and persistent and insist and growing in you help the Lord. Nothing shall come and destroy us if it be your will. Destroy our minds and, and drag our minds away and, and, and purposefully steer us away.

Help us to resist the devil, rebuke the devil and the activities of the world, but invite the change, the Holy Spirit is bringing in our lives so that we may live a life that will exalt you. And make you happy. Forgive us of our [00:41:00] sins, correct our lives, change our lives so that we may also help others change their lives.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for all that you've done for the work on the cross for our sake, so that we may be saved. And thank you, father, for all that you've done. Bless us now. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.