This sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding the new covenant and living radically by it, allowing it to change lives. It challenges believers to be like Jesus, never sinning, and to have the courage to obey the new agreement implicitly. The speaker highlights the need to fill the 'water pots' of our lives with obedience to God's commands, seeking the life of Jesus, and embracing the new wine in new wineskins, which is the church.

I've been speaking about the new covenant. We've talked about the new agreement is so important for us to understand. For those of us who have grabbed a hold of it, it has literally changed our lives. We're talking about people who've grown up as Christians all our lives. Not when we understood the new agreement, but when we chose to live radically by the new agreement and let nothing stop us. To take the new agreement at its word and obey it, it has literally changed my life. It can change yours too. It is available to everyone. The reason is not because it's not available to us. It's because we don't have the courage to obey it implicitly. We make excuses for it. We look at the Christian world around us. We find something or the other to fall short and that's when stagnation comes in. The new agreement, no new news for everybody is that we must be like Jesus. Exactly like Jesus. And that he never sinned. Never. 10,000 hours, 10,000 days, never sinned even once. We have to be like Jesus. We've heard about this many times, but don't we all need a refresher every week to tell us? What our goal is? What the destination of our GPS is? You've got to be like Jesus who never sinned even once for 10,000 days. How are you doing brother? How are you doing sister? That's the goal. Don't care what your GPS thinks. You think you want to do it, that's what you've set. That's what, if you're a Christian, that's what the Bible tells you is your GPS. 290,000 hours, never sinning even once. That's Jesus. The new agreement is that you sign, that we sign with God is I want to be like Jesus. Never gets old. It never stops being convicting. And the new agreement is not that thou shalt, that's the old agreement. Thou shall not commit murder. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not commit adultery. The new agreement is God saying, I will do it. I will write my laws in your heart. I will put my precepts on your minds. I will do it. It's what God told Abraham. I will give you a son through your wife Abraham who's dead, whose womb is dead. I will do it. The work we have to have is to have faith. That's what we have to have is faith. Faith is to say amen. That's the word that Abraham said in Hebrews chapter 15. Abraham said, amen. That's the word for believe. Abraham said, amen. It will be so. And he said it for 25 years before he had the son. That's our example that God will do it. He will make me like Jesus who never sinned. I must do my part. And God gives me these two wonderful virtues, these wonderful gifts to arm us as we come to the starting line. That's what we've talked about. Grace, God's riches at Christ's expense. That's grace. God gives it to us so that we can say as we start the Christian life, I'm the richest person in the universe. When God dumps all of his spiritual blessings on me in Christ, when I receive him, how can I not be the richest person in the universe? Because my eyes have not been opened to see how valuable God's riches are. And he tells us that we are justified. When we come to the starting line, we say, Lord Jesus, Jesus is telling me, Lord, Sunday, you stand there before me just as if you've never sinned because you stand in Christ. And I looked at Christ and I saw someone who never sinned. And I looked at someone who always obeyed and that's how I look at you. Many of our problems, many of our problems is because we've not even read the preface of the new agreement. That's just the preface. God wants me to be like, Jesus, God will do it. God wants you to say amen to it. God looks at you as if you've never sinned when you've come in Christ. And God says, start living this day as if you're the richest person in the universe. Because I've given you the pearl of great price. So what are you discouraged about again? Why are you in a bad mood again? Why are you grumbling again? Let's go back to the starting line. Let's go to the very beginning and see where what we've missed. That's why it's easy to understand how God would say, do all things without grumbling and complaining. Be anxious for nothing. Rejoice always in the Lord. Why? Well, do you know you've been justified? Do you know what justified means? Do you know that you've got grace over you? God's riches at Christ's expense. Do you know you have all of that? Why are you coming to me with a sad face? Why are you so downcast? Old agreement people could have it, but not you. Were you literally bound for hell? Was the executioner's sword being sharpened? Was the electric chair being readied for you? Was that what happened? Was that where you were? Bound for hell and then Lord Jesus came and saved you? Transferred you into the kingdom of light? That's what we all say at the very beginning of what it means to be a Christian. This is the new agreement. And there's a small little passage that Jesus talks about the new agreement in Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five in verse 33 to 39. This was a foundational message that I heard from my dad that really shone a light, a huge floodlight into my life. In my time, many years ago, through one of those pivotal passages that to me really transformed so much. In Luke chapter five, verse 33, the disciples of John, the Pharisees were saying the disciples of John fast and offer prayers. The disciples of the Pharisees do the same, but you, your disciples Jesus didn't drink. And he says, well, that's because they've got the bridegroom here in verse 34 and 35. But when the bridegroom is taken away, they too will fast. And then he goes on to explain a very little parable, which describes the difference between the disciples of John and the worldview of John or the discipleship program of John, the discipleship program of the Pharisees and all of the old agreement. We read in Matthew chapter 11 or 12, that John the Baptist was the greatest of all the old covenant people. So under the old agreement, Jesus was saying, John's the best you can get. And you see the John, disciples of John were doing different things. And Jesus says, I'm different. I'm so dramatically different. You've got to understand this. And he goes on to talk about a parable. And he says in verse 36, no one tears a piece from a new agreement or new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise he will both tear the new and the piece from the new will not match the old. Verse 37, and no one puts new wine into old wine skins. Otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it'll be spilled out and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new, fresh wine skins. And no one after drinking old wine wishes for new for he says, the old is good enough. And the new agreement is new wine in new wine skins. Many Christians think that the new agreement is new wine. It isn't. And many Christians try to put new wine into old wine skins and it bursts. Let me explain to you as I've understood it, as I've been taught. It's not some brand new revelation I've gotten. The new wine and the new wine skins. The new wine is the life of Jesus. The new wine is the life of Jesus. What is the life of Jesus? Some of us may think that the life of Jesus means to be sinless. Some of us think that life of Jesus is to go around performing miracles and healing the sick and raising the dead. Hopefully those of us who've been part of this church know that that's not the life of Jesus. That's the ministry of Jesus. And God gives different ministries to different people. All the disciples of Jesus didn't have that same ministry as Jesus. Jesus walked on water. Not all the disciples walked on water. The life of Jesus, though we may go past that and say the life of Jesus is to not sin. Yes, the life of Jesus does include not sinning. That's central to the life of Jesus. But it is not just sinning, not the absence of sinning. Do you know that the planets are sinless? Have the planets ever disobeyed God? Planets are sinless. The angels who didn't disobey God, have they ever sinned? Do you know where they stand? They stand and see the face of their father. So the Bible says angels have never sinned. It's not the life of Jesus. So if we are pursuing just the absence of sin, we're in for a rude surprise because the absence of sin is not the life of Jesus. We must pursue the absence of sin. It says in Hebrews 4.15 that Jesus was tempted in all points and was yet without sin while on this earth. So that's clearly one of the characteristics of his life, that he never sinned. But the purity of Jesus is more than just the absence of sin. I can have a cup, a dirty cup, and I can have a completely clean cup, but it's not gonna satisfy my thirst. It's just clean and empty. What we need is the life of Jesus. We need the water, the eternal water of the life of Jesus to be also poured in. So as much as we in this church stress that we must fight all sin even after we fight all sin and keep our cups completely clean now we are still an empty clean cup and I must see the great emptiness of an empty cup in my life after I've done what after I have obeyed all the commandments Jesus don't do this don't do that don't do that don't lust with your eyes don't get angry overcome evil with good what am I just an empty cup I'm an empty cup if you don't fill me with the life of Jesus this is shown so beautifully in the story of how Jesus turned water into wine in John chapter 2 you can turn there if you want but most of you may know the story of where Jesus turns water in the wine after the wine the old wine has run out right we can maybe turn that in John chapter 2 verse 3 when the regular wine what the people make the best wine if you think about a wedding and you think about a fancy wedding you think about how people will say let's select the best wine this is a celebration this is the best wine that humans could select that's what was selected for a wedding it wasn't just on an ordinary dinner this is a wedding they selected the best wine and then the old wine this wine which is now old runs out and they come to Jesus and they say they have yes they say they have no wine the old wine has run out life under the old agreement life by trying to live the law it's run out what does Jesus do do you think now we know the story if you know the story what Jesus did is he took the water pots he filled them with water and then he says he turned the water into wine do you think it was very difficult for Jesus who did such a thing to change water in the wine to automatically fill the water pots with wine directly do you think it was very difficult for Jesus to just have the water pots magically transported so that it could be right there for the service to take how did Jesus do it and that's a lesson for us on how Jesus changed water into wine the miracle is that Jesus changed water into wine but how Jesus did it is so critically important what does he tell them to do in verse 6 Jesus had this says that there were six stone water pots containing 20 to 30 gallons so it's about 120 to 150 gallons of water pots that the water the water pots could hold of water and Jesus said something very simply in verse 7 fill the water pots with 150 gallons of water they didn't have a hose they didn't have a tap they didn't have these automatic hydraulic systems that could fill it they had pitchers and these servants says in verse 7 a small little they didn't even get their own verse you would think the people who are putting scripture would have read this verse and said that's a pretty big deal to fill 150 parts of water and they didn't have a tap maybe let's give them their own verse they didn't even do that they these servants just got half a verse they fill them up to the brim 150 gallons full of water this is an example of what we must do to obey God as we are running the race as we walk this race as I will run this race armed with grace and being justified knowing that in Christ God looks at us as if we've never sinned and considers us the richest people in the universe as we walk this race God says fill up hundred and fifty pots of gallons of pots with water and it's hard and it's laborious as you know fighting lust of the eyes it's low it's hard fighting getting angry forgiving others who have hurt you living with no bitterness rejoicing always being anxious for nothing these are not trivial things it's like filling 150 gallons of water in water pots Jesus says go and fill them and that's what he asked us to do to obey his commands his command is simple fill the water pots with water and we've given her we've gotten a lot of commands over here in this Bible we know a lot of them God says go and obey it now obey it what do the servants do I don't need some big testimony to come and tell you how I fill all the water pots with water I just fill the water pots with water 150 gallons when they had filled it to the brim then Jesus says take it to the waiter now I have a question to you after the servants had filled all the what pots water pots with water what was in the water pots it's a very important question for us to ask ourselves after the servants filled all the water pots with water what was in the water pots you're raising your hand you want to tell me what is it water what was in the water pot was water after we do everything to obey the commands of God what is in the water pot water what do I have in my heart water not fit to serve a marriage not fit for the wedding not fit to be used for God's purposes after I have completely obeyed still don't have the life of Jesus some of us are going with empty water pots and saying God I don't have the life of Jesus please give me wine and God says I'm not gonna give you wine I'm gonna tell you go fill the water pots with water take up your cross every day deny yourself and follow me so when that girl comes in decently dressed us men take up our cross flee temptation flee youthful lusts the name of the Lord is a strong tower run to it and when of the anxiety or love of money God says fill the water pots with water flee hate the love of money hate all forms of greed the love of money is the root of all evil there's so many verses like that God says fill the water pots with water so in your situation whether it's unforgiveness whether it's bitterness whether it's envy whether it is lust whether it is anger whether it is something else love of money fill the water pots with water I don't need a new word command is crystal clear take up your cross deny yourself and put yourself life to death well I did it for half a water pot keep doing it I told you hundred and fifty gallons or Jesus I waited three days for the feelings to change the feelings hasn't changed Lord Jesus I told you one week I gave you one week to take me out of the desert the desert still here well I gave you three months to change this issue it hasn't changed my boss is getting better and better he got just got promoted it's gonna get even harder for me fill the water pots with water this is where most of us who are servants came to be servants of Jesus Christ lose our way but that was not my point with the whole with the whole new wine after doing doing this and I believe that some of us have been coming to our church for years have been starting to do this I've been starting to fill the water pots with water faithfully but after we fill the water pots with water and we start to control our tongue and we're not shouting at our wives or husbands like we used to we're not getting angry like we used to we're not lusting with our eyes like we used to now we can get fooled into thinking that these filled water pots are fit to be served at the wedding and that is the worst of all deceptions it's the deception that the disciples of the Pharisees and the Pharisees fell into thinking that their righteousness their obedience to the law that's the old agreements law was meaningful God says I want loyalty I don't want sacrifices fill the water pots fill the water pots sit down sit down stand up stand up 150 gallons 150 gallons take up your cross every day take up my cross every day do all things without grumbling all things without grumbling be anxious for nothing nothing will make me anxious filling water pots with water dear brothers and sisters Holy Spirit has been given to us as a helper we still got to do it but then after that we must go to Jesus and say Jesus this is the wine this is the water it's the best I got I filled 150 gallons of water here I go Lord Jesus any of us who have tried to obey all of the commands know that this is extremely difficult we know how deceptive our flesh is how much we love to take glory in ourselves and in our good works this is where true humility lies to do this after we have obeyed all the commands Christendom is full of people who are trying to encourage sinners to be humble I encourage sinners to depart from their evil ways we encourage sinners to depart from their evil ways and take up their cross and follow Jesus we encourage those who are taking up their cross and obeying all the commands to truly be humble to recognize that all of their obedience has just put in them water pots that are filled with water extreme big difference between the sinners who have empty water pots and us who have water pots filled with water there's a dramatic difference because we can go to the Lord and the Lord will answer our prayers sinners God says first obey me fill the water pots with water now I'll do the real miracle the life of Jesus 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 4 says through his promises we get to partake of the divine nature immense words for us to meditate on I haven't even scratched the surface of that verse to partake of the divine nature we are so discouraged when we see our sinful nature is it possible dear Lord Jesus that you will give me the chance to partake of your nature that hates sin hate hate hate that tongue that speaks a nasty word that I that lusts I wanna hate it divine nature that's what I need turn my eyes flee from youthful lusts Lord Jesus I can do that but divine nature that hates it I got water Lord I need you to turn it into wine that loves righteousness not does righteousness the nature that loves righteousness with all of my heart Lord Jesus I need your wine this is the life of Jesus sounds unbelievable that it could happen in our lives any more unbelievable than a 90 year old having a baby Sarah any more unbelievable than a virgin birthing the Christ something that we all believe it's the new agreement God wants to give us the new wine he wants to do it he has signed it in his son's blood and he says now you just need to countersign it all the promises of God are yes in Christ and we affix our amen we countersign it not by saying I'm gonna do it now no Lord it will be so this is the new wine the new wine of Jesus was that I was thinking about this as Bobby was saying what was the pearl of great price for Jesus what was the pearl of price for Jesus that he was willing to never do his own will that's the story of Jesus's life I never did my own will never once what was the motivation for him to never do his own way I see that in John chapter 5 verse 18 through 20 John chapter 5 verse 18 through 20 it says the Jews were seeking to kill Jesus all the more because not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was calling God his own father and Jesus said truly the son can do nothing of himself here's this verse that I said Jesus did nothing never did his own will he says son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing for whatever the father does these things the son also does the son does nothing on his own initiative he never does his own will that's John 638 do we know that I have not come to do my own will but the will of him who sent me but why Lord Jesus do you take such a drastic sense to never do your own will to never do anything on your own initiative why well it tells me that in the very next verse in verse 20 because you know why I never do my own will because the father loves me that's why that is the pearl of great price the love of the father shown in the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the love of God that is the motivation for which for why we never do our own will so do you are you struggling to give up your own will are you struggling to lay everything on the altar it's not because you're not good enough it's not because you're not so spiritual it's because you don't know how much the father loves you you don't know how much you have a heavenly father and the heavenly father loves you that's the reason so the truly spiritual person is not a spiritual person who does all the right deeds because such a person could be doing it on his own merit but a truly spiritual person like Jesus is one who knows how much the father loves him how much the father loves her because of that they never do their own will show me someone who says I know the father loves me such a person will not be doing their own will such a person will be becoming more increasingly holy as the Bible describes holiness they have to be because that's what happens when we know the father's love we have all kinds of distortions and counterfeits to the father's love which has been reduced to feelings and experiences and we say I have no the father's love absolutely not it's rubbish here's Jesus is saying you know I'll never do my I never do my own will because the father loves me does the father love you and we won't ever do our own will we will be so surrendered to him that we find that even full surrender is a response it's not some big dramatic act I have to do it's a response to what God did for me this is the life of Jesus that we need to have to know the love of God this is the pearl of great price that we must have but as I we heard through this it's like I love that analogy of the stamp collector the small trivial piece of paper is so meaningless to the vast majority of people but it is so dramatically valuable to a stamp collector are we but our eyes need to be open to it and my eyes need to be open then to the life of Jesus that what the world and most of the world considers trivial just a small another book written by man just another good man who lived God needs to open my eyes to see what the stamp collector sees in that so precious small piece of paper this is not a small piece of paper the Lord needs to open my eyes to see that about Jesus in a very personal way not not open my mind here the open the eyes of my heart to where I'm so convinced can you imagine Noah spending hundred years or so building the ark how he looked like a fool to everybody on this earth but his eyes had been opened something that was gonna happen our eyes need to be equally dramatically open for something that's gonna happen that Jesus is gonna come back for a bride then our priorities will just change automatically we will be free from anxiety more and more because we have a father we heard that passage from Matthew chapter 6 be anxious for nothing why because you have a father see how the father dresses this and that dresses this and that that's why if you don't have a father yeah of course you should be worried but if you have a heavenly father no reason to be worried and I want to end also with then then it's just a thought to leave you with the new agreement is not just new wine the new agreement is new wine in new wineskins and the old wineskin was what the old agreement was contained in so the old covenant law was contained in the mosaic law and the tabernacle and the temple and the rituals of the Sabbath and how you fasted and what you ate and what you didn't eat and what money you gave and how the different sacrifices worked and tithing and all of these things that is in the old wineskin now Jesus says I don't come like the disciples of John John comes I don't come as the Pharisees come and tell my disciples do this I've come with a new wineskin and so much of Christendom so much of Christendom have been fooled because they're trying to put new wine the life of Jesus into old wineskins so they read something in Leviticus or Malachi and say you must tithe old wineskin they read the Psalms and they read something else about how worship was with music and they say worship is music they've not read the new agreement and so most of us just okay well there's a verse it's the Bible says it must be true well I'm ever reading that without ever being taught is this old agreement or is this new agreement how many of us think eating pork is in the new agreement how many of us think tithing is in the new agreement how many of us think worship has got anything to do with music in the in the new agreement most of us have been fooled in some of these areas tell you that let's have a time of worship you know what you're all gonna expect most of us are gonna expect some of us are gonna expect okay where's the music leader he's gonna come up now he's gonna bring his guitar he's gonna bring his thing is gonna sing a song worship in the new agreement has nothing to do with music but Christendom is constantly trying to put new wine Jesus grace faith the death of Jesus will have communion in the old agree old wineskins and we wonder why this church thing doesn't work we wonder why our Christian life is consistently empty because we've got religion we don't have new wine and new wineskins and sure enough look what's happening old wineskins are bursting all over the place I'm not here to criticize anybody we are not here to criticize anybody but I am absolutely convinced that the Lord has a new wineskin for the new wine that does not burst God said it in his word and we are experiencing it in our daily lives a new wineskin where we strictly follow the principles of the new agreement some people say hey look I'm not interested in wineskins at all I just have new wine I just have the life of Jesus they're also being absolutely unbiblical they say oh we just sit at home we'll just listen to good sermons we just have the new life I just need the wine of Jesus I was all about the life of Christ right it's all about having the life of Christ we distort God's Word God said put new wine in new wineskins so dear brother dear sister where's your wineskins that you're putting your wine in it's not just your body that's the first wineskin the second wineskin is the church that's it there are only two wineskins that we put the life of Jesus into our lives and through that of course our family lives and the church that's it and if we're not putting the new wine into proper new wineskins on new wineskins and the new wine will burst it'll spill out and it'll cause a mess as we see in Christendom today it's so important that we look at new wine and say Lord am I having the new wine am I putting this new wine in a new wineskin and there are many things that are different and we'll spend many weeks thinking about the new wineskin in ways in which is different the Levitical system is gone we've talked about no longer needing to have a clergy there is no special level for priests or pastors or I need a word from God pastor please help me tell me what is God's Word folks have not understand the new agreement understood the new agreement you've got direct access to your dad in heaven have you asked him there's a place for us to ask godly counsel but have we not seen the new agreement and sought the Lord and say Lord I have access to you but also recognizing that there is an imperative there's a need a necessity to have the church so I'm gonna make the church a priority I'm gonna make the people of God a priority the people I'm committed to and there are many different wineskins in the Bay Area this is not the only wineskin we've absolutely clear about that many different wineskins the Lord is doing his own work then it's up to the Lord to take care of those wineskins but this wineskin this particular wineskin this is our responsibility when I say our I don't mean the elders I mean our every single person who said I want to be committed to this group it is our responsibility to pray for it to tend to it to make sure that the wineskin doesn't become old wineskin that we're not finding a little tear and then finding an old agreement word to stitch and fill the gap we're consistent to say Lord Jesus we want the new agreement I started this series on the new agreement because I felt that many folks in our church who are committed to our church were part of New Covenant Christian Fellowship and didn't understand the new agreement as they should and I didn't understand it if I had not been taught and I learned this a lot a lot of these things from my dad and the teachings in CFC and it has blessed my heart tremendously and about seven years ago I taught this a lot of the things that I'm speaking here in a class at another church and that's where I met Jeremy and his wife I Bobby was there too and that was some critical seeds that were planted in fact my dad even skyped in for one of the classes because he was talking about the body of Christ as being an imperative of the new agreement I said I can't speak to that and I've done nothing about it I want it I can't show you how to do it because I've not done it so let's get somebody who's done it to speak to you so in that class and this other church I skyped in my father because I said I'm not going to talk to you about things I've not done I can tell you about knowing God as a father because I've experienced that but I can't tell you about the body of Christ because I'm not doing anything about I want to for what I have meeting in my home is not the new agreement definition of the church so hoping I'll find it praise God that the Lord was able to touch them and many other people to know the truths that we are now enjoying and learning more about but since then many folks have come who are new and so though they may have been blessed by some of the teachings or different things it's very important for us to have a good grasp on the new agreement the life of Jesus and the vessel in which the new wine must be held the life of Jesus must be held which is the church that's why Israel is just a piece of land to us it's not the Holy Land the Holy Land is my body we are the temple of the Holy Spirit the church is the temple of God you won't find us in this church marketing trips to Israel why because it's a piece of land old agreement is festering in the Christian Church especially in the area of money we heard from Matthew chapter 6 you cannot love God and money but the moment money comes in because I have to pay for this building or because you have to pay for my salary because I need it I'll start teaching all kinds of theories on how God needs you God needs your money and so you need to give it to this church and money is why you need to go to Israel because the organizers of the Israel trips get a free trip so they'll tell you how great it is to go to Israel and see where Jesus walked they won't tell you that they get the free trip if you get 15 people to go any travel agent will give me a free trip ways in which money comes in and deceives people because we don't study the new agreement I'm so thankful that I had a teacher who had to study this and learn this from the people who went before him and God showed him things that we've been blessed to sit under his teachings and be blessed by the proof of it is not in a name the proof of it is in our lives we have seen the life that we are experiencing is something worth running after here brothers and sisters who are part of the church that's my primary burden I pray that the Lord will give you a hunger to seek to look through all the practices in your life and look for the new wine but also look for the new wine skins I just want to add a hearty amen to that to what we heard and yes absolutely and also agree my life's been changed and is continuing to be changed it's not just that I'm not a finished product but it's I remember I'll say one thing about that class I remember many things from that class were transformative for me one thing Sandeep said which I'll never forget you know that was what 2010 yeah seven and a half years ago is January February of 2010 and one thing he said which when I heard it I couldn't fat it was simultaneously I could not fathom it I didn't believe it and I had to have it all three things at the same time and it was this he said I used to think about my Christian life as it's like you know airplane it takes off and then you reach a cruising altitude and he said at some point what the Lord did was he showed me I don't know if this I'm gonna botch your illustration but he said he showed me that there's a jetpack in my seat and when I realized that I've never been at the same altitude sense and when I heard that I thought that's impossible and if it's possible I have to have it and I thank God by his grace I can I can say I've experienced that as well it's never been the same and that's our hope for every single person here and you know there's I was just looking at the passage that Sandy was mentioning in Luke 5 in the last verse he says he says no one after drinking old wine wishes for new for he says the old's good enough and I think that's a really important thing for us that's why we have to take the difference between the old wine and the new wine between the old wine skin and the new wine skin so seriously because no one after drinking old wishes for new you want to know the quickest way to kill your thirst for the life of Jesus and for the new wine skin is to be satisfied with the old it's the easiest way to kill your thirst and so it's really important all these things I mean I was just thinking about the examples that Sandy mentioned it's amazing we all scoff at pork none of us think it's wrong to eat pork right but then when you start talking about money wait what do you mean about yeah Christian work being tied you know tithing hang on hang on hang on no we'd scoff if we talked about you know having phylacteries we would all laugh or if we talked about that men have to you know have certain you know hairstyles or women have to have certain we'd say no no that's old covenant but then you start talking about questioning whether the Sabbath is a new covenant practice you go whoa that's precious don't mess with my Sabbath right and there's all of these things you know I'm being light-hearted to make a point there are all of these areas in which all the covenant practices sneak in and unless we are crystal clear we will say just like Jesus warns here the old's good enough and that's the danger and I thank God from the bottom of my heart that he brought me in touch with Sandeep and he brought me in touch with brother Zach my family's forever changed and I can't thank him enough it says one of the new covenant promises in the Old Testament is I will give them shepherds after my own heart and to me there's this sense and in modern Christianity that everybody's a shepherd quick you got converted quick you get into the fields be a shepherd and one thing that I've been transformed by is to say no it's good to be a sheep we don't know how to be shepherds God knows I have no desire to I I'm not an elder in this church because I was seeking some office not at all and the reason I stayed here you know we our family we almost had to move to Texas the reason we stayed here is not because of an opportunity to shepherd not least it was an opportunity to be a sheep to be we said we see a man after God's heart this is this is what I've always longed for and that is that should be our the most precious prized possession you know rejoice not that the demons are subject to you but that your names are recorded in heaven we can rejoice in all of the authority that's what Jesus says in Luke 10 we can rejoice in all of our authority over evil we can rejoice in all this ministry all the service we can do and the word of the Lord Jesus to us is rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven rejoice that you're a sheep and if you have found a shepherd after God's own heart rejoice and if you haven't if you haven't here by all means find somewhere that you can truly say this is a shepherd after God's heart this person is not interested in my money they're not interested in my opinion they're not interested in getting any honor from me nothing nothing less will do because if you said if you if you're willing to accept something less what Jesus says here in Luke 5 39 is true complacency fields good enough I'm happy just carving out one day a week for the Lord six days are mine happy carving out 10% for the Lord 90% mine I'm happy on and on and on and on and on and we don't want that we want we want and as we heard about worship right we know the new covenant definition of worship is in Romans 12 offer your bodies as a living sacrifice this is your spiritual service of worship and we want to be satisfied with nothing nothing less here than that spiritual service I also wanted to emphasize something Cindy mentioned if you want to turn to Ephesians 3 the importance of the church we heard about the new wine being the life of Jesus and the life of Jesus doing the Father's will never doing his own will doing the Father's will because he always saw that the Father loved him the Father was always loving him and we heard about the new wine skin being the church and I love this verse in Ephesians 3 where it brings the two together if I want the life of Jesus Christ the assurance of God's love I must have the church it says here if you look verse 17 Ephesians 3 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and so that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge and I've experienced that I cannot know the length and breadth and height and depth of the love of Christ by myself I have to come to know it with all the Saints and I've seen in my own life I couldn't come into a true knowledge and assurance of the love of the love of Jesus Christ because I wasn't coming into the knowledge with all the Saints and I've experienced as I come into that knowledge with all the Saints I find that you know like Paul says in Romans 8 we overwhelmingly conquer because we're convinced that nothing will separate us from the love of God and I need the church for that to be fulfilled to the extent that God desires for it to be fulfilled and I have to treasure the new wine skin every bit as much as I treasure the new wine of the life of Jesus Christ last thing I'll say as we pray together is in Romans 4 it talks about Abraham Sandeep mentioned Abraham and it mentions how he conducted himself in faith and I wanted to point our attention just as we think about experiencing all that we've heard today and the longing that we have in our hearts for this to be a reality and increasingly so from one degree of glory to the next if you look at Romans 4 verse 19 it says without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old in the deadness of Sarah's womb yet with respect to the promise of God he did not waver but grew strong in faith and that's I want that to be my testimony too without becoming weak in faith he considered his own body he considered all this water that's what we heard this morning that after all that I've done I just have a pot full of water but is that discouraging what we see from the from the example that Paul gives us here the Holy Spirit gives us in Romans 4 is without the crumb becoming weak in faith he considered this pot of water that he had worked so diligently to fill and then upon seeing its water he gave up she got discouraged she said what's the use no she did not waver and unbelieve but grew strong in faith giving glory to God being fully assured that what God had promised he was also to able to perform and that's our testimony too as we see although we all of our obedience all of our taking up our cross all of that we're just filling this pot it's just water that we're not discouraged because it's God's desire to produce the life of Jesus Christ in us and he will do it we are absolutely convinced and we want to continue in that assurance so as we pray together that was my heart for this time of prayer as we pray together today let's pray and let this first be true of us no matter what we've seen our own flesh the deadness of our own womb so to speak let it be true of us without becoming weak in faith they gave glory to God and were fully assured that what he had promised he would perform