King Eternal

17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to [e]God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

When we say Elijah - we refer to him as Prophet
When we say David - worshiper
We we say Apostle Paul - Preacher

But this particular verse that we read , Paul worshiped God.
For this morning devotion, i would like to concentrate on the depth of this verse.

In this worship, Paul talks about the attributes of God.

King Eternal
Immortal
Invisible
God who alone is wise.

For a person who saw the healing from God, when he says God you are my healer. He means it.
When a person who truly experienced forgiveness of God, for him when he says God is my savior, he means it.

Level of Worship is  to the extent of how you know God personally.

King Eternal:  Who was and who is and who is to come.

God is eternal.

Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Psalms 90:2 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/psa.90.2.NKJV

God is not bound by time.

Man is too often bound by time.

Man says I will do this thing this year, I will buy a car this year, I will buy a house thisyear , I will do business this year.

But for God, every aspect is eternal.

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

Ephesians 1:4 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/eph.1.4.NKJV

When God sees things it is eternal.

When God called Abraham, 

He  didn't call him just for taking to Canaan, or have a son , or become a nation, but there is eternity calling.

We often too much affinity for things of the world, and a very negligent attitude regarding eternity.

When we buy a phone, what do we think ?

What are the latest features,

Does it have good camera,

Animation,

Video games.

But rarely do we think of eternal impact.

How many parents think when they buy something for their kids how this is going to impact for eternity.

One preacher said if only our eyes are stamped with eternity of heaven and hell, our lives would be different.

But apostle Paul knows when he says To King Eternal.

This man says whether I eat or drink it is for the glory of God.

How can he say that.

Paul was a great learned man.

He was like today's PhD graduate from stanford or Harvard.

He was very learned man. And he comes from tribe of Benjamin.

But he says in Philippians 3:8 

 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 

Count it as all loss.

This is called vanity.

To have a perspective of eternity , you got to know about vanity of this world.

You might be a doctor or nurse or wealthy person or a beautiful person , go before the face of God and say I lay it all down at the altar.

Knowing Christ, knowing Christ.

Two people have really experienced this vanity.

Jacob 

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are  one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”

Genesis 47:9 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/gen.47.9.NKJV

Abraham

By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 11:9‭-‬10 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/heb.11.9-10.NKJV

_---------+++++++++-----------+

Only wise God

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are  called.  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

I Corinthians 1:26‭-‬28‭, ‬30 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/1co.1.26-30.NKJV

Luke 7:

Wisdom is justified by all her children.

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’  The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’  But wisdom is justified by all her children.”

Luke 7:33‭-‬35 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.7.33-35.NKJV

Feeding inner man

Just as the outer man is hungry and thirsty, even the inner man is also hungry and thirsty.
But rarely do we care about hunger and thirst of the inner man.

when the outer man is hungry, he is fed well. and when fed well the outer  man gets strengthened.
and when the outer man is fed with junk food , the outer man will get health issues.

Inner man gets hungry, thirsty.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

In John 21:15, Lord Jesus said to Peter feed my lambs.
When Peter was asked about whether he loves Jesus more than these, his reply was you know that I love you.

Despite of all his failures, In the depths of his heart , Peter actually loves Jesus.
That is why can boldly tell the Lord that "You know Lord".

The Lord wants this love not only to be contained in Peter, but He wants the lambs to be fed.

This is a pastoral calling for Peter and the message is very clear.

"Feed my lambs". and Its about feeding.

lambs/sheep represent Church of God.
Feeding lambs is not about giving food, water,wine to the Church. This is not about outer man.

This is about inner man.
The Lord knows that the inner man is hungry and thirsty and needs to  be fed.

The Shepherd of the Church has the primary responsibility of feeding the Church with the Spiritual food.

But that happens on Sundays or during bible studies or prayer meetings. and we are all excited when we get that spiritual food in those meetings.

Apart from these  above mentioned meetings, how are we feeding the inner man?

Outside of Church, we are living in a corrupted world.
Many times we feed the inner man with the things of the world.

For example, some may feed  with the news. In this Smart age, media feeds the inner man with news.
porn sites are feeding the inner man of young people with hellish content.

'BREAKING NEWS' - should be the title of every gossip brought forth by the busy bodies in the Church, because they feed the inner man to have the breaking spirit in the Church.

Is our inner man feeding on what the Lord asked Peter to feed the Church with?

Many years even after becoming believer i have fed my inner man with the world.

But I have realized that because of all the junk, my inner man got weakened.

Few things that i learnt to strengthen inner man.

First and foremost thing that  inner should be strengthened is with

Holiness of God.

Only Holy Spirit of God can reveal the Holiness of God to a person.
When we take time and spend time in the presence of God, God reveals His Holiness.

When the inner man is fed with Holiness of God, there we realize our own condition.
Isaiah saw the Holiness of God and he saw what kind of man he was.

Always let there be longing to be filled with holiness of God.
The Lord said, Be Holy for I am Holy.

If we dont know and the Holiness of God how can we be holy.


Opportunities to be exposed to the presence of God. 

Many in this world wait for when the weekend will come so that they have an opportunity to go out and enjoy. To go to beach or to go on vacation ....

and most of the worlds opportunities expose people to feed on worldly things.

We see in Churches, Pastors tries to create events after events so that Church gets more and more opportunities to be exposed to the presence of God and fellowship of the Church.

But that does not stop there, even for ourselves, we need to always create opportunities for ourself to be exposed to the presence of God.

Have meditation time, Have worship time, Have fellowship time, Have sharing time.

Expose yourself to God.

Also for the families,  The head of the house should create more opportunities for the kids to be exposed to the presence of God.

for example, If the family exposes kids to gadgets, video games obviously kids are exposed and even addicted to them.

But if the head of the house creates opportunities for the kids to be exposed to the presence of God, then they will be giving an inheritance of godliness to them.

Simple example could be.

Teach some music to your children and let them play worship songs in your family time.

Create an opportunity to go out and share the gospel to some friends.

Don't yield to your children's desires, but feed their inner man in with proper food.



Meditation:

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things arenoble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Meditation is a gift of God to man to think and ponder upon something.To fix our eyes, and gaze upon.

Meditation - Not many know what meditation is.
many in the Church meditate on bad reports about others, things that are impure, things are not praise worthy.

Paul mentions here , what the inner man should be fed with.

Inner man needs Things that are

Noble
good report
virtue
praise worthy.

Never replace these with unworthy things

1 timothy 4:15
 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Meditation matters,

Paul is asking Timothy to meditate on reading, exhortation, doctrine and the gift that is given to Him.



Feed the Inner man.



Let not the inner man be fed with Junk, but through the Holy Spirit , let the inner man be strengthened by feeding with Holiness of God and things that are noble and praiseworthy.

Amen.

Blessed are the pure in heart

Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.

For they shall see God


If we see all the be attitudes
Blessed are the poor in Spirit, you might say hey that s what I am.
Blessed are the merciful, you might say By Gods grace i am that person.
Blessed are the peacemakers, you might say By Gods grace, i am peace maker.

But when it comes to Blessed are the pure in heart.
who can say.. Hey that is me.

Who in this world can say I am pure in heart.

you might say this is impossible.

Even apostle Paul says in Romans 7 : 18 - 24 (NLT)

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[d] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[e] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Purity in heart 

if this is impossible why would Jesus say? 
The Lord says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

the outcome of this blessing is not a normal thing.

They shall see God.
what do you mean by they shall see God.

When Moses asks God "Show me your Glory."
Exodus 33:18-23  verse 20
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

The Word of God says no man may see Gods face and live.
The bible says  even the holy angels cover their faces from God.

But the Lord says pure in heart can see Gods face. 

What does this mean? 

Literally, in heaven we see God. 

1 John 3:2-3
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.


look at the portion, We shall see Him. When the Lord is revealed, we shall see Him.

and that is why verse 3 says, everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.  Seeing God and Purity are connected. and you cannot separate them.

You want to see God, you need to have purity.  


Seeing God , while we live in this world is seeing the move of God.

John 3:8 says, the Wind blows,  you don't see the wind, but you feel it.you can hear the sound.

if you are  pure in heart , you can see the move of God and you can hear the direction and voice of God in your life.


John 3:8 
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Come back to Pure in heart.

heart is deceitful above all things

Jeremiah 17:9,10

9 “The heart is deceitful above all things,
And [d]desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the [e]mind,

Do not say your friends are deceiving you, or your neighbors, or your fellow brothers are deceiving you. The heart is deceitful above all things.

Whenever you end up in a situation and feel that you got deceived say my heart deceived me.
Because even before people can deceive you, your heart can deceive you.

its might be because your heart might be deceiving you for more money, you ended up in a trap.


The heart is desperately wicked.
Wicked is something, but desperately wicked goes at a bigger level.


Now we are going to deal with this Purity in heart.


Pure in heart.

In those days in Israel, the major attention was given to outward religious purity. 


Mark 7:2
2 Now [a]when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, [b]they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands [c]in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.

one time when Jesus disciples are eating food without washing their hands, the pharisees asked why is your disciples eating food with washing of hands and they are not holding the tradition of elders.
washing of cups, washing of couches, they was everything outside, except where it really matters. that is in our heart.

Many times we do this, we appear to be nice outside, Praise the Lord, Kemcho, and in side there will be rotten stuff.

in which realm is this pulpit stand made? 
It gets conceived in the makers heart first, and then in physical  realm he makes  it.

So, the Lord goes deep where it matters: you got settle things inside first.

Look at what Jesus says In Matthew 5


Matthew 5:21-22
21 “You have heard that it was said to those [d]of old,‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you thatwhoever is angry with his brother [e]without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’[f] shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, [g]‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of [h]hell fire. 

Its not about going and doing the murder,  but the Lord goes deep inside and say lets go to the root of the issue and say angry without a cause.
Some people get angry without a cause.

Somme people anger will be ready and displayed at any time.Even if you are good also, they get anger.

The heart is full of anger and for angry people cause is not required.
in anger, you may say fool - shall be in danger of judgement.

How do you purify the heart here -  Reconciliation.

 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 

I tell you, i work in a department called Reconciliation of cash.
Everyday morning the whole department works just for reconciliation of the cash.

Whether the ledger and statements match or not, if they don't match they call up the brokers and say  hey why is this not matching and lets agree upon one thing and let this get corrected and by the end of the day it gets reconciled 
and without reconciling the millions of dollars of cash, they cannot leave the office for the day.

Purity in heart starts with Reconciliation.

I don't know what you have with other brother or sister in the Church.
Sure there will be issues 
Today in the fellowship hall, even before the food goes into your mouth,go to that brother, go to that sister with whom you really don't have whole hearted fellowship, go there and Reconcile.
Hold their hands and tell them that God spoke to me, and I am truly with you.

1 peter 1:22
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

Do you want to see God?


Adultery begin in heart

27 “You have heard that it was said [i]to those of old,‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

Just like the anger begins in heart, the adultery also begin in heart.
in those days, it was said you shall not commit adultery.
but the Lord goes into the deep and into the root and say you need to pluck out the eye or cut off the hand. 

The second point for purity in heart : Cut off, pluck off the things that is bringing impurity in life.

you know whats bringing garbage into your heart.

Pluck it off. Cut off.
Its not easy.


b)  heart is place where you love and hate. 

That is why Psalmist says Psalm 119:112

112 

I  have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes
Forever, to the very end.


He inclines , he bends, he mends it, because naturally it is not in correct position.
He needs to incline it.. that is why Paul says i want to do good, but i don't do it. The default position for the heart is deceit, desperately wicked. The Psalmist says I have inclined it .
There is an effort involved.
The effort is not about stopping the outward acts. ( not that i want to do).
Your effort is to incline your heart to Perform Gods statutes.
Your dark areas in your heart will be gone only when the Light of God is shine in your heart.




I hate the [t]double-minded -  Hate the Double minded.

few days i will feel very godly, i will be in prayer, then i fall into these temptations.




Esau want the food and also the benefits that come from birthright.


Hate the double minded.

I love the gossip about others family lives, and about their kids,  but the effect that it creates in me about the relation ship with others i hate it.

Hate the swinging between God and World. 

Hate the double minded. Chose the blessing.

Does that mean you never fall? No, but you have made a decision to Love God.
Love the commandment of God.

The Bible talks about many Godly men and women in New testament.

When mentioned about old testament saints, the new testament does not mention about their sins.
Did David sin, Samson?
But New testament talks about their faith and not about their sins.

But the new testament talks about sins of few people

Sin of Esau -Food
Sin of Cain - Ego and Pride and anger
Sin of Balaam -Riches

Why
Everybody sins, but whats the difference.
In anger , a person scolds and sins
In moment of lust, looks at a women and sins.

But there comes situations in our lives where we have to choose between a blessing (spiritual) and worldly thing.

That will turn out to be a critical moment.

For example
Let's see Cain.
The Lord gave an opportunity to Cain even after his offering was rejected.
So now he has to choose what he has to do.
He could have said sorry Lord I messed it up with my offering. Next time I will bring the best of offering.

But instead he chose to vent out his anger at his brother and killed him.

When you are confronted with a choice of a blessing and worldly thing and if you choose to reject the Blessing that comes from God then Bible calls such person as evil person.

Jude says woe to them for they gone in the way of Cain.

not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
I John 3:12 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/1jn.3.12.NKJV

So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
Genesis 4:6‭-‬7 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/gen.4.6-7.NKJV

Esau:

The below is how Esau rejected his Blessing.

Blessing of God against a material momentary thing.

In life you will always come across these options.

What you choose matters.

Can you see this Esau rejected God's blessing and after wards when he wanted to inherit he was rejected.
There was no place for repentance even though he deligently sought with tears.
This is pretty serious.

lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
Hebrews 12:16‭-‬17 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/heb.12.16-17.NKJV

Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Genesis 25:29‭-‬34 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/gen.25.29-34.NKJV

Choosing is a blessing is important.

Jesus eats with sinners, tax collectors,
Jesus holiness infects people around Him.

Gentle quiet Spirit

Psalm 149

Singing :
Medically what is involved.


New song:

we don't eat old food.

1)  Fresh leading of the Holy Spirit.

No longer slaves perspective.
The Bible says in Lamentations , His mercies are new every morning.
His mercies are new every morning .
For every day, and for every situation, there is new mercy from God.

Every act of God is new.
What God has done for crossing of Red is new at that time. and Moses and Miriam had new songs at that time.

What God has done for overthrowing Jericho as different was new mercy and there was new song.

-- King David  has written wonderful psalms and new psalms for every situation the he faced and how God delivered him.

---you don't get a new song in the busyness of your daily life. But you get a new song when you separate time for God, and get in tune with God.


New song is not about having a talent to write a new song. If so, the bible would say sing a new song all the talented people.

New song is about a fresh response to a fresh mercy of God in your life.


2) New generation


3)  New Tune and  New Lyric





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Rejoice in Maker
                  King
                  Glory

Luke 10:
20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Rejoice that your souls are saved.

Come prepared for worship to give your best. With singing, dancing, and let yourself to worship God.

Why we should come prepared for worship, because The Lord takes Pleasure in His people.

V - 5,6
Let us get rid of all complaining, murmuring, upset,egos,
and let the high praises of God be filled in your mouth.

High Praises in mouth
Two edged Sword in hand.

John 1: 15-23

V15

John the Baptist witness always directed people to Christ.

Many times we hear people testimonies directing about themselves.

Our testimony is always about Jesus Christ and not about our self.

V16-18

We can know God only through Jesus Christ.

Grace and Truth came from Jesus Christ.

V19-23

When John the Baptist was asked who He was,
He didn't boast about Himself, but He gave exactly who He was and for what purpose He was sent for.
He was sent to make Staright the way of the Lord.

Each one of us has to know what our purpose is in life.
That we can know only by spending time in Word, Prayer.

John 1: 8-14

Witness
V8:
John witnessed to the world about the Light.

We are called to witness to the world about Jesus Christ.

Light.
V9 Jesus is the true Light for every man.

In Matthew 5:19,
Lord Jesus says, "you are the light of the world"

Jesus is Light of the world and He made us  Light of the world.

Do we shine as Light in this dark world?

V10-13
He came to the World He created but the World did not recognize Him.

If we are involved too much in the world we will not recognize nor hear Jesus Christ.

But if we pray and read His Word  and worship Him , we will recognize and accept Him.
Whoever receive Him , He gave authority to become Children of God.

V14

Jesus is full of Grace and Truth.

Grace gives favor for those who believe.
Truth corrects us and sets us free .

John 1 : 1 - 7

Beginning

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1 NKJV

Compare with Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 NKJV

Study:

Beginning was Jesus Christ, Son of God.
He was with God. And He was God.
In the beginning Heavens and Earth created by Him.

Beginning should  always be God.

How it applies to our lives.

Anything we think, speak , do , the beginning should be God.

Your waking up should begin with prayer to God.
Your reading - The beginning should be Word of God.
Your talking - The beginning should be about God.
----------------------

Everything was made through Jesus Christ.

Read Colossians 1:15‭-‬18 NKJV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Study.
Everything was made through Jesus Christ.
This should create a heart of devotion for Jesus

Life and Light

In Jesus , there is Life.
Only when there is Life, you can be Light to others.
If you don't have life you cannot be light.