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  ARE WE MAKING GOD HAPPY？
  by Sandeep Poonen
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of personal and church
purity, highlighting the value of controlling one's spirit over worldly
achievements, and the need to focus on pleasing God rather than seeking
worldly success. The speaker urges the congregation to prioritize purity
in thoughts, actions, and interactions, warning against the devil's
deception of valuing quantity over purity. The message stresses the
significance of maintaining a laser focus on purity amidst growth and
distractions, ensuring that the church remains pure and dedicated to
honoring God's name above all else.

Topics: "Personal Purity", "Focus on God"
Scripture References: Proverbs 16:32, Malachi 1:10, Psalms 29:2, Matthew 6:33, 1 Timothy 4:8

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of personal and church purity,
highlighting the value of controlling one's spirit over worldly
achievements, and the need to focus on pleasing God rather than seeking
worldly success. The speaker urges the congregation to prioritize purity
in thoughts, actions, and interactions, warning against the devil's
deception of valuing quantity over purity. The message stresses the
significance of maintaining a laser focus on purity amidst growth and
distractions, ensuring that the church remains pure and dedicated to
honoring God's name above all else.

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CONTENT
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I just want to say a quick word of what Bobby said, Proverbs chapter 16
verse 32, I was reminded of that when he was speaking, Proverbs chapter
16 verse 32 it says, He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit is better than he who captures a city,
imagine capturing a city, back in the olden days, imagine if somebody
just captured a city, we tend to think of that as being so important, we
tend to think of people who may jump pole vaults as we heard and all of
that as being really special, the Bible says he who is able to control
his spirit is much more valuable, our definition of success must be
guided by the Bible not by the world, so something similar I wanted to
build on that as I spoke today, what comes to your mind when you think
of the state of your relationship with God, what comes to your mind when
we think about the state of NCCF, is God pleased and approving of me, is
God pleased and approving of NCCF, how do we know whether we are
pleasing and approving to God individually and as a church, I wanted to
read this verse that came to my heart in this connection Malachi
1.10.11, as the days grow nearer to the Lord's coming, I believe books
like Zachariah and Malachi should be books we read often, we should be
reminded of often because these were the last prophets before Jesus came
for the first time, these were the last words that God was saying to his
people before Jesus came and so as Jesus returns again a second time and
his coming is nearer, these books must become very familiar with us, the
spiritual significance of it not the earthly significance of it, Malachi
1.10, O that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you
might not uselessly kindle fire on my altar, I am not pleased with you,
says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from you, so here
you got people who are offering sacrifices to God, who are laboring for
God and God is saying I am not pleased with you, I hope you will just
shut the whole thing down and he says in verse 11, for from the rising
of the sun even to its setting, I am not just trying to shut things down
because I am never happy, from the rising of the sun to its setting my
name will be great among the nations and in every place light incense is
going to be offered in my name, to my name and a grain offering that is
pure, for my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of
hosts, and so that's the burden that is on my heart today is that we
will have dear brothers and sisters a laser focus on being pure, on
being a pure church, as the good times increase, as we experience
blessings in our private lives or as a church, as we have times of fun
and enjoyment in our personal lives and even on our church, we can be
distracted from our calling as a church to be pure, not that all of us
get along but that we be pure, purity does mean that we will all get
along but purity is a lot more than just getting along, purity must be
the top of my focus and passion in my private life, purity must be at
the top of our focus and passion as a church, purity in my actions,
purity in my thoughts, purity in my speech, purity in my conversations,
purity in the way I play music, purity in the way I speak out here,
purity in my interactions, everything, purity. Let me just think back to
yesterday, we spent most of the day together, let me ask myself about
every action that I took together with all of you, did I speak like
Jesus in every word that I said to all of you, did I look at others of
the opposite sex in the way you would look, we had men and women going
down a slip and slide, did I look at the opposite sex the way Jesus
would, did I see bad behavior in some children and judge them in a way
Jesus wouldn't have, condemning them, condemning their parents, was I
pure like Jesus was pure, purity, family, if we don't raise the focus,
as we drove back last night, did we think about the wonderful time we
had, I hope we did, I hope we thanked God and we were grateful, but
would we also ask ourselves was I pure Lord Jesus as you were pure, in
my speech, in my thoughts, in my actions, where Lord Jesus did I miss
out on purity, this is not a negative thing, this is making the most
important things the most important things, this is a constant focus
that we must have or we will lose our way into becoming a community,
into becoming a club, and not being the pure church of Jesus Christ. I
want to talk about the devil's deception, we talk a lot about the devil,
I talked last week, last time I spoke about the devil's deception, the
devil's deception for purity is quantity, you know that the devil
offered when he talked to Jesus, his final offering to Jesus was this,
he offered all of the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and the
glory of the world in many different ways is quantity, what is the size
of my army, what is the size of my nuclear weapons if I'm a kingdom,
what is the size of my bank account, what is the title after my name,
what is the size of my church, what is the size of my twitter followers,
how many likes, things like that, quantity is so important to this
world, and when the kingdom of this world and its glory is being
offered, quantity is such a big deal, what was your revenue last year,
how much did your stock portfolio grow last year, that's the way the
world thinks, quantity is the way the world thinks, purity is the way
the church thinks, and I find that as numbers increase, and we were 7
years ago, maybe 15-20 people, we're not some big massive church, you
know that, but as numbers increase, we can be led astray from focusing
on purity, it happens, we can become sloppy in the way we talk, we can
become sloppy in the way we dress, we can become sloppy in the way we
interact with one another, casual in the way we play music, casual in
the way we speak in our pulpit, I had an interesting event happen this
week, I was in an offsite with my co-workers from work, and the point
was to bond with one another as co-workers, because we can then work
better as a team, so I had that during the week, and then I come and I
have a bonding experience with the church, yesterday all day, so it was
an interesting parallel and comparison, and they were telling something
interesting, they said that once an organisation gets to a certain size,
and they are not some experts in organisation or anything, but they were
just saying from their own experience, that once organisations get to a
certain size, things of sloppiness just start to happen, and they were
talking specifically about office affairs, they said once it gets to a
certain size, you can start hiding, people can start doing things and
hiding and people get lost, and office affairs just start to happen,
just based on the numbers and percentages, as people become more and
more familiar with other people, guards are let down, things can be
hidden more in secret, texting here and there, private conversations
here and there, all in the name of work, same things can happen in our
church, as we become more and more familiar with one another.

What is it going to be said about NCCF as we grow? I haven't heard of
anything, so I'm not addressing any issue, I'm speaking to the deceiver.
Family, the deceiver comes in subtle ways, he's going to try to trick
us, and the only way we are going to be protected is if we keep our
laser focus on personal purity and church purity. May it not be said
that we were flirtatious in the way we spoke, definitely not more five
years compared to five years ago, may it not be said that we are more
crude or personal attacks in the way we spoke towards other people, may
it not be said, family of God, that we were no different from the world
in the way we spoke.

Let me give you one instance about this, I'm not here to criticize
anybody, I've noticed that in the church there's a lot lately, even
among brothers and sisters, about talk about diet and healthy living, I
don't have any, I'm not anti against any of that stuff, please hear me
right, but that's what the world is talking about, and I fear that we
can get so caught up with carbs are bad and sugars are bad, trust me
sugars are bad, I believe that with all of my heart, but we can get so
obsessed and family, the devil is a deceiver, and all in the name of
good health, all in the name of good health, we can lose our laser focus
towards purity, purity of our soul, purity of our spirit, we're talking
about good things, we're talking about eating more fruits and
vegetables, but that's what all dominates our thoughts, you ask
yourself, dear brother, dear sister, what are you thinking about all
week, what did Jesus think about all week, was he worried about his how
much muscles is worse, how big his muscles were, if he was a woman what
was he concerned about, oh I gained five pounds this week, my goodness
tragedy has hit, ten pounds, what's wrong with this world, my walls kept
crashing down, because the weighing machine, the mirror dominates my
life, purity family of God, purity, the world can creep in in subtle
ways, and we must fight, I'm not against it, you know me, you know me as
I've talked among you, I talk about many many different subjects, but I
want us all to guard what is the main thing in our lives, what dominates
our thoughts, for some of us it's career, for some of us it's
retirement, I'm not obsessing just on diet or other things, for some of
us men it may be our financial bank balance, could be many different
things, what does Jesus say, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, very clear, not the size of my waist, not the size of my
bank balance, not the size of my retirement plan, and as quantity
increases in our church too, there will be the spirit of the world will
come in, where there will be Jesus and money, Jesus and a good time,
Jesus and worldly fashions, Jesus and a fit body, and it will slowly
creep to have parallel thrones, Jesus only is our message, and family of
God, we've got to fight it, we've got to fight it, I'm not speaking at
anybody, I'm talking about myself, because I see about how it can easily
come into my own life, and I'm not saying that new people will come in
and corrupt us, more often than not, it's the existing members, it's the
ones who have been around for a while, who've been Christians for a
while, who can talk a good game, it's from there, from the leaders,
those who have positions of authority, from there will slip in a little
bit of the world, and it'll make it okay for you guys too to follow,
because people who speak well, who do well, who have given some position
of authority, used to be sold out for the Lord, and now start to okay
it, I'm not saying it's true in our church, please, I hope it's not
true, but I have to guard myself, and we all have to guard ourselves to
make sure that Jesus is getting a pure offering from my life, not a big
quantity of offering, and I have to ask myself as I come back from
having a wonderful time as a church together last night, the question
that the Lord is asking me, not did you have a good time, were there big
fights, you know there were no big fights, we all left in great time,
great time of singing and praising God, but the Lord's asking me, was it
a pure church, you used to be a pure church, are you still a pure
church, and watch it Sandeep, as the church grows bigger, purity will
get compromised, and I'm not speaking at anybody, there's a verse in
Psalm chapter 29 verse 2 which says, ascribe to the Lord glory to His
name, worship the Lord in the dress of holiness, in the beauty of
holiness, the King James Bible says, Psalm chapter 29 verse 2, family of
God, if you say you worship God, this is what it means that you
genuinely have seen the beauty of holiness, this is the mark that we are
worshippers, that we are not looking at the mirror and seeing beauty,
we're not looking at our bank balance and seeing beauty, we are looking
at the holiness of God and seeing beauty, and God knows what a deep work
has to be done in all of us, let me ask myself a deep question, do I
worship God because His holiness is so beautiful to me, if not I have
work to do, that is the way we need to worship God, worship is not about
music, worship is not about feeling good, worship is about seeing the
holiness of God and saying that's beautiful, seeing when I see a
beautiful woman and turning away and saying that's beautiful, when I
turn away from an act of loving money, I turn away and I hear the Lord
telling me that's beautiful and my taste buds are changing to more of
the beauty of God, the beauty of His holiness, family that needs to
happen in our lives, and the other verse of word in Malachi chapter 1
verse 11, three times in that verse he says my name must be great, he
talks about my name, my name, three times in that verse, and I find that
purity has a connection to the name of Jesus, and this is what I
practically mean about the name of Jesus, am I interested in God's name
or my name, am I interested in God looking good or Sandeep looking good,
in the way I speak, do I want to win the argument, do I want to be the
winner, do I want to have the last word in marriage relationships and to
conversations with others, in the way I act, do I want to look good, do
I want to come across as better than others, children I want to tell you
something beautiful that happened yesterday, I'm not going to tell you
who, there was a game we were playing yesterday, all of us were playing
that, it was called capture the parachute, I don't want to say capture
the bacon because some people may have problems eating pork, so stay
away from that, capture the parachute, we were anyway capturing
parachutes, and we had adults and children on two sides, and the
children were matched up with somebody around their same age, and the
adults were matched up, according to people of their own athletic
ability, supposedly, but the children, and the children also had to go
and capture the flag and see if they could get back to the other side
without getting tagged, and something beautiful that happened, I saw two
of the children were running up against each other, and one time one
child won, and the other time the other child won, that happens all the
time right, thankfully that that happened, there was a split, one won,
but here's the beautiful thing, both times the girl, one girl went up to
the other person, in both times and said good job to the other person,
when she won and when she didn't win, and there was no difference in the
way she said good job, one wasn't an act of pity, benevolent, oh I feel
so sorry for you, but good job, ribbon for trying, participation medal,
no, it was an equal, innocent, good job, happiness, both times, and she
meant it, it was not about winning, she cared about the person more than
about winning, I've seen in myself that there's a very dangerous thing
about winning that is in the kingdom of this world, it comes through, we
play in sports, and there's a dangerous sinful spirit that comes in as
you've got two sides trying to win, because the question is whose name,
and I make it about my name or his name, my name or her name, and we
never win that right battle, we have to family as a church make it about
God's name, this is what is special about the church, we are laser
focused on honoring God and His name, that is purity, purity is not just
the absence of evil, purity is the presence of the life of Jesus, we're
not going to get purity by going and closeting up ourselves and saying
I'm never going to compete with anybody else again, I'm not going to
have any fun, I'm just going to be a monastic person, that's not purity,
that's just keeping yourself clean because you're so afraid, there's
nothing virtuous of a clean empty cup to a thirsty man, here you go
clean cup for you, I cleaned it up perfect for you, but it's empty, what
the thirsty person needs is water in a clean cup, the life of Jesus, the
life of Jesus which is love, a lack of spirit of competition towards
others must come up and we're all works in progress, we must share that,
family I want to read some things and I want you to know if you
recognize this, blessed assurance Jesus is mine, perfect submission all
is at rest, I in my savior am happy and blessed, oh this full and
perfect peace in a love which cannot seize, I am his and he is mine, oh
to live who to lie forever here while he whispers in my ear, I am his
and he is mine, his forever only his, who the lord and me shall part, do
you know we recognize those words, you sang it 10 minutes ago, we sang
it 10 minutes ago, the focus of the singing, the focus of this church is
about if Jesus and you are all you have that's way more than enough, all
you need is Jesus, Jesus only is our message, we don't want to lose
sight of that family, that will take us through tribulations, that will
take us through good times and bad times, blessed assurance Jesus is
mine, family of God I pray that purity in our church will increase, may
the test that our church is growing is not that we're growing in
numbers, that all of us will be laser focused on God in making sure that
this church is pure, may God help us.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/00gy-EPANis.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/sandeep-poonen/are-we-making-god-happy/
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