In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of living a supernatural life that goes beyond the natural. He emphasizes that when God is present in our lives, we can live with abundance even with very little. The preacher shares his disillusionment with the hypocrisy he witnessed among believers who displayed spiritual fervor on Sundays but lived immoral lives during the week. He highlights the importance of having the real presence of God in our lives, as it brings about a transformation that surpasses human understanding. The preacher also draws parallels to the Israelites' experience in Egypt, where they were slaves for 430 years but were ultimately delivered by God's supernatural power.

And so Lord, we are grateful, our Christ and our God, and who can give to us as God would give to man. And there is nothing in ourselves, Lord, in which we could ever boast. For a man can receive nothing in himself, except that be given to him from above. So Lord, we are indeed grateful, this hour, this day, at this point in time, for the things in which you are giving to us. We thank you for an issue that has not been considered within the context of the church. We have not lived as if we are indeed the city of God, where you come and dwell in the midst of your own people. Though the church is the church as we use it, but it is not the church until you live in the midst of your own people. Until it is indeed a dwelling place. It is indeed Zion, the city of God. So we thank you that you gave it to your chosen, Israel of old, for that glorious inheritance, that tremendous revelation of yourself in the middle of that sanctuary in Zion, the holy hill of God. We thank you again that we are able now as a Gentile people, and even as a Gentile church, to consider something that is so lost, that we have truncated the gospel, and we have so divorced ourselves from our roots, that today we have cultivated a spirituality that is of a kind that is not in keeping, Lord, with something of your original heart and intent. And that is why we are left to languish and suffer within the church of Jesus Christ. So we ask you that Lord, in these days, something of that measure and that fragment will be recovered here. And not only here, but even for the church at large. Thank you again. So give to us Lord an appropriate word. Come and show yourself to us. In the giving of your word, give yourself to us richly. Lord, bountifully, we are here to receive. What can we do except to know that Lord, only you can bless a man. Who can bless us like God can bless us? What will happen to us if you don't bless us? Thank you Lord, so come and bless us. Be a blessing Lord, be light, be revelation, be truth. Lord, and be the very illumination, Lord, of your own spirit to us here. That our hearts may come into all of the glories of something that is so pivotal and now in the process of being recovered. Lord, for Israel's sake, until and until the church understands that there is to be in the midst of the church the very dwelling of God. How could Israel be provoked watching the church for who she is? And yet in all of that which we claim and that we exclaim and boast about Lord, we are so far from it. For indeed is the church the dwelling place of God? Does he live in the midst of his own people? So come we ask of you, show this to us, come and teach us, come and enlighten us Lord, bear light to us. Give to us the spirit of truth and of revelation, of wisdom that Lord we are so in need of in these days. Thank you again, we are grateful indeed. Come we pray, be to us all that you want, that your heart will be pleased and be delighted for such a time, for such an appropriate word. For this we are grateful and we are indeed Lord blessed on this occasion we ask in Jesus name, Amen. And so Zion theology is indeed the whole issue of the city of God. And so this is a piece of paper that I came into in my reading from a commentary from this particular Old Testament scholar. Now I presume that he is still alive, present in whatever country he is, I think he is in America. So his name is Willem A. van Gamerant. So of what originality and ethnicity I will know. But this paper and this extract is taken from this particular scholar who is a very able respected in the nations. And when I went through on his thoughts on the whole issue of the city of God or Zion which is of course synonymous. I found out that so much of what he was saying was indeed in keeping with what we believe and what we subscribe to. So I thought that this would be important as a kind of an adding on to the things that we have been considering together as a fellowship. And you will notice that as we proceed along there are precious things upon which our brother brings forth in a way in which I think the church is needing to see and needing to comprehend and even come into all of its reality. And so how important it is that the church is only the church if the church is indeed a place in which God lives. And the tragedy today within the context of the church is that the church of Jesus Christ have so misunderstood the whole issue of God's dwelling. That the church has come into a kind of a storm, a kind of a blend, a kind of a brand of Christianity that is confined within the whole realm of just the ethereal. Or even sometimes to a place where it is just amorphous. The word amorphous means formless, structureless. That is as if God is indeed a spirit but that he is a spirit that is disembodied, he is formless, he is without shape, he is without structure, he is just moving around. So it is all in this whole realm of spirituality that has no concreteness, no personality. God is a person. God has emotion, God has will, God has intent, God has purpose, God has a character, God has quality in himself, virtues. God is a person, he is not just an ethereal experience, he is not just a figment of our imagination. So the church has come into a brand of kind of a Christianity that only celebrates that God is in my heart. Jesus Christ lives in my heart, he lives in our hearts, but he not only lives in our hearts, he lives out of our hearts. Out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. God is not only an internal revelation, is not only an internal reality, but God is also an incarnational reality. In other words, if the God that is inside a man is not visible on the outside of a man, then something is not in keeping with the very heart and the mind of who God is. And so much of the Christianity today that is being cultivated today has no demonstration of a God on the outside. That God is not an incarnational reality, that God is not a spiritual materiality. He is not just non-material, he is not just spiritual, because the word spiritual signifies non-material, but that God is also the God of spiritual materialism or spiritual materiality. That even in the material God shows himself, God lives in the midst of that which is even material. God lives not only in our spirit, but God lives in our soul, God lives in our body. God is visible and real not only in our spirit, but that he needs to be real and intends to be real even in our physical life, our bodily life, our outward life. So there is today a lack within the body of Christ to consider the whole issue that God is more than just an indwelling God. He is an indwelling God, but he is also a dwelling God per se that not only lives inside of a man's spirit, but that he is even visible, he is demonstrable, he is make alive and seen and touch and experience and felt and even perceive on the outside. So who is God if God is not the one that is even visible on our faces, in our lifestyle, in the way we dress, in the way we eat and drink and live and conduct our lives. On our faces and Paul said to the church in Galatia when he said they glorified the God that was in me. They are not saying what is the use of having a God hiding on the inside of you, but he cannot be glorified on the outside. So there is a kind of a Christianity today that have come into our midst today where everything is all concealed, everything is all within the whole realm of the abstract, the invisible. It is spiritual, but it is spiritual according to that which how I define it on the inside of me. It is not good enough because if it is inside of you, it needs to be visible on the outside of you. It is God seen in your acts, in your deeds, in your actions, in your ways, in the way in which you are in the totality of your humanity, in your behavior. That is the whole outward side, that is why Jesus said out of your belly will flow rivers of living water signifying the coming of the life of God. And to borrow a phrase from Oswald Chambers that he is so capable and he is so fond of saying, he said that if God does not escape out of you, then he is not God at all. That is exactly what it means when he says that out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. Has God ever escaped out of you? Has God ever come out of you? Has the presence of God, the reality and the life of God make manifest incarnated? Not only just on the inside but has he come out, out of your belly, out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water. That is the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New. That is Zion theology, that is the city of God where God dwells. He dwells, but he dwells in the way in which saints, he is not just spiritual per se as we understand spiritual, but that he is spiritual materiality. That even in the material realm, in the material world he comes through, he shines through, he manifests himself. And that was given to the children of Israel, that was given to Zion, that was given to the tabernacle, the temper, the dwelling place of God in the Old Testament. It is tragic today how we don't go back to the Old Testament as a point of reference. How so much of the New Testament church is confined within the whole perimeter of what defines our spiritual experiences, be it within the evangelical, the charismatic circle. So we need to consider this. So here in this paper, I want to read this out. Now if I am escaping, follow along because we won't have time for all of it, all of the readings. I will not be able to go through some paragraphs. So we have been reading in Psalms 46 and 48. And it says that at the center of Zion theology is Yahweh, the divine warrior king, whose kingdom extends to all creation, but especially to his children. And Psalms 46 helps us to visualize God, the creator of earth, mountains and sea, among his people, elevated on a high mountain with a mountain stream representative of his blessings flowing throughout his kingdom. That is given to us in Psalms 46, you may remember. I am skipping now. Mount Zion, the next paragraph, stands for the vision of God's kingship. Remember that. That was how Israel understood it. Jews in the days of old, as children of God understood, that Mount Zion stands for the vision of God's kingship. They knew this. It was intrinsically given to them as a people that Zion represented the very rule of God in the midst of them. And God's kingdom is greater than Jerusalem because wherever Zion was, so in its essence, God's kingdom was already in place, in principle, in spirit. The kingdom of God hasn't come yet, not until Jesus came under the new covenant. But there in essence, in spirit, every time when God manifests his presence, when God lived in the midst of Zion where he demonstrated his kingship, that place became in essence and in reality the kingdom that was made manifest. And that kingdom is greater than Jerusalem as a geographical place, but receives its visible expression in the temple and the palace of Jerusalem. Yahweh and his dwelling, for instance the temple, are associated with Zion. So listen, Zion is only Zion because God dwelt in the midst of his people. Remember that. So Zion is indeed a spiritual reality. Zion is the intersection. Zion is the intersection of time and space. It's also the intersection of time and eternity. It's also the intersection of God and man. This is Zion. It's the place of communion. It's the place of God's rule. It's the place in which he demonstrates himself, reveals himself, shows himself. This is where his kingship is. This is where God intended to be with men in communion and in fellowship. That's the essence of Zion theology. So again, Zion is the intersection of God and man. Time and eternity. See how important Zion is? This is from his perspective. So he says that David is closely related to the Zion tradition because Yahweh commended him for his desire to build a temple in Jerusalem. That's given to us in Psalms 132. And here he says that Levinson designates the temple as the fulcrum for the universe. You know what's a fulcrum? The temple is the fulcrum for the universe. You do know that fulcrum is that little piece, is that little point by which two objects or objects are being balanced. And the temple is the fulcrum for the universe. The temple means Zion, the dwelling place of God. It's the fulcrum for the universe. So every time nations like Myanmar and China no longer acknowledge the dwelling of God in the midst of people. Any nation, any government, any king, any prime minister, any system of government, any form of institution, any form of ideology that finally remove the whole tradition and the whole reality of Zion in the midst of a people, a society, a civilization and a nation. Saints, that nation, that people. And that government is going to fall. And it will be open to judgment and even to its ultimate ruins. And this is exactly what we're seeing in China and in Myanmar. And in the nations of the world even in the days to come. Why? Because the temple, the dwelling place of God is no longer the fulcrum for the universe. Saints, if the temple and the dwelling place of God and the city of God is the fulcrum for the universe, how much more it is for the church? So the church is only a church when God dwells, when God lives in the midst of his people. Not just live in their spirit, but live in totality. Not in some kind of a hidden away, tucked away, a little devotional Jesus that I have in my room. That's not good enough. It has to be a God, a Christ, a Jesus Christ that comes forth. That embodies everything. It embodies not only that which is non-material in you, but that which is even material. As someone said so appropriately, that if Jesus is not Lord of all, then he is not Lord at all. He is not just Lord in your spirit, but he is Lord in everything. He is Lord of the way in which you drive your car, you cook your meal, you dress up, you sell, you buy, you talk, you converse, you relate, you marry, you raise your children, your appetite, your propensity, your sleep, your waking, your sitting, your conscious and your unconscious moment. All of that, he is not just a God where you just hike away in some kind of a conjecture, some kind of a dream or some kind of a meditation that you think about for 1-2 hours in your morning devotion, but that he is a God that fills all and in all. That, saints, is the city of God. And so he says that the temper being the fulcrum for the universe as Yahweh, Jerusalem, temper and monarchy became correlated in Israelite theology. They were the one saints. That's your root. That's our root. That's where it all came from. It was given to Israel as a people. Yahweh is the great warrior who establishes peace for his people. They need not fear because he will avenge their enemies. Psalms 46 from 8 to 11. No power on earth can resist God's kingdom. Israel had witnessed his power in the exodus, in conquest and his many mighty acts including the restoration from the exile. That's why Israel was never to be concerned with enemies. That was the very essence of Israel's history. Israel was never to be concerned with her enemies. Why? Because it was meant to be, it was meant to be a proof. Not only proof but it was to be the very, how would I use that statement? That it was the evidence of God's dwelling. That every time when God was in the midst of Israel, those enemies were never Israel's concern. And they will be enemies. And if Israel has lived under the whole sovereign and the kinship of God. Saints, they didn't have to worry because the enemy of Israel in the end becomes the enemy of God. They just have to understand that. Israel have to come to understand that it was their responsibility to live in covenant relationship. To come into an abiding and obedient relationship with God. And the dwelling of God and the manifestation of himself in the midst of Zion will be sufficient. Will indeed be the barricade and be the sentry and be the guard of all of her enemies that surrounds her. Israel didn't have to be concerned about her bodies. They didn't have to draw up fences. They didn't have to have sentry guards. They didn't have to have wars. Wars. Like the wars now in Palestine. All across the Gaza Strip. Hundreds and hundreds of miles. Of wars erected to keep the PLO's. Palestinian Liberation Organization and terrorists to cross over to bomb them. What's happening to Israel today? Seriously, viciously, fiercely trying to defend their brothers. Afraid of the enemies. You know why they are afraid of the enemies? It's because Zion is no longer there anymore. It's no dwelling place. It's not the city of God anymore. It's all in ruins. It's all relics. It's for people to go and just visit and stand on the availing war and miss the whole issue of what God is after. They are given to traditionalism, to rabbinical Judaism. There is no more life anymore because they have missed the whole issue of who God is. So now they are seriously defending their brothers and they want to walk into this peace. Oslo Peace Accord. And all this peace plan. So here you are. So Israel witnessed, it says, his power in the exodus. In the conquest of the land of promise of course. And his many mighty acts including even the restoration of Ramazan. In other words when he came back from Babylon. Israel also looked forward to the fulfillment of God's promises in the future. They believed in his promises and projected a grand and a glorious new era. The presence of God among his people. In anticipation of this vision the psalmist and the prophet speaks of Yahweh's victory over nations, kingdoms and enemies. It was given to Israel this great understanding and gift. I call it a gift because it can only come from God. Every time when Israel participated in the indwelling of God in the midst of Israel. When Israel celebrated the Zion reality, the Zion theology in her midst. God gave them a gift of eschatology. God gave them an understanding that what they were anticipating and what they were experiencing was being projected to the future. That there was something that was coming. That the day will come that this Zion is more than just for you. That this Zion will go from here, from Jerusalem and even to the nations of the world. It was given to Jews, to these early ones, to these roots, these men that drank from that fountain. They knew that. That's why you have to understand that it is because the failure of the church to go back to the root. It's the reason why today we don't see and have an understanding of the whole issue of God's dwelling in the midst of us. Have you ever wondered why today that the church has become shallow? Have you ever wondered why we have become so inconsistent? That what we sing and what we bracken, what we exclaim on a Sunday morning, it's not lived out from a Monday to a Friday. Do you understand why now? So much of the sham, so much of the inconsistency. And this was the thing that bothered me all through all the early years of my growing up. I couldn't understand this. I said why is it that what we sing and what we declare and what we shout and exclaim on a Sunday, it's not real from a Monday to a Friday or a Saturday. Why is it that we don't see this happen? Whatever that we sing, whatever we subscribe to, whatever that we give ourself to, whatever we even nod our heads and say the amens, why is it not being carried out? Why can't we live it from a Monday to a Saturday? But we do it on a Sunday morning and we do it gloriously. We do it happily. We agree with it willingly and give ourselves and even sometimes to a point where our emotions are involved. But why is it that we fail in our living in showing it from a Monday to a Saturday? And that was the question. That was the thing that precipitated a crisis in the first four years of my walk with the Lord. Because there is no presence. Because there is no perpetual dwelling. There is no abiding living of God in the midst of us. He is only a fragment. He is only a fraction. He is only an ethereal experience. He is disconnected. We only compartmentalize Him. We keep Him only in the region that we want Him for. We call it Sunday morning. We call it church life. We restrict Him from 9.30 to 12 o'clock. And that is the only time when God must be and should be real to me. And He should manifest Himself to me and give Himself to me. But there is no longer God after that. And God has been compartmentalized. He has been locked and padlocked in that realm, in that seclusion. And after that, He is not welcome. God is not God. God is not at His disposal as a God in totality, in completeness of everything. From top to bottom. From head to toe. From morning to night. From Monday to a Saturday. He doesn't live anymore. He doesn't live anymore in the midst of His own people. And that is why you don't see God. Leave the church after Sunday morning. You ain't see no God, brother. You don't see no God in people's life. You don't see no God in our conversation, in our sitting down together. Now you understand why? Living in the community is the only answer in the last days. You got the point now? You are not going to do this. You won't see this in conventional church. In conventional Christianity. Saints, it will fail. It will collapse. Live together. And you start to see things you never see before. You start to experience things that you never knew existed even in your own life. Because God is making His presence known. And not only known, He is making Himself known to a point where He is God. He is ruling. He is reigning. He is worshiped. So He was given to Israel. This great gift. Part and parcel of God's divine wisdom. That the giving of Zion to Israel do not only carry a present reality at the point in time when Israel received it. But that they carried also a eschatological perspective. An eschatological dimension. In other words, this Zion was only not meant for Israel. But it has a future implication. That this whole Zion theology. This dwelling of God. The city of God. Is going to go beyond Jerusalem. Will affect even the nations. And you and I, poor Gentiles, God included. Merciful God. And what did we do? We Gentilic people. Took the Gospel. We went to the kitchen and we cooked a new kind of food. We called it Christianity. It's strange that Messianic Jew, I was reading last night. From the testimony of one of the most brilliant Jewish Christian. Sorry, Messianic Jew. David Stern. I was reading this brilliant scholar. He is an economist. Professor in UCLA. PhD in economics in Princeton University. That has to be clever, isn't it? And he was saying that. We are not comfortable with the word Christianity. We prefer the word Messianic Jew. And the reason why. These Jews that have become Christian. Or have come into a knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ. Would not even want to use a Christianity for this one reason. He said, it's not. You know what they say? It's because it's a culture. These Jews that have come into a knowledge of the Messiah. Looking now from their side. Through their lens. And through whatever the bifocal. When they look through their experience. And look through their Torah. And look through of course the Old and the New Testament. They say that it's a culture. So much of which. That you have experienced he said. Has no Jewish roots. This is alien to us. He says it's a culture. You have formulated something that is outside. Of what God intended. It's amazing how. When a Jew come into a Messianic experience. The things in which is given back to them. And the things in which they are made to experience again. It is phenomena. They know something that we don't. Because they were the originator. They were the recipient. They knew what it was like. So it's as if when the Messiah came. Because Jesus himself was a Jew. Paul was a Jew. Peter was a Jew. John was a Jew. It's something about the revelation of Jesus. When he returns into a Jewish man and a woman. Now listen. I know what you are thinking. But I thought that in Jesus Christ neither Jew nor Greek. Of course. In the life of Jesus. In the new creation. There is no differentiation of ethnicity. But saints do not forget. Because if that's the case. Then Paul didn't have to talk about Romans 9, 10 and 11. Then Paul didn't have to talk about. The whole Jewish roots. By which this gospel. And this faith originated from. He's not dealing with the whole issue of race. He's dealing with the whole issue of spiritual reality. That was intrinsic to the faith. Because when God gave himself to Israel. He gave himself as God. He showed himself to Israel. So don't complain. He didn't show himself first to Chinese. He didn't show himself to Indians. Or Indonesians. Or Filipinos. Or Japanese. He showed himself to a people. Were they better? Were they more clever? Were they more brilliant? Were they more smarter? Were they more humble? Were they more sweeter? No. In fact they were a whole stubborn lot. But God chose and God elected them. On the basis of this. Because of all that he is. This is grace. This is called the election of grace. Grace. In fact could it be that when God chose them. God even chose the worst. In fact as far as God was concerned. They are one of the worst. Because as far as stubbornness was concerned. No one is as stubborn as Jews. And God said I want to choose you. Who is that stubborn? Why? Because in your stubbornness I'll show to you who I am. Because saints. You never know the highest that is in God. Until God deals with the lowest that is in you. You understand the principle? You never know the highest that is in God. Until God deals with the lowest that is in you. That's why saints. That's exactly what Paul said. He said sin may thrive. Sin may abound. But grace shall much more abound. So what are we seeing in the days to come? We are going to see a declaring. We are going to see a fumbling. We are going to see even a worsening of condition in the Middle East. It's all a dream. George Bush wanting to go out there. To bring peace to the Palestinians. And finally they could live in peace. Side by side. Two people one nation. This kind of a talk. Saints it's not going to be achieved. It will not be achieved. It will only deteriorate. Even if there is any kind of peace. Seemingly that has been shown to them. Saints it's only temporal. Because after that they will get into a violence. They will come into turbulence. Because it's an intractable problem. It's an intractable issue. It's intransigent. Within the psychic. Of Israel. What is to bring her down. Bring her to a place. Of utter bankruptcy. So this was given to them. I need to hurry with you a little bit. This was given to them. There at Zion. So they understood. That the whole issue of Zion. Carry with it a vision. As the prophet speaks of Yahweh's victory. Over nations, kingdoms, enemies. His is the vengeance. The wrath. And the zeal in establishing his kingdom. His is also the deliverance. For which the godly wait. When you O Lord. Rose up. To judge and to save. All the afflicted of the land. Redemption focuses on Zion. Or as Martin Buber observed. He is a Jew himself. It is Zion centric. And what is Zion centric? That the renewer of the world. And the renewer of Zion. Are one and the same thing. For Zion is the heart of the renewed world. Ably spoken. Alright saints. That's why listen. There will be no world peace. Not until Zion. Is being restored. Not until Israel. As a people and as a nation. Will be restored. Because until then. There will be no redemption. For the world. No redemption for Israel. No redemption for the world. Only upon Israel's redemption. Can then redemption. Come upon the nations. So. At the heart. Or for Zion is the heart of the renewed world. So what is the creation moaning and groaning about? For the whole. Redemption of Israel. For the whole recovery and the restoration of Zion. For that presence of God to return to Jerusalem. Because that restoration. That coming. Of the renewer of Zion. Will also mean the renewer. For the world. So Yahweh. Has chosen to establish his kingdom. And delight. In those who submit themselves to his rule. For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired for his dwelling. Isn't that wonderful? Psalms 132. In verse 13. Zion theology. Or Zion eschatology. Alright. They are synonymous. You cannot divorce them. Zion theology. Is Zion eschatology. So one cannot be without the other. One must infer the other. One brings about the other. So there is no Zion. Or no understanding of Zion. Outside the whole eschatological dimension. Of Zion. So the moment when God talks about Zion. So it's tragic how today the church. Don't see this. There are men and women today. Even scholars. Even in the Christian faith. Who do not subscribe the fact. Of Israel's restoration. Who do not believe that there is. A thousand year millennial rule. When Jesus returned. So saints. When church don't even believe. In Zion's restoration. Any wonder why today? Let me read further. Because there is something in which he talks about. Which is very very interesting. Because here I think it's when he says. That Zion theology. Or Zion eschatology. Inspires God's people. With adoration. Joy. Hope. And commitment. To the great king. Alright. It's always the case. The moment when you give. A church. And a people. That has an eschatological faith. Once when this whole city of God. Now saints I need to bring this to you. I don't know how this. Is going to make sense to all of you. That is only when the church. Begins to return to an understanding. Of the city of God. Of such a dwelling in the midst of the church. Can the church. Come into a. Into a dimension. It will come into a lifestyle. It will come into a condition. And what condition is that? It is a condition that he describes here. That. That it inspires God's people. With adoration. Joy. Hope. And commitment to the great king. Why? Because the Zion theology. Inspire them. With a vision of the kingdom to come. Now saints. This is exactly what it is. So the whole issue. Of the city of God. Is the issue of what? Is the issue of eschatological faith. Is the issue of the future. Now I don't understand today why. There's so much of what we call. The presence of God. And this is something in which. I vehemently come against. I used to wonder all through the years. Of the charismatic revival. Where every time when you go for these meetings. They talk about. Do you sense the presence? Do you sense his presence? Do you sense his glory? Saints. If you sense his presence. If the presence of God is indeed. Make manifest. In a people. Then saints. Listen. The next thing that. That people. Is going to come into. And it's going to put on. And it's going to characterize. The very presence of God. That they. Avow to. Or they are. Acclaiming to. Or that they are. Associating with. If they are indeed. Given themselves. To this whole manifestation. Of God's dwelling. In the midst of the church. Then saints. This is the reality. And what's the reality? That there is a hope. For the future. There is a looking forward. To the kingdom to come. That you participate. In something that will be coming. Because it's inherent. In the faith. When God give of himself. And of his dwelling. And of himself. In the midst of you. He will also give to you. An anticipation for the future. What happens when you start to live like that? When you anticipate the future. When you look forward. To a coming kingdom. What will happen to you? It changes your lifestyle. It makes everything around you. Not important anymore. It reorientates your view. It turns you inside out. It makes you live with the sense of. A radical discipleship. That you have never had. You become strong to yourself. You become violent. With your own habits. You become strong in your mind. In your mindset. In the way in which you look at everything. There is something about that faith. That give to you the energy. The operation and the faith. To live the way you should. As if it's like. Like what Peter said. That pilgrim and strangers. That though you live here on this earth. Nothing seems to bother you. Nothing seems to care about. Nothing seems to hang on to you. Nothing seems to attack you. Or have any preoccupation. In your life. There is something about you. You have another motivation. You live by another beat. You exist by another motivation. This is the city of Zion. So it inspires a vision. Of the kingdom to come. That was intrinsic. To the faith. In Israel. And it's still holding on to it. As they may be in the. Rabbinical Judaism in the nations. As any Jew in Crown Heights. In New York. Meet them on the street. Rabbi. Sir. What you looking for? The coming of the Messiah. The coming of peace. What peace? World peace. Strange how they use the word. We are looking forward to a world peace. So much so that one of them was saying to. To both of us. We don't even care how he comes. Come. Come quickly. We want world peace. What they are actually saying is. That they are asking for. They are looking forward to a kingdom. That will bring world peace. They know it. They know it won't come from the White House. They know that it won't come from. 10 Downing Street in England. It won't come from France. It won't come from anywhere. It's going to come when the kingdom comes. They knew. They know it. Even in their backslidden state. As they are. They know it. It's in their theology. It's in their psyche. It's in their national existence. It's in their consciousness. But it's not in the consciousness of the church. When was the last time. You ever walk into a church. Who claims so much of God's power and presence. Ever lived like that. With such an anticipation. With such an anticipation for the future. Saints. Can I even go one step further. By saying this here to you. What happens if the future is more real than the present. What happens. When the future is more real than the present. Because you know what Saints. The only way for you and I. Can be delivered from our present time. And our present sorrows. And all of the present things. That holds you. Is this. Is God giving the church. A reality of the future. So powerful. And so real. That listen. It disconnect you from everything that is of the present. That. Is ultimate victory. That. Is truly. An indication. And a sure sign. That God is in the midst of the church. When is the church the church. When finally the church. Is delivered from everything that is present. Why. Because finally. She has a revelation. And a view. Of the future. And so real is the future. That the present. No longer hold them anymore. Let me ask you this. What is it today. When you go to any church. Is more real than anything. Isn't present more real than anything. Look at your present problem. Look at your present struggle. Look at your present cry. Look at all of your present. Anguish. Your present battle. Look at the things that. The church talks about. The ego. Centric. Spirituality. It's my deliverance. My healing. My problem. My headache. My wife. My husband. My kids. My job. My career. It's my. My. I. I. I. I. Me. Me. Me. Me. Look at the problem. Look at the counseling. Look at the inner healing session. Look at the. Look at the. Hours. And the tons. And the millions of dollars. The poor. All of the efforts. Pouring to modern day. Christianity. To do what? Saints. To meet human needs. The present problem. Present issue. You know why there is such a present issue? It's because. Saints. We've not seen the future. That. Listen to me is the reason why the church is not God's dwelling place yet. It's a church all right. By human standard. By denominational description. It's not a church per se as God meant the church to be because if it is the church God lives and when God lives Saints the future is real when God lives Eschatological reality is the name of the game That is I am theology That was given to Israel. You know, it's strange things. I don't know about you You can look at Israel today you go to Jerusalem Everyone wants to go to Jerusalem, of course for all the right reason. It's great to say that you go to every city It's more good-looking than Jerusalem. What's so nice about Jerusalem? Yeah looks better There's something about Israel. There's something about Jewish people. I don't know about you go to the synagogues Go to the go to your Shiva's and all of the rabbinical school. I walk down those alley We walk inside set in their libraries. I saw the uniform. I saw the clothing. I saw their shoes I'm embarrassed. We pastors have got better shoes than these rabbis. They can't nothing about the attire. I Mean they grow their beards and they put on the Yamakoko the keep our and and all of it. You can't even tell whether they're handsome or not handsome They've all beards dangling on both side of your of your faces and you can't tell them They can't nothing about themselves. They don't even dress up the way, you know The modern world will call dress up and even in their state. Listen to me Even in their backslidden slave even in the state of a non-messianic reality and yet these Jews knew exactly Even in themselves as something about their psychic. They just know that everything that they are is not men now They're not meant for now. They're meant for the future I'm talking about Judaistic men and women men that are not even have a messianic reality that have not even Jesus Christ revealed to them and yet look At the way they live your life and you wonder why in the last days when they do come into a messianic reality What will become of them? The life That will ooze out and come forth out of these Jews And right there. That's a table there and how Christian our present Christian even in Malaysia have to write even we look at that book there. God is anti-immodesty We still have to write books like that to remind Christian how to dress We have books to tell Christian how to behave How to act how to do this how to do how to be loving how to be kind how to give We still tie down in our present. This vision is the ground for ethics As technological ethics holds out the promise of life and joy flowing from Yahweh's presence To all who prepare themselves for the full establishment of his kingdom on earth How about that? What a statement I would reread this again as technological ethics holds out the promise of life and joy flowing from Yahweh's presence To all who prepare themselves for the full establishment of his kingdom on earth Saints any reason why everything that we have is not permanent Joy is not permanent. Our victory is not permanent How can you join your victory in your celebration be permanent? If it is not that your joy and your victory derived from the fact that you already Anticipating something that is far greater than what you have now. No wonder so much of our joy is so temporal so scared So transcend has got no lasting this there's no timelessness about it and This was the thing that bothered me in the early years of my life Why is it that everything that we have that we talked so much about on Sunday morning, why is it that they don't last I Was so disillusioned even as a growing up youth. I Saw these same youth who shout and German speak in tongues and love and whatever you call that Falling down rolling on the floor being slain in the spirit. So to speak and Prophesying on Sunday morning and these are the same guy saying still fornicating like rabbits in the night The same hand that raised up to the heavens on Sunday morning with the with the most Sublime of sway and worship and demonstration are the same hands that are masturbating in the bathroom. I Used to be disillusioned Has it not been the grace of God? I thought that I would have become a Buddhist or a Hindu in less than two years. I Was disillusioned and though his kingdom is here. God's people expect a A dramatic transformation Can you imagine that they expecting a dramatic transformation, you know Saints listen, I know that listen so important Every time when someone there's something about the whole the whole reality of an eschatological faith something of the reality of of The of the future or the reality of the future that is being translated into the present, you know Saints it has got such Transforming character. Let me say this here to you That's that's what in the end transformed you. It is that vision of the future. It is that whole Communation and the consummation of all things is when you know that that city of God that Zion has a future implication In Israel and even to the nations of the world even for this nation and all of the nations of the earth That begins to give to you such an anticipation Such a joy such an adoration such a faith such a power within you now that Transform you and listen here to me That will transform you and listen and if that don't transform you What right do you have? To ever hope that there will be transformation in the future You know, I don't understand today so many Christians are talking about hoping in the future something will change Why should anything change in the future when you haven't even changed yet? You've got the principle here until you change What are you speaking? What do you say? What's your life exerting before powers and principality before God Saints as something about this? Transformation that is inherent in this whole eschatological element of Zion theology It changed me. I Changed the tone my voice my thought my dreams my sleep my nights. I Went to bed at one o'clock reading on David Stern and whole night Woken up by a mosquito by five at five o'clock And by my wife early-morning devotion light at less than four hours I'm bright and shining today a more life than some of you who have slept probably ten hours There's something about this whole eschatological thing It's it's it's inherent God invests in this whole thing Is that the city of God? God dwells It's out of a natural the Natural tells you you need eight hours But once you're in that place with God you means let you you need less than eight. What is it that you need? What is it that by human standard everything above the world tells you you should be like that should you? But if you come into a life that is indeed the city of God since you'd be surprised how that life transcend everything It breaks away the norm the norm tells you you need this no you don't I Used to have men coming up and tell me you traveling alone by yourself five weeks four weeks with no wife I Know what they're for. I know what they're thinking. I know what these men are after when they ask questions like that Don't you know that you have physical needs you have desire. You're such a young man. You're traveling all by yourself What's gonna happen? The normal thing is for me to bring a wife But since you cannot do that when you're on an itinerary When you live on people's homes and and church finances that some of them are less than 50 people they can't pay To look after two or three from your family It's not ethical so I have to travel alone So what do you do when you miss home when you miss your wife and miss your kid? Since it's the norm the world wants you the world requires from you the world say to you. Hey, you should do otherwise But since there is an eschatological reality there's a faith that takes you beyond that desire beyond that physical need Since if you don't have that you don't have faith You're got in rail you want to judge by human standard how your life is to be lived go ahead and Says and fulfill all of the human standard and by the time you fulfill human standard you missed the mind of God If I did what I did Saints I would have missed the heart of God It is difficult I know what it's it like I've been there walk through it all the early years Watching these two boys growing up even without my presence Saints you have to understand that This is the ultimate requirement. That is the radical reality of the gospel you have it Saints if we don't have it is only because God isn't dwelling there It's not science it's something else God isn't living there you say he's there it's not there You say what you want you can sing what you want you can do all of your dances you can do all of your powwows You can all you can do all of your jambalaya all your jambalayas and your jamborees do what you want You can do all of your charismatic gymnastic Saints if God isn't there you don't have it. It's a supernatural life Why is it supernatural it goes beyond the natural? Where's the supernatural? When God dwells in the midst of Israel they knew it That's why they were not to be even concerned about the enemies God will look after the enemies supernaturally they will be delivered Saints they were slave men for 430 years in Egypt when they came out what warriors were they? What fighting unit were they they were slaves? They were barefoot having to make breaks for 400 over years you do that for 400 years you take the life out of human You take the manhood and the womanhood right out of you you be deep you be deep you be dehumanized You be make a slave and look like I said breathe like breathe even like a slave and they were exactly like that That's why it has to take a dramatic event of those ten miracles to finally rescue and bring Israel out of the hands of a Pharaoh and who to fight for them They were all slaves for 40 years. They were there you understand now the implication I hope you're beginning to understand a little bit more about the city of God Zion Saints it's not a cliche tragic today. It's not a theological phrase. It's a reality It was a reality with Israel with Jews they understood that when God was in their midst They live with so much with so little You know there are people who live with so much with so little and today It's the reverse we have so much, but we don't live even at all You know why they can live with so can live so much with so little because God was in their midst and today We're living we're having so much, but we're not living it. It's not coming out in our lives Because we don't have it. We don't have the real thing We don't have this reality There's no meeting point here That's what Zionists is the intersection of God and men time and eternity that's what the church is all about and Until the church can show to the world Here in this current time and universe The whole reality of Zion, that's why the church is the only hope It's not only the hope of the nations. It's the hope of Israel You see the investment you see everything that God has poured into the church and By then I don't mean the building. I don't mean the program. I don't mean I don't mean your system I don't know finances. I don't mean say to your building and your cathedrals I mean the church asked the church is and supposed to be what is the church supposed to be what is the very? Essence of the church what is at the heart of the church Zion? And Once we lose that it's no longer the church anymore It's something else and the church has become something else other than that which God designs her to be That's why we put on a spirituality that is not even recognizable for Jews Jews don't understand it If we say we have that kind of a power why isn't the Jews convinced that what we have is real, okay? Why what do you hear from Adriel that the church is no different? It's not even the religion anymore if at least it is religion. Let's do some hope it's not even the religion is another McDonald It's another Burger King. It's not the gas stations Why has it become like that? Because things it's not science you see the anguish Can you hear this from the heart of God? It's not Zion, it's not the dwelling place of God God don't live in the midst of us And that was the reason why I stopped singing I Couldn't want us. I didn't want to sing anymore after two years of my Christian life I couldn't bear it anymore every time I hear some of these songs and these things that were going well It almost brought me to pieces. I ran away I Couldn't bear it anymore. I Felt like dying I Think I'm gonna have this This is what? Needing to be seen the godly are those who live and act in anticipation of the vision of Zion This hope was the very basic basis the very foundation All right the very big rock. I'm just putting these words here for ethics for praise and Even evangelism, I like the phrase when he says that the godly are those who live and act in anticipation of the vision of Zion live and act in Anticipation of the vision of Zion so sayings if Zion is not a present reality If the presence of God dwelling in the midst of us as he indeed is God is not in our midst things How can we ever live and act? in anticipation You understand what I'm saying? You know say it's listened. It's only logical isn't it? How can you be able listen to me? How can you be able to give hope to anyone when what you live for now do not present any sense of hope for the future? Will it be right? How would you saints? How would you ever live a life and Say you know the church is all into now. Let's let's do good things Let's do these things to give hope to the world since how is it that men and women will have hope? When what you and I live do not present to them a sense of hope indeed Do you live your life as if like you're full of hope the zest the zeal the vibrancy the life the joy the power of Transformation is so glaring that they give people a sense of such hope not for today, but even for the future Now saying that has to be of God When was the last time when someone saw the way you talk and the way you live you give that man a sense as if like There's something of the future There's something in you that you carry that brings such hope for the future I'm not even saying about having his immediate needs met And what is the watchword of today's church life and ministry is that everything has to be met now? Everything is your current need Deal with whatever you have whatever the problems you have have it all solved have it all resolved Have it all out of the window have it all met That's what we can't wait to be prayed for we can't wait to have hands to be laid on us We can't wait for a little prophecy over our lives Can't wait for a word We can't wait for a vision or our life since why because we want all of our immediacy of our life and all of the Constitution of our manhood and our womanhood to be met to be contained we want to be in control What when the circumstances turn around? Hey Saints What what if circumstances turn around? When suddenly calamities and catastrophe of such a kind will come to the nation's where people are not even concerned About having their meals their food or their bodies healed for today all they care about is is they hope for the future They don't even care in the end whether they live or die because all they care about is do I have an eternity and If I do have an eternity, how is it that I need to be prepared for eternity? What if you come to that set stage? What if people around you demand that you give them the kind of a hope? You think you and I will have it. We're so much of our faith is all propagated. It's all Promulgated on the whole basis of what of everything that is in the noun and that kind of the faith cannot be given Until there is a Zion demonstration Is reality so I like what he says here. It's the basis For ethics, that's why he calls it. It's the last paragraph. He says the way I like the way he puts it Open and close or Inverted commerce the way of the Lord is the way of the kingdom The godly reflects his way on earth as they live their lives in accordance with the standards of the holy city Zion They may not even be citizens of Jerusalem. I'm not you live there I've not even been there Other than I saw pictures and Plates and Cardboards or book from books. I've not been there. We're not citizens of that geographical literal Jerusalem the city, but they are indeed members of what of the city of God Zion This is clearly brought out in Psalms 87 where the psalmist affirms Yahweh's election of And the love for all who find shelter in Zion including even the Gentiles and When that reality of Zion when that dwelling of God when that city of God it makes manifest in the midst of a people saying You know how you know it is the way The way come out There's about a way in which we live our life here. There's a way about our fellowship There's a way about the way we sing the way in which we worship the way in which we talk the way in which we are open and transparent with one another That's that's a way about the whole organic demonstration of the body here. It's a way It's reflected is an eschatological flavor That is lost today within the contact of the church Seriously needing to be brought back and into perspective The Lord hasten the day will keep the remaining for the next reading. Thank you God Lord this is your own anguish Your own hard cry It cannot be us Because in ourself we don't have it But this is your ultimate see This is what you meant your church to be From the start we're stray. We're far from it And now this is needing for you to bring it in the midst of your own people Here in this country In the nation's Thank you again Lord Come Lord for Zion's sake the one of the prophets can only cry For Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet For Zion's sake I will not keep silence. No wonder Until Jerusalem shall be a praise in the earth Any wonder why Isaiah cried like that? For that's it for you for that city's sake for Jerusalem for Zion's sake we will not keep silence We will not keep quiet meaning. We will keep proclaiming. We will keep shouting. We will be a remembrance We will be your watchmen on the tower Blowing that trumpet until until Zion's until Jerusalem shall be a praise in the earth And to Jerusalem until the city of God is restored and It will be restored it will it will finally be accomplished and fulfilled Lord at your coming again and there on that holy hill of Zion will you establish your kingdom and rule? forevermore You will rule for a thousand years and out of Jerusalem that river will flow to the nation's Lord we thank you And for now it is the church the Gentile church that holds the baton That holds this reality that is to expect and to appropriate this reality that indeed now before that coming eschatological fulfillment the church is to experience spiritually and in every real sense a city of God is Zion demonstration here and until we see that Lord that the church has no hope That the church is not the church as you would intend her to be So Lord, thank you again for this perfect perspective forgive us for our for all of our self-centeredness For everything that is gravitated Lord towards ourselves We've missed the point which missed the issue We've missed the very heart of what you intend Lord to be in the midst of a people Lord, thank you again for showing this whole This whole aspect of yourself Lord recover this bring it back to the church Bring it back to a remnant bring it back to a people waiting for you in the nations of the earth even in Iceland even in Slovakia even in Czech even Lord in Ukraine in Belarus in Poland in Romania in Bulgaria to the Saints in Central Asia Even to the church in Nepal Recover this bring this back Bring it back Lord for your name's sake. Thank you Lord grateful to you Our God and our Christ we bless you we thank you in Jesus name