Three Stations Where You Can Be Empowered In Your Life

It's from Isaiah 43, verse 18 and 19 where he says, Isaiah says, do not remember the former things. I will do a new thing. It will spring forth. I will make a road in the wilderness. He will make what in the wilderness? A road, roadway. And rivers in the desert. Can we, is it okay to put up those words for that? Maybe we can put the words on the slide. Yes, they are there. Behold, I will do something new. Now it will spring forth. Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness. Rivers, rivers in the desert. Behold, one more time. I will do something new. Now it will spring forth. Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness. Rivers, rivers in the desert. Do not bring to mind the former thing. And benither not the things of the past. The people whom I've chosen and formed for myself will declare, will declare your praise. Do not bring to mind, do not bring to mind the former thing. And consider not the things of the past. The people whom I've chosen and formed for myself will declare, will declare my praise. Behold, I will do something new. Now it will spring forth. Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness. Rivers, rivers in the desert. Father, we pray that may be true today, Lord, as we come to your word and around your table. That there will be a new thing that you seek to do. Help us to focus our eyes on you today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. This word was a very special verses to us, it was given to us. And we were able to put it to music. But it has a special meaning for us. And one of the subject that I was given to speak on what we thought about when I was talking about the Arian was the pure truth. I grew up in a Christian family, as you know. But I had a lot of questions. I still have a lot of questions. And that's how I learn, that's how I grow. So young people, if you have questions, it's not a bad thing. You should meet people who are also asking those questions. Not all answers are right. Some answers are horribly wrong. But we should keep asking the question. And searching for the truth. So one of the questions I asked, which God do I interact with? I grew up in India. On one side my neighbor was a Hindu. My family were Christians. My other neighbor was a Muslim. Then the Muslim family moved out and the person who joined was a Buddhist. My closest friend in college was a different religion called Jainism. Which God do I interact with? In Jesus' time there was a different God they interacted with too. Same God, but Jesus introduced a new way of looking at him. I also want to say this about revival. I've been to a few revival conferences. I've spoken at a few. I've listened to a lot of revival messages. But I've seen what it's done in my life. It has not produced a lasting fire. Because I don't think revival conferences can do that. So I'm not interested in lighting a fire in any of you. Because many saints of God have lit a fire in me. But it doesn't last. I want to do something different. I want to point you to the gas station. Do you know what happens when you go to a gas station? You can drench your body with gas. Then it can light on fire. At all times, at any time. It's probably not wise to do that. Not a person, the dry wood. The dry sacrifice. You understand the picture. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. Do you know why we don't light on fire? Maybe we need some fuel on that fire. A revival message can get you on fire for a while, but it will die out. There is another preacher who called it fireworks. A big fireworks show. But then it dies out. What we want is fire. So I want to show you three gas stations. Point you to the gas station where you can always fill up. Or another analogy, always pushing the car. Down the narrow way. Trying to get to the end of the road. What if I could point you to a gas station? And that car can zoom. I want to show you gas stations in my life. Which God do I interact with? I had an opportunity once when I was attending to a woman who died. And the nurses were washing her dead body. I watched her take her last breath. As I stepped outside so the nurses could take care of her dead body. This was the picture that was hanging outside that room. Now, you need to know something about this woman. This woman had AIDS. She died of that sickness. She was not a holy woman. She gave her life to Jesus shortly before she died. As I saw her and I thought about what she was experiencing as they were washing her dead body. This was the picture that I saw there. And I imagined that this was her. You can't see the AIDS here. But it is there. But what I loved about this picture is that you couldn't see her face. You could see the face of Christ. And I saw relief on his eyes. I saw compassion on his eyes. I saw joy on his eyes. I saw that his daughter had made it home. She had not always lived for him. Most of her life she probably didn't. She didn't even have a home or a family where she could take care of her. That's why she ended up in a nursing home. And she died alone. Being taken care of by strangers. But now she was home. Because she had asked the Lord Jesus to come into her heart. And there was no judgement on Jesus' eyes. Just relief. And the Lord Jesus asked me at this time in my life. I was doing a lot to help the poor. Things like this. And the Lord said, you know this is how I look at you when you come home. That's how I respond every time you come home to say hi to me. What you call quiet time. What you call alone time. What you call being alone with God. I see how you look. I see how you feel. You feel so bad about all the sins you have committed. You feel so bad about the time you should have spent in my word. But now you are here. Did you ever take a look at my face when you came home? Have you ever looked at your mother's face when you go home? How happy she is. You want food. She is happy to see you. That's what Song of Solomon says. That you prepared a banquet table for me. You, God, prepared a banquet table for me to eat. But your eyes were on me. My eyes are on the food. God's eyes are looking feasting on me. This is the story of the lost son. I like this picture too. You don't see the lost son's face. You see the father's face. Dear brothers and sisters, is this the view of God that you have? Is this the default view of God that you have? For many years I never interacted with this God. I interacted with a holy God. But I never interacted with a God who was a loving father. I always thought about how I was failing Him. But I never saw the reset that Jesus was bringing. And this is massive. It is life changing. When we see that this is the new covenant. The same God in the old covenant is the same God in the new covenant. God hasn't changed. But this is so crucial. God interacts with us differently. He does not interact with us the way He interacted with Moses. He does not interact with us the way He interacted with Daniel. It is completely different the way He interacts with us. If we don't see that, we will read the old testament and think God to be different than He is. It is the same God. But the agreement and how God deals with us is different. So much so that God said He tore up the old agreement. And He says I don't interact with you the way I interacted with the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. This has to sink in. It is torn up. It is not the way He interacts with us. I can read the old testament but I cannot put that way of interaction between God and me. I can read the old testament but I cannot put that way of interaction between God and me. John 1, verse 18 There are so many verses that show that God radically changed the way He interacts with me. John 1, verse 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is on the lap of the Father, He has explained God. The only begotten Son who is on the lap of the Father, He has explained God. I used to think that there were thrones in heaven. God the Father had one throne. And God the Son Jesus had another throne. And God the Holy Spirit had another throne. But this verse shows something different. Where is Jesus? John 1, verse 18 On the lap of the Father. It is in the Bible. And where are we? We are seated in the heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians chapter 1 or Ephesians chapter 2 So where are we? In the lap of the Father. Abide with me, Jesus says. Dwell with me. Come up higher, He says. Be seated in the heavenly places, He says. Where? Where are we seated? At the end of the dining table, of this long dining table where God is at one end and we are at the other end. He says, come sit on my lap. I know it is very difficult for some of you to think that you deserve to be there. Romans chapter 8, verse 15 You have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again. You have a spirit of adoption by which you cry out, Daddy. This is what children do who are sitting on the lap of the Father. Jesus came to introduce God as a Father. In John chapter 5, verse 18, He says that the Jews tried to kill Him because He dared to call God Father. You know what Jesus said? I don't care if you kill me. I am not going to stop calling God my Father. Because I am tearing up the old agreement. I am bringing a new agreement for humans. And they killed Him for that. But He said, I don't care if you kill me. That is who God is to all of you. This is the new agreement. The question is, do we deal with God this way? This is the massive difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. In the old covenant, the prayer in Deuteronomy chapter 6, Hear O Israel, God is one. And everything in the Old Testament is holy, holy, holy. But then when Jesus comes and the disciples ask Him, well, how do you pray? Did He say, O Holy God in heaven? No, that became line number two in the prayer. Hallowed be your name. But before that, there is another line above that. Jesus said, before you get to everything else, even about how holy God is, before that, let me change everything to say, Our Father who art in heaven. It is not, O Holy God in heaven, thank you for being my Father. It is, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. He took the fatherhood of God and made it the number one thing in the prayer. The Lord had me stop for a season on the first line of the Lord's prayer. Stop at line number one. Our Father who art in heaven. Stop, you just need to let that sentence sink in. Before you get to the next line. Your will be done, as it is in heaven, as it is on earth. Our Father who art in heaven. Let that sink in. Let the face of the father's joy sink in, that the sinner has returned home. Dear brothers and sisters, I am not trying to light you on fire. This is a gas station for the rest of your life. This is a gas station for the rest of your life. I don't care if you contract AIDS five minutes from now. And you are deep in sin. There is still a gas station for you. I sure hope you don't. This is the life that Jesus has opened up for us. This is the best life we can live. To live with God as a father. Let me show you a couple more verses before I go to my next point. This is all over the new covenant. 1 Peter chapter 1. As you are turning there, what is the beginning of wisdom? I think some of you may have a guess. But I will tell you what I think your guess is. I have a feeling it is an old covenant guess. I had it on the front of my school, so I know that verse very well. Proverbs chapter 9, verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Is that the beginning of wisdom for us? I'm sorry, before I go to 1 Peter chapter 1, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Before I go to 1 Peter chapter 1, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Verse 30. Because you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. What is the beginning of wisdom? Not the fear of the Lord. Not for those who are in Christ. Jesus Christ is the beginning of wisdom. Not the fear of the Lord. Jesus Christ is our wisdom. It is not something we have to do. It is somebody we have to be with. 1 Peter chapter 1. What is the beginning of wisdom? The fear of the Lord. Let's see what it says in verse 17. 1 Peter 1, verse 17. If you call God Father, live your lives in holy fear. So which comes first? This is a logic question. Maybe teenagers can figure this out. If you call God Father, live in holy fear. Which comes first? Calling God Father, living with God as Father, or living in holy fear. It is crystal clear to me. Knowing God as a Father comes first. We are absolute fools if we know God as Father and don't live in holy fear. 1 Peter 1, verse 15 and 16. Conduct yourself in holy fear because I am holy, so you shall be holy. But it is so important to get the order right. Otherwise we are no different than devout Old Testament Israelites. That is about the best we can get. And you can't get better than that. And many Christians don't live differently than Old Testament devout Israelites. Because we misunderstood the first step. God is our Father. We received the Spirit through which we call out, Father. That is the first step in the journey. Everything comes after that. What gives us the right to call God Father is extremely important too. And getting Christ to be our wisdom is extremely important. As we all know in this room, 1 Corinthians 1 speaks about that. We can turn there so that I can show that point. He says there in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 22, verse 23, we preach Christ the Crucified. Because He is the wisdom of God and the power of God. So if I say it is not the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom, but Christ and Him crucified is the beginning of wisdom, then it is very important for me to understand what it means that Christ is crucified. And so I wanted to go to the next slide. And then the question is, what role does Jesus, the Son of God, have in my life? We talk a lot about Christ and Him crucified. And I have put different pictures of the cross here. We could also have used the background for the song. That is one of the backgrounds that we also use here in our church. I also see a lot of beautiful chains with crosses that I found on Google. I have some theological crosses with a sheet, which somehow does not have any blood on it, on the bottom right. It looks pretty. Which is the cross of Christ? Which ones do you pick? Which ones do you like for the background of your phone? Is that how we look at the cross of Christ? There were some people who were walking in a forest. And they saw a big, there was a fire in the distance. And there were some people gathered at a distance looking up at a tree. So these people went up closer. One of these men was a very godly man. One of the men there was a godly man. And he is the one who told the story. And that was in India. And as they went closer to the tree, they saw what all these people were watching. There was a nest in the branches. And there was a fire coming and the tree at the bottom had caught on fire. And the fire was going up the tree. But there was a nest. And there was the mother bird squawking very emotionally. And circling around it. Because the babies were in the nest. And the babies were not big enough to fly. What does the mother bird do? All it could do was squawk and run around in circles. And they saw how the fire was creeping up. And the mother bird would swoop down and try to pick up the birds but it couldn't pick them up. It was too heavy for the bird to pick up. And it would get more frantic. And the fire was getting closer and closer to the nest. And finally as the flames were getting right to the nest. And starting to burn the nest. The mother did something really interesting. The mother bird swooped down to cover the babies. To somehow protect the babies from being burnt up. And the mother and all the baby birds were burnt. And the man of God said, you saw something really interesting today. You see the love that God has put in a little baby bird. Such a small bird. How much smaller is its heart? But how much love there was in that heart? That it didn't know what to do except to give its life. To protect its babies. What did God the Father do when he saw his creation? Plunging into hell. He sent his son. Gave up everything. And he died so that we could escape. That's the difference between the story of the bird and us. The mother bird died but the children got free. And Jesus says in Matthew 23. Oh people of God, people of God. How I long to gather you like a hen gathers its chicks. But you weren't willing. So Jesus just gave up everything for us. Here's the problem with all of these pictures of the cross. It's okay for a background of songs. But it leaves the word of God untouched. It didn't touch the word of God enough. Dear brothers and sisters, in the Old Testament. It was so that 99% of the people who read the Bible in Jesus' time completely missed the core. They read the right book. But they missed Christ in it. Do you think it's different today? I believe it's not different. Most of us who read the Bible miss Christ in it. So when we say Christ crucified is my wisdom. It's not something simple. Think about the mother bird that died. That story and what Jesus did has to influence my reading of the word. That story and what Jesus did has to influence my reading of the word. This is a picture of the Bible that I prefer. Because there's something happened to the Bible here. There's been blood spilt over the Bible. I have to read my Bible as if blood has been spilt over it. I don't know if you've ever seen blood. Pouring out of somebody else. It's different. Even from an animal. It's different. The Bible says that life is in the blood. That's why I can understand our instinct when we see blood coming out of somebody. It's different. We sing so much about the blood. We keep it sacred. We keep it high. We keep it high. But somehow it doesn't get into the text. So we miss Jesus. And Jesus said to the Old Testament people. Go and learn what it means. You're reading the right text. But go and learn what it means because you've completely missed it. And God tells us too. You're reading the right text. You're reading the Holy Bible. Yes, you sing about Christ and Him crucified. But go and learn what it means. Let the blood of Jesus and what that really means spill into the text of the Bible. That's what it says in 1 Peter chapter 1. If you call God Father. Let's read it. Live your lives in holy fear. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 17 and 18. Because you were redeemed not with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. This is what gives us the right. This view of God and the Bible and the cross is what gives us the right to call God Father. This is the proof that we're calling God as a Father correctly. Because it results in this view of the Bible. We treat it as if blood has been spilled on it. And it's not your mother's blood. It's somebody more precious than your mother. It's the very Savior whom you killed. That's whose blood is spilled over the Bible. And we preach Christ. And we preach Christ crucified. And when we preach Christ crucified, we're preaching who killed, who crucified Christ. And it's not you, it's me. When I preach Christ crucified, I'm saying I'm the one who killed him. And when you talk about Christ to your friends, you're talking about the Christ you killed. And when you talk about Jesus to your friends, you're talking about the Jesus you crucified. It's the blood you and I spilled. Out of context. When I read the commandments of Scripture, but the blood of Lord Jesus doesn't penetrate it, His words become heavy. His yoke becomes heavy. His burden is not light. But Jesus' words remain true today. Come to me. All of you whom the words of God have become heavy and weary and heavy laden. Come to me and I'll give you rest. Dear brothers and sisters, this is a gas station. At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and where the burdens of my heart rolled away, do you have burdens today? It's at the cross. But it's not just a picture of the cross like we see one of these crosses. A lot of us are worshipping on a lot of very pretty crosses. And the cross is empty for us. Because we haven't seen the blood that was spilled. We haven't properly recognized whose blood it was that was spilled. And we have not considered who spilled the blood. Dear brothers and sisters, this is a gas station. You don't need revival meetings. You gotta go to the gas station. You know the way to get there. Have you been with me all these years and you have not met the Father? That's what Jesus asked Philip. And Jesus asked us today, have you been coming to the church for so long and you do not know how to get to the gas station? Let's open up the scriptures with new eyes. Whether it's the Old Testament or the New Testament. For me now God is a Father. He's always running down the road to meet me. The moment I turn to face Him. That is the meaning of the word repentance. The moment I turn around to face Him again. He's running down the road to meet me. I have to interact with that God. And never make God anybody else but this God. I put this picture on the backdrop of my computer for years. I printed this out full screen and put it on my wall. Because I needed to see that this is the view of God. I needed to keep reminding myself of this because I had different views of God in my background. And my own failures kept telling me this is not the God who you are worshipping. And the word of God and the prodigal son's story kept telling me, no this is the word, this is God. This is the God you are worshipping. The slide won't go any further. Dear brothers and sisters, it's not something that happens magically. It takes time. Don't think that all of a sudden putting this picture up will make such a big difference. No, but it says on thy law I will meditate day and night. And Jeremiah 17 says this is the one who is planted by the river is the one who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. This has to sink in. This view of why this word of God is so, can be so powerful. Jesus told the Israelites, the Pharisees of that day, you search the scriptures because you think in them you have life. But you are unwilling to come to me that you might have life. You are unwilling to see the blood that was shed over the text. To give you the right to even call God by His name. You know the holy Jews don't even want to spell God out. They say G-D. They don't even spell the whole of Yahweh out. That's how holy God was. That's how holy God is. But now we say Jesus. But we have to see what it cost to be able to sit on the lap of God. And that's why He is the only one who does it. We know that verse. If God is before us, who can be against us? You might know where that verse comes from. You should know that. Romans 8, verse 31. You should know it because you have to read on in Romans 8, verse 31. Because then it says in Romans 8, verse 32. Because it says in verse 32. What shall we say? Who is the one who condemns? God is the one who justifies. Jesus the Christ is the one who died, who rose and is sitting at the right hand of God and interceding for us. And the reason He was able to do that is because He gave up everything for us. Because He shed the blood that we spilled. That is why He is the only one who matters. It's a response. To seeing the blood. To seeing the word of God. I must have that response. What shall separate me from the love of Christ? Romans 8, verse 35. Nakedness. Famine. Hunger. The sword. Peril. Danger. We are being delivered like sheep to be slaughtered. Romans 8, verse 36. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. Why do we overwhelmingly conquer? When we are being offered up like sheep to be slaughtered. Because it is all worth it for Him. Who gives us the right to call God our Father. Who gives us the right to go into His presence at any time. He is the only one who matters. It is not a thing we have to work up. You have to go to the gas station. You don't work it up. You have to fill up. And the love of God. This is the next question. Who hates God the Holy Spirit the most in my life? For those who are born again we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We are born of the Holy Spirit. And dear young people, those of you who have given your life to the Lord. Maybe older people too. This is a big mistake I made. Who hates God the Holy Spirit the most in my life? Most Christians think it is the devil. And we have an unholy, elevated view of the devil. We think of this devil coming this way. We think of him big. Way bigger than us. With fire and lightning coming out of his belly. With his claws and nails that could kill us. He could crush us with his wrist. Or we could have this view. This is the scriptural view. Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Just like that. Colossians 2 verse 15. It is so important dear brothers and sisters that we understand who the real enemy is. Maybe that is why our lives are so defeated. We are so afraid of the devil. We don't read scripture to understand how powerless he is for the Christian. We don't recognize how powerless the devil is for every single Christian. Colossians 2 verse 15. Having disarmed rulers, powers, that's including the devil, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them. He has disarmed the authorities and the powers, that's including the devil, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them. 1 Peter says the same thing. Resist him. That's all it takes to resist the devil. The devil is less powerful than an ant crawling around his pulpit. The devil is less powerful than an ant crawling around his pulpit. You can just flick him and he goes. That's how powerless the devil is for the Christian. This is God's word. It feels weird to say it. But we stand on the word of God. And God's word is our strength. So when God said he disarmed the authorities. And when God says in Romans 16.20 that the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. It's the same Bible who said that Jesus died for your sins. And that same Bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you. And that's the only thing Jesus did. He quoted the word of God and the devil had to flee. The devil didn't have a chance with Jesus. Because Jesus resisted him with the word of God. But who then hates the Holy Spirit the most in our lives? And who is the biggest enemy for the Holy Spirit in your life? That's not the devil. That's something else I learned. That I was fighting the wrong enemy. Romans chapter 8 showed me that it was someone else. Romans chapter 8 showed me that it was my selfish will inside of me. That he was an enemy of the Spirit. Because it is hostile towards God. Romans chapter 8 verse 7. Those who are in that flesh which is in that selfish will cannot please God. The biggest undefeated enemy of Jesus Christ is Satan. The biggest undefeated enemy of Jesus Christ is my selfish will. If I had the time and I would have been in my own country, I would have been able to buy a mirror. Because I didn't have a slide for that. I would have brought it here. And I would have asked you, do you know who is the biggest enemy? And then I would have shown you the mirror. That is the biggest enemy. Not you as a person who has been redeemed for Jesus Christ. But the will inside of you. That hates God. That is what Romans chapter 8 verse 7 and 8 say. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And this is what we need to do to this enemy of God. Galatians chapter 5 verse 24. And I want you to pay attention to the word that is used. Those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified their self-will. Please note that Paul doesn't say you have to resist. Your selfish will. And for many centuries they used to hang people. When you wanted to kill people. You know what is the good news about hanging? It is done in a few seconds. Nowadays they electrocute or give you some poison. That is not what crucifixion is. There was hanging in those days too. Judas hanged himself. Paul could have used the word. Those who belong to Jesus Christ have hung their flesh. No, he was intentional. But no, he didn't say that. He was intentional. They crucified their flesh. What does that tell me? It is slow. It takes time. It is dirty. It is chaotic. It takes time. But that is the way you are going to defeat the greatest undefeated enemy of the Lord in your life right now. It is crucifixion, not electrocution. And we want, snap your fingers, just get rid of this thing inside of me that hates God. And there is no such thing. The devil? Resist him and he will flee from you. But your selfish will? Jesus said, if you want to follow me, you have to deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me, because that is what I did. I didn't have an electrocution program for my will. I took up my cross and denied myself every day and did the will of the Father. So, there is no easy deliverance. A lot of people come and pray and say, can you pray for me so I can be delivered? You don't need deliverance. You need to embrace crucifixion. As a lifestyle. You may not feel like it, but it is a gas station. Because I will tell you what this did. It stopped fooling me. Because every morning I would put on my sprinter shoes. And I thought the Christian life was a 100 meter sprint. And after 200 meters I would say, God, your word doesn't work. And God said, you have been believing all these lies you hear about Christianity, that it is a sprint. It is a marathon. And you are believing all these lies you hear on TV or wherever else that you need deliverance. You don't need deliverance. You just need to embrace crucifixion. We sing so many songs about surrender. It is not surrender God is looking for. Yes, He wants surrender. But what we are missing is not a commitment to crucifixion. And Jesus says, I am not going to do it for you. You have to take up your own cross. And you have to follow me. Why do I do all of that? Because of this. I will go back forward I guess. I will keep going forward. So there is another blood that needs to be spilled on this cross. It is not just the blood of Jesus. It is our blood that also needs to be shed. Take those words in 1 Peter 4, verses 1 and 2. It cannot be clearer what it means to follow Jesus. Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, He did not snap His fingers and get done with His will. He suffered. Arm yourselves also with the same purpose. And live the rest of the time no longer for the lusts and desires of men. Dear brothers and sisters, these are three gas stations. We have to see that the God we interact with is a Father. Let's get rid of all other views of God. He is coming in and saying, I will be a Father to you. Everything starts there. The right to call God our Father is because of what Jesus did for us. Because of the blood that He shed. The precious blood. Because of that, He must be the only one who matters. So I must keep going to that gas station. And saying, Lord Jesus, you are not the only one who matters in my life. I have to do that over and over again. That is the hardest thing for me to keep doing. To realize that Christ is not the only one who matters in my life. And that is the reason for all my problems. Because I have lost sight of what He did for me on the cross. The Word has become an intellectual book. To prove my stance against all these different liberal ideas or whatever agendas we think is there. The Bible is there to comfort the fact that I am right and my neighbors are wrong. But blood is no longer being spilled on the Bible. The blood of Christ is no longer relevant. The Bible has become a book that comforts me when I am in a dark place. Or a source of intellectual ideas that I need to preach. And I wonder why Christianity doesn't work. No, the gas station is not the Word of God. The gas station is Christ being the only one who matters. The Word of God has to become life. And that has to be the fuel station where I say, Lord, I can only go and live in your life if you give me the fuel. Imagine you are seated on the throne of God. Do you know what you are hearing all around you? Revelation chapter 4. If you are seated on the lap of God, that is where we are seated. Revelation chapter 4 tells you what you are hearing. Holy, holy, holy. You hear that when you are seated on the throne. That is where we deserve to be. Because of what Christ did for us. The Father says, come sit on my lap. You don't deserve to be there. I didn't say you did. Nobody does. But because of what Christ did, come and sit on my lap. So when I sit on his lap, that is where I hear the word holy, holy, holy. When you enter God's kingdom and you hear holy, holy, holy, you know what the response should be? When you enter God's kingdom and you hear holy, holy, holy, what should your reaction be? Don't stop because you are not holy. Keep going. Sit on his lap. Because of what Christ has done. Then that word holy rings in your ears. So then when I climb down from his lap and go in my daily life, holiness is ringing in my ears. Because I heard it on his lap. Where does God discipline me? It says all those whom he loves he disciplines. Where does a good father discipline his children? On his lap. He says, turn around. I want to discipline you. I want to discipline you. But it is on his lap. And then I want to run away and he is like, no, no, no. You stay right here. You think I don't love you. Because I discipline you. No, everything happens on his lap. The discipline. The teachings. The correction. The comfort. The love. All of it is happening in his lap. Hearing in audio. In stereo. Holy, holy, holy. In the old testament. Isaiah heard it in a different way. That is the old covenant. In the new covenant we sing holy, holy, holy from the lap of love. What do you see when you are sitting on the lap of love? You see rainbows and pretty angels and everything flying around. You see crystals and glass and all these diamonds. You see all of those things. You probably do because that is what heaven has in it too. But let me show you what you should definitely see. In Revelation chapter 5 verse 6. It tells you what I should see when I am sitting on the throne. On the lap of love. And behold in the midst of the throne stood a lamb that was slain. That is what you have to see. From the lap of love. A bloodied lamb. A cross that has blood on it. That has to drench my eyes. That has to be poisoned in my eyes. And then I ask the question. What is a bloodied lamb doing in such a beautiful place as heaven? Get that dirty picture out of there. No, that is the most beautiful thing in that whole picture. The bloodied lamb. Because that is the reason I can sit on the lap of love. When I sit on the lap of love, what I hear and what I see. That gives me the fuel to God and crucify myself with. The fuel of what I saw and heard while I was sitting on the lap of love. These are three gas stations that I keep going to in my life. It has made my life much more settled. It makes sense. It gives me hope. It gives me the ability to love others. It gives me the strength to be able to do what I want to do. It gives me the strength to deal with difficult situations. Life is not always easy. But if there is grace, then that is sufficient. I need to know where I can get it. I need to know where I can fill it up at any time of day. And it is not your playlist of beautiful hymns. It is not your playlist of pump me up sermons. It is not your podcast list of beautiful preaching. But these are the three gas stations in my life. There is more, but this has put the Lord on my heart to share with you today. See, I will do something new. Will you not be aware of it? I will make a roadway in the wilderness. Where you have the impression that there are deserts in your life, I will make rivers. Do not think about the things of the past. Forget how things were in the past. Because the people I have chosen for myself, broken pieces of dust like you and me, will bring God praise. May it be so. Amen.