Live Online Church | You Must Be Born Again | John 3 | 25/04/2021 (Sunday Worship Service)

[Music] you give life you are love you bring light to the darkest you give hope you restore every heart that is broken [Music] so we're [Music] me [Music] you give life you are love you dream [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] we [Music] [Music] and all the earth will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones will sing right are you though the earth will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones will sing grace [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] right [Music] right [Music] do you feel the world is broken with you do you feel the shadows but do you know that all the talk won't stop the light from breaking through do you wish [Music] is [Music] is [Music] it good that we remind ourselves [Music] [Laughter] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] our messiah [Music] does [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] good morning everyone and welcome to the online service of the international churches of christ in the uk and ireland my name is andrew aguerbach and this is my wonderful wife rhoda we're going to be kicking off with some worship to start with so please do feel free to join us in our worship and likewise please do engage with us online please like comment and subscribe let's dive into the worship [Music] i said i wasn't gonna talk about it but i could keep it to myself you wanna i started talking [Music] i could keep it to myself [Music] [Music] [Music] me [Music] myself gonna keep it to myself i started walking i started talking [Music] you want to be there oh [Music] oh [Music] us [Music] rise among us [Music] they're right [Music] rise among us [Applause] [Music] come on let it rise [Applause] [Music] come on [Music] rise among us [Applause] [Music] [Music] is rise among us [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] their eyes rise among us let the glory of the lord rise among us let the praises of our king rise [Music] us [Music] is [Music] sing it again [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hmm [Music] is for me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] when from i [Music] is [Music] is for me [Music] i know welcome again to our online service of the international church of christ in the uk and ireland i'm andrew and this is rhoda we're in harrowing northwest london it's wonderful to be with you together on a beautiful spring day i know most of us have been struggling through various aspects of the constraints of lockdown over the last 12 months or so and it's fantastic to have a beautiful weather uh the beginnings of spring it's wonderful also to be experiencing some of the new freedoms as uh progressively the different parts of the uk and ireland come out of the lockdown restrictions and it's been wonderful for us to have had friends and neighbours round here in our back garden our patio for uh social events and meals in uh limited numbers over the last couple of weeks and i hope that all continues well across the various parts of the uk that brings us to the theme of our service today which is entitled you must be born again when i first visited the church 35 years ago i had no idea what that meant it actually comes from a passage in john chapter 3 where jesus is explaining to one of his followers what it means to really be changed from the inside i know as a student back then i never understood the depth of change that jesus was asking of me either likewise for me it was really enlightening to understand that being born again is not just a religious concept that is a deep transformational internal spiritual change that drives a completely different perspective about everything that's important in life and i'm so grateful that uh by engaging in the bible and by being part of this community uh god was able to help uh restore our relationship and also you know guide us through marriage for kids and so many blessings that we've experienced since then and i hope that as we participate in the service together we'll all be able to really get to grips with what it means to be transformed by the power of jesus message as we focus on what it means to be born again in a few minutes we're going to be led in thought before we take communion together by the melons from the belfast church looking forward to that and then it's going to be very exciting to have two speakers from our sister church in bangalore in india uh sighs philip and roger matthew uh preach on from john chapter three on this this subject of being you must be born again before that we're going to be led in prayer by robert and kasia from the cardiff church good morning everyone please bow your head with me as we begin to pray dear lord father in heaven thank you that we have the privilege and opportunity to know a god like you who desires to have an intimate and personal relationship with each and every one of us to show us kindness and unconditional love thank you that you do not treat us how our sins deserve but you are patient with us making every effort to help us to come to repentance thank you that jesus left heaven to pay the price for our sins so that we that we could never pay for ourselves so that we may have the opportunity to be reconciled to you please forgive us for times we have abused the patience you have shown us and gone our own ways please help us to honor the sacrifice that jesus made on our behalf by the way that we live in response to his death on the cross we pray that as the lockdown restrictions are being reduced here in the uk that we would use the opportunity to share and proclaim to those around us the amazing things you are doing both in our lives and in the lives of those around us that despite the injustices the fears the uncertainty happening around us that you are still in control and you are working to see your big plan that all people may be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth help us to continue to grow in being like-minded in christ and his gospel so we would have a genuine concern for others being a part of your kingdom and make every effort to be a part of your kingdom we commit today's service into your hands we pray for those speaking today that they will convey the message you desire for each and every one of us to hear that i will speak to each of our hearts individually that we may make changes to better reflect the likeness of your son jesus help this message to reach much further than we can imagine both here in the uk and for those listening abroad we thank you we love you we pray other things for your son jesus christ name amen let us pray almighty father thank you for the gift of another day you are worthy of all praise you are the king of kings and the lord of lords thank you for your holiness and thank you for choosing to be our god thank you for choosing to come to this earth so that we can have a true relationship with you thank you for the gift of your holy spirit father god that strengthens us when we are weak and gives us the power we need to love those around us we are unworthy of the great love you lavish upon us but god made that strengthen the way we live and transform the way we make decisions father god thank you that you are with us when we are suffering god i definitely want to bring before you or everybody who's in pain father god and who's mourning may you be their strength rock and redeem our lord i pray that as we congregate together virtually lord i pray that we are able to honor and worship you i pray that we'll each be able to take something away from the service lord and put it to practice in our everyday lives may it further ignite our zeal and passion for your mission lord and the good works that you have for us to accomplish thank you for choosing to love us despite our shortcomings we love you so much and i pray that our hearts will continually be aligned with your word i pray that your holy spirit will continue to transform the way we live we love you and see your son's name i pray amen [Music] only in the cross can i be set free only by your body given for me only in the blood falling from your hands only in the cross we begin again we take this bread as we gather here we remember you we take this cup and commit our souls the covenant [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] we will see for me [Music] becoming [Music] forever you will [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] good morning church um we are jim and jackie mullen we're from the belfast church and we are honored to be able to share our thoughts with you for communion today communion is a time we take as a church every week to remember the sacrifice that jesus made on the cross for our sins that we take bread and wine or juice to represent the body that he gave up for us and the blood that frees us from our sins and when i think about the cross and i think about the work that jesus did that's one of the first things that comes to my mind is the freedom that i have and uh the freedom you know there's something just so right about freedom freedom is uh is right we should live free many people have died so that we can live free i know a lot of us are feeling the effects of cover 19 taking away our freedom and excited about things opening back up i know i'm excited about the the hairdressers and the barber shops just opening on friday i can't wait to get there but you know freedom's not always easy to manage and when i read the scriptures here i'm in galatians chapter 5. starting in verse 1 it says this is paul talking he says it is for freedom that christ has set us free stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery and you know it just reminds me of again just how easy it is to lose the freedom that we have and he's talking there about religious freedom the freedom that we have in christ we don't have to be tied down to a lot of different things you may have seen that there's there's a video that's going around the internet right now um it's about a sheep um he's a there's a long trench that's dug and put some pipe in or something and there's a sheep that's caught down pretty deep into this trench and there's a young boy uh it's probably nine ten eleven years old and he's pulling this sheep out of this trench it's fantastic and the shrimp the sheep he gets free and and he's all excited he runs a few steps and he's like it's a flying leap right back into the trench if you haven't seen it check it out it's hilarious wait till after service but it is funny um but i i look at that and again a lot of people have related to that different um different things but i look at that spiritually and say that right there that that could be me and it has been me many times i'll share about that a little bit later um you know but jesus frees us from our sins when we come to him he he wipes the slate clean he gives us a new normal you know again we're all looking forward to getting back to normal and jesus gives us that new normal but that's when we come to him and i want my wife to share right now just a little bit about when she first came to christ and received a new normal yeah thanks jim um yeah as jim said there my new normal started when i was 24 and started studying the bible um i grew up in church and i was familiar with many scriptures but it wasn't until i sat down with a group of disciples and really started reading into the scriptures that i i felt like i had a sense of a deeper sense of understanding of uh the freedom that god wanted to give me um through the through his word and through a relationship with him and i felt like um i always uh growing up and and in my teenage and young adult life i was trying to please other people or live up to other people's expectations of what they thought or who they thought i should be or how i should act and um that that made me be a different person in different groups of people and um when i became a christian i realized that god wants me to be to live up to his expectation that that's the standard of um of how i should live my life and as a young disciple as a scripture in psalm 55 um it talks about oh if i had the wings of a dove i would fly away and be at rest and that is what i was yearning for was to to be at rest to fly away and i felt like the only way to do that was just me and god not with people um but as i grew my faith and as i uh grew in my understanding of the scriptures i realized that god gives us that freedom every day and um i i'm so happy with that with even getting to the point where i understood that the person that i am at home the person that i am when i'm by myself with my family at work with friends is the same person um every time and and it's that freedom to be um just that one person and for that person for me to want to live with in god's standards to live for him and and understand that he's with me every day and i don't live a perfect life and i definitely have struggles and i can worry and feel anxious but every day i know that god's with me and god helps me through those things and because of his sacrifice the sacrifice of jesus um his death and resurrection that i can live um that freely in in my life today so i'm grateful amen thank you baby yeah as jackie said you know there's none of us that are perfect and and we start out on this path you know i've been lit live in this path for longer than i wasn't um you know i've been walking with christ and it's it's imperfect again there's been a lot of trenches that i've jumped right back into and um but there is growth and and we're constantly showered by god's grace and given new hope i'll just read on here in galatians 5 13 it says you my brothers and sisters were called to be free do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh rather serve one another humbly in love for the entire law is fulfilled and keeping this one command love your neighbor as yourself if you bite and devour each other watch out or you will be destroyed by each other so i say walk in the spirit you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for they the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh they are in conflict with each other so that you do not do whatever you want but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law and like jackie said a lot of us have come myself included with a lot of religious baggage a lot of misunderstanding uh you know i was enslaved by my sin i was enslaved by the words enslaved by just a gross misunderstanding of what scripture was all about and i can easily go back there i can easily turn religious at times and um you know that's exactly what jesus doesn't want me to do and but only by his strength only by his power only by the power of his resurrection the holy spirit living in me can i do these things loving others as i love myself my goodness um walking in the spirit i mean there's a curriculum for me for the rest of my life right there for all of us it's learning how to do those things better none of us arrive and so as we take the bread and the wine uh let us just reflect and be grateful for god uh rescuing us for giving us freedom freedom in christ i thought i'll just say a prayer um heavenly father god thank you so much lord for the love that you showed us in so many different ways uh everyone listening to this right now is just so blessed because we have you we have your spirit that if it's not living in this god it is knocking hard at the door and i just pray lord that you continue uh to keep us in your spirit continue to rescue us father we need your help i i know i need you father i need your love thank you for the bread that represents jesus's body that he willingly gave up showing us that it's not about this life it's not about this earth uh it's not about these bodies this anything father it's just about about you and the blood that forgives us of all wrongdoing that gives us that that knowledge and that peace god that surpasses all understanding god i thank you and i praise you in your son's precious and holy name amen low in [Music] jesus [Music] jesus my lord [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] jesus my lord [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] what does it take to have a radical life life-changing transformation when previously you've been powerless to change my name is bruce miller and i work for a charity called hope worldwide that was started by in partners with the international churches of christ i work for the division called odat which is devoted to helping men caught in substance misuse primarily to drugs and alcohol to achieve radical life-changing abstinent recovery in john chapter 8 in verse 13 jesus says i am the light of the world whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life you know jesus didn't claim to be a light he said he was the light you know that to follow him to imitate him to obey him will lead to this incredible security of never walking in darkness not lost not confused not hopeless and that the light we have will not just be any light but the light of life true life eternal life in our hope worldwide we believe in the message of jesus and we do our best to live it out our core values are compassion integrity and collaboration and we believe that putting his message into practice is the power to bring about change in the following short video i hope you'll catch a flavor of the work that we do helping men out of darkness the darkness of addiction and into the light of abstinence recovery [Music] [Applause] [Music] i hope you enjoyed that short video if you already donate to us thank you for your donations but if you don't please consider donating at the link below thank you sending on the promises of eternal wages let his graces ring glory in the highest i will shout and sing standing on the promises of god standing on the promises standing on the promises standing on the promises of god my savior standing on the promises standing on the promises i'm standing on the promises of god standing on the promises that cannot fail when the holly storms of doubt and fear sail by the living word of god i shall prevail standing on the promises of god sending and praising standing on the places standing on the promises of god my savior i'm sending on the promises of god sending on the promises of christ the lord bound to him eternally by the strong core overcoming daily with a spirit sword standing on the promises of god stand up standing on the promises of god my savior standing in the promises i'm standing on the promises of god on the promises i cannot fall listening every moment to the spirit's call resting in my savior as my all in all standing on the promises of god standing in standing on the promises standing on the promises of god my [Music] savior i'm standing on the promises of god [Music] morning church hope you guys are enjoying the service so far um it's been so great to be able to get together and worship god and uh sharing the communion together what a what a privilege and what a joy it is to do that uh we're gonna have a great treat in a moment with the sermon but uh before we even start i wanted to you know share a bittersweet announcement and that is uh one of our very own a true uh london hero um passed away this this this this past week and uh his name is raj perumal most of you don't know him but raj was converted in 1986 in south london and as a young christian he moved to the west to train to go on the bangalore mission team he's very talented man as a youth you know he represented his country of sri lanka in international basketball tournaments and was sent by his parents here to the uk to study and to prosper and you know fulfill the immigrant's dream but uh having become a christian his heart was set on fire by the mission of jesus and uh he went back with us to india to preach the word and he really embraced his mission field married a uh a disciple who was converted in bangalore um and they have you know two grown-up children who are uh both disciples and uh uh since 2006 uh raj has uh struggled with uh um various types of heart disease um at one point his one of his legs had to be amputated and um but you know he's always stayed joyful and a few days ago in this past week he died of a of a heart attack um so many disciples shared this funeral about how even in the days um leading up to his his death raj phoned them and encouraged them and he remained strong and faithful to the end um he has fought the good fight he has finished the race he has kept the faith he was born in sri lanka he was baptized in the uk and he died in his chosen mission field in india but he is not dead he is more alive than he ever was while he was on this earth and i commend him to you um he is a london hero and one of our very own well we have a we have a treat you know kind of uh on that note um two of the evangelists from the church in bangalore will be doing our sermon today roger matthew and his wife susan were both baptized in the church in chicago in the usa they are of indian origin and joined the early missionary efforts in india and have remained there shaitis philip and his wife bina were baptized uh in in in the churches in india and the south of india and uh uh he also serves as an evangelist and his wife is a women's ministry leader in the bangalore church and they're going to be preaching to us from john chapter 3 with the title you must be born again if you're visiting with us today a big welcome to you thank you so much for joining if you're a disciple uh please remember especially if you're from london that on the first sunday in june uh we will be collecting our special missions contribution and the first 50 000 pounds of that goes to the south asian missions fund so as part of their sermon today uh roger and shiges are also going to be letting us know about the great things that are happening in india let's open our hearts let's open our bibles let's open our minds and let's get ready to receive and to obey the word of god greetings from india my name is roger matthew and i along with my wife susan serve as part of the staff here in the bangalore church and i am chaitis philip and my wife is bina we both are also serving along with rajan and susan serving in the church in bangalore stuff you know about shaitis and i are honored to be able to share the word with you today as well as sharing about the amazing ways that god is working here in india the church here in bangalore is indebted to the church in london because in many ways without you we would not even exist we all know about the bengalonis the bold men and women sent by the london church in 1988 to plant the church here in bangalore from that radical group of 14 we are now a church of over 1400 and have spread all over india and south asia with 63 churches and 7 300 disciples we want to thank you for your continual support throughout the last three decades and are so delighted as we are halfway through the fourth decade of our partnership colossians chapter 1 verse 3 onward says we always thank god the father of our lord jesus christ when we pray for you because we have heard of your faith in christ jesus and of the love you have for all god's people the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you in the same way the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world as you count down towards your special missions contribution we want you to know that because of your giving the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world this is especially true as we go through the crisis that the whole world is in the midst of at this moment more than ever the hope of eternity that the gospel holds out needs to be proclaimed and made known to as many as possible and although opposition and obstacles from multiple fronts in our country seem to be ever increasing we are promised that even the gates of hades will not overcome the door that has been opened through the cross and the resurrection of our lord you know our title for our talk today is you must be born again i'd like to go ahead and read from john chapter 3 verses 1 onwards now there was a pharisee a man named nicodemus who was a member of the jewish ruling council he came to jesus at night and said rabbi we know that you are a teacher who has come from god for no one could perform the signs that you are doing if god were not with him jesus replied very truly i tell you no one can see the kingdom of god unless they are born again how can someone be born again when they are old nicodemus asked surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born jesus answered very truly i tell you no one can enter the kingdom of god unless they are born of water and the spirit flesh gives birth to flesh but the spirit gives birth to spirit you should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again the wind blows wherever it pleases you hear it sound but you cannot tell where it comes or where it is going so it is with everyone born of the spirit how can this be nicodemus ass you are israel's teacher said jesus and you do not understand these things very truly i tell you we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen but still you people do not accept our testimony i have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe how then will you believe if i speak of heavenly things no one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from him the son of man just as moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness so the son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him for god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life this is the passage from which we get the very popular expression born again christian this is this expression has taken on varying meanings and approaches in the religious world from being describing someone of a conservative christian views to a bible-thumping fundamentalist as we read this account of jesus and nicodemus what is simply startling is who jesus is talking to when he lays out the need to be born again to first of all see the kingdom let alone enter the kingdom of god my first point is new birth is for everyone you know nicodemus was a religious leader a part of the ruling elite with influence and wealth he was not some jew who was a rebel or a dissenter of the community yet he displays great respect and are hard to learn as he risked his reputation meeting jesus late into the night he had seen the signs perhaps hearing about the miraculous turning of water into wine at the wedding in canada and also the throwing out of the money changers and those selling goods in the temple courts that we read about in john 2. he also calls this young unknown teacher rabbi a title of great respect perhaps this is why jesus gets right to the point and tells someone like nicodemus no one can enter the kingdom of god unless he is born again clearly being born again cannot mean that you need more morality or religion in your life nicodemus had all the religion and morality a person could possibly have but jesus tells him you must be born again to enter the kingdom jesus did not say you are almost there nicodemus or there's just a few more things that you need to get right but that you must be born again nothing that you have done counts the good news is no matter how good you are or right you are you must be born again and no matter how messed up you are or in sin you are you must be born again no one can enter the kingdom of god unless they are born again there's no salvation without new birth and so everyone must be born again a second point is that new burke is from above upon hearing that he needed to be born again the stunned religious leader asked jesus how can someone be born when they are old surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born in the popular new series on the life of jesus called the chosen the character of nicodemus is powerfully portrayed as an influential religious leader who is perplexed and struggles to understand with humility and openness who jesus is and what the law and the commands that he devoutly held to really mean in one of the episodes of the series jesus at the close of this very conversation asked nicodemus to literally come follow me we see in nicodemus's reaction how the idea shocks it a man of his age with a family and a place in the sanhedrin should he leave it all behind to walk behind jesus from village to village proclaiming truths about a kingdom that was so different than any he had ever imagined about a rebirth that he struggled to understand jesus gave nicodemus the date the time and the place to meet and we watch as he wrestles with this calling nicodemus had a family he had a daughter who had just given birth to a new grandson whom he had not met he had a wife who had become used to the stable secure and comfortable life that his position offered the idea of uprooting all of these good things without knowing what the change would actually look like was an impossible hurdle for him to jump nicodemus as hard as he might have tried couldn't jump over it and as he hides and watches the disciples gather in he is in anguish as christ and his disciples walk away on mission nicodemus is not able to get his mind around this new teaching that he has come across he had been trapped in a system that was about self-preservation and not the will of god jesus said flesh gives birth to flesh but the spirit gives birth to spirit you should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again the wind blows wherever it pleases you hear it sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going so it is with everyone born of the spirit you know human effort and desire can never bring about a new birth it is only the holy spirit that can bring about this new birth god is the miracle worker and not us we tell others about jesus that god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life and we wait and watch as the kingdom fills up and the spirit who created the universe creates new life and hearts that are dead in darkness as we continue our sermon shaijus will be sharing some of the many stories of the way new life was created in the hearts of those who came to hear the gospel here in india but before that i wanted to share about how this new birth is not just something that we experience at the beginning of our spiritual journey but it is in fact something that sustains us through all that we will face in this journey with god i recently faced a very difficult time when i lost my mother due to illness the last few months of my mother's life were not easy she had a heart condition that made it very difficult and you know made her weak and frail i feel terrible that i was not there for her to give her the comfort and support comfort and support that i believe could have made a difference and perhaps kept her alive i have been questioning myself if i did what god wanted me to do my mother was an amazing woman at her funeral there were hundreds of people who shared about the impact that she had in their lives her death has been the most difficult thing that i have faced in my life through this time i have had to learn to see life and god in ways that i have never before it has been humbling to see that no matter how much you strive to do what is right life does not go the way that you hope or think that it should i have had to learn all over again that god is the only one that you could hold on to who will never leave you and only he can heal my broken heart psalm 34 18 has been a great help it says the lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit i know i will never have my mother back and i cherish the memories and the lessons that she taught me but god knows the pain and he is always there and will heal me even though i cannot see it now he will lead me to a better place timothy summerlin in his book the grief journey pointed out some had lost or seriously damaged their faith because of unresolved grief by contrast our grief journey may become a time to intimately draw near to god in ways we never expected explored or experienced this time shaitis will continue our lesson and share about how this new birth brings transformation thank you roger for the wonderful message as we continue i want to tell you that we have been consistently praying for all of you and all the people in uk and the entire europe as we were watching how terribly the pandemic is attacking that part of the world as your situation is getting better now the situation here is getting worse in india so please pray for us also dear brothers and sisters i also want to thank the churches in uk especially the london church for your generous support to the indian churches especially during this pandemic even though all of you had your own struggles you have generously helped our brothers and sisters here so many of our families could have food and medicines because of your generosity we are continually praying that god will bless you all for all that mohan and helen are amazing heroes of faith i had a chance to serve with them in daily i and my family are super grateful to them for one more reason while i was dying due to hepatitis they visited me while i was in an unconscious state in the icu for two weeks mohan was with his usual humor started talking to me as if i was completely normal and amazingly after some time i started responding and that is how i got back my life as we are learning about being born again and born of the spirit i just want to share what happens when one is born of the spirit our last point is the new birth brings transformation by nature even though we have talents and abilities we are still so limited our impact on this world is also so limited most of the time we have only influenced the world to get worse but when we are born of the spirit we have the holy spirit living in us and the transformation god brings upon us is amazing let us read john chapter 14 verse 1 very truly i tell you whoever believes in me will do the works i have been doing and they will do even greater things than these because i am going to the father what a wonderful promise is that this is not based on our talents or education a born-again christian puts us or her faith in jesus and they will do what jesus has been doing and even greater i grew up in a devout catholic family i was growing up with my limited understanding of god to grow up and to live a pure life and serve god but everything turned around when i was sexually abused by a neighbor my life took a serious downward turn through that i became extremely insecure and fearful i was afraid to talk to anyone and always wanted to be alone i got into more and more sexual sins and was filled with hatred to the point i wanted to kill someone who had hurt my sister even though i was regularly confessing my sins to the priest there was no progress in life i was getting worse but i kept praying to god to send someone who can teach me to come to the right path and to live a godly life for a long time there was no answer but then i even thought of ending my life and that is when i was invited to the church by a stranger what he spoke to me on that day struck me he said i want to invite you to a church where we will teach you the bible and it will change your life that's what i was praying for the very next day i came eagerly to the church and amazingly that very first day the brothers from the church started teaching me the bible they shared openly about their struggles and also how god helped them to overcome them and how they are living a transformed life that gave me a lot of hope and i wanted god to transform me like what god has done with them soon i got baptized and born again from being such an insecure person who never used to talk to anyone today god has blessed me to be confident enough to preach to hundreds of people isn't that god so amazing as we read the promise of jesus about how anyone who puts their faith in jesus will do what jesus has done we have a brother in our ministry by name samuel out of poverty in his village he moved to bangalore to find a job initially he used to sleep in a park and search for jobs and also on one sunday he started to search for a church to attend he kept on walking for so many kilometers and finally he saw a banner that our church had placed in front of a hall where we were meeting so he walked in and soon after the service brothers started teaching him the bible and soon he was born again god blessed him to start a business and it started flourishing and he kept on bringing his friends and relatives from his village and gave them job in his business and also brought all of them to church and many of them were born again then he insisted upon us to visit his village and pleaded with us to start a church there so we went there and found that there are so many people who were genuinely eager to follow christ they were like sheep without shepherd even though we didn't have any plan to start a church in that place we felt like it is god's spirit who is compelling us to make a plan and with much prayer and fasting we could put together a team and started the church eight disciples went there and in one month they helped another eight people to be saved that place is called beader it is a small town and most disciples stay in villages around the town and most of them are very poor but in 2020 during the pandemic at the lockdown each family got their family members and relatives to join together in their homes to watch sunday services and midweek meetings on youtube or zoom this helped many of them to become eager to know jesus and so they had 26 souls saved under the lockdown what a miracle today we have 122 disciples there now it all started from that one poor man running to jesus and see what god has done through that one man hundreds of lives are being transformed brothers and sisters god has a plan to use you also very powerful to change this world one soul at a time india has hundreds of languages and sometimes it is considered as a challenge to reach out to new places but a small team of people from chennai who did not know hindi went to a place called indore where most people spoke only they kept crying out to god to use them powerfully to glorify god amazingly god help them to learn a few words in hindi to communicate and they kept on reaching out to people and amazingly that many many people started coming and some of them started becoming disciples one of the brothers by name sukram from nepal also joined the mission for a few weeks he was trained in school of mission in bangalore and one day he reached out to two young guys in indo of them has an amazing story when he was just 15 years old he had joined a right-wing hindu fanatic group he got trained for six years to unite hindus and fight against islam and christianity at times he attacked christians by throwing stones at them and abusing the name of jesus at some time he even worked full time for this fanatic group his own associates have killed some of muslim dealers and somehow planted bombs that killed many people he was following their path and was becoming one like them but his life wasn't a mess he used to get drunk and was smoking and was involved around 2012 he started working because his family had lost a lot of money during that same time his sister committed suicide by drinking acid because she couldn't bear with the abuse of her husband and his family she left behind small a daughter and a son around that time his brother also got falsely framed and was in prison for more than a year in this situation he was the only one who was earning very small salary to run the family as he was facing these intense challenges in life he started praying to find true god that is the same time sukram invited him to church and got a chance to know jesus soon he surrendered his life to jesus and was born again and amazingly god started answering his prayers and his brother got released from the prison and even he could complete his education with masters in business inspired by god's word he joined school of mission to get trained to be a missionary for jesus earlier he wanted to go to kashmir for fanatic reasons but now he wants to be a missionary of jesus to kashmir there are only 15 disciples in indore but three of them are already now getting trained in school of mission to do full-time ministry remember the very promise of jesus whoever believes in me will do the works i have been doing and they will do even greater things than this if you are visiting the church or studying the bible god is calling you to be born again he's not calling to harm you he wants to transform you into his likeness do you see god has a plan for every one of us to become like jesus only by being born again you can be his child only then he can transform you to be like him those of us who are already born again god has another challenge let us read 1 john chapter 2 verses 3 to 6 we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands whoever says i know him but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in that person but if anyone obeys his word love of god is truly made complete in them this is how we know we are in him whoever claims to live in him must leave us jesus did if we are born again we have a responsibility to keep the commands of jesus are we doing that brothers and sisters why should we keep his commands first john 5 3 says in fact this is love for god to keep his commands and his commands are not burdens we are eager to fulfill the commands of jesus because we love him we love him because he has already showered his love upon us by sacrificing his very life for us john makes it clear that god's commands are not burdensome not too difficult to obey even if we feel it is difficult god has given us the holy spirit to empower us to conform to god's will so we are not helpless god has generously given us everything needed to live a godly life that's what peter says in first peter 1 3 but whoever says i know him but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in that person so if you claim to be born again and are not willing to obey his commands we are liars according to god there's no truth in that person hope none of us are like that what is the concluding statement in first john chapter 2 in verse 6 it says this is how we know we are in him who are claims to live in him must leave us jesus did the proof that we are born again true children of god who are abiding in him is this we must live as jesus did this is truly an upward call and it is absolutely possible not humanly possible but with the power of god the world has plenty of religious people it does not need more religious people but the world need more people who are truly transformed by the love of christ by the word of god and by his holy spirit who are willing to live like jesus in this dark and sinful world so brothers and sisters god is calling those who are not yet born again to be truly born again so that you can be transformed into his likeness so study the bible understand jesus and be born again and surrender your life to jesus those who are born again please understand how blessed you are and live up to your full potential and live life like that of jesus making a difference in the lives of many people around may god bless you and keep you all safe and please keep the churches in india in your prayers to god be the glory thank you so much roger thank you so much i for preaching the word for us today uh as i was watching that one word came to mind and it's just the word transformation through the whole sermon i was thinking about not only the transformation of the words of christ and that they could have on our lives but the ongoing transformation that we could have i really appreciate just the incredible stories of indian disciples and our sister church in india and what they're doing incredible stories going on there and despite the pandemic and and the situations that you've faced over there but i just want to thank you so much and say for me i was transformed by the life and the words of jesus uh many years ago and it transformed me and i was born again but i really loved the point today about being continually transformed that i was transformed but in my life i need to continually live a transformational life in my marriage in my parenting in my relationships my friendships i want to be uh you know having that that fresh start that we get every day we're not just born again into the into the the kingdom of god but but continually being transformed and for me that's what i take away from it today i hope you enjoyed the service as you're viewing it today i really pray and hope that you got something out of it that this this touches you maybe the stories maybe the the communion maybe the different uh worship songs we've we've been able to enjoy today and i want to encourage you if you enjoyed it today please like and subscribe to our youtube channel please uh just you could tap on the bell to be informed of of next the next time uh we're doing one of these services so you can join in i do want to encourage you to and point you to our our website the londonchurch.org that's the the url for our for our website where you'll find more information about the church i don't encourage you to go there check it out look at the the life stage groups that that you could join and be a part of wherever in the country you are on that on that london website as all the regions of our church but also information at the bottom of the the footer section at the bottom of every page is the link to every church around the country whether you're viewing in scotland in wales in northern ireland in the republic of ireland or all over england we want to encourage you to join us for worship around the country you can also comment there and tell us what you think and what you'd like to see more of and you can also sign up for some bible studies where which i'd really encourage you to do if if if maybe you've not been born again uh and you've not really understood uh as rhoda said at the start what christ means by those words that hopefully you get a bigger picture of what a transformed life looks like and that you'll be encouraged to to go after that we're gonna have one final song to end out the service but but i'm going to say a prayer now as roger and shai just said to to pray for their church and for all of us in the uk and ireland bow your heads with me as we close out the service father thank you so much for this time of worship together thank you so much for your word thank you so much that truly you give us a new chance of life all the time every day god we're so grateful for the life transforming words of jesus christ lord i pray for those who are sick right now i pray for those that are grieving right now i pray for everybody out out there uh wherever they're at whatever difficulty they're facing that they may get courage and comfort from you and from your words god i pray particularly for our brothers and sisters in india and for the whole indian subcontinent as they're going through a real um second wave of the pandemic like like we've seen nowhere else in the world god we pray you be with the churches we pray you be with the leaders and the nation of india particularly god we we we lift them up to you god we thank you for prayer it's in jesus name we pray amen [Music] bring the world with his great mind [Applause] [Music] [Applause] a long long is ago a god whose wife's a prophet sir he is the god that we should know who speaks from his inspired word is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] there is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a light was willing to give that he comes and might set them free there is a god and we survived great i am [Music] oh [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: London ICOC

Views: 5,989

Rating: 4.9245281 out of 5

Keywords: sunday worship service london, sunday church service london, ICOC London, Church of Christ, london church, london service, online church service, live online church

Id: Vz02uD8ZYi4

Length: 97min 51sec (5871 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021