This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God for solutions to spiritual problems, highlighting the need to seek the Lord for answers rather than relying solely on human help. It discusses the concept of rewards for the faithful during the Kingdom Age and the eternal purpose of conforming to God's image. The sermon also explores the idea of overcoming challenges through faith and the significance of walking in the spirit while being open to correction and yielding to one another in obedience to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, this is a question and answer time. But as usual, I would like to say something before we have this time. Why? Because the answer to all our spiritual problems is the Lord. We can only help by the sight and try to remove some hindrances. But the one who really solves our problem, I believe, brothers and sisters, we all know, only the Lord himself can do that. So I hope that you do not expect answers. You just probably expect some help that will remove some of the hindrances. But we need to seek the Lord ourselves and get the right answer from him. So this is the explanation we have to give before we have the question and answer time. I have received three questions. The first question is, Will the rewards that the overcomers receive from our Lord's judgment seat carry on into eternity? Or are these rewards only for the Kingdom Age of a thousand years? I think probably the one who asked this question hopes that the rewards to be had in the Kingdom Age will continue on to eternity. But unfortunately, unfortunately, this is not the case. In other words, God's eternal purpose, as we find in Romans Chapter 8, whom he has called, he has given grace. So God's purpose is everyone who has been called. Whether you are faithful, if you are faithful, you will be rewarded with a thousand years' rule during the Kingdom Age. But if you are not faithful, you will miss the reward during the Kingdom Age. Now some people may think, if eventually everyone will be in eternity, as kings ruling with Christ, so what bother? Maybe you are thinking of enjoying the two worlds, not only the spiritual world, but also the physical world. Now if you think you are wise in such decision, then you are cheated. Why? Because, how long can you live in this world? Maybe a hundred years old, but even with a hundred years old, how much can you enjoy the things of the world? But millennium is a thousand years. So brothers and sisters, not that we are looking for reward. I hope that the idea of reward is not primary, but secondary. What we really desire is to please the Lord, is to complete the eternal will of God. So brothers and sisters, if we are faithful today, we will be rewarded during the Millennium Age. The Bible tells us, we will rule and reign with him. Some will rule five cities, some will rule ten cities. But we will all rule for God, not for ourselves. Because if we are faithful today, the Lord is able to entrust us with the rule that he will have over the thousand years. So dear brothers and sisters, we need to think of the eternal purpose of God. The eternal purpose of God is that we all will be conformed to the image of God's Son. Once he has called you, he will never leave you. He will continue to work in you until you are conformed to the image of Christ. If that process is delayed because of our carelessness, we think we are going to enjoy the two worlds, but the Lord knows better. So dear brothers and sisters, think. All we can enjoy in this life is very limited. We are limited in time, limited in environment. How much can you really enjoy the world? Because the world is passing. And the things of the world will all pass away. They are not eternal. So it is wise for us to be faithful to the Lord in this age. In the time when we are still on this earth. But thank God, if we are faithful in this short period, the Lord will reward us with a thousand years of rule for him. Because he knows who is fit to rule with him. And this is to be proved by the life that we are. In this age. So even though the reward would only be a thousand years, but it is a tremendous reward. Thank God. His eternal purpose is everyone whom he has called will eventually be conformed to his own image. Now what a promise. Every one of us who has been called. The end result will be in eternity we will all be like him. And because of that we will all rule with him as kings. So brothers and sisters, even though the thousand years reward is not for all. And yet, according to God's grace and purpose, in eternity, all who have been called will rule with him. Because if you turn to Revelation, in Revelation chapter 22, if you read from verse 3. And no curse shall be any more. And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. And his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face. And his name is on their foreheads. And night shall not be any more. And no need of a lamp. The light of the sun shall shine upon them. For the Lord God shall shine upon them. And they shall reign to the ages of ages. So that is the wonderful promise of God. And then I have another question. Revelation chapter 12 verse 4. The dragon ignores the woman. Only wait for the child who is the overcomer. If the woman represents the church, does that mean the church will fail at the end time? Now we know that according to the will of God, his church is to be an overcomer church. Why? Because he is the overcomer. So, so far as God is concerned, he does not expect the church to be overcome. His expectation is that the church may be overcoming just as he has overcome. So what is that by which we overcome? In 1 John chapter 5 says, it is our faith. So brothers and sisters, this matter of the overcomers, actually in the heart of God, he wants every one of us to overcome. And he has made every provision for us to overcome. So if we do not overcome or being overcome, we cannot blame God. We ourselves are to be blamed. Why? Because we do not appropriate the grace that he has already provided for us. So as we think of what God has provided, I think we touch a little bit on it. He has not only given us a new spirit, Christ is the life of our spirit. He gave us the indwell Holy Spirit to see to it that the life of Christ will grow into maturity. So you find that God has made every provision for us to overcome. And if we do not, it is because we do not appropriate what the Lord has provided for us. So that doesn't mean that God predestinates the church to fail. It only means that the church has failed to appropriate the grace, the mercy, the provision that God has provided for her. So we cannot say that it is God's eternal destination that the church is to be failed in the last days. That is not so. Even though God foreknown everything. But that doesn't mean that because he foreknown it, therefore he predestinated it. From the scripture you find he predestinates that the church will be an overcomer church. But if the church fails, you cannot blame God. You have to blame yourself. So the answer is, it is not God's predestination that the church will fail at the last time. It is only known by his foreknowledge. And we have to bear the responsibility. Now the third question. You exalted us in your message to overcome in whatever circumstances we feel involves you. Could you please elaborate on what overcomer may look like in the assembly? Well it seems we are just going through the motion. Routine and skill. The desire is to be submissive. But there is a line for the Lord to have so much more. Prayer is probably the key. But is there someone, someone can do. What is the look of an overcomer? Now in Revelation chapter 12 verse 11, we are told who are the overcomers and what did they do. So if you return to Revelation chapter 12 verse 11, you will find an overcomer as described in the Bible includes three things. Number one, they overcome by the blood of the Lamb. So brothers and sisters, that takes away any pride. We need the blood of the Lamb. Not only when we were unsaved, we need his blood to cleanse us from our sins. But brothers and sisters, as Christians, we can never live beyond the need of the blood of the Lamb. The closer you are to the Lord, the more you need the blood of the Lamb. So we are told that even the tears of repentance needs the blood of the Lamb. In our whole life, we depend upon the blood of the Lamb. In other words, that takes away any pride in us. Do not think you will ever outgrow the need of the blood of the Lamb. If you think that way, you are deceived. We are weak. We need his blood forever. Even the tears of our repentance needs the blood of the Lamb. So you can see, the closer you live to the Lord, the more you need the blood of the Lamb. So, if you are placed in a certain situation, for instance, the Bible tells us, if you are placed in Laodicea, now what will you do? Is it because the church has failed? So you fail with it. No. You can open the door of your heart and invite the Lord in. And he says he will sit with you and eat with you. Now what does it mean? It means that he will supply abundantly all your spiritual needs. So in spite of your environment in the church, if you open your heart to the Lord, he will come in. And supply you abundantly with himself. So you can be an overcomer in an overcome church. You are not supposed to just go along with a church that has failed the Lord. You are to be an overcomer in the midst of a failed church. So it is by opening your heart to the Lord and letting him come in, you have a closer walk with the Lord. And of course, you pray for the church that you are in, that the Lord will guide and lead you. And if it is the Lord's will, that he will revive that fallen church. So I would say, if somehow you are put in such a situation, you be faithful to the Lord. You do not just follow the crowd. You open your heart to the Lord and have an intimate walk with him. And you pray for the situation. I do not know what the Lord would do whether he will change your situation, environment in the church, or whether he will lead you in another way. I do not know. The Lord has to make the decision. So we just commit where we are into the hands of the Lord and wait upon him. So that is all I can say. Brothers and sisters, the Lord himself is the only one who can guide and lead you. I know if you are in that situation, it is difficult. But the Lord knows the answer. So dear brothers and sisters, the Lord is the answer and nobody else. And that is all. Good morning, brothers and sisters. I have two questions. One of them I think the Holy Spirit planted because he wanted me to think about it for myself. So, the first question reads, Today, Satan has changed the working conditions to keep us all very busy. Working 50 plus or 60 plus hours a week has become normal. Overloading our assignments and increasing our deliverables. He let us have no time for Christ. Missing meetings. In this situation, how do we redeem the time? So this is a question, this is I think the planted question for me. I think there is a particular generation or age group of us who completely understands where our brother or sister is coming from when they wrote this question. And just for review, for brothers and sisters who may not be familiar in the world now as college students and graduates are transitioning into real life, what has happened is that the supply of workers often exceeds the available jobs and employers can ask their employees to work more for the same. And if a brother or sister feels that they can't do that, then an employer can very easily go out and find any number of people who is willing to do that. And in addition to this, the cost of living has increased and the cost of housing has increased and I've had the great privilege of fellowshipping with some of my brothers and sisters in Manhattan and the cost of rent and the pressure of life has increased. And because of all this, it's become very normal for the normal working week to be 50 or 60 plus hours. And so this is a very relatable question for me and I think for many of us. And I just give that review because I'm hoping that some of the brothers and sisters who may have worked in a different environment or a different time period and may not understand or some of the younger ones may have a different sense of that. So the other thing that is happening in today's world is that the enemy has distorted and influenced what we think we need in order to be happy. A particular type of home or a particular neighborhood or what gadgets or cars or things like that that we might need. I remember hearing someone say one time, that's that thing I never knew existed that I cannot be without. And what's happened is there's this huge bombardment on all of us as to what the world thinks that we need in order to be happy. And so I think, and brother or sister if I have it wrong, I apologize, but I think there's a lot of context where this question is coming from. And it's extremely relatable for many of us. And it's personally relatable. And I'll mention that a little bit later. But the Lord, and I put three things, last night when I was asking the Lord about how to answer this, there are three things. And I did not mean for these to be harsh because they were spoken very much to me as well as to my brother who wrote this question. Number one is there's some suggestion that the enemy has control over our schedule. And that is simply not true. We are always in control of our own schedules. The decisions that we make every day, they still remain ours. I know it's hard because there are all these external forces telling us how we should be living and what we as good dads or husbands should be providing to our families. That if we don't provide these things that we're somehow failing. But in the end, we still are in control of our schedule and our enemy is not so powerful that he gives us no choice. And so every brother or sister has to decide how we spend our time. We still have that liberty. And sometimes, this again is a very real reminder to me, we have to set what our priorities are. If we have not done that, then what ends up happening is that the enemy has a foothold in order to influence our daily life. It's not easy. But it's to say that in my family, the Lord Jesus comes first. And if we don't have that sort of non-negotiable footing, then the enemy has much more chance to say, you can't do this or you can't do that because you have to work this many hours. The other issue is that we have to decide that no matter how tired I am, I am going to go to the prayer meeting. Now this is really hard because I work many hours also and some days really stressful. And on a Tuesday night, when I finish work, honestly sometimes in my bones, it is the last thing I want to do to not go home and rest. But I think that we have to set it in our hearts as a priority that the things of the Lord take a precedent over my life. And I can say that I have never been to a prayer meeting where I came home regretting it. And so, but before that, you know, I really don't want to go. Sometimes. And sometimes I really need to go. But the point of it is in my heart, in our hearts, we have to set it as a priority. The other thing about that is it will translate to our family. If we want our children to grow up having the Lord Jesus as their priority and to bear testimony in our families, if we don't have the Lord as the highest place, they'll know right away. Children are very, very perceptive and very smart. They know when you're talking down to them and they know when you love them. And if we don't set in our hearts the Lord Jesus as our priority, it will translate over to them. So this is a very important question. The second thing is that it's sometimes we divide our days into hours that are for work, hours that are for leisure, and hours that are for the Lord. And I think that the Lord would like to cause us to have a different point of view. And that is that every hour of every day is unto the Lord. And that is to say that if I have to work 50 or 60 hours a week, that is 50 or 60 hours a week I will be in the presence of the Lord. And when I was in school, I had to come to this decision also that if I have to study so much, how could the Lord have asked me to do something that would separate me from Him? And so it became very important for me to learn how to study in the presence of the Lord. And so I would have different ways of reminding myself of that. And every brother or sister will have a different way to do that. But in our work, we should think about the Lord as much as we can. Find a brother or sister at our workplace. Engage in fellowship. Bring our Bible with us when there's a moment of downtime where we could read again. Or have a hymn in our heart. We can sing as loud as we want in the shower in the morning and have it translate into the rest of the day with us. But I think one of the important things is we not separate the day into time at work, time with family, time with the Lord. We should think about the whole day with the Lord and then we have our daily physical responsibilities to deal with. But always in the presence of the Lord. And again, brother or sister, I don't mean for this to be just a harsh thing. It's something that I am learning also. Thirdly, we need to have our priorities established together with our spouse. The reason that this is important is because my wife will oftentimes help me to stay near to the Lord. As an example, she will remind me to read the Bible with her at night. Again, when I'm really, really tired. She, sometimes on Tuesdays when I come back, she's got my dinner all ready. She sits there and she can eat. Then you gotta go to the Bible study. And so when we have talked with our wife about the priorities of our family and we have together decided that we are going to live for the Lord and have him have the headship in our family, then all of these decisions become much, much easier. And we can support each other along this way. It really is very much a rat race. And again, fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters from Manhattan, I feel very much like I could live in that city because of all the pressures and what the next step should be. But we have to draw a line around the Lord and say, my life is the Lord's. We cannot even give the enemy an inch because he'll crowd right into our life. So maybe we can all pray for each other on this if we're going through this together because it really is a big challenge and the enemy's infiltration into our lives from the world. So let's just keep praying for one another on this particular matter. The second question reads, I was very encouraged by the sharing on family responsibility driven by family purpose. As a self-described Martha, in quotations, versus Mary, in quotations, how do I reconcile the Christian walk of responsibility and purpose with the struggle of not being consumed by what Martha had her focus on? Now, brothers and sisters, I have to say this is a little less relatable for me. My wife is, when we go on a trip, my wife will have all these little bags set up two days ahead of time and you put your clothes in and zip them. I drive her crazy because that's where I go. But this is a very good question. And it's, I think, relating to, if I can broaden it a little bit, it is that what the brother or sister is sharing about is being, having a gift, a gift of being prepared or serving in some way. And how does this gift transfer from sort of a fleshly gift to a spiritual gift, to something that can be used for the glory of the Lord? And I think, I think that I would just refer back to Dana's messages these last couple of days regarding Peter because Peter very much was a male version of Martha in some ways. And when, in Luke chapter 10, when Martha invited the Lord Jesus to their home and she was there. And so Martha, you know, very reasonably thought, I have a VIP in my home and I'm going to make him feel like a VIP. And with a heart for that, she went to work. And Mary thought, I have a VIP in my home and I'm going to sit and listen to him and get to know him. And so she sat at his feet and one of the things that's interesting about when our gifts are under the flesh, what happens is we begin to count. We begin to count how much I've given compared to what everyone else has given. And so Martha did a little calculation and thought, I've given so much but my sister's not helping. And here's the Peter in her. She had the guts to give the Lord an order. I mean that's, and so she gave the Lord an order. You know, and the Lord reminded her, you are worried and bothered about many things but your sister, she, there's really only one thing important. Your sister has chosen that part. And so, so what the Lord was reminding her is that gifts separate separate from me. They, they are being worried and bothered by things. And the Lord was reminding her that to draw near to him. I think it might have stung her a little bit. But one lesson to learn is that these spiritual, these responsibilities in the house of God are assigned by the Lord. And he assigns them to us and he may not assign them to exactly the person who has that particular gift which is his way. but the second thing that's even more important is what happens to Martha and what happened to Peter. So in John chapter 11 we remember the story of their little brother who fell ill and they immediately sent word to the Lord and the Lord tarried. He waited and allowed for Lazarus to die. And so when they arrived at Bethany Martha heard actually they both heard that he was coming and Martha ran to him and of course said Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died. And then she said even now I know that you can you can command it. the Lord looked at her and actually let's read it because it's a very important lesson for us. The Lord said even now I'm sorry Martha said even now I know whatever you ask of God God will give you. And the Lord said to her very matter of factly your brother will rise again. And he was just telling her what was going to happen. And then Martha gave him her Sunday school answer. I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. And so it was sort of like Martha had heard about him and understood how he was and then the Lord said something really wonderful. He said because she said oh I know he will be raised in the resurrection on the last day. And the Lord said Martha I am the resurrection in the life. And so it was like he was again pointing her to come near to me. And and yet Martha still didn't get it. Because when they came to the the tomb she she he orders them to move the stone and Martha says it's been four days you know it's not going to smell good. And and the Lord said to her did I not tell you that if you believed that you would see the glory of God. And so of course they removed the stone and out hops her brother. I can tell you that it it was a time when the Lord put up the cross on Martha who always thought she knew the answer. And had a full fund of Sunday school answers and a heart to serve out of her flesh. And so the Lord was doing a breaking work on her. And then in John chapter 12 the next chapter what we see is in verse 2 so they made him the Lord this is the end the Lord is going to be crucified and nobody else knew what was going on. But Mary Martha and Lazarus had a sense that something big was going to happen. So they all decided that they had their family savings in this jar of of perfume and they were going to anoint the Lord's feet with this jar of perfume. And so at that point Mary was going to do that but in in verse 2 it says that Martha was serving. But this time her gift of serving had been crucified. Gone to the cross and the Lord raised it up so that it could be used for his glory. So I think that the question is really good. That brothers and sisters the Lord has given his house different skills but in every case those need to the Lord's cross will fall on those things and then by the Lord's grace they are resurrected and then they can be used for the Lord's glory. So I hope those are my two questions. Thank you. I've been given three questions and the first one is just a simple technical question but they want some more information about Kairos. You know we mentioned a few times about these two Greek words for time Kronos and Kairos and they said can you please explain Kairos more in detail. Does it mean eternity and current time being at the same time? Thank you. Let's look at First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 1 because here is a verse where both words are used at the same time and it gives us a little understanding as we look at it. Now you see verse 1 here now Paul is talking to the Thessalonians you know they're very concerned about the coming of the Lord and he says in chapter 5 verse 1 now as to the times and the epics brethren you have no need of anything to be written to you for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. Now you'll notice in verse 1 in my translation it says times and epics I don't know what we have up here times and seasons that's a fine word so the first word times is Kronos okay now as to the Kronos of the coming of the Lord and then the second one is and the seasons and that's Kairos now the first one times has to do with the duration of time of the parousia until the parousia until the coming you know parousia is a Greek word for the comings of the Lord what is the time frame you know next year when's that time but the seasons means what's the characteristics of this time and what Paul is really trying to describe is not when that is Paul's not gonna say next Thursday or exactly a thousand years or something like that but he says now you should know what these times are like when the Lord is coming there will be darkness which you need to stand up and overcome well we should maybe read a few verses for you yourselves know verse 2 that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night while they're saying peace and safety then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child and they'll not escape but you brethren are not in the darkness but in the day that the day would overtake you like a thief for you're all sons of light and sons of day you're not sons not of the night nor of darkness so let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert and sober etc etc ok so the first word is a measurement of time but the second word is what's the times like what's going to happen during this now Paul's very interested in the saints understanding the dynamics the signs the events that will happen around the coming of the Lord so Kairos it's a time that is full of some meaning ok let me show just two other verses here just maybe I don't know if you caught that but let's go to the gospel of Mark at the very beginning and I hope you can see this when Jesus comes on the scene after John is taken into custody it says in verse 14 of Mark 1 now after John had been taken into custody Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God and saying that Kairos is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel now what does he mean when he says the time is fulfilled what he means is do you hear this gospel the kingdom is coming now is the time to come into the kingdom repent and believe the time is full as I don't know what you would say with the presence of God it's full of light that God has shown upon you and now is the time to make a decision the time is here the time of the kingdom is here now let's let's take a more specific theological point what is the time the Kairos of the kingdom of the heavens that's a term used specifically in the gospel of Matthew what is the times of the kingdoms of the heavens well it began when John the Baptist announced that the kingdom of the heavens was at hand and it is going on now did you realize you're in that time zone and it ends when Jesus comes back now the kingdom of God is something different but the kingdom of the heavens is a mystery because even while we're living upon this earth and so it is Monday October I have no clue what day is it 10th 12th today is a Monday October 12th and you may be living like everybody else is living on October 12th it is after all Columbus's famous day but if you've been awakened you realize that you're a servant in a kingdom that can't be seen right now but it can be seen among those who believe so today we can live our lives idly as if it's just another day on a calendar of life or we can recognize Jesus brought me into his kingdom now he's my master and it means he's commanding me to do things today if I'm his servant and it makes this today very opportune it changes our whole idea of the importance of this day so you know the writer in Hebrews when he says today if you hear my voice now how long had God been speaking well he spoke last Thursday but I didn't hear but if today I hear it's as if I didn't realize God is saying don't harden your heart but take the promises enter the promised land today you can do it and as another little illustration you remember in Hebrews chapter four it said that the children of Israel were told go into the promised land I have given it to you but they delayed and they didn't mix that promise with faith and then it was too late and they couldn't go in a door of opportunity opens up many times when we hear a living word of God and that's the season to respond and say amen and step in but the writer of Hebrews says we have been given a promise that we can enter this rest but by faith we have to enter this rest or the time goes by I have a singing dentist he sings while he buzzes my teeth he's going and after he's gouged out some huge hole in a molar and he's going to put in this whatever they call it now what do they call it used to be silver it's an amalgam it's an amalgam I'm sure it's poisonous but whatever he goes over there meanwhile he's singing another song he's got this machine it goes bap bap bap bap it makes this amalgam stuff it's like what's that glue that hardens fast epoxy it's like epoxy you know you take this little stuff you take this little stuff you mix it and you've got a minute to get that thing glued and this doctor is humming and now the machine stopped and he's got about one minute before that amalgam gets as hard as metal he's got to put it in and he's a I'm thinking to myself is he going to do it is he going to get it in in time there's a time limit and that time limit is when we realize we're in the kairos of opportunity let me show you another place where this word is used in Galatians chapter 6 and here it says in verse 10 so then while we have kairos and how is it translated opportunity that's the same word and therefore while we have opportunity what does it mean while the time is ripe let us do good to all people and especially those of the household of faith does that make sense so that this time that's kairos is a pregnant time because it has some spiritual value to it because you realize the lord is there in that time so it's like jesus when he said now have you learned the lesson of the fig tree he says when you see it's leaves and branches getting all ripe and green you realize the time is near so then when you see these things realize that it is in the doors that is his coming in the doors coming back he's already gone through the first outside door maybe he's in the courtyard getting ready to come back to his house he's somewhere near when the person awakens to that we find some christians who understand that time zone now i had never met margaret barber but one thing i can tell from her songs and from the stories i've heard she expected jesus to come any moment she she laid hold of this kairos and she made the most of the opportunities of her life knowing well jesus might come back tomorrow and i think that sometimes she would walk up to brother knee or some of the other workers and say oh i expected jesus to come back today but he didn't come back don't you wish he'd come back i walked down this street i turned the corner i thought i would see jesus coming now you see now some people would say well she's just crazy but maybe she touches in her heart how near the lord is and wouldn't that make a difference in how we live kairos it's a very wonderful word if we fill it with the right sort of stuff all right technical question now another one dana could you talk about the relationship between walking in the spirit and yielding to one another example peter being chastised by paul for hypocrisy the difference between walking in the spirit and yielding to one another now you might think that that's that's toast and that's jam because it sounds like two different questions but here is a problem we have today it's this false conception that a person who gets under the anointing can do nothing wrong it's a charismatic term but it's actually goes back to a holiness understanding that if we've been wholly sanctified we can't be wrong we can't sin and it makes you awfully tough to be chastised they say touch not the lord's anointed i'm under the anointing and under the anointing just like the pope i'm infallible now i think you would agree that a person who's of that notion is not exactly walking in the spirit but what is walking in the spirit this is something paul takes great labors to explain in romans chapter 8 and galatians chapter 5 in romans chapter 8 he says you know what walking in the spirit is? it's when we set our mind on the things of the lord the things of the spirit and we live by the life of the spirit within so even if our flesh comes at us and demands attention we can mortify the deeds of the flesh by the holy spirit and his power living in us so somebody walking in the spirit has their mind set on spiritual things and appropriating the power of the spirit in overcoming things of the flesh it's wonderful and so galatians chapter 5 makes this distinction therefore walk by the spirit and not by the flesh in the end we choose how we want to walk i'm gonna walk out of my own strength my way or i'm gonna walk by the spirit and try to be led now a person who is walking in the spirit actually when they are walking in the spirit they're under the precious blood and as our brother shared just a few moments ago it's a very humbling thing to know you're walking by the grace of god and furthermore that the lord has given us this gift of brothers and sisters who can correct us when we need correction so a person who's truly walking in the spirit is actually a humble person who can receive correction so when we look as an example in galatians chapter 2 we see the two sides of this story and it's wonderful to behold in galatians chapter 2 paul has been speaking about him seeing this revelation of jesus christ and ministering this gospel to the gentiles and then going down as the lord had given him a revelation to jerusalem it was in verse 2 and it was because of a revelation that i went up and submitted to them the gospel which i preach among the gentiles i did so in private to those who were of reputation for fear that i might be running or had run in vain now listen to the apostle paul who would you vote for in the bible in the new testament as being the strongest willed person in the new testament maybe paul or peter well they're going to meet and paul went to peter and to john and to james not only with the gospel that he was preaching to the gentiles but also with the testimony of what had been happening out among the gentiles but he presented it before those brothers because he wanted their amen he didn't want to do something like some kind of a lone ranger in rebellion but he laid this matter before the apostles and the long story short of this is that they verse 7 on the contrary seeing that i had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised as peter was to the circumcised and verse 9 recognizing the grace that had been given to me james and sephas and john who were reputed to be pillars gave to me and barnabas the right hand of fellowship that's wonderful now paul submitted himself to the brothers maybe he was wrong about something he submitted his gospel and the work he had been doing and they said brother go to those gentiles be faithful wonderful right now that's paul walking in the spirit now he was pretty strong you know but he was willing to yield now the time came for peter to yield this is the story right here verse 11 but when sephas came to antioch i opposed him to his face because he stood condemned because prior to coming of certain people from james he used to eat with the gentiles he ate mcdonalds with the gentiles he ate the chinese styrofoam cater stuff with all the rest he had no problems until the guys from james came and they came very clean cut guys they don't eat pork they don't do non kosher stuff so they had a special rabbi chef cooking them their stuff you know gefilte fish and peter in the light of this was pressured to kind of say you know what i'm going over to the jewish wagon for lunch but paul saw the issue behind it and said no don't do that because what you'll testify to is we're not all one there's a differentiation in the body of christ and that's not the lord and you know what peter stepped right down and you know what barnabas also had to ask forgiveness and he says he addressed them about this thing in public that's pretty strong stuff but these men were walking in the spirit and if you are going to serve the lord you need to be able to receive correction because there are certain people who have a ministry of giving correction to everybody who speaks if your hide can't take it get out of the kitchen because somebody always knows more than you and a lot of times they're right by the way and a lot of times you just have to accept it and you accept it and you realize that the person has this criticism of you but they're doing it out of sincerity and and they really love the lord so there you go walking in the spirit does not preclude being corrected as a matter of fact brothers those of you who lead in assemblies I hope that you're open to correction we can never get so hard-nosed about it we think we know what's best many times the least of the assembly will come and offer correction it will be right on so we may be responsible brothers or workers or anything like that that doesn't mean we shouldn't listen to the lord in every person who comes to us then my third question says this dear brother kong you can see I'm down on the pecking order somewhere I won't comment further dear brother kong throughout church history the lord has raised up great vessels who were greatly used and who had a prophetic ministry and clarity of god's purpose such as john calvin zinzendorf ab simpson dl moody t austin sparks etc and they clearly redeemed the times their time how much of it is the gift of god zinzendorf had such a love even at six years of age as an example and how much of it is their yielding and cooperation and obedience to the lord they're not asking for percentages but that's the idea uh should uh should young people aspire and ask the lord to be like so and so can you share what is the secret to become like them faithful and following the lord whoa that's a perfect question huh thank you brother kong now the first thing i will say is our god is a sovereign god and he is on that potter's wheel and he shapes a man like moses before he comes out of his mother's womb there's a great mystery in god's hand in the lives of some of the great men of god in the bible but you can see that from the earliest of days god had his special hand on a david or a moses or a paul as paul says even from my mother's womb i'm sure he had many stories as a young boy of things preparing him to meet the messiah but you know god is very sovereign in this and you can't sort it out how much was god and how much was the person's faithfulness obviously both are involved but i'd like to go to point two why does the lord raise up these heroes it's because of our unfaithfulness god raised up men from the book of judges and on and even in the church great men great men of a great heart for the lord great wisdom a great revelation that we need this prophetic insight and all there's a positive side but on the other hand why does the lord who is the head of the church ever need to raise up heroes in the church isn't the body of christ supposed to come into this light and come into this reality as brothers and sisters together without pointing out some particular guy at the top but when the lord raises up a special vessel it's a special vessel of mercy to bring us into some form of recovery these people are raised up by the mercy of god because we have gone into the darkness the church was never supposed to be led by big heroes it was just supposed to be led by the lord jesus but brothers and sisters mutually submitting with every fellowship having a fullness of ministry in its midst because brethren and sisters had some gifts of prophecy evangelism shepherding going on in the midst and when this doesn't happen and things get dark the lord looks down he sees a generation that hardly even know the lord in the church in such darkness that he raises up a john who's who's just reads the bible in his own language and begins to bring recovery now the man had great faith and was greatly used by god and so was zinzendorf and all of that but i just want to stress this i think we can idolize these people and lift them up too high because the fact of the matter is when you look in their history at the details of their history it was never just them as a lone wolf it was a small remnant of people and sometimes a brother who would stand up and have a ministry but there were sisters behind them and praying him through every stage of his development and when we pick on a particular brother and say well wasn't he wonderful we say count zinzendorf how many of you know about david nishman or spangenberg because these were two elders in the moravian church that did more ministry there than the count himself as a matter of fact david nishman brought a tremendous deposit he was the grandson of comenius who was the last bishop of the fratrum the united brethren in in czechoslovakia and he brought that rich deposit in zinzendorf was not an original moravian moravian means czechoslovakia and some of these brethren fled to germany and zinzendorf was there with his heart for the lord and helped the holy spirit fall upon these people and gained this tremendous testimony but there were people behind the scenes and people don't even know their names you know in the united states there was a famous guy who used to preach in new york state called charles finney he was a great evangelist and i think it only came out maybe after his life to any great degree that there were two unknown men and their names were daniel nash and abel clary who before finney went to any town had been there two weeks before on their knees praying night and day fasting for that town to be touched by the word of god and finney felt like he couldn't even go to a place and preach unless my faithful brothers had preceded me but we don't hear about them we hear about finney so all i'm saying is let heroes be heroes and when we see somebody we're awestruck by the deposit of god that the lord puts into some people but let's remember what the lord's desire is is for the church to be the hero a corporate hero there now i'm just gonna let me just mention a few common features of such men that the lord does raise up the lord does raise up such men and we acknowledge it and we're thankful for their ministries a couple of things we might notice is this many of them had a wonderful godly upbringing you know when you think of john wesley or zinzendorf and such people they were raised in a godly home so here here i make a tangential answer should we try to imitate these men well let me answer this way may your home be a godly home that can raise such a brother or a sister john wesley was so versed in the scripture he knew it not only in english but he knew it in greek and he knew it in french and he knew it in german by the time he was eleven years old and that's suzanna wesley who was raising up nine other children out of the twenty who she had birthed nine of them were left i think something like that and she raised each one of them up in godliness and john was a walking bible as a result and zinzendorf did not just become zinzendorf and love jesus all out of nothing it was grandma zinzendorf that told them all the stories and there's nothing better than a good grandma and you on their knee telling you how much jesus loves you how much you love jesus oh let's pray to jesus oh let's sing to jesus and that's what happened in zinzendorf he became a lover of jesus his grandma taught him those things so a godly home is often the background now sometimes exceptionally some people are raised up but even when they're not raised up in the godly home we often find that they were raised in a very disciplined environment you don't find too many slouches when george whitfield knew he was saved as a young boy began preaching he was raised up in an inn that's what his father was had a christian mother he was an anglican as it were but he had learned discipline which he began to employ in his spiritual pursuits but that's one thing the second thing i would say is this a common trait of those who are raised up is that they're not trying to imitate a hero of history but they're absolutely fixed upon the lord jesus these those who are raised up really and really know the lord and love the lord are those who have their eyes fixed on jesus as their author and their finisher i don't know of any of these ones mentioned john calvin zinzendorf i don't know if any of them had a hero i want to be like you know why don't we just say we want to be like jesus and take the highest goal i don't think there's a child who doesn't want to imitate somebody and they imitate their daddy or they imitate the fireman you know so i think probably young christians i wasn't a young christian but i can see a young christian out in the backyard you know trying to be steven kong and preaching something like that you know a four-year-old standing there saying jesus is the answer i i think children you know they love to imitate but i don't know of any man of god who became a great man of god by imitating some other guy because you know what the one thing you you know when you read the details of the lives of these men they were all unique very unique you can't find the mold that made that brother lance lambert where's that mold can you find the factory in jerusalem they the lord has busted that mold and created a brother who was a man of god may the lord raise up many other men of god this history does encourage us and i still love to read the histories of great men it very much inspires me but i like to read of the spiritual dynamics in their lives because many times it really helps me realize where i am in the lord okay so you can thank brother kong for that third question i'm going to be very brief it's almost lunchtime and to go home but on behalf of excuse me on behalf of the conference and the brothers and sisters of labor behind the scene we want to thank the four speakers from the bottom of our hearts we want to thank you very when there's a true hunger then there's a true release of his word they go together and this we again we witness a full release of his words because we're after him so we hunger for more himself and they give the holy spirit chance to show us more christ so one thing brother kong boy dana boy david my grandma thank you for sharing God's Word with us. Now, I'm not gonna talk anything about next year, because what we are now, or what we will be then, it's determined what we are now. So, between now and next year, don't think about another conference. Do it on increase of Christ in full measure. And what that is rich, then he comes. We may not have another conference. If we eagerly hold on to him, allow him to form in us fully individually in church, and he'll come for himself, he will come for sure, because he's looking for himself and his people. And when you see his son in his field, he will come for sure. So, next year is no guarantee, because we don't know. But in the meantime, we grow, we know for sure, we'll be there to welcome when he returns. Am I right or am I wrong? Thank the Lord. Now, before we end our time, we need to sing a very positive song. There's a man in glory. He's there not for himself, he's there for all of us. And let's conclude our conference by singing There's a Man in Glory.