This sermon reflects on the 40-year journey of a church, emphasizing the importance of humility, being tested to reveal the heart's condition, and living by every word from God's mouth. It encourages yielding to God's work of humbling, testing, and providing His word to transform lives and prepare for the future.

Brother Zach preached his last message in the denominational church that we were part of. That message is still available, the moment of crucial decision. And we came out because the church we were part of didn't want the preaching, the teaching of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So it was the Holy Spirit that led us out, and we didn't know what we were going to do. We never had any plans to start a church, and not even once did Brother Zach discuss it or mention it. So just a few of us, and I think only probably one person is here this morning, 40 years. Danny, you're here? Yeah, he's there. Yes, sorry, my wife, both of us, of course. Yeah, there were about six families that came out, and I think Danny's family is the only one that's left here, and of course my family, Brother Zach's, and Brother Niren also came in later. But that's how it was. It was on the 17th of August. We are entering our 40th year next week, and we have a celebration. We want to thank the Lord. That evening we said we did not know what we were going to do. We'll seek the Lord. We had a mighty, powerful prayer meeting that evening, and I believe that evening the church was born. It was not planted or established, the church was born, and it's just gone on from then, from strength to strength, from faith to faith, and from glory to glory. And here we are today, and we thank God we want to be preserved as a family. That's how it was in the beginning. That's how we have sought to do it through the years. And so we thank the Lord for helping us to preserve ourselves as a family, to build the body of Christ that God has called us to do in this part of Bangalore. I want you to listen to a video clip before I share what is on my heart. It's a song, a very blessed song that has blessed thousands and thousands of people. I'll listen to it, and then I'll tell you a little more about it. Can we have it on the screen, Padma? This is a song written by Fanny Crosby. She was not born blind. We'll read and hear a little bit more about the story of her life. Let's go back to that. But this is her testimony. And before we hear the song, it says, Oh, what a happy soul I am, although I cannot see. I am resolved that in this world contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't. To weep and sigh because I'm blind, I cannot and I won't. What a testimony, Frances Jane Crosby. And a song that has been a blessing to thousands of people all over the world and still is. And we just hear a little bit of it, and you can follow the words on the screen. And it's so apt to the way the Lord has led us, All the way my Savior leads me. Heavenly peace, diviners come forth. Here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me. Cheers each winding path I tread. Gives me grace for every trial. Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter and my soul a thirst may be. Dashing from the rock before me is a spring of joy I see. Dashing from the rock before me is a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me. All the way. That's what we can say. All the way that Jesus has led us, what can we ask beside? And that has been so true. This song has a life behind it. And like I said, Fanny Crosby, she was not born blind. And this song was a result of prayer. And you can look at the story and I'll read it to you about her life. It says that she struggled financially because she desperately needed some money. As her usual custom, Fanny began to pray. A few minutes later, a gentleman offered her $5, the exact amount she needed. Later, recalling the incident, she said, I have no way of accounting for this except to believe that God put it into the heart of this good man to bring the money. The poem she wrote afterward became All the Way My Savior Leads Me. And as both a songwriter and a woman of faith, Fanny Crosby serves as an example to all. When she died in 1915, Fanny Crosby had written hymns in a large variety of different pen names. And on her tombstone lies a line from one of her many hymns, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine. That's a hymn also that she wrote and that's on her tombstone. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. All the Way My Savior Leads Me is one of the most beloved of her songwriting work. And like I said, that she was not born blind, it was a doctor that botched up a surgery on her eyes that she became blind. But what a woman she was, what a woman of faith. She has written over 8,000 Christian hymns. And despite the handicap she struggled with during her life, an inept doctor left Fanny without her sight at six weeks of age. That's when she was six weeks, a baby, after a botched procedure. She said, if perfectly, listen to this, if perfectly earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me. All the Way My Savior Leads Me is one of her songwriting masterpieces. And this song would never have been born if she was not blind. That's why she said that if she was offered perfect sight, she wouldn't accept it. There's something that blesses our hearts when we think back these 40 years that God has led us as a church. The word on my heart that I have been thinking of, I want you to look at it, is in Deuteronomy chapter 8. It's a word that we have looked at quite a few times in past years. And the number 40 is a very significant number in the Bible, many things. Many things happened, 40 years they wandered in the wilderness, and 40 years Moses was on the mountain in fellowship with God, and when God gave him the commandments, 40 days Jesus fasted and prayed. There's so much there. So I believe it's very significant as we enter into our 40th year. And it says here in Deuteronomy chapter 8, in verse 2, it says you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years. That's a command, not a suggestion. And there are many things in the Bible that God asks us or commands us to remember. If you get time, take a study of it. It's very, very edifying. There are over 100 things that God commands us to remember. And these are just a few of them which God says here. Not a suggestion, but a command to remember. You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything or every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years. Stop a moment there and think of that. 40 years. They wore the same clothes. Now 40 years ago I was 34. I couldn't fit into my wedding suit a few years after that. I think very few people here would fit into their wedding suit. Just imagine, that itself is a standing miracle. Their clothes did not wear out for 40 years. So what does that infer? Either one of two things. That they grew into those clothes and as they grew older, the clothes fit them. So if they needed a shirt that was 32, they grew into it and later it became 42. It's a miracle. Your clothes did not wear out all these 40 years. Or whatever clothes they did take, I don't think, you don't see it very clearly there in scripture, they brought out of Egypt, they just had to come out in a hurry with their kneading bones and put their sandals on their feet and leave. So that itself was a miracle, a standing miracle. It's amazing that they didn't even realize that. That the clothes that they had on their body did not wear out for 40 years. Just think of it. Yet we see the hardness of man's heart. That's why the Lord says that He humbled you and let you get hungry. And it says there, your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years. Imagine walking in the desert, just in sandals, in the hot desert sand for 40 years. Their foot did not swell, their feet did not crack for 40 years. That itself must get us to stop and think. So that there's a reason God did that, that you are to know in your heart, listen to this, that you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son, not punishing you, but disciplining you to wear the same clothes day after day for 40 years. It's a discipline. And to walk and walk and walk through the desert, that's a discipline. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him, for the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills and so on and so on. You can read on there. And when you have eaten, verse 10, and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. There it was a physical land for us under the new covenant. It is a spiritual land, my brothers and sisters. We are to bless the Lord for all the way He has led us. We are to bless the Lord for all that He has done for us in our homes, in our family life and with us as the family of God. We are to bless Him. But the sad thing is that when God moves, you look at church history and we see that God moves, He raises up men to fulfill His purpose, but decline comes in the second generation. By the time it's the third generation, it's just a religious congregation. And that's what we have tried to fight against in this church that we keep from becoming a religious congregation. And so it's good to remember all the way that the Lord has led us. These 40 years. And some of you are not here. Like I said, there's only just a couple of families who have been in this church for 40 years, but some of you have come in much later. Some of you have come in just over the recent past. But to think back and to be thankful and grateful for CFC. We are not a perfect church. We never will be. We are not perfect elders. We never will be. There are flaws, there are weaknesses in us, but we seek to press on to perfection. And we seek to bear with one another. We are alert, like it says in the Message Bible, of noticing differences, but quick at mending fences. That must be our testimony. Alert at noticing differences. I see that I'm not the same, my brother can't be like me, and he can't, and I can't be like him. And so there can be situations where we come into, where we are a little abrasive, we rub one another in the wrong way, but we are quick at mending fences. We don't let our differences bring discord. And we thank God by His grace that we, as the elders here, have worked together. There's never been a strife of discord between us, four of us now. We work together in harmony. All four of us are different. There's never been a smell of discord, never been a smell of strife. That is the Lord's doing. All the way, my Savior leads me. What have I to ask besides? And that's something that we can remember this morning. As we enter into the 40th year, I believe that there's a wonderful life awaiting for us. I believe that God has, like we sang a little while ago, the very best is yet to come, not just a new building. I hope that that's not what you're looking for. We thank God that we'll have more space, we won't have these three levels, and that we can all meet on one floor, and there'll be many other facilities there. But that's not the good land that God is promising us. In my business in 35 years, I was just saying to a member of the family last night, when I made something good, and I knew it was only God's hand. And, you know, my clients were so satisfied, so happy, and I looked at it, and I would say, Lord, this is just you. Beautiful pieces of furniture, beautiful work, it turned out it was only God's grace. But there was a word that came to me many years ago, I think it's somewhere in the Minor Prophets, that nations toil for fire. That everything that I do, even the very best I do, in this world, will be burnt up one day. I hope you realize that. The very best that you can build, or make, or whatever it is, if you're good in programming, whatever it is, it's all going to be burned up one day. And the buildings also we have will be burned up one day. When the disciples pointed out to Jesus the stones, in the temple, the beautiful stones, you know, they said, look at this, how beautiful, it was beautiful. But Jesus said, well, not one stone will be left upon another. That happened. That's not standing today. In that same generation, that temple was torn down. Jerusalem was burned. So we don't glory in buildings. Jesus said, you know, destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days. They thought he was speaking about a building, but he's speaking about the temple of his body. And that's what God has done. He's raised up a body, my brothers and sisters among us. Everything else will be destroyed. It's a body that he will take from this earth, not buildings. So when we move in a few weeks' time into our new building, let's remember that. One day not one stone of that building will be left on another. Everything is going to be burned up. The very elements of this earth are going to be burned up, all by fire. That day is not far off. But we glory that God has made us into a body, made us part of the family of God, that he has led us all these years. Like I said, we are not a perfect church, but God has made us a family. God has made us a body. And that's what Jesus is going to take from the earth. So I want you to see this. There are three things here that I want you to see. When we look at what God said there, you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you. Like I said, it's a command. Many things that Jesus says, that God says, and Jesus says we have to remember. Remember Lot's wife, Jesus said. Don't look back. When we break bread, do this in remembrance of me. Remember the Lord's death till he comes. So many things like that. But that's not what I'm speaking on this morning. That's not what's on my heart. But what has come to my own heart is what is here, in what we have just read in Deuteronomy chapter 8. It says there, it says there that he led you in this wilderness these 40 years that he might humble you. That's the first thing that God seeks to do. That's what I could say in my own life, in the 40 years that I've been in the church. That the different situations, the brothers and sisters God puts me together with is only to teach me to humble myself. That he might humble you. And this is what God seeks to do in every one of us. In every one of us who has become part of the family of God. And he finds it difficult to do this sometimes. You know that's the most difficult thing for God to do. To teach us humility, to teach us true humility. Not a composure. Humility of heart. It's sometimes one of the most difficult things that God finds to do in a man and a woman. It takes a long long time sometimes for God to be able to do this. To humble us. It took 40 years for him to do it to Moses. Moses was a very capable man. 40 years in Pharaoh's palace made him a very strong capable, intelligent efficient man. But that was of no use to God for him to fulfill God's purpose. Our talents, our gifts our efficiency, our ability are of no use to God. God can harness it. But when it comes to building the body of Christ, they're of no use. And so God had to teach Moses humility. He had to send him he had to run away, he had to send him to his father-in-law. And 40 years with his father-in-law looking after she made Moses a different man. It's interesting to see that father-in-laws sometimes you know can bring about humility and a breaking in our lives. Jacob had a father-in-law who really was more shrewd, more cunning than he thought he was. And he was broken. And for a woman, for a young sister, maybe a mother-in-law. But everything is to teach us humility. Father-in-laws can break a son-in-law, mother-in-laws can break a daughter-in-law if we have the right attitude. And it should not take long for God to break us, my brothers and sisters. But unfortunately sometimes it takes a long, long time. And I want you to understand that through the years that God has sought to teach us this in the church, that it's broken men and women that he needs. Not capable, efficient, intelligent men and women. It's broken men and women. And God uses different circumstances. Like I said, it may be a father-in-law, it may be a mother-in-law, it may be a brother, it may be a sister, it may be a member of the family, it may be a boss, it may be a wife. Many husbands think they have difficult wives. They don't see how difficult they are, that they are difficult husbands. But all this is to teach us humility. And if we look at it that way, that God wants to humble me in all the situations of life, I think we have learned something on this earth. But if we don't learn it, we'll wander around in the wilderness like these people. Why did they have to wander around for 40 years? They didn't realize the clothes on their body was a standing miracle. They grew into those clothes. They didn't realize their feet didn't swell. They had good health. And all the miracles that when they needed food, God provided for them supernaturally. When they needed water, God provided for them supernaturally. But just imagine, all this, and all that God did for His people in the wilderness, did not break them. So we can experience, we can see signs, we can see miraculous answers to our prayers, we can receive miraculous healing, but that doesn't break people. That doesn't break us. It's difficult in such circumstances, situations that God allows into our lives. It may be a sickness. It may be a financial difficulty. It may be some problem that we face that doesn't seem to go away quickly. It's only to teach us humility, my brothers and sisters. That's the first thing. And I believe that right from the very beginning of this church, that's what God sought to teach us. To leave the denominational church and come out was a humiliating thing. It was a humbling thing. Because Zach was a famous preacher, called to speak at big conventions and all that. And then to be asked when he offered to step down, the church offered to accept his proposal to step down. And when I had to leave, and we had just the roof over our head, and not even one month's salary, it was a humbling thing. Because I didn't know what I was going to do. We were just a few families. We didn't... I didn't know how I would support myself. I was willing to, like I said at one time, to even drive that toy train. Because that's all the experience I had. But I knew that God would not fail me. He never failed me before that. In the eight, nine years I served him as a full-time Christian worker. He humbled me. And that's what I can testify to my brothers and sisters. That God used circumstances and situations. You don't know that even in our working together, in our working together with each other, there's not been a smell of strife. But God has used situations and circumstances to teach me humility. To make me humble myself. And I want to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, the number of years that is determined that we live in the wilderness, is the number of years that it takes for God to humble you and me. The longer it takes, the longer we are in the wilderness. If we submit to him, we will come out of the wilderness and enter into what we have read here. We'll enter into a good land. We'll enter into a good life. So, if we can decide that if in the different situations, in whatever number of years you've been in the church, you've not yielded to God, I want to encourage you this morning, yield to him. Whatever you're facing, in your work spot, in your home, in relationship with other people, relationship with relatives, relationship with the brothers and sisters, just yield to him. Allow him to humble you, allow him to humble me, and to break us. Because God needs broken men and women, my brothers and sisters. Many of you young people are very talented and gifted. But I want to say, there's no use to God. Allow him to break you. And see what he will do in your life. And see what he will bring forth from your life. See what he brought forth from this sister's life, Fanny Crosby. Because she was a broken woman. God used blindness to break her. That she said if perfect sight was offered to her, she wouldn't accept it. That today, what she's written, the poems she's written, the songs that we sing, are from a broken life. It's broken men that can bless people. It's broken women that can bless others. Let's really seek to yield to God. That's the first thing he teaches us. And the second thing I want you to see there. He says they're testing you. Testing you, there in the middle of verse 2. Testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. That's the second thing that God seeks to do. He tests us to know what is in your heart. God already knows what is in your heart and mine. He doesn't need to know that. He knows your heart and mine. But so that we would know what is in our heart. Testing you for you to know what is in your heart. Whether you would keep the commandments of God or not. And so that's why he humbles us and he puts us in situations where he tests us so that I see I'm not really humble as I think I am. I've discovered that. I've not discovered that, but I keep discovering it all the time, even when I'm driving to the meeting this morning. Just to me, I think this is one of those days, mad days, when everybody is just, you know, driving as they like. And then the Lord shows us, you're not as humble as you think you are. There's a lot more that I need to do in you. That even in driving on the road, that you can be a little more humble and courteous. It's amazing how God seeks, he tests us to know what is in our heart. So even in driving our vehicles, that we can see what is in our heart. I'm not as humble as I think I am. May God help us. That's why it says in Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. The heart is more deceitful, it says, than all else, desperately sick. And God says, I search the heart, I test the mind. God shows us the life so that he can show us what is in our heart. Not to condemn us, not to humiliate us, but so that we will cry out to him. That's what he did to his people in the wilderness. But they just didn't see it. All these miracles, the clothes they wore was a standing testimony to them. But yet they hardened their hearts, they were obstinate, they were stubborn. They didn't see that all that, the time when God knew that they're not going to die of starvation and we can get into situations. You can lose your job, you can be in a situation, I know we were in a situation like I have testified before, we didn't know, we didn't have money to give our child the next feed of milk. God, you mean to say that God will let our children starve? It says that God will never, the righteous will never suffer hunger and his seed will not beg for bread. Your children, my children will never beg. We may lose jobs, we may be put into difficult situations, but you'll never beg, you'll never starve, there'll be food on the table. Whatever may happen in the days to come. So God was testing them to show them what's in their heart and these 40 years the Lord has led us and the preaching here, the prophetic word in the church is to show us what is in our hearts, not what is in my wife's heart and not what is in your husband's heart and what is in your children's heart. What's in my heart? We have heard that many times through the years that God is not speaking to the walls. And somebody goes and asks the preacher, were you referring to me this morning? He says, yes, you, who else? I'm not speaking to the walls. Like, I want God to speak to my wife, so I bring her to church, I bring her to the meetings, I want God to speak to my husband, come to CFC. God wants to speak to us, he wants to show you and me what's in our hearts, my brothers and sisters. Leave your wife alone, that's not your business, leave your husband alone, not your business, leave your children alone. Let us see what's in our hearts. Otherwise, we're just warming the seat here. Look at that, verses 4-7. We see that there. Exodus 16, 4-7, The Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them, listen to this, whether or not they will walk in my instruction. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, At evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for he hears your grumblings against the Lord, and what are we that you grumble against us when they were, you know, he says to them, you're testing the Lord. God gave a command there, Go every morning, you'll get food. On the sixth day, there will be double, twice as much because on the seventh day, I will not send you any food from heaven. Gather as much as you can on the sixth day, it'll be enough for you to eat on the seventh day. But do you think they listened to that? God commanded them, they should not go out on the Sabbath. But yet, they went out. They went out to see. Do you see the heart my brothers and sisters, what Jeremiah says, what the Holy Spirit speaks to Jeremiah, it's desperately sick. And if I can see the condition of my heart continually, not to feel condemned, not to feel humiliated, but so that I can go to God and say, Lord, cleanse me, cleanse me, teach me, humble me, break me, make me, give me a soft heart. Show me what is in my heart so that I will go to Him and say, Lord, help me. Take out this hard heart, take out this stony heart, put in me a heart of flesh. And I believe that that's why God has raised up CFC, my brothers and sisters, to teach us humility, to test us, show us what is in our hearts, not to condemn us and humiliate us, but only to make us more like Himself by taking out the hard heart from us and giving us a heart of flesh. You know, Hezekiah says he was left alone in 2 Chronicles chapter 32 verse 31. You know the story, we don't have time to look at it. But he was healed miraculously. God gave him 15 years more. It says even in the matters of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon who were sent to him to inquire the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him that he might know all that was in his heart. God left him alone. You know, God leaves us alone sometimes. You may feel like that. You may feel, you know, I don't feel the nearness of God. It's only to test us so that we may know what is in our hearts. And Jesus, many times, you know, when Jesus saw a crowd and He gave orders for them to go to the other side, and there was a storm at the sea, it was to test them to see how they would respond. He knew what would happen. He was not going to let them drown. It's to test them. When He had to feed a multitude, He said to Philip, where can we buy bread to feed these people? And He says that He said it to test him. He knew what He was going to do, but He just said it to test him. So God allows us in certain situations. God allows people to say things to us. You know that? God is in control of man's mouth. God allows people to say things to us only to test us, to show us what is in our heart. Why do I get upset? Because somebody said something against me or against my family. God allowed him. David said that under the old covenant. When Joab wanted to cut off that man's head, no, He stopped him. God told him to curse David, let him curse. If God curses you, if God tells your boss, gives you a real good blasting, God allowed Him to do that. So many things that we could see that God is in control of man's mouth. God is in control of man's tongue. He never let the tongue of a dog bark when 600,000 people left Egypt. Do you know that? Not a dog bark. That was the word that God gave me when one of my children were born. No surgeon can put a scalpel on you unless God gave permission. Your hand is not in the hand of that surgeon. Your life is not in the hand of that surgeon or that doctor. It's in the hand of God. If I can recognize that. That nothing, absolutely nothing can ever happen in my life on this earth if I'm part of God's family. I'm part of the body of Christ unless God gives permission. Whatever it is, I thank God that God has sought to teach me that through the years I've been in the church and He's still teaching me that nothing can ever happen. We need that in the coming days, my brothers and sisters. And whatever may happen, that God is in control. You know, in Revelation chapter 2 verse 10 he said to this leader of this church do not fear what you're about to suffer behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so you'll be tested and you will have tribulation for 10 days. 10 days means 10 days but you'll be tested. The devil has got permission to put you into prison. Don't panic. I've allowed it only to test you. God says. And you'll have tribulation 10 days. And when 10 days is over it's over. Nobody can add one day more. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. God says there. He says in Revelation chapter 3 verses 10 and 11, because you've kept the word of my perseverance I also will keep you from the hour of testing that hour which is to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly hold fast what you have so that no one will take your crown. That's a word that has come to me again and again. Thank God for peaceful times. Thank God for peace. Thank God that we have freedom and liberty to build the church. We have not really undergone persecution but God says here. He warns us. The Holy Spirit warns us in Revelation 3. He says because you've kept the word of my perseverance I will also keep you from the hour of testing that hour which is about to come upon the whole world the whole world and no country is free from that my brothers and sisters. We cannot run anywhere. We heard last week Jonah thought that he can you know get out of it by going away to Tarsus. You can't go out from the presence of the Lord. David says if I even make my bed in hell you're there. So that hour of testing is to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth and Jesus says I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have so that no one will take your crown. And finally the third thing he humbles us he tests us to show us what is in our heart. That's what he has sought to do these 40 years. He will seek to do till he comes and the last thing there he says so that you will learn, you will understand he humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, did your fathers know verse 3 that he might make you understand that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone but man lives by everything or every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord and that is what we are to live by my brothers and sisters. So the Lord allows us to face some need in our lives here it was hunger here it was a need of bread it may be a financial need, it may be a physical need to get the word from God's mouth. That's what we live by just like we live by bread that's why when the people came after him because they were fed, he says you are not coming after me because you want to become godly, you want to see God you are coming after me because your bellies were full I fed you, you got something from me. He says don't waste your time don't labor for that for the food which perishes, labor for that which you can, for the food that will produce eternal life and that is the word of God, the word from God's mouth it says in Isaiah 50 that he awakens my ear morning by morning morning through morning to get the tongue of a disciple, my ear has to be awakened morning through morning, not just I have my quiet time in the morning, morning through morning, morning from one morning to the next morning to get a word God speaks to us during the day in all the different situations I can get a word from God's mouth and I can live by it, just like man lives by bread, that's how Jesus lived man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth and this is the result when we are humbled and tested, my brothers and sisters, we will seek for that word that comes from God's mouth in the different situations Lord, speak to me, give me a word I know the different situations, and we get a word from God's mouth, and it's only those who hear a word from God's mouth that can give God's word to others the word that comes from His mouth if I don't get a word from God's mouth, I'll just preach sermons I'll just vomit out all the clever things I've learned in the Bible, but a word from God's mouth, that is the need in this church that's what we have a year to hear what the Spirit is saying first of all to me and through me to others and through me to the church to have a year to hear Jesus said many times that him who has a year to hear, it's not physical hearing may God give us such a sensitive heart that we can get that word from God's mouth I was reading something that somebody commented on this, you know that just as God has ordained bread, food for sustenance for our physical life it takes a little thing for God to do it differently God is not obligated He is not tied that we get our life our physical life from food and this person was saying that He can do that with air, God can so sanctify the air by the word that you and I can have health just by breathing air you don't need bread so God is not tied to the elements of the earth He uses it to provide but that's what Jesus was gripped with, that's why He could say to the devil when Satan said command that these stones be made into bread and Jesus said command these stones to be made into bread what need of that, why do I need that, my Heavenly Father can keep me alive without bread that's what He said to Satan man shall not live by bread alone my Heavenly Father can, I don't need bread my Father can keep me alive that spoke a lot to my heart and that's how we are to live, my brothers and sisters may God help us, may God raise up in this church, men and women would hear a word from God's mouth may God raise up in this church those who can understand man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth, and so as we enter into the 40th year may God raise up young people to take the torch forward, to carry the baton forward of those who would let God humble them, of those who would let God test them and show them what is in their heart and cleanse their hearts and of those who will hear a word from God's mouth so that they can speak that word to others, that's why Peter says 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 11 in closing, whoever speaks it says whoever speaks we had this up here on the pulpit some time back, whoever speaks is to do so as the one who is speaking the utterances of God isn't that awesome whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God whoever serves is to do as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever Amen. May God raise up among us my brothers and sisters, we have heard the utterances of God in this church in 40 years, I know I have, and not just through brother Zach, I want to tell you you don't know some of you get up and testify I've said this many times before I'm tired of saying it, that God has spoken to my heart, I've got light to people who hardly speak sometimes so God doesn't just speak through the elders he speaks to us through one another and if I, when I speak when I speak the utterances of God I can only do that if I hear a word from God's mouth I want to encourage you, forget about everything else may God through his Holy Spirit grip you with this man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, out of the mouth of the Father that's the bread people are hungering for, my brothers and sisters that's the bread that people have come to this church for through the forty years may we say like those people Lord, evermore give us this bread Amen Let's bow our heads Heavenly Father we thank you that you blessed us through the years Lord Jesus you've led us you've been our shepherd, you've fed us you've been the bread of life to us Lord and we thank you for all that you seek to do in humbling us to teach us true humility keep us from conceit and pride and arrogance from becoming high minded, Lord thank you for all the situations you use and pray that you would help us to yield to you more and more, forgive us for the stubbornness and hardness of our hearts forgive us that we are so slow to learn, take out this hard stony heart, put in us a heart of flesh, through your Holy Spirit and when you test us and show us what is in our heart Lord Jesus help us not to shrink back and help us not to harden our hearts but to seek you for a deep cleansing and we thank you that you give us the word from your mouth may we continue to hear that and continue to bless others we thank you Lord, I want to thank you personally, the blessing that has come to me and my family dear Lord all these 40 years I can truly say all the way my Savior leads me what have I to ask beside thank you Jesus, Amen