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good day church today let us worship our sovereign god for he is our lord our master the king of kings he is worthy of our utmost praise so all [Music] together [Music] a mighty king [Music] god amazing you're amazing is [Music] god you're amazing you're amazing [Music] and [Music] [Laughter] don't make a beginning day you are the father son and spirit god you you're amazing let's continue to praise our god who is lord and rumor of all let's remember how christ the king of glory humbly laid down his life for us so we can be alive again let us proclaim this truth as we sing [Music] who breaks the power of sin and darkness whose love is [Music] [Music] the king of glory this is amazing grace that you will take my place [Music] all that you've done for me [Music] the son and daughter the king of glory the king of glory who rules the nations with truth and justice [Music] amazing grace this isn't failing love that you would take my place that i would be set free [Music] is lamb who was slain worthy is a king who conquered the grave worthy is the lamb who was lame worthy is a king who conquered the grave worthy is the king who conquered the grave this is amazing grace this season that you would take my place that i would be set free yes lord we sing of all the great things that you've done for you jesus are the lamb who takes away the sin of the world and we exalt your name for you alone are the highest name above all heaven and all earth [Music] for your great name everything has no place [Applause] he has to leave [Music] and all the world will praise your great day great [Music] [Music] grace [Music] for your great [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] jesus the name of jesus you know the world will praise you [Music] [Music] yes [Music] yes jesus we let the highest praise to you for you to serve all glory all honor and free we love you jesus memorizing scripture is also a way for us to worship god this week's memory verse is from philippians 2 verses 10 to 11 so that at the name of jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father philippians 2 verses 10 to 11. let's make it a habit to memorize scripture hey fam welcome to our worship service we are so blessed to have you here today we'd like you to know that this service will be on demand via ccf website mobile app facebook page and our youtube channel don't forget to tag and share today's message with your family and friends wherever they are in the world if you are joining us for the first time we would like to invite you to our online welcome center it will be open from 10 30 a.m to 12 noon and again from 4 30 pm to 6 o'clock pm manila time take note of the zoom link that is right now on your screen see you right after the service idc has already begun if you want to see the program list of workshops speakers and even download the workbook you can go to idc.org.ph to those who are attending idc and want to make the truth go viral in a new normal world we encourage all the leaders and potential d-leaders to attend the go viral workshop on january 25 monday at 7 30 pm to 9 00 pm with a rerun on tuesday from 10 a.m to 11 30 a.m and to complete your idc experience you can follow us on facebook to stay up to date with the latest news and online activities see you at the conference finally we have a surprise for you because next week we will be having a special message from one of our idc speakers dr philip lynn we hope to see you again next week and right now at this point as we prepare ourselves to worship god why don't we all join our hearts bow our heads and close our eyes in prayer father god we thank you that today indeed is the day that you have made for us to worship you in spirit and in truth we thank you first and foremost for the gift of life that you have allowed us this day and father i pray that everyone who are joining us today on this worship service online will truly be blessed and will truly encounter you afresh the living god and we pray right now for pastor peter as he shares this message today that we all of us would surrender our lives to the only master and lord of our lives our god jesus christ and so we pray lord that from beginning to end you would be with us during this worship service and right now lord we commit ourselves to you we commit all of our families who are joining in today to watch with us even our small groups our communities oh lord and we pray for our country the philippines and all over the world we pray that you would indeed alleviate all of the effects of covet 19 and further spread and we pray lord that you would give our leaders our president our government officials the wisdom and the knowledge of the lord to be able to properly address all of these issues that we are facing today and father we lift up every family represented here today we pray that whatever concerns conflicts or challenges that they may have that you will show them that you are indeed our god our lord so right now father we just pray and commit this service unto you that you will be the focus that you your word and your truth your spirit will be upon us and all of these things we pray in the mighty and beautiful name of jesus the lord of lords and the king of kings and all of god's people say amen and amen greetings in the wonderful name of our lord and savior jesus christ i just praise god for the beginning of idc the first plenary session remember yesterday i like to remind all of us that there will be workshops throughout the week every night the topics are so relevant you can choose and if you missed the plenary yesterday we will make it available for you get in touch with us how you can review what you miss have you ever wish that you can start all over again has it ever entered your mind that how you wish you can start afresh well our series is about a new starting right with god i have good news for you today we will discuss a very important name of god that will help you start afresh this very name once you understand this will set your life for a new direction it will recalibrate your entire life if you ask me this is probably one of the most important truths you will ever learn if not the most important truth about god about jesus christ you will ever hear so listen to this from beginning to end because there may be things that you hear and you may not feel comfortable but it is life changing let's begin the name i want to introduce to you about god is adonai adonai means what is from the word adon it simply means master it means honor adonai means lord now you and i have to realize we all like god to be our creator all powerful omniscient provider healer but many times we fail to understand god is all of the above but more than that he is lord what does it mean as honor god has absolute rights over your life everything that you possess your life your loved ones your material blessings everything you have belongs to the lord his honor master what does it mean got a supreme authority he has every right to tell you what to do because he is master adam in the hebrew word is singular when it is used to describe a human being it is singular for example in genesis chapter 45 verse 8 it says this is from joseph joseph is saying now therefore it was not you who sent me here but god and he has made me a father of pharaoh and lord adon of all his household and ruler over all the land of egypt what is joseph saying i am the lord over all the land of egypt if you study the authority he had what was his authority no one can enter egypt no one can leave egypt without his permission everything he says goes that is the meaning of adam from a human point of view it can also mean as absolute honor it is used to describe master and slave relationship but when the word is used to describe god it is usually in the plural form adonai adoni why many hebrew scholar says well it is plural because it is describing the majesty of god i submit to you grammatically it is not just the majesty of god there is a hint the hint of triunity the trinity god the father god the son god the holy spirit why do i say that adonai literally means lords is plural when it is referring to god most of the time and i'm gonna show you later as we study this word why it is also referring to none other than jesus it appears 300 times in the old testament now you'll be surprised the very name of god yahweh is also translated in the hebrew language as adonai why because that name is so sacred that they put the parenthesis there as adonai so that the rabbis the scribes can pronounce it adonai not yahweh so adonai is also referring to god yahweh why because god is so sacred so they gave him a title that title is called adonai lord when it is used to describe god this is what is meant the lord your god is the god of gods and the lord notice adoni of lords the great the mighty and the awesome god who is who does not show partiality nor take a bribe the bible describes god as the lord of lords there are many lords but there is only one real lord king of kings and lord of lords none other than god himself the first use of the word adonai referring to god is found in genesis 15 verses 1 and 2. after these things the word of the lord came to abram in a vision saying do not fear abram i am a shield to you your reward shall be very great abram said lord god adonai that's how it is translated lord god adonai yahweh what will you give me since i am childless and the heir of my house is eleazar of damascus what do you notice about adonai in this context here are some observations number one for the first time we are now being introduced to god as adonai as lords notice plural lords but lord god what kind of lord god he is a good master he is a good lord why do i say that because not all lords are good but god is amazingly good why notice the first command the first occurrence of the entire bible about do not fear here it is do not fear abram the truth is all of us are anxious all of us do worry i don't know what you're anxious about i don't even know what you're worried about but for most of us it has to do with our health with our loved ones with our future we are insecure what will happen to our children those of you who are single you are concerned about your career you will be concerned about your relationship your love life whatever it is god is saying i am your lord therefore do not fear do not be anxious grammatically what does it mean keep on not becoming afraid stop worrying stop being anxious he gives you the reason what's the reason well i am a shield to you in other words god is saying i will not just protect you i am your protection i don't know where you are placing your security i don't know where you place your confidence but god is telling us he is our protection god is our security his very presence in other words nothing can happen to you without god's approval that is the kind of master we have ever present almighty to protect us not only that look at his goodness your reward shall be very great you see not all master not all lord have to reward his servants his slaves but god is amazing god is saying i'm not just your lord i'm not just your master i'm a good master i will reward you not just reward you your reward will be extremely great and that's why abram responded oh lord adonai i had no child yet you promised me if you read that entire chapter you will see the answer to the concern of abraham is about god god is saying don't worry i will fulfill my promises as adonai as lord how should we therefore respond to him do you notice the emphasis of this name is not just who god is it's about our relationship with him how we are to respond i'd like to share with you to highlight four important applications of knowing that our god is adonai number one surrender number two obedience number three devotion number four anticipation what do i mean look at the acronym soda do you like to drink soda well s stands for surrender god owns everything if god owns everything including your loved ones including your money including your possessions everything that you and i have the only proper thing to do is to surrender why because he's the owner therefore if god asks something from you what will you do you will be generous because he's the owner if god takes something away from you what will he do you'll be at rest you'll be at peace why he owns everything now you see why abraham responded in faith when god asked abraham give me your son your beloved son whom you love notice surrender next obedience if god is supreme he has all authority how should we respond well let me give an example in isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 isaiah had an encounter with god in the year of king usaya's death i saw the lord adonai sitting on a throne lofty exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple isaiah encountered the lord of lords seated on the throne the supremacy of his authority the king of kings and when isaiah heard the discussion of the triunity of god they were discussing who we sent who will become our missionary notice how isaiah responded in amazing obedience he volunteered then i heard the voice of the lord saying who whom shall i send and who will go for us do you notice look at the hit of the triunity of god i heard the voice of adonai i heard the voice of the lord plural saying whom shall i send who will go for us plural then i said here am i send me friends if god wants you to do something if god tells you something how do you respond here's the reality many times we reluctantly postpone it when god asks you will you forgive somebody sometimes you hold grudges when god asks you will you go see somebody and ask for forgiveness what do we do we postpone this when god tells us that what you are doing is not right if he is lord how should we respond just like isaiah eagerly why because he is lord he has every right to tell us what to do and we are obligated to follow him you see today a lot of young people do not like the idea that god is lord you know why we like to run our own life for us we like to be the master of our life we don't like to be told what to do by nature i like to be independent i don't like to be told what to do but the reality is this i'm always under an authority and the truth is the lord is adonai god is our lord do you understand you are accountable to him and you have to listen to him surprisingly amazingly when the word adonai was translated into the greek language around 250 to 300 bc before christ the word use was curious curious in greek is equivalent to the english word lord what is the meaning exactly the same the word lord in the greek language implies sovereign power ownership absolute authority in fact that word was eventually referred to emperors because they defied they made human beings into gods and that title was reserved for emperor but that title was used to describe jesus 700 times in the new testament serious referring to jesus and the word savior is only 20 times but when you combine the title of lord and savior it is always lord first curious first and sorter savior later why because god wants us to know jesus is always lord but also our savior that is why in the days of jesus when they want to test whether somebody is a real christian or not when they are put on trials what will the roman officers do they will force you to say caesar is lord and true followers of jesus will never say caesar is lord they will only say jesus is my lord jesus is curious never caesar look at the old testament in psalm 110 verse 1 the lord says to my lord adon the word adonai that's the rude word in the greek curious sit at my right hand until i make your enemies a footstool for your feet now what in the world is this verse referring to the lord yahweh says to my adonis who is this referring to jesus used this exact verse to refer to himself you see this in matthew 22 verses 42 to 44 when jesus was discussing with the pharisees as who is the messiah they were questioning who are you and then jesus used this verse what do you think about the christ whose son is he they said to him the son of david do you now understand jesus is now using the knowledge that is common to all scholars to all the jewish people that someday the messiah will come so jesus said whose son will the messiah be whose son now then they answered the son of david so far so good then jesus said then how does david in the holy spirit called him adam in greek curious the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until i put your enemies under your feet and then this is the amazing thing jesus said if david calls him lord adoni curious how is he his son no one was able to offer him a word in answer nor did anyone there from that day on to ask him any more questions you see jesus referred some 110 as a messianic prophecy to himself jesus is saying i am the adonai of the old testament in fact the early writers of scriptures the apostles use the same passage to prove that jesus is the messiah that he is adonai in acts 2 34 36 it says it was not david who ascended into heaven but he himself says the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until i make your enemies a footstool for your feet therefore let all the house of israel know for certain that god has made him both lord curious and christ messiah this jesus whom you crucified in short adonai of the old testament is the same adonai is the curious of the new testament jesus jesus is none other than lord do you recall in the beginning why i say this is probably the most important truth you need to learn about god about jesus why because the most important issue in life is really who is your lord once you settle this in your life who is your lord all the others will fall into its proper places example how will you make decisions if jesus is your lord you will make decisions based on his will you'll have the bible as your guide how will you deal with your love life how do you deal with career how do you do parenting if jesus is lord and he is then it will help you make decisions it will guide you but if this is not certain you will have problems all the time why because this has not been certain to show you how important this issue is i wanted to look at the life of paul once upon a time paul was headed in the wrong direction but here a new beginning he had a fresh start when he encountered the lord of his life what do i mean when paul was on his way to damascus i fell to the ground and i heard a voice saying soul soul why are you persecuting me i answered who are you lord curious and he said to me i am jesus the nazarene whom you are persecuting do you notice something when paul was on his way to persecute believers christians god took the initiative to appear to soul to appear to paul and then paul asked the most important question who are you lord that i submit to you is the most important question because this is reality all of us have a master all of us have our lords the only question is who is your lord for many people did not settle this issue paul was able to settle that issue once and for all you know why when jesus told him i am your lord you notice paul responded properly how did he respond paul said what shall i do lord what shall i do master kirios what shall i do and the lord said to me the rest is history once you settle that question in your life who is your lord then you act accordingly do you realize the implications of jesus as our lord you see the word lord has a corollary counterpart the corollary counterpart of lord is what servant slave once you have a curious you have a doulos what do i mean lord slaves in the new testament surprisingly the word slave appears over 124 times in the old testament the word slave appears over 800 times but what is surprising is it was not translated as islam in the new testament only a few times do you see the word translated as slave why why was it not translated as slave when the greek grammar is so clear the word dulos will always mean slave then i discovered why because when the bible was being translated into the english language in the 16th 17th century the connotation of slavery was so negative so the translator was being careful so they use the word servant but the reality is you will not see the power of the contrast between master and a response a slave what do i mean when you use the word servant versus the word slave in the greek bible the word slave is doulos the word servant is not doulas there are many other words for servant but the meaning is not the same servant is hired a slave is owned a servant has limited freedom a slave has no rights a servant can choose your boss you can choose your work a slave has no freedom a servant can resign you can live a slave has no freedom your awareness and your future depends on the goodness of the master so there's a big difference the early writers of scriptures and the early church fathers understood that jesus is the lord and because jesus is lord they consider themselves as slaves for example paul described himself as a slave of jesus james the brother of jesus if you read james chapter 1 he talks about i'm slave of jesus peter described himself as slave of jesus how do you know jesus is your lord well if jesus is your lord are you responding this way to jesus let's review have you surrendered your all to jesus the soda principle are you obeying him it's called unconditional obedience to jesus are you devoted to jesus if you know he's a good lord he's a good master then you can trust him when you trust him you'll be devoted to him you will love him and do you have any anticipation for the promise of jesus in your life is jesus your lord if jesus is your lord you will respond differently there will be surrender there will be unconditional obedience and most important there will be devotion why is this so important for many of us we react to surrendering everything to jesus remember i share this with you our tendency is we all want to be free we all want our freedom let me give you an example during my younger days people show that they are not under authority by rebelling and how do they show their rebellion they smoke they drink they take drugs guess what happens pretty soon you become asleep to cigarette pretty soon you become enslaved to alcohol pretty soon you become enslaved to drugs what is true freedom let me share with you from a biblical perspective true freedom means you have the power to do what is right you have the power to say no to sin and say yes to god that my friend is through freedom the ability and the power and the desire that god gives you to do what is right you are able to say yes to him and say no to sin and true freedom comes only when you recognize and submit to the lordship of jesus christ what do i mean look at the experience of paul in romans chapter 7 the apostle paul tells us his struggle paul said i do not understand what i am doing i am not practicing what i want to do but i do the very thing i hate paul is saying i have a problem what i like to do i don't do what i don't like to do i do i am not practicing what i want i do the very thing i hate the good that i want i do not do but i practice the very evil that i do not want wretched man that i am who will set me free from the body of this death do you understand paul is telling us the experience of many people today we want to do what we know is right but we keep failing and we don't like to do what we know is wrong but we keep failing what is the solution i want to encourage you you are not alone this topic of the lordship of jesus is so important it is liberating it will help you it will transform your life notice the question asked is this who will set me free from the body of this death wretched man that i am you know what i don't know of a true christian who has not surrendered everything to the lordship of jesus that is happy if you are a follower of jesus but you are not completely surrendered i guarantee you you will be miserable there will be this struggle that's why paul says i am wretched i feel miserable who will set me free the proof that you're a child of god is your misery because the holy spirit is inside your heart and the holy spirit is telling you what you are doing is wrong so how do you victory notice the answer it's not what it's who so the answer is jesus in romans chapter 7 verse 25 the answer is this thanks be to god through jesus jesus christ is the answer in john 8 34 36 jesus tells us truly truly i say to you everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin notice that word doulas if the son makes you free you will be free indeed so only jesus can really set us free but he will only set you free when you surrender completely to him and that is why in john chapter 8 prior to verses 34 36 jesus tells us if you continue in my word if you obey my word then you are truly disciples of mine and then he says you will know the truth and the truth will set you free many years ago there was a young girl who struggled with the lordship of jesus perhaps you can identify with this young lady emotionally she was involved she wanted a relationship with this young man she went to her counselor her pastor and their pastor said i don't think he's the right man for you and then the pastor said i want you to notice this verse in acts chapter 10 verses 13 and 14 you have the story of jesus appearing to peter and jesus telling peter peter you're hungry killing it but peter because of his tradition told jesus not so lord i have never eaten anything unholy and unclean this encounter happened three times every time jesus tells peter go ahead killing it peter said not so lord not so three times acts 10 14 is an oxymoron because how can you say not so and then call him lord either he is lord and you say yes or he is not lord so the pastor told this young lady either you remove you x out the word lord and then you tell god not so or you cancel the word not so and say lord you will notice that our christian life our christian work is progressive like peter when peter encountered the lord he was growing progressively there was a time when he tells god himself when he told jesus not so lord not so just like you just like me we need to grow in realizing he is lord and the bible tells us at the end of peter's life he learned the lesson jesus told him someday peter you will do what you don't like to do you will go where you may not like to go because you will follow me and that is so crucial not so lord two options you either erase not so and focus on lord or focus on lord and not not so remember the story of that girl i was telling you because she finally said not so she removed not so and she said yes to god can i tell you something because she followed god her life was tremendously blessed her love life her relationship was amazingly blessed why because god is after our best interest but sometimes you have to say no to what you like because what you like may not be the best but god knows what is best if you say jesus is lord then whatever he tells you what have whatever he tells us we obey that's why this is the most important issue you need to set them it will impact your decision on where do i go what do i do with my career how do i make choices once you settle this issue who is lord until you settle this issue you will always struggle i am reminded of the quotation given by s m swimmer unless jesus is lord of all he is not lord at all today i'd like you to hear a testimony of one of our brothers his name is june lanuzah let's hear his testimony i was the boss of my business and i always wanted things under my control i would get upset when i didn't get what i wanted and i was used to having my way i was quite comfortable with my life we had a good business lived in a subdivision our kids were going to good schools we would travel frequently i thought things were in place but god had other plans that would radically change my life before i continue let me introduce myself i'm joondalusa i'm married to nuki we have three great kids and eight wonderful grandchildren our daughter invited us to attend the ccf bible study about 16 years ago i was reluctant at first but to support her we decided to go in that bible study i met a lot of christians who truly inspired me they had joyful authentic peaceful lives because of the bible i was amazed that the bible actually worked i decided that was the kind of life i wanted so i really plunged into ccf and attended everything bible studies sunday worship retreat seminars we even joined the holy land tour i was getting to know the lord more my family life was getting better but yet i felt something was still missing when i watched and observed the others in ccf i was envious of their faith the peace and the joy that they had on the other hand i also saw others in ccf who were much like me you know although they had accepted jesus they still lacked patience gentleness self-control my problem still weighed me down to the point of doubting god's love and power to top it off our business and several pending tax cases at that time i thought when i accepted jesus he was going to solve all my problems it wasn't happening and i was disappointed we were attending an idc conference about 10 years ago when the speaker said something that had a lasting impact on me he said unless jesus is lord of all he is not lord at all oh wow that really hit me my first reaction was lord of all that's only for pastors certainly not for businessmen like me you know who want to get ahead it's impractical people will only take advantage of you they will fool you besides jesus is only for spiritual matters no yep i was intrigued and bothered by the statement it made me question my motives on why i had chosen to follow jesus why was i really serious about my relationship with him was i insisted only to join the crowd to belong do i really mean what i say when i call jesus lord or was i only using him when i needed him when i ran out of options the challenge was cast and i just couldn't ignore it away i realized then that my relationship with god was limited and compartmentalized i had made an agreement with god based on my terms not on his so what would happen if i opened up all the rooms of my life to his lordship would i allow god to be the pilot of my life and let him take me but wherever he wanted me to go it's easy enough to accept jesus as savior but to accept him as lord of all but once i decided wow do you remember how it was when you were six years old no worries no cares everything was just a-okay all of a sudden my life flowed so smoothly and so easily i felt the relief that someone who had control had now taken over and was taking care of me i had surrendered the results of whatever i was pursuing and the unknown future to god's sovereign will his infinite wisdom and to his unconditional love so you might ask what happened after that did my world become perfect were all my problems solved no but the world's imperfections and my problems were no longer that important to borrow from a song for the things of earth have grown strangely them in the light of his glory and grace have i given up on my responsibilities and just wait for the apple to drop from the tree definitely not i still try to do my best but the big difference is i have completely surrendered the result to god what joy and peace i had i had not felt for a long time my only regret was why did i wait so long and now am i sinless and completely christ-like not at all but now my relationship with god is more open more honest and i'm truly dependent on him i've accepted my weakness and my need for him and now i can truly let go and let god take care of all my concerns whatever they may be i have peace beyond my circumstances one by one the idols fell and my soul was being set free as i yielded more and more to him so what happened to the tax cases making jesus lord of all had to include my business otherwise he won't be lord at all i really struggled with that i had to make up my mind that he should be lord of our company business will have to be conducted in a way that would please god regardless of the consequences would you believe it after i made my decision god intervened he sent me a christian lawyer to a ccf member before accepting he asked me what would happen if after all the legal action and appeals the assessment still upheld and the tax year is still a big amount i told him pay the full amount but on condition that all payments should be official and properly received when i went home after that meeting i told my wife we may have to close the business if we have to pay all the taxes she readily agreed we both decided to honor god even if it meant closing down the business well god must have seen our hearts one by one through this christian lawyer all the cases were dismissed and we end up paying only a very affordable amount today we still have that business praise god before i end i want to thank my loving wife nuki for her passion for the lord and for diligently sharing the good news with me and our family i won't be here today if not for her five years ago we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary for our souvenir our children surprise us with the t-shirts printed with our favorite bible verses i want to end by sharing with it because it's a good reminder of who is the lord of our life not just lord but lord of all seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you matthew 6 33 praise god june has been a successful businessman when he eventually surrendered everything i like what he said i'm feeling like a child again i have so much peace i have so much rest it does not mean no more problem but he is now arrested what about you have you recognized jesus as your lord have you surrendered all jesus shows us the importance of understanding what it means that he is lord notice his warning not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter grammatically jesus is saying there are people who keep on saying lord lord you keep on repeating jesus is your lord you keep talking about it but jesus says ah not all who keeps saying jesus is my lord will enter heaven why many notice the word many will say to me on that day now this is scary on judgment day many will say on that day lord lord did we not prophesy in your name in your name cast out demons in your name perform many miracles all kinds of miracles healing supernatural things and jesus will say i will declare to them i never knew you notice i never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness grammatically the word practice lawlessness simply means you who are living a lifestyle of sin brothers and sisters this message is so important that it burdened my heart to really prepare this talk to all of you my concern as your pastor and your friend is to make sure that you will understand that the key to genuine salvation is really to understand who jesus is the last thing i want to do is to give people a false sense of security a false sense of understanding that you can go to heaven you can be saved without really understanding what it means to follow jesus what do i mean what is the true grace of god this is the grace of god notice what it says the grace of god has appeared bringing salvation to all you see the bible tells us we are saved by grace it is not something you work for it is not because you earn it it's by grace but grace is never alone instructing us to deny ungodliness worldly desires and to live sensibly righteously in a godly manner in the present age in other words the grace of god will give you the power to do what is right it will instruct us to deny ungodliness worldly desires and to live sensibly righteously in a godly manner notice the grace of god will not only give us real freedom freedom from sin but freedom to do what is right who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession eager for good deeds this is the amazing work of the holy spirit the amazing truth of the grace of god not only will you learn to shine away from sin but you will learn to be involved in good deeds notice the grammar eager eager for good deeds that is the amazing truth of once you become a slave of jesus he gives you real freedom to do what is right you see the brother of jesus says the same thing he warns us in the book of james he says in the same way faith also if it has no works is dead being by itself notice james is saying faith without works is dead you believe that god is one you do well the demons believe and shatter but are you willing to acknowledge you foolish person that faith without works is useless james is not saying salvation is by good work james is emphasizing what is true faith he's talking about dead faith versus real faith and many people today have counterfeit faith counterfeit grace and the bible says be careful that your faith is not dead faith your faith is not counterfeit genuine faith is never alone good works will follow the evidence of genuine faith is change lives it's not enough to surrender to be obedient it is very important that you understand devotion because our lord adonai is a very good master he's a very good lord devotion means you love him you do things not out of obligation you do things out of love it's a response to the goodness of the lord jesus the lord god his goodness what do i mean you see paul understood that once upon a time he was enslaved to sin he could not be set free then paul experienced freedom in christ what did jesus do to secure his freedom first corinthians 6 19 20 look at how he responded what do we mean by devotion do you not know that your body not is our body our very physical life is a temple of the holy spirit within you whom you have from god and that you are not your own you have been bought with a price therefore glorify god in your body notice what paul is saying paul is saying the body that we have is not only the temple of god the temple of the holy spirit but jesus christ paid with his dear life you have been bought you have been bought for a price it is so important that you know that jesus christ gave his very life he shared his precious blood for you and for me that will be set free from slavery to sin from the penalty of sin he gave this life so that you and i will experience real freedom and because of that freedom you are now free to glorify god in your body in the past you obey because of obligation master slave lord servant today you need to understand i obey i served out of devotion because he is devoted to us this truth about the kind of lord we have and how we will respond will really give your life a new direction it is now honoring god glorifying god somebody once said god owns us as master double first he made us god owns us by virtue of creation then he owns us again by virtue of purchase he gave us his life to buy us so god owns us doubly by creation and by redemption he paid the price you owe everything i owe everything to the lord he is a good master do you love him do you consider him as a good master and therefore you serve him with eagerness are you and i devoted to our lord do you have utmost loyalty to him is he your highest priority totally devoted you love him your main goal in life is to please him why because he is lord that's why it is important to understand the implications of knowing the lord john tells us in john 15 greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends you are my friends if you do what i command you no longer do i call you slaves for thy slave does not know what his master is doing but i've called you friends this is the amazing thing about jesus our lord he not only gave his life for us he set us free and more than that he now calls us his friends he not only calls us his friends he also tells us we are now the adopted child of god in other words being a slave of jesus has amazing tremendous blessing the blessing of true freedom not just the blessing of true freedom also the blessing of becoming a friend of jesus a child of god it does not mean jesus ceases to be lord our obedience to him continues except he is saying i am not just your lord yes forever he is our lord he's our master and yet he's not telling us you are also my friend you're my brother friends knowing jesus as our lord is so liberating adonai jesus is our lord how do you respond complete surrender obedience unconditional obedience joyful obedience devotion there is this amazing love from the heart you obey not out of obligation not out of duty more than that it's out of devotion out of love and lastly you serve him because of this amazing anticipation what do we mean by anticipation the truth is this any early master can expect our devotion service but they don't have to reward us but the truth is this god jesus is an amazing master he promised to reward us especially to those who are faithful especially to those who love him do you know what are the promises of god to those who are faithful to him to those who are eager to serve him how should this anticipation impact the way you and i respond to him notice the apostle paul the product of god's grace the product of god's devotion he became so devoted to the lord and this is what he tells us therefore my beloved brothers and sisters referring to followers of jesus be firm immovable always abounding in the work of the lord curious knowing that your labor is not in vain in the lord do you notice the motivation the motivation is this the work that you do for the lord is not in vain the word vain meaning it is not wasted it is not like empty air the truth is this many of you many of us will someday get the shock of our lives why as we stand before god there is nothing eternal nothing of eternal values why you may not realize this everything you do for yourself the amount of money you have no matter how prestigious you are all your material possession they are nothing someday i was talking to somebody just this morning what is the difference between the rich man dying and the poor man dying do you know the answer the price of the funeral service and the price of the casket other than that everything is the same the rich man cannot bring anything with him the poor man cannot bring anything with him someday when you stand before god i hope it will not be a life of uselessness why because you have been serving yourself you are the lord of your own life but paul is saying if you serve god as lord your life will never be in vain notice you must know that your labor is not in vain in the lord so my question to you is this are you serving our lord and master based on his agenda based on his mission and based on his will and if you understand our labor is never in vain what will happen to you well number one you'll be firm stable immovable not this always excelling in the work of the lord consistency faithfulness why because you anticipate the eternal future the truth is you cannot serve two masters the truth is you're always serving something or someone think about it without exception you are either serving yourself which can be a very cruel master when you begin to serve your passion when you begin to serve yourself it will lead to end slavery or you can be serving things money possessions prestige but you are always serving something or someone and jesus tells us clearly you cannot serve two masters and that's why i encourage you to make a choice you need to make a choice today who will literally be the master of your life the lord of your life i'm not asking you to make jesus lord he is lord whether you like it or not he is lord i'm only asking you are you willing to surrender are you willing to recognize jesus as your personal lord and savior and that my friend is another definition of evangelism you know what is evangelism telling them the good news that jesus is lord and that they are to surrender their lives to jesus the king of kings and lord of lords and i'm asking you today have you made that decision to surrender to recognize him as your lord i'm asking you to stop playing games stop deceiving yourself stop playing religion be a real follower of jesus in fact he gives you an invitation the bible tells us if you confess with your mouth jesus as lord as curious and believe in your heart god raised him from the dead you will be saved do you notice the promise of god salvation you will be saved condition confess with your mouth jesus as lord are you willing to declare publicly by your life that he is lord the question is is jesus your lord today or not the bible tells us one day the entire world the entire universe will know that jesus is lord the bible is very very clear that one day at the name of jesus every knee will bow those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth in other words the entire creation the entire universe those who are in heaven and those who are on earth and those who are under the earth no exemption everyone every town will confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father friends today is when you make that choice because someday you have no choice every knee will bow the question is is she your lord today if it's not your lord today someday you have no choice you'll be forced to confess that he is lord but that will be too late i pray that you make a wise choice a choice where you will say lord jesus i've been running my own life i've been the boss of my life for many years today i will surrender my all i will confess you today you be my lord you'll be my savior do you notice i'm not asking you to make jesus lord he is lord i'm asking you to surrender to his lordship your life will show whether he's your lord or not you cannot fake this because god knows i may not know your friends may not know but god knows and you know my prayer is that you will make this a reality because jesus is lord then you confess him declare him as your lord i'm gonna say short prayer so that you will be given the opportunity to ask jesus to really become your personal lord and savior let's pray lord jesus i want to stop playing games with you today i realize you are indeed our lord i want to recognize you as my personal lord and savior i invite you today lord jesus as my lord and savior come into my life be the master of my life i surrender all thank you for your promise if we confess you as our lord and our savior you promise us salvation you promise us eternal life in jesus name we all pray amen and amen if this has been a blessing to you kindly click on the space provided below we would love to chat with you in a short while we will have discussion questions and i hope you'll discuss these questions with your family the following are suggested discussion questions i really encourage you to discuss with your family with your wife with your children with your d group discussion question number one what does it mean jesus is lord number two is jesus your lord how do you know he is your lord based on the soda principle s o d a s surrender o obedience d devotion a anticipation last question is there anything in your life that hinders you from surrendering your all to jesus i pray that all of us will come to know jesus in a deeper way jesus is lord and savior i pray this to become true in your life god bless you you