Reject Sinful Worldly Desires

They're gonna tempt you, drink this, smoke this, take this, step on it. I don't need to be in the street. I don't need to be in a hotel overlooking the Darling Harbor till the second day.

I don't need to sit in a Ferrari, in a Mercedes-Benz, in a BMW. Who said you need it? You don't. Don't sell Jesus for something that is vanity of all vanities.

What is that car gonna do for you? What is those money in the account gonna do for you if you've lost Christ? The Lord said it. What does it benefit a man if he gains the whole world, but at the end loses himself? What are you gonna benefit? What are you gonna benefit? Nothing. Nothing, my child.

Nothing. They were standing on the sea of glass, meaning trampling the temptation of the world underfoot, just like their master Jesus did. So next time they call you, say, I'm busy.

Why are you busy? I'm going to see the best-looking bishop, bro. I've been called so many, you know, my name has been pronounced so many different ways. His name is Marimari.

They spelled my name M-A-R-Y, they made me Mary. I'm going to see Marimari, Mary, Mary. If you hear Mar, Mari, Mar is an Aramaic word, Syriac.

Mar is a title of respect. Like in the olden days, they used to call people Lord or Sir or Master. It's a kind of a respect.

So it's a title of respect for their priesthood reign, not for the person himself, but Christ who is in this person. So Mar, Mari. And Mari was one of the seventy disciples which the Lord himself chose while he was on earth, because the Lord chose twelve and then seventy himself, he chose them.

Mari was one of the seventy disciples. He goes back all the way at the time of Jesus Christ. And aren't I blessed to have his name, yet I am a piece of wreck.

I'm nothing. So. So they were standing on the sea of glass having harps of God, and I'll finish it off on this, having the harp of God.

Standing on the sea of glass, the world and its temptations with all the persecutions the world bring you when you start standing against the world, the world will start persecuting you. You'll start going through some hardships. So they were going through a lot of difficulties, but in the midst of all those difficulties, they had the harp of God in their hands, meaning even though from outside I am in trouble, from outside I am burning, from outside I am being hated, I am being persecuted, I am being crushed, broken, I am being rejected, downgraded, even all these things are happening from my side, but inside I am singing.

Because God is with me. He made me triumphant. I'm singing.

In the midst of the tribulation, but I have that inner peace. You know, one thing differentiates a believer from a non-believer. One thing.

Love. One thing differentiates someone who believes in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, all glory to his holy name, and from someone who has no faith at all, is love. Why? Because when you come to know Jesus, you get to love him.

And since God is love, therefore the only source of love is God. You cannot obtain, acquire, get love from any other source but God, because the only source to love is God, for God is love. So when you get to know this God, you get to love him.

It is then and then only when you love God, you will be singing, yet you have so much weight on your shoulders, but from inside you're shouting hallelujah. You know, I've said this before and I'll say it again. We pray and ask the Lord Jesus, as Christians, we ask the Lord, please Lord, I've got this problem.

Please fix it for me. I've got this issue happening in my life. Can you please put an end to it? I want to do this.

I want my business to prosper. We ask so many things. But when we're asking for a specific thing, we are waiting from the Lord to give us our wish, our request.

When the Lord doesn't give us our wish, what do we say usually? God doesn't care. God is not hearing me. God has forgotten about me.

He's walked away from me. No. You see, sometimes the Lord will not grant you what you're asking for.

So the Lord is not going to come and change your situation, but he will definitely come to change you, not the situation. Because it is much more beneficial for you and I when God changes us, not the circumstances we're in. Because if the Lord takes me out of a situation, I haven't learned anything.

I haven't learned anything. So I come out of this situation. There is another one waiting for me.

So when I go into another hardship, what am I going to do? I will deny God. But God is going to come and say, okay, I'm going to give you enough wisdom, enough strength, enough courage. I'll elevate you and put you above your circumstances where you come to this, to this wisdom and to this knowledge and strength and power that you step on the situation, even if it's still there, yet inside you've got a harp, the harp of God.

You're singing and saying, the doctor said you're going to die in two weeks. Yippee. I prayed to pass the exam.

I went and I failed miserably. Hallelujah. I'm going to throw in the biggest party for my failure.

Did we do that? No, we cry. We kill ourselves. God, you said, ask and it shall be given to you.

I asked you, I begged you to pass the exam. Why did you make me fail? Your fault. God, I begged you to marry Rachel.

I didn't marry Rachel. Your fault. But maybe Rachel is not the one for you.

What's wrong with Elizabeth? That reminds me of our father Jacob. Don't make the same mistake. See our father Jacob fell in love with Rachel.

So he went to his uncle. He went to his uncle. He said, uncle, I want your daughter Rachel.

The uncle looked. He said, Rachel is too beautiful, man. Not that easy.

He said, I'll do anything. He said, okay, you work for me as a slave for seven years and then we'll talk. He worked for his uncle seven years of slavery.

After the seven years, he said, I've done my job. The uncle said, no, no, another seven years. What? Another.

He said, yeah, she's worth it. So he works another 14 years of slavery to get Rachel. Leah, the father, he turned to Jacob.

He said, why don't you take Leah for free? No slavery. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want Leah.

He said, take her. You can marry her now, mate. Why wait 14 years? He said, no, I want Rachel.

Look at us, idiots. He married Leah right afterwards, but he worked 14 years for Rachel and peanuts for Leah. She must have been brokenhearted for him.

But look, look, look at the things. Look, when we choose things our way, not God's. Look what we do to ourselves.

We enslave ourselves because I chose Rachel. It's not about Rachel, Leah. No, it's about us doing it our way, not God's.

When I chose it my way, I became a slave. And what happened with Rachel, the love of his life? She gave him two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold to the Ishmaelite merchants and went as a slave to Egypt.

And they came and said to their dad, your beloved son, Joseph is dead. He's been eaten by a vicious animal. So Joseph shattered Jacob.

And Benjamin, on the day he was being born, Rachel died, giving birth to Benjamin. Is that what you wanted, Jacob, your way? Look what your way did to you, destroyed you. Joseph gone, Benjamin killed the love of your life.

Benjamin took the love of your life, the one whom you worked 14 years, slavery for her, Leah, for free, brother. She gave him sons who later became the synodical council of the Israelite nation, the Sanhedrin, the 70 elders, Leah. Call Leah, baby, for free.

She gave him sons who would write the law and teach the law of God to the nation. When you do it God's way, totally different. Don't do it your way.

Don't say, unless I marry this girl, I'm not going to go out, I'm not going to eat, I'm just going to get a life, man. I'll get you one, don't worry. They were standing on the sea of glass, even though we have our own hardships, but inside we sing.

We have the hearts of God. When you have God, when you have the love of God, no matter what you're going through, God will make sure from within you're in peace. Now this, the world can't give.

And this is what the Lord said after resurrection, when those apostles were in the upper room, hiding, fearing for their lives. He said, peace be with you. My peace I give you, not like the world gives.

My peace, when I give it to you, no one, no one, no one can take it away from you. I give you peace, and this peace will only come when you let God be the love of your life. God bless you.

Since we need to leave, and I broke the world record today. My dear, my beloved people, just one thing. Tonight we will have to leave the church premises by 8 sharp.

It's only for tonight. We pray we have some good news for next week. The Lord has done something wonderful.

So just for tonight, if everyone leaves by 8 from the church premises, only for tonight. We come to the conclusion of these two verses. What we learn from these two verses to sum it up.

Trust the Lord. Have faith in the Lord. And let the Lord guide you.

Let the Lord show you the way, don't do it your way, let God do it for you. And when you hear His voice, do not hesitate to get up and run. Don't delay.

When the Lord comes and says, come, don't say, Lord, I'm busy, maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow, no guarantee.