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[0:00] Thank you for tuning into this message preached at Karis Church. The word of God is to be lived. May you receive direction from this message that will be a lamp to your feet.

[0:10] So today we're looking at this Sabbath, Christ our reason. We're looking at why Jesus is my why. W-H-Y. Jesus being my why. Christ our reason.

[0:22] Christ is the reason. Most of the time it is followed by for the season. But he's more than that. Because the season of Christmas comes and goes. So if he's the reason for the season, yes, we acknowledge that.

[0:33] But he's more than that. But the reason is the cause or motive for which you do a thing or you believe. So the cause or the reason for which you act or you believe.

[0:43] And for most of us, we have various reasons why we do different things. It is just part of life. As a parent raising children, when they were young, maybe around two, one of them will probably say no.

[0:54] When you tell them to do something, they'll say, oh no. And I say, you don't know what you're talking about. You will do it. And then, but as they grew, now they ask you why. Yes. And asking why is a sign of maturity.

[1:06] Because previously, when you were five or when you were two, some of you started early. And unfortunately, it still hasn't gone yet. Saying no for no reason. But you really had a terrible two.

[1:17] And your parents, that's why you have to really bless your parents. Because they've gone through with you. You were just interested in just saying no for no reason. But as you mature, you'd want to know why I don't want to do this.

[1:29] So the feeling of I don't want to do is there. But you need to understand why you don't want to do it. Just so that there's some education in the instruction you've been giving that you don't want to do.

[1:40] And so in the same way, as we serve God and as we mature, we have to have an understanding of why we do things. So we have Jesus in our lives. He saved us tonight. If you're not saved and you're on your way to hell, you don't have to go to hell.

[1:53] At the end of the service, you'll be given an opportunity for you to surrender your life to Christ. If sin has been bothering, you don't know what to do with it. Guilt has been harassing your life. You don't know what to do with it. You are loaded with issues. I mean, sin is the weight on you.

[2:05] By the end of the service, you would have an opportunity to give your load to Jesus. This is that he died for each one of us. And that today, God willing, as you open your heart, he will save you too. In Philippians chapter 1 verse 21, the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul is speaking to us.

[2:21] And telling us the life of the apostle. Philippians chapter 1 verse 21. We all know this scripture very well. Unless you're very, very new in the church. It's kind of a must-know scripture in Caris, isn't it?

[2:34] Yeah, it's a must-know scripture. So if you don't know, this is one of the things, one of the scriptures you have to learn. But the apostle says, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

[2:45] He said, for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. He's defining his why of his assistance. He's defining what his life testimony is supposed to be.

[2:55] This is his life commitment. This is the centrality of his life. He said, for us, for me, Paul, the apostle from Tarsus, and from all my other credentials, a former Pharisee, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

[3:11] The centrality of the Christian's why has to be, must be Jesus Christ. You must be able to say, for me, and the things that follow, at the end of the days, the summary of it must be Jesus Christ.

[3:25] So your personal commitment, your values, your motives, your convictions, your testimony, all that you are and hope to be the summary of it is to be Jesus Christ.

[3:38] The scripture tells us in Psalm 18, verse 30, it said, Ask for God. So we're just seeing what the apostles said. We're just going to look at a few people who said, ask for me. Ask for God. His way is perfect.

[3:49] Then continue to describe. So in totality, ask for God. Everything he does is perfect. So the word he's given, your salvation, your deliverance, everything he does is perfect. Said, when it comes to God, we're talking about perfection.

[4:01] Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 14, said, Ask for you, Timothy, continue in things that have been entrusted in you. There are things that must be that ask for me. This is how I roll.

[4:12] I wonder what your ask for me is. You can put your name and say, ask for me. So if you put your name there, ask for me, what are the things that would be said about you, or you would say about your own self?

[4:25] Ask for me. What will I say about myself? Ask to describe me. Ask to describe my values. Ask to describe my convictions. Ask to describe my belief system. Ask for me. Who are you?

[4:36] Daniel said, ask for me. I cannot defy myself with a king's meat. And that purpose in his heart, that conviction in his heart, led him to take some steps. And we see the resulting effect. Joseph said, Genesis chapter 39, he said, ask for me.

[4:48] I cannot do this wickedness and sin against God. He said, I just can't. When it comes to me, just me, I cannot do this wickedness and sin against God. The three Hebrew boys said, ask for us.

[5:00] We just cannot bow to this graven image, King Nebuchadnezzar, you've done, and instructing people to bow. For us, this is a no-go. This is non-negotiable. We can't do that.

[5:11] Joshua says, and it's in many people's homes. I think these days, it's going a little bit out of fashion. Christians want to be contemporary. Joshua chapter 24, verse 15, he said, ask for me and my family.

[5:22] We will do something. We will serve the Lord. So you can have your own convictions. You can have your own beliefs. But when it comes to me, this is my convictions. Every Christian, when there's the bit, you can talk about many other things, but the centrality and what weights, the weights to what you say is how is that anchored on Jesus Christ.

[5:42] Jesus was the core of Paul's life. He dominated his view, his interpretation of life. He was his driving force. He was his focus. He was why he lived, said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

[5:56] This evening, I'm making a case for Jesus in the life of the believer and in the life of the church. But Jesus has to be central. Jesus must be the center of the believer's life.

[6:07] Jesus must be the center of the church. Jesus cannot be eclipsed in the church by the many things we do. So in a thriving church, the church that is doing well, that we have many things that we do that is enhancing, is building.

[6:20] At the end of the day, all of it must be pointing to Jesus. The church belongs to him. We are his people. We are the sheep of his pasture. The fellowship belongs to him. The body is his.

[6:30] He is the head. He is the one who is coming back to take us to heaven. We belong to him and it can not be eclipsed. He is the giver of the gifts. He said when he raised up, he lived captivity captive and gave gifts to men, including pastors and teachers.

[6:45] So our God servant is Jesus' gift to us. The giver of the gift has to be honored above the gift. So I said, I think Jesus is very happy with us, but I take offense on his behalf.

[6:59] So in our subsequent services, what's going to happen? We will praise Jesus more. Jesus cannot be eclipsed in the church. Yes, he cannot be eclipsed in the church. Even sometimes we may have a powerful praise and worship leader say, let me hear your praise.

[7:15] Let me hear you shout. I'm like, for what? Why should I shout for you? Think about it. Yeah, you have the microphone, so we honor you for that.

[7:25] But for to shout, I want to shout for Jesus. So you can say, let the Lord hear your shout. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.

[7:38] Let's take our seat. I don't think it's ever intentional, but we can get into certain habits. And by the time we realize Jesus has been moved from the center, but he has to be the center of the church.

[7:52] It is his church. He died for the church. His blood purchased each one of us to bring us together. He's the one who is sustaining us. He's giving us a spirit to sanctify us till he comes for us.

[8:03] It belongs to him. Philippians chapter 3, verse 3. It says, for we are the circumcision who worship in spirit. Rejoice in Christ, Jesus said, have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh.

[8:16] If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh. I am also circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless.

[8:35] But what things are gained to me? These I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.

[8:53] And count them as rubbish. That I may gain Christ and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.

[9:04] The righteousness which is from God by faith. Then it goes on that I may know him. I think we all love that one so much. But then when we look at what the apostle is saying, he said from verse 7, he said, what things were gained to me?

[9:16] So all his credentials he spoke about before, he said, I count them loss. Not that he didn't have any profit to me. Because he was doing exceptionally well. He had access to the high priest. He was a person of importance.

[9:27] So he said, I counted loss, not for any reason, but for Christ. When it comes to Jesus, all these are nonsense. I counted loss for Christ. And then he goes on to say, yet indeed, I also count all things loss.

[9:43] For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. For whom? What does he do for Jesus? He said he suffers loss for Jesus. So one, he counts loss.

[9:53] All the things he has worked for are acquired. He said he counts loss for the excellency of knowing him. And then number two, I suffer for him as well. So we just look at these two things that the apostle said he does because of Jesus.

[10:08] So for him, knowing Christ and serving or suffering for Christ were his two fundamental things he did for Christ. Matthew chapter 13, verse 44 to 46.

[10:19] The Bible talks about finding a certain treasure and how you treat a treasure. So our knowledge of Christ must be, he said he counts everything as loss just so that he will know Christ. Verse 44.

[10:30] The Bible says that, again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and hid. And for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

[10:42] Verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and brought it.

[10:52] Verse 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore and they sat down and gathered the good into a vessel but threw their bad away.

[11:10] I said, when it comes to the kingdom of God, when it comes to Jesus is the manifestation of the kingdom of God. When it comes to the kingdom of God, this is how you're supposed to treat it, like a treasure. Getting to know Jesus must be treated like a treasure that you are ready to sell everything to get it.

[11:25] It has to be like a pearl that you are ready to do all another. Sold everything and went and bought that one pearl. Knowing Jesus must, it's almost the all of what we do here on earth to get to know him.

[11:38] Jesus said in John chapter 5, it says that, You search the scriptures that in that you believe that you have eternal life. However, it testifies of me. And so our study of the scripture is not an end in itself.

[11:51] It's not for our quotations. It's not for making messages and all that. It's that we will know him. To know the scripture is not an end. The end is to know him. The end is to know him. We read the Bible in order to get to know a person.

[12:04] Not to know verses, chapters and verses. We read the Bible to get to know a person. He's revealed in the scriptures. He actually calls himself the word. So when you open it, we are going to, let's go to the word.

[12:16] Let's go to the word. Let's go to Jesus. We want to find a way to get to know Jesus. Why do we pray? Because we want to communicate with him. He's at the center of our Bible study. Because when we sit with the scriptures, we are getting to know him.

[12:29] It's not because it's a daily reading. It helps. It's not because it's a message we heard on Sunday. It helps. But if at the end of the day, you know so many messages, but you don't know Jesus, you have missed the point of it. If you have read every chapter that you have been given that has come out, and at the end of the day, you don't know Jesus a little bit more.

[12:47] You have missed the point. The point was to get to know Jesus. He's the center of our Bible studies. He's the center of our preaching. He's the center of the messages you're listening. He's supposed to be.

[12:57] Why do we pray? We want to open ourselves up a bit more to him. That as we communicate with him, he communicates back to us. He has to be the center of our prayer. He has to be the center of our prayer life. So when you go to pray, you intercede.

[13:09] Why? Because these are the things on his heart. When he was teaching the disciples how to pray, he said, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth. We intercede because Jesus said we should.

[13:20] We intercede because he taught his disciples to pray. So when we pray, because he taught his disciples to pray. And so when we pray, we live by the example as disciples of Jesus Christ. Earlier on, when he spoke about the scriptures testify of me.

[13:33] At that time, we didn't have the gospels and the epistles and revelation. Did you? So he's talking about Genesis all the way to Malachi. He said, even that's where you see King David stories. People are going for war.

[13:44] People are cutting, wanting to cut people's babies into two. All kinds of things. They were farming, working in the desert. All manner of things. He said, all of this was speaking, testifying of me.

[13:54] All of that was testifying of him. He's central. He's central for the believer and for the church. We walk with the Holy Spirit because he said, I am going. But I will send the comforter.

[14:06] That's why we host his presence. That's why we say, Holy Spirit, come upon me. That's why the Holy Spirit anoints me. It's because he's the promise of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's not because we are supposed to be powerful. When he comes, he will do the work that needs to be done in us.

[14:18] But fundamentally said, I am going and I will send the Holy Spirit. That's why we will receive the Holy Spirit and walk with him. We don't want to grieve him. We don't want to quench him. Because he's the promise of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[14:29] Being with the Holy Spirit, Christ is the center of it. Because he said, he will not take what is of himself. But he will take what is of me, Jesus, and give to you. So the Holy Spirit's work is not to make us powerful or to do it.

[14:40] But he takes what is of Jesus and gives to us. So he's working purely on the behalf of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Even the work of the Holy Spirit, Christ is at the center of it. We obey him. We obey the word because he's the word.

[14:52] If you obey the word, you obey Jesus. We sing the songs we sing because it's to his praise and to his glory. Not because the songs are nice. Not because today the instrumentations were nice. He has to be at the center of our praise and worship.

[15:03] That is why you don't need to wait for the praise and worship leader to encourage you to do some things. Because you recognize that this is a moment set for Jesus. That is why our praise and worship leaders are also so conscious.

[15:15] Because this is holy ground. This is not a place for us to show off. Because this is secret time for Jesus. We come to church. We pray. You hear testimonies. We testify of his goodness. You hear the word of God.

[15:26] You be blessed. You give an offering. It's to his praise. It's a form of worship. You receive a blessing. You receive a benediction. You see, a lot of our service is towards you. Praise and worship is the time we've set apart for him.

[15:39] It has to be secret. It has to be a time. It's no time you're picking your nose, scratching your mum. I mean, all kinds of things. Some people, you see that they wish they would even sit down. Today, I don't like the songs. You miss the point.

[15:50] You miss the point of all the rehearsals, all the sound team coming together. The set up team. Everything is being done together just so that that moment that we give God, we give Jesus, will be from our hearts.

[16:03] They are just enablers. We are the instrument of praise. And Christ has to be at the center of that moment. We're going to spend eternity with him. So you can imagine if he's not the center of your life now and not really interested in building a relationship with him.

[16:17] He's not on your mind. You're doing your own thing. You've just got your badge. Christian. You've put it on and you've gone. Like the prodigal son. I've got my inheritance. I'm gone. I have eternal life. I'm gone doing my own thing.

[16:27] Guess who you're going to spend eternity with? What a shock. Maybe that's why Christians don't think about eternity anymore. Because Christ is not the center of our lives. So eternity seems like something far off. We don't want to hear it.

[16:38] We're not interested. When you say, yeah, okay, yeah, we are sent. Yeah, yeah, we agree. We'll go to heaven. We'll spend time with him. Maybe because he's not the center of our lives now. But if he's not the center of your life, you're going to spend eternity with him.

[16:49] I'm not sure. You may be out of darkness. Of course, here you want to be far. Is it there that you're going to be close? Oh, you're not going to be close. You're going to be far. He says some people, they cast demons in his name. He says, I don't know you.

[16:59] I don't know you. My name works. So when you invoke it, it works. But you, I don't know you. Jesus will also say, ask for me. I don't know you. I don't know you. Because here, he wasn't central in your life.

[17:10] Jesus can't have any other place. He has to be center or he's not involved. I heard of a story that I think God's even said it before. That some of us, Jesus, when we give our lives to Christ, we invited him into our car.

[17:22] You know, so he came in. And for some of us, we told him to sit at the back. No, some of us, we put him in the boots. Yeah. So you are driving your own car. You are going to your own destination. And you're doing your thing.

[17:34] The only thing is, he's with you, but in the boots. Some of us also, we gave him a little bit of respect. And so, okay, you come in the car, but you'll be at the back. No, even passenger, there are two categories. There are some who are at the front and some who are at the back.

[17:45] And so, some at the back. Yeah, the center one has access, isn't it? So Jesus is at the back. And I'm giving, keep quiet. Sit in this car. We are going. Okay. Some of us too, we've allowed him to, you know, come into the front seat.

[17:58] But he's still a passenger. He's not in charge. He's not in control. He's not center. Yeah. And so, he may be having conversations. He may be chatting, but he's not in charge. And some of us, we allowed him to sit in the driving seat.

[18:09] And we took the passenger seat, but we are telling him. You know some wives, the way they behave. Why are you going? Slow down. Why are you pressing? Ah, look forward. Why are you talking too much? Pay attention. Are you sleepy?

[18:19] No. Open your eyes. Don't drive like that. You need to behave yourself on the road. Some of us, we have become like that to Jesus. He's in the driving seat, but he's not free to drive. He, I mean, he wishes you, he would just get up and you just come and take the steer.

[18:35] And so, for some of us, and some of us also, that gave the steering to Jesus and said, Jesus, it's all right. I'm going to have a nap. Take me where you're taking me. We can rest in him because we fully trust in who he is and where he's taking us.

[18:49] We trust him. That is where knowing God will bring you to. You are in full confidence. Knowing Jesus, you are in full confidence that what he has said over your life, he will do it.

[19:00] You trust him. Every instruction he gives you, you are confident that it is for your good, that it will take you to a place of glory. So, he said he is, for the loss of all these things was for, first of all, knowing him.

[19:13] And then the next one was to serve him. In other words, the words that were used there, to suffer for him. Our service to God is expressed in many ways. Our life itself is supposed to be a service to him.

[19:26] It's dedicated to him. You're living. Christ is at the center of your living. And so, whatever is asked of you, if you've given yourself already, then it wasn't difficult to give your time. It's not difficult to give your resources.

[19:37] But because you have given yourself already. So, we go for evangelism. Why? We follow up. We do visitations. Why? Because he told us in Matthew chapter 28, so go and make disciples. So, if this is all part of discipleship making, we do classes, new believers, all these things.

[19:51] Why? It's because Jesus gave us an instruction. Not because it's your hangout. That's an addition. Not because he gives you a number of souls. That's a blessing. Not because he makes you look spiritual and powerful.

[20:03] That's a blessing. But fundamentally, when we step out, we step out because he instructed us to do it. And that all that we are doing is for him. We're in a church. Maybe you'll be asked, how many souls did you save?

[20:15] Your contact, your souls, all of that. It's good. But we cannot, Jesus cannot be taken out of that. And all we are thinking about is our numbers. And yeah, I'm going to dislocation. Yeah, I'm winning. Okay, I've won. How many contact do I have?

[20:25] It's all good. But if Jesus is out of it, it's in vain. If the reasoning is gone, if the motive is not Christ's, it's not pleasing to him. Because you are busy, but you're not busy on his behalf. You're not acting as his ambassador.

[20:37] You're not speaking on his behalf. You might be preaching the gospel, but it wasn't for him. That consciousness that you are the center of everything we do, including our kingdom services. Jesus has to be the center or else we're missing the mark.

[20:48] We go out because he said in John chapter 10 verse 16, he said, other sheep I have in other fold. So if Jesus has other sheep that he has, that all of them will become one flock and he'll be the one shepherd.

[20:59] Then we have to go bring them so that he can be the one shepherd that he desires to be. He is the center of all our efforts, of our discipleship process, of our evangelism. Jesus has to be. Or even all the way to our socials.

[21:10] When you sit in a restaurant and you're chatting, ha ha ha, you have to recognize that he is the center of our gathering. Yes, because he is the reason why we are gathered. Or else where would we know each other from?

[21:20] Where would we know each other from? But he's the center of it. And sometimes when we have lost that focus, that's why it becomes easy for your hands to be weakened. For you to become discouraged because we have lost, we are going, working, working, working, but we have forgotten why.

[21:37] When you lose the why of a thing, you've lost the strength of it. When you lose the why and the why can be the, Jesus is the most important why we can have. He's the only why we should because that he's the only one who can sustain us.

[21:50] He's the author and the finisher of our faith. He must be our why. He must be our reason. If he's not a reason, I bet you will be discouraged in the way. Some people have left and have abandoned, made shipwreck of their faith because they lost sight of Jesus.

[22:04] They lost sight. Jesus was completely overridden by your passion. But even over time, you've built Jesus to be the center of your life. You will say like, Joseph, I can't do this wickedness and sin against God.

[22:15] Meaning that's the foundation of most of the things we find that it's not pleasing to the Lord. Because if you, when you're seven and you are, you are feeling the heat of seven, you might even consider God's servant.

[22:26] Oh, maybe. Or God's servant has spoken to you. You may consider that. But it's even more important to consider God. Consider Jesus. That's a higher consideration. That's a higher consideration. Please, if you can consider Jesus and who he is to you.

[22:39] That's why you should be able to say, ask for me. There are some things that you have settled with him. There are some vows you've made in secret with him. In your prayer time, there's some commitments you've made with him. You've made to him. That's where the ask for me comes.

[22:50] Because it has become who you are. Your person. When you are open, your core, your strength inside. You've made some genuine commitment with God. I made this vow. I made that. I made that. I made a God. This is who I'm becoming. This is. I'm working with you in this way.

[23:01] So when you come out in your face with situations, ask for me kicks in. Because he's the center of it. Then, nah, we can't do this. Or we have to do this. Because as for us, we will serve the Lord.

[23:12] You have to develop it. When you hear people do things and you say, it's stemming from that. You can't borrow it. You hear it. It may encourage you. By living it, you have to find Jesus. And work with the Holy Spirit to help you to make Jesus the center of your life.

[23:26] Or else your work will be up and down mountains and valleys. It's a whole interesting journey. There isn't. The core is not strong. The core is not strong. And we can be in church.

[23:37] It's great to be in church. It's amazing to be in church. It's amazing to hear some amazing messages we hear in this house. But if we don't work with it, for Jesus to become the anchor, the foundation, what weighs us, what makes us solid.

[23:52] The work would not have been accomplished. Its purpose would not have been accomplished in our lives. And each one of us must make this commitment upon reaching the age of awareness and accountability. That is our baby dedication.

[24:02] Yeah. Each one of us must make this commitment to the Lord. And most of the time, it doesn't happen in church per se. It happens in times you spend with Him. In your secret place, as you read the scriptures, all of a sudden, it was such a rumor for you.

[24:14] Said, Lord, today, from today, I make this commitment. Ask for me. This. I'm committed to this. In the kingdom, as we serve Him, the other thing that He asks us to do is to love one another.

[24:25] Yeah. Yeah. So we have things we do as expression of our service. But the kingdom is made up of human beings. It said, you can't say you love the Lord, whom you have not seen, and not love your brother.

[24:36] But why do we love our brother? John chapter 13, verse 34 and 35. It says, It says, Why do we love one another?

[24:58] Jesus said, We should. It said, Your love for each other is a strong witness of me. Your love for each other is a strong witness of me. It said, Because why? It said, All will know that ye are my disciples if you love one another.

[25:11] So how we love one another is pointing to Jesus. But why do we do this? It said, Any commandment I give to you, that ye love one another. And so I mean love. We can go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. It's all over there.

[25:21] And see what love looks like. We can't go into that. But you can definitely read it. You can see what love is like. And it said, This is how you're supposed to express that with one another. One another. Live the one another life.

[25:32] I mean, it has to be so personal. It goes everywhere. Those of us who are married, the scripture says in Ephesians chapter 5, we like to quote this, 22 and 25. 22 addresses the wife. 25 addresses the husband.

[25:43] And 22 said, Submit. Why? Okay. Why submit yourselves as unto the Lord? So even in marriage, what you're doing must be, Jesus must be at the center of it.

[25:54] He said, Your submission is not complete if you don't do it as unto the Lord. Oh, wow. So it's not because of perfection, but because the Lord said, Do it as you do it unto me. And in the same way, verse 25, He said, Husbands, love your wife just as Christ.

[26:07] So Christ is in the center of the marriage. Love your wives. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So she's annoying. She doesn't listen. All of that doesn't work. It's not a qualification for loving her. It said, Just as Christ also loved the church and what gave himself for her.

[26:21] Wow. I honestly, I really like my submission because this one, if you're going to obey this, it's not an easy task because just as the church is not perfect, all wives are not perfect.

[26:32] I didn't say some. I said, All wives are not perfect. But it says, Love her. And not just love. It said, Give yourself. This is the bit I like. When I read the Bible, I feel so good. I love it.

[26:43] I say, God, you love me. Ah. This thing, Oh, I am so grateful. It's fantastic. Women, when they say, Don't complain. This is what God said they should do.

[26:53] And this is how they'll be judged. Ah-ha. He may say, I won't do, I won't do. But the day is coming. When this was, this is, this is God's yardstick. This is not my yardstick. This is not your yardstick. This is God's yardstick.

[27:04] And so, honestly, God, thank you. Ah, you love me so much. You are just amazing. I love it. I love it.

[27:14] I like my portion. I really like it. But Christ has to be the center of our marriages. You can see clearly, he didn't talk about just submitting, just love. But he brings himself in the center of it. He said, As I have done.

[27:25] As I have done. Do the same. Even in your workplace, in Colossians chapter 3, verse 22, the Bible talks about born servants. He says, Servants, I just want to help you. Because the bond will confuse you.

[27:37] But to be honest, you're all serving. One way or the other, isn't it? Yeah, even the owner of the business serves. They serve their customers. And so, don't take it personal. It's just that today, the new word is employee. But both are working.

[27:48] The fundamental thing is you are working. So, Servants, in everything, obey those who are your masters on earth. Not only with external service, as those who merely please people, but with sincerity of your heart.

[28:00] Because of fear of the Lord. So, when you go to the workplace, even there, Jesus said, I want to be the center of how you do your work. So, those of you have the tendency of fighting, putting gangs together, against all, you know, you are the ones conniving, you are calling for secret meetings.

[28:17] All manner of things. He said, work with sincerity of heart, because of your fear of the Lord. At your workplace, Jesus wants to be the center of how you do your work.

[28:29] Jesus has to be the center. Either he's in the center, or he's not involved. Yeah. Either he's at the center, or he's not involved. So, really, I think that a lot of us can easily find ourselves thinking that, okay, Jesus, just come along.

[28:42] Jesus, okay, yeah, I'm considering what you're saying. We are missing out of the best of God. So, the Bible says, for God so loved the word that he gave, his only begotten son. He's the only gift the Lord had for God.

[28:53] The Father has. After Jesus, there's nothing. God has nothing else to give us. If he gives you, would he not? How would we hold all other blessings, if he's giving you Christ? So, Jesus comes with a package of everything you need.

[29:04] If you put him on the side, you put on the side the best of God, the best gift God has for you. If you put him in the trunk, you put your best gift from God in the trunk. And so, you have to be conscious about how you live this world.

[29:16] How you make Christ the center of your life. That your motives, your intentions, yes, the devil can try and trick you. Because he came to Eve and said, did God say? He came to Jesus and showed him all kinds of things.

[29:27] Come to question. Turn, do this stone into bread. Do that, do that, do that. So, those questions, there's nothing wrong with them. But it's your response. If Christ is at the center, your response will show.

[29:38] And I'm always an advocate of building so that in the day of testing, what comes out is Christ. In your day of challenge, what comes out is Christ. So, let's take advantage and let's make Christ the center by wanting to know him and making him central in our service.

[29:53] In Jesus' name. Thank you for listening to this message. Why not visit your local Caris Church or follow us on all relevant social media platforms, including Instagram and LinkedIn.

[30:05]  You can also hear more messages on all relevant streaming platforms and the Caris Church app. Don't forget to like and share the message. Be blessed.