The Doctrine of Sanctification

00:00 Let's do the confessions together. I believe in the almighty God, our father and creator. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, God and my savior. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. He suffered, died, and rose again. He ascended into heaven. He shall soon come again. I believe in God the Holy Spirit who is worshiped and my guide. I believe in the Holy Fellowship, faithful giving, and service to God in this church. I believe the Holy Bible is the perfect word of God. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. And I can do what it says I can do. Today as I learn the word of God here in my spiritual family, I'm blessed, healed, and anointed for a [snorts] holy and victorious living. I will never again be the same in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Please be seated in God's presence. As we do on the last Sunday of every

01:02 month, we do a Bible study. And uh this year we have been doing the doctrines. Amen. And we have been blessed uh with the various doctrines that we have studied, the doctrine of creation, the doctrine of humanity, the doctrine of Lord Jesus Christ, of the Holy Spirit, doctrine of God. When we do all these doctrines, the topic itself is self-explanatory sometimes and we know that yeah, we talking about creation, we're talking about God, we're talking about Lord Jesus. But when it comes to a little more, you know, um technical words in the Bible like today, sometimes we get jittery, right? Today's uh topic is the doctrine of sanctification. And as long as the word is and difficult sometimes write the spelling of it. We have some doctrines like doctrine of justification of sanctification of glorification and uh we sometimes wonder what is it all about. But you know what holy spirit when he tells us something or he teach us something he makes it simple for us. Amen. So I believe today god will help us to understand this beautiful and important doctrine of sanctification

02:04 even as we dive into it. Let's go to page number one. Those who are watching us online, you can download the booklet from the YouTube description and you can follow along with us. Are you all ready? Amen. All right, let's go to page number one. What is sanctification? All right, the introduction talks about what is sanctification. Let's read that together. The Christian life does not conclude at the moment of salvation. It truly begins there. Salvation is not merely God's act of delivering us from the penalty of sin but also his continuing work of reshaping our entire being into the image of his son. This ongoing life transformation is what scripture called sanctification. All right. I was thinking of an example to help us understand what really sanctification is. This particular joke came in my mind you know and no example is perfect but just take it for the sake of understanding it. So there was this man you know who was in a revival meeting and uh he heard the message heard the gospel the preacher

03:05 preached it loud and clear and he accepted Christ Jesus in he said oh I need to give my life to Christ Jesus and he did that and then there was an invitation for baptism and so they took a baptism class and he says okay okay understand what baptism is and so he said I'll I'll take two three weeks and I'll come back and after 2 3 weeks he comes back for baptism right and as along with others the pastor baptizes him and as he comes up the daughter you know the pastor says John you are a new creation you know you are a new creation in Christ but I have one question for you when I baptized you the moment you were going down suddenly you lifted up your hand and you didn't allow the hand to go inside you just went inside but hand didn't go inside what was the reason John said pastor actually when you were baptizing me I have given my life to Christ I want to live for him but as you were baptizing suddenly I remembered that there was one person who needs one punch from me you know and I I I said okay you know I will just keep that hand for that moment pastor I'll go and deal the matter I come back and

04:08 baptize this hand so sanctification is actually a process of baptizing that hand now what I mean is that you know yes we have accepted Christ he lives in us but then there are some se some things in our life which are yet to change and it's a process amen yes you are a child of God. Yes, God is in you and God is working in you. But then there is after salvation, there's a lifelong process of growing in him, of becoming more like him, of changing things in our life. And that process is called sanctification. All right. Paragraph number two. While justification declares us righteous before God in a single moment, the day you accepted Christ Jesus in your life, you were justified. Amen. God said your sins are forgiven. I look at you as my son, as my child. You are justified. But sanctification is the daily journey of becoming what God has already declared us to be. Amen. You're we are already declared

05:12 what? We are children of God. Bible already says we are saints. No, but sanctification is a process of behaving like that. And God helps us to become and behave. You know, I love this word in uh Romans chapter 8:30. It says, "For those who are called, God has justified them. And those who are justified, he will glorify them." Glorified, right? And again, this word justification, glorification, you know, justification is the moment when you start your walk with the Lord, you are justified, right? And and and the zenith of glorification, you know, is when you see him face to face, you are glorified. And that's why people say, you know, it happens when you usually go to the grave and you go meet him. That's why people say you he's promoted to glory, right? But then there's a daily walk with him that helps you to grow from glory to glory to glory. Amen. And that process between justification and the glorification is called sanctification. Hallelujah.

06:16 So sanctification is the gracious work of God in partnership with the willing obedience of a believer by which we are progressively set free from the power of sin and increasingly confirmed to the character of our Christ Jesus. The Christian life is of continuous growth. To understand sanctification, one more thing you can um if you if you if you kind of parallel it with when you are born on this world, you were born to a family, isn't it? You know that's settled. There's no change. You didn't decide it but you can't change it. You know in the same way when you're born in God's kingdom that's settled. You are a child of God. Amen. But then a child who is born when you were born you have not yet attained the fullness of your growth. Right? It takes time it takes process. It takes environment. It takes your decision. And based on how you choose to grow in the process it determines how healthy you grow. Amen. And the sanctification is that process where God is helping you to grow in the maturity of becoming like Jesus Christ.

07:19 So what is the goal of sanctification is not merely to make people better but to make us more like Jesus. The goal of sanctification is to become more like Jesus. And God's purpose is to form his character within us so that our thoughts, desires, words, and actions increasingly reflect his glory. from the beginning. That has been the purpose of creation, isn't it? God made them in his likeness. Man lost the likeness through sin, but God is again working in us to make us like his son Jesus Christ. Page number two, God's role and our responsibility. One of the greatest tensions in the Christian life is understanding the relationship between God's work and a responsibility in becoming holy. Right? Sometimes you know always you know we we we have this okay just just because salvation is something that is 100% God's work right salvation we we we we

08:24 man could not do anything to get himself saved. Therefore, God had to do everything which is that he came down from heaven to earth. He lived here. He paid the price. He did all the work required for salvation. 100% he did everything. You don't have to do anything. Only we receive. Only we receive. But what about sanctification? From there on God, is it that again you will do everything for me? Right? No God, I I I I am angry. I'm an angry person or or you know I have this weakness in me. Lord will you take or or or when I say that okay this situation is not changed in my life. Is God responsible for it or am I responsible for it? So the paragraph number two says scripture rejects both extremes. The New Testament consistently presents sanctification as a divine human partnership. It always God loves to partner with us. Amen. What we cannot do he has he always does but what we can do he just helps us so that we can grow in

09:28 that area. Amen. Look at garden of Eden. He created everything including the garden. But then he placed man in the garden told him that hey take care of the garden. I was thinking hey God why couldn't you taken care of it? Why do you ask man to take care of it? Because man could not create the garden. God did that. But then God knows that man can take care of the garden he has created and know so I was remembering this simple instance from my life when uh uh I was small you know and then um yes my dad used to take me in his cycle we had a big Atlas cycle those of you remember those days right atlas cycle right so he used to take me behind in his carrier and then we had a scooter he used to take me behind and he could have done that when I was 5 years old he could have done that when I was 10 he did that he could have continued doing that when I 15, 20, 25, keeping me back off his scooter and taking me everywhere. But did it do that? You know when I was 8 years old, I remember that those days we used to have cycle shops where you can

10:30 go and pay 1 2 rupees and take a cycle for an hour, right? You can rent it. Small cycle, no a smaller version of the big cycle, right? Which I can drive. And so he took me in that cycle one of the holidays that we had summer holidays and we had a big open ground and he took me there and he made me sit and said okay I'm holding behind let's start I believe most of the parents taught their children like that right so and and didn't didn't have those support two extra wheels okay just two wheels right and so he he held a cycle and he was used to walk and I just pedal two days we did that third days he says okay we'll go faster Third days he was also running behind me right holding that and I was paddling it and after some time I was so happy. Hey dad, thank you so much. And I'm pedalling the cycle, you know, and I'm going confidently. After some time, I see I'm wobbling. Dad, what happened behind? He's not there, right? He has left the the seat, right? And he's watching. I said, "Dad, what did you

11:32 do?" Maybe I would have shaken. Maybe I would have no uh struggled with the balance. Maybe I would have fallen. But it's okay. It's okay. You know, but that is required. Unless he did that, unless he partnered with me in that manner, I would have never driven a cycle. He knew that I had the potential to do it and he partnered with me to help me in small ways. first by holding it and then slowly unknowingly he released it you know otherwise I wouldn't have allowed him to do that you know and when he did that eventually next 3 4 days I learned to balance the cycle and I drove it in next one two years I could drive his big Atlas cycle though my legs don't reach you know how you drive the big cycles you have seen that you know once you're expert you know and in that very big round I remember a instance I know you have seen people actually you know coming from opposite direction and left right left right and you know you have seen those kind of memes maybe it really happened to me you know when I was driving to meet my friend you know I was

12:34 driving from this side one uncle was coming from other side and for some reason we both are coming left both are coming right both are coming left both are coming right and both are together crashed you know I was remembering those instances anyway God initiates empowers sustains and completes the work while believers are called to respond through faith faith, obedience and perseverance or patience, right? And so God's role in sanctification, sanctification begins with God because holiness originates in God. And when God asked us to be holy, when God asks us to be like Christ, we cannot be without him because it originates from him. How can you produce something that is not in you? Only God can help us. And therefore, it originates from God. And he does not merely command his people to be holy. He works within them to make them holy. Look at the scripture. Let's read the 1 Thessalonians 5:23 together. May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. God takes the

13:39 responsibility from his side to sanctify us. And our sanctification rests entirely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. Can we read the scripture together? 1 Corinthians 1:30. But of him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Our sanctification rests completely on the finished work of Jesus. Next page. God's work extends beyond changing our behavior. He transforms our desires. Isn't that beautiful? He's just not asking us to change our behavior. He's also helping us to change our desires. Where do we find that? Philippians 2:13, the last part of that paragraph, it says, "For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Amen. In the process of sanctification, aren't you glad that God has not just left you and say, "Hey, do that." You know, just perform those actions. I want you to be like Christ

14:41 Jesus. He says, "No, I will also help you. I will also work in your will and your desires and I will change the desires in you. And that's so beautiful about the Lord. I love the scripture Hebrews 12:10. In the last part of this page, it says God disciplines his children for our good that we may share. What is that? We may share in his >> Oh, amen. We are not creating holiness of our own. We are sharing in his. >> He is holy. Amen. And he shares with us, partners with us. gives us his holy. He shares. We are sharing in his holiness. Amen. Let's go to page four. The Lord Jesus is the perfect model of holy living. His humility, compassion, purity, obedience, forgiveness, dependence on the father and love for others become the pattern for our life. So if you if your call and if your goal is to become like Jesus, then you know what Hebrews says, fix your eyes on Jesus. Hebrews 12:2 says, "I want to

15:46 become like Jesus. How do I do that, Lord?" Now, Apostle Paul is writing, I think he's thinking about Peter, you know, and saying, "Fix your eyes upon Jesus." What did he remember about Peter? Peter told when Peter was in the boat and Peter said, "I want to walk Jesus like you're walking in the water. I want to be like you." Jesus says, "Come." [clears throat] And what did Peter say? He says, "Yes, Lord." He looked at Jesus. As long as he was fixing his eyes on Jesus, he was walking on the water. May Paul remember that says, "Fix your eyes upon if you want to be like Jesus. If you want to do what Jesus does, then fix your eyes upon the moment Peter take took his eyes off Jesus, what he was do, he was sinking." Amen. Number one, fix your eyes upon Jesus. And then Peter likewise reminds us that Christ left us an example that you should follow in his So two things. If you want to be like Jesus, Bible says very simply, fix your eyes upon Jesus, follow his steps. Fix your eyes upon Jesus, follow his steps. Fix your eyes upon Jesus, follow his steps. I think

16:49 when Peter was writing that, he was remembering Paul. I think because Paul said, "It me like I imitate Christ." Amen. So what is our responsibility in sanctification? Look at the last paragraph. Paul commands believers to work out your salvation fear and trembling. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Please note he is not saying work for your salvation. He's saying work out your salvation. We cannot work for our salvation. Bible never tells that. Only God has to do. He did it. Amen. But he has done something in us which is that as we are born again, he has given us a new life, a new spirit, right? Which is born in us. And then we have to work it out into our mind, work it out into our actions. And that process is called work out our salvation. Now we Bangalore don't like that word work out. Isn't it? The moment we think about workout, what

17:51 is it? Gym. You know gym working out means gym right and who wants to work out because it is not easy it is a lot of discipline right you remember your commitments your new year resolutions on January 1st right I believe most of the gyms in the town they give beautiful offers the new year because they know they're going to make a lot of money and nobody's going to come after that, right? So they they give crazy discounts, right? But working out means a life of discipline. Working out means sweating and efforts. Working out means your time, your treasure, your talents to be invested. And therefore sometimes this becomes little challenging. If you ask a person who goes to gym, hey, why are you going and working out? Will he say you know what I work out because you

18:55 know I have only one heart what if it fails I go to work out because as I work out I'm trying to develop a second heart you know just in case the first heart fails the second heart works that's why I'm working out you will say hey what are you talking about you know working out is not that you will have an extra pair of lungs working out is not that you have extra pair of kidney that will come up you work out so that what you already have get strengthened Amen. The heart that is there, you do cardio. Why? Because you want to strengthen the heart that is already there. You want to strengthen the breathing and the lungs that are already there. Right? And working out is to strengthen what you already have so that it can do better. Why does Bible ask us to work out? So that you can not create something new. As I told you before, you cannot create something new. Amen. Only God can create. And what he has created,

19:56 he has created through salvation. He has created a new heart in you. Amen. He has given you his spirit in you. And now it is our responsibility to work out so that what he has already given to us can be strengthened, can be matured. And that is sanctification. Amen. What he has given is salvation, but what you work out is sanctification. That's your responsibility. We go to the next page. Page number five. We are called to action to present ourselves to God. Put sin to death in your body. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Strive for holiness. Abstain from sexual immorality. Cleanse ourselves from every defilement. Make every effort to grow in Christristian character. So spiritual maturity never happens accidentally. You have to underline that. You can put spiritual maturity never happens. Accidentally bold didn't become the fastest man on earth. accidentally Michael Phelps you know the swimming

20:58 star I think he had 21 gold medals 23 I don't know how much he didn't get that accidentally you know such didn't make 15,000 test runs accidentally you know there is required intentional obedience daily repentance and continually surrender of course suchin never required daily repentance maybe he did you know you know because if you if you if you if you think about it actually he used to say that he actually playing every match He used to come and watch if you had seen his interview. He used to watch how he played [snorts] how he got out which is repentance. I should not have done that you know. So so sanctification is happens or maturity happens through internal obedience. Daily repentance and continuous surrender. God never asked us to become holy on our own strength. The one who commands holiness also supplies the grace, power and presence near to pursue it. Let's go to page number six. So what sanctification is not? Many misunderstandings about holiness arise when sanctification is reduced

22:01 either to perfection, self-improvement, or an attempt to earn God's acceptance. Number one, sanctification is not perfection. Because 1 John 1:8 says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." While Paul openly acknowledges that he has not arrived, but continues to press forward towards the goal. In Philippians 3:12 and 14 even Paul acknowledges that he has not yet arrived you know he's still lacking but that is not excuse where he says no I am continuously moving forward amen to become more like Christ sanctification is not natural self-improvement it looks like okay you are disciplining yourself it's a natural self improvement but self-improvement is good can give you a long life can give you a good future and can give you a better grave. Okay, because you have money, you can have better grave. But only sanctification through salvation can give you abundant life here and eternal life beyond the

23:04 grave. Amen. Self-improvement has no scope beyond the grave. But sanctification has scope here as well as beyond the grave. So spiritual maturity therefore cannot be reduced to becoming a better version of ourselves. It is becoming increasingly like Jesus. And number three, the misconception sanctification is not a way to earn God's love. Please know that you are already loved. Even while you know you were in sin, God loved you and he died for you. So sanctification is not to earn God's love. It is because God loved us. That's why we want to become more like him. Amen. Let's go to page number eight. So far what we learned is what is sanctification? What is sanctification not? Now from here we are going to dwell into how to be sanctified, how to grow in sanctification. And the answer you know holy spirit are agent of transformation. We cannot grow in sanctification without the holy spirit. Sanctification is impossible apart from

24:08 the ministry of the holy spirit. While the father purposes our holiness and son secures it through his death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit applies Christ saving work in our daily life. Now you can read this through because we have already done the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. But if you go to page number nine, we'll see the following is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification. Number one, the spirit gives new life. I love that words in Romans, I believe in chapter 6, it says, you know, the very same spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead will raise you up also in the newness of life. The spirit which raised Jesus from the dead is the same spirit working in us to raise up us up in the newness of life. So spirit gives us new life. The spirit convicts and cleanses. The spirit empowers our victory over sin. The next page, the spirit transforms our character through the fruit of the spirit. The barometer, the thermometer of a mature

25:12 Christian life is in Philippian is in Galatians 5:22. If you want to know how much you have grown in Christ, just match yourself in that list. The fruit of the spirit, which is how much you have grown in love, how much you have grown in joy, in peace, in patience. Peace will be tested in Bangalore roads. Okay. Okay. patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. You [snorts] know that is the thermometer of or barometer of our spiritual maturity. Not how much we can speak in tongues or not how much we can prophesy. Paul never says he says this is the barometer, the thermometer of spiritual maturity. Page 11, two moments of sanctification, putting off and putting on. Now Bible emphasizes in Ephesians as as well as Colossians this concept of putting off and putting on. If you look at the second para the first

26:14 is putting off the old self with the sinful desires and practices a process theologians have traditionally called what? Mortification. Again a deep jargon mortification but I'll simplify it you for you. You have heard about mortine. You go around with killing cockroaches and I believe it came from here. Put to death that cockroach. Mortification. Morty. Mortification. Right. The second is putting on of Christ or the new life in Christ by cultivating his character and walking in obedience. A process often referred to as vivification. Now I don't have analogy for that, right? It's okay. So look at Ephesians 4:22:24. It says, "Put off your old self which is being corrupted by it deceitful desires and put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." The last bold uh a Christian maturity is therefore not simply about removing sinful habits but replacing them with

27:16 the character of Christ. It's important that you know in the process of sanctification we have to put off and put on. Imagine you have gone for a morning walk or you gone for a gym in the morning and what happens? You sweat, right? You sweat and you come back and you say, "Oh, I have to go to office. You know I'm getting late. So, let me just put on a new dress." You have not removed the old dress. You just put on the new dress. From outside, you will look ah tip and top. But then what will happen? By the time you reach office, it will be smelling. Why? Because you did not put off something that was had to be put off first. Amen. So sanctification works in these two manner both are important. Putting off and putting on. If you go to page 12, the first movement of sanctification is putting off the old self with the sinful desires, attitudes and practices. Why? Because sin is not a passive weakness but an active power that continually seeks to deceive, enslave and draw believers away from intimate fellowship

28:19 with God. So therefore it is has to be a daily process a daily requirement of know evaluating and going in God's presence and putting off right because sin can deceive therefore scripture calls believers to put to death this in this involves more than avoiding outful sinful behavior we to identify and forsake the hidden sins of our heart also pride selfish ambition envy bitterness lust unbelief greed fear and every affection that competes with Christ for its first place the battle against sin is daily and intentional right it requires continuous repentance honest self examination and wholehearted surrender to God now putting on Christ sanctification however is not complete when sin is removed or I'm not doing any sin you know I'm very careful about avoiding that is not all about it you have to also put on Christ because when you remove one cloth and don't put another cloth what happens you still look naked Right? So you have to put on Christ. The rhythm of sanctification.

29:24 Page number 13. These two movements putting off and putting on must always remain together. To focus only on putting off sin can produce a life marked by legalism, fear and constant unhealthy examination. Now that is the problem. If you just focus on putting off because you will always be in the point of don'ts, don't don't right that's legalism and fear and constant unhealthy selfexamination. Have you se seen some people who always feel worthless, unworthy, you know, because they are just focus focusing on putting off. to focus only on putting on Christ while neglecting the seriousness of sin leads to spiritual complency. So actually we need both putting off and putting on Christ together. Amen. Let's go to page number 14. The ultimate goal is Christ likeness.

30:29 From the beginning, if you look at the scripture, God's goal always has been and he created man to be like him. Isn't that true? You know, Genesis 1 26 and 27, let us make man in our image and likeness. Amen. God has always desired that we his children will be like him. But then when sin marred you know our our our stature it marred you know who we are who we were God again worked through salvation through Christ Jesus so that we can be like him and sanctification is that process and God's ultimate goal always has been that each one of you here will look like Christ. Amen. Just tell yourself God wants to look me like Christ Jesus. Okay. Turn to your neighbor and say, "God wants you to look like Christ Jesus." Amen. And that's what God is working in us so graciously. The apostle Paul declares for those whom he forneew, he

31:31 also presented predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Now we have already learned chryology in the previous doctrine. But what does it mean to become like Christ? Number one, we are called to imitate his humility. You know, God wants us to be humble, not prideful. Remember that all that we are and all that we have is because of his love for us. >> Amen. Nothing of our own. Now, where we are, it's his grace. You know, he has been faithful to us. In the midst of our unfaithfulness, in in the midst of our weaknesses, he has been faithful to us. He has always given us more than what we ask or imagine. How can we ever be pride proud about it, you know? Thank you, Lord. Number two, we are called to imitate his servantheartedness. Oh, our Lord Jesus is a beautiful example of servant leadership. You know Christ who is the head of the church. You know he came down and he served the church. He served his people. He washed his disciples feet. He is a servant and

32:35 God wants us to serve others with that heart. We are called to imitate his sacrificial love. It's only God's children who can love sacrificially. You know, everybody else is able to love with a price, love with a clause. But God's children are able to love sacrificially, not expecting anything back. Why? Because God gave me, I give you. Amen. God forgave me, I forgive you. God blessed me, I bless you. Amen. I am not expecting anything back from you. It's God who will take care of me. That attitude is only with God's children. Amen. Because we know he can supply all our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus in glory. Amen. And so we are able to give without expecting anything back. We are called to imitate his patient endurance. Just like Christ suffered unjustly yet entrusted himself to the

33:37 father. Peter reminds believers that Christ left us an example so that we also might follow his steps. Okay. Finally, we are called to imitate his mission. Very important. Jesus came on this earth with a mission to seek and save the lost. And how do we imitate him? We also do the same thing. We seek and save the lost. That's how we imitate Christ. All right, let's run to page number 16. A curriculum for Christlike spiritual habits. Christlikkeness. Oh, there is a course to take. [laughter] There's a curriculum to follow. Why? Because while Holy Spirit is a divine agent of sanctification, he works ordinarily through God-appointed means to accomplish his transformation. If we desire to become like Christ, we must intentionally cultivate a way of life that continually places us before his transforming presence. That song that we sang was so beautiful, right? You increase and I decrease too. know that is in the ultimate intention and as you develop the spiritual habits that what happens

34:40 he increases and you decrease but it's a it's a curriculum it's a process right the apostle Paul urged believers to imitate his way of life in Christ Jesus look at the next page page number 17 some of the foundational spiritual habits include prayer that's why prayer is important why because it's a process of sanctification where He works in you. He helps you to become like Christ. Bible reading and meditation, solitude and silence, fasting, Sabbath rest, worship, generosity. Next page, service, witness, and Christian community. Now when it comes to spiritual habits you know pastor Danny has taken beautiful uh Bible studies on that for prayer groups and you should we may have it somewhere on the website soon but you should actually understand what spiritual habits are right habits are what make you habits are what you become right and and and sometimes we go crazy on spiritual oh today Lord there's a

35:42 revival so I will do everything together I will fast for next 40 days I will pray for 10 hours I will don't do that because when you go to gym you know what happens when First day you are on a jo and then next day you say yo and third day you stop going to gym right spiritual habits are something that you form slowly short in short you know measures but you grow that and so ask the lord god I want to these are spiritual habits I want to grow in and take some spiritual habits lord this season I'll I'll focus on prayer and bible reading this season lord maybe you want me to fast this season maybe you want me to actually, you know, serve or or or or or or grow in worship or be generous, right? All right. Page number 19. Obedience, the pathway of sanctification. The New Testament consistently teaches that genuine faith produces a life of obedience. The Lord Jesus repeatedly taught that obedience is evidence of a genuine relationship with him. He said, "If you love me, keep my" and what does James want you to do? Next paragraph

36:46 says, James echoes the same truth. They are just believers. Be doers of the word and not hearers only. Let's go to page number 20 as we conclude. The doctrine of sanctification is ultimately the story of God restoring his image to his people. You know God's greatest desire. You know what is again I'm repeating is that you become like Christ and each day you should say God am I growing and becoming more like you. Now am my my thoughts my actions are are they becoming more like you? You know sanctification is not the loss of life but the recovery of the life we were created to live. So don't take the process of sanctification as some kind of punishment. It is the life God had wanted you to live. The life of blessing and freedom. And the the the work of sanctification finally gives way to glorification. I told you right. Those who are justified they are glorified. Amen. God glorifies them. And sanctification is a process towards the glorification. So last paragraph, may we daily seek to be with Jesus, become like Jesus and do what Jesus did until the

37:50 day faith becomes sight and we hear our Lord say, well done, good and faithful servant. Then the work of sanctification will be complete and we shall dwell forever in the presence of the one who loved us, redeemed us and transformed us into his glorious likeness. Let's close our eyes and let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you father Lord for you have done it all. You loved us. You made a way for us. You saved us, oh God, Father, Lord. And in this process of sanctification, you are there with us as a partner, Lord. Thank you once again, oh God, for we not alone in this journey, but you are working in us to make us more like Christ each day and through the help of your holy spirit through your word. Thank you, Father, for we are growing from glory to glory. We pray each day, help us to surrender ourselves to you so that you can make us more beautiful. You can make us more, Lord, worth and you can make us, oh Lord, more stronger each day, oh God. God and more like you. Thank you for your presence with us today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Just put your hands together. Welcome our dear pastor. [applause] >> Thank you pastor Deepak for that

38:55 beautiful study on sanctification. Actually sanctification and holiness are heavyweight topics but the way it is uh taught and prepared you know feels we feel so encouraged. We want to do it by God's grace. We allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. So, thank you Pastor Deepak for that beautiful Bible study. Thank you very much. And thank you Pastor Danny for preparing all these Christian education materials. I don't know from the last more than a decade you know in this church constantly studying God's word and preparing. I often don't mention it but all of you know that he's been working on it. [snorts] This October 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, um we are going to have 3 days of fasting prayer at uh 10:30 a.m. in the morning and 6:30 p.m. in the evening. We are not calling any guests or singers or

39:59 preachers, but we are calling all of us. Let us come and pray and spend time before God. It's going to be 3 days of fasting prayer. Want to thank God for pastor Shali Reddi came all the way from Mumbai. Thank you so very much. Thank you. We're so blessed with your ministry. All of you who are who are here [clears throat] today, you are a visitor, you're a guest. We want to thank you for coming. Thank you for visiting our church. We love you and we pray to God that you will be blessed with his salvation and his grace and if you're not going to any other Bible-based spiritfilled church then you come here every Sunday and you make this your spiritual home I came here 25 30 years back I can't leave you know make this your spiritual home you will grow in the grace of God that uh outside there is a guest launch some of us are waiting there to meet you personally,

41:01 greet you, treat you and take some of your details like your name and contact number so we can keep in touch with you. We really love you. And uh if you're going to any other church and you came here for some reason, please [music] go back to your church next Sunday and give our regards to your church and pastors. Uh today as you stepped in they gave you a cake. That is because 25 years ago I and my wife got married. Today is [applause] today is our uh 25th marriage anniversary. So or 25th I don't know how to say it. So [music] keep us in your prayers. 25 years of serving in the church together has been the greatest opportunity in our life to [snorts] serve God in the lives of people. And uh we're so glad for [music]

42:05 the life God has given us and now with our sons both of them and the wonderful team that uh serve with us [music] in serving God together. Thank you for allowing us to serve God in your life. We feel so wonderful to be servants of God [music] in the kingdom of God. So keep us in your prayers. Today I'll be praying for people. Please don't worry about wishing me. I'll be in a full mood of prayer. So uh you know prayer time we don't talk much. You know we [music] talk to God. Those who like to talk personally at the end of the book there is one number given that is not heavenly number it is earthly number it is the authorized service center of heaven on the earth. So you also have detail so you can call up the church office details are here [music] and and fixed time to meet with the pastors but you

43:08 also have chapel service every Wednesday at 7:00. Though many of you you want weekday [music] you want you know to recharge Wednesday prayer you come also prayer groups that are happening in various areas teens church happens that of course is only for teenagers chronology okay [music] um actual biological age uh of of teenagers because many are teenagers in the spirit that [snorts] you can be in the spirit at home [music] but this is for physically gathering together every second Saturday sometimes when people are hospitalized and need prayer just call the church pastors they will definitely uh organize for coming and praying or we'll have the prayer group leaders of that area coming and praying [music] this uh Monday that is tomorrow is Monday no so tomorrow evening we are going to have the midnight prayer starting at 10:30 because we're moving into the new month so go ahead and pass the word for those who want to can come and pray. Shall we stand? We'll

44:12 sing a song [music] and we'll pray together. I stand amazed in [music] the presence of Jesus [singing] the Nazer. [music] Oh yes. And wonder how he could love me. [music] a sin, a condemned, unclean [singing] soul. [music] We sing how marvelous, how [music] wonderful, and my song shall [singing] ever be. >> [music] >> How [singing] wonderful is [music] my Savior's love for me. It was in [music] the [singing]

45:16 garden. He prayed not my will but thine, oh father. Yes, he had no tears for his own griefs, [music] but swear drops of blood for mine. How marvelous, how my Jesus, you made our song wonderful. [music] Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful is my savior's love [music] for me. >> [singing] >> The [music] angels beheld him and came from the world [singing] of [music] life

46:20 to comfort him in the sorrows. [music] He bore for my soul that night. So we sing, lift our hands and tell him how marvelous Jesus, how wonderful you've [music] made my song, my song is of joy, is of faith. Oh, how [music and singing] marvelous, how wonderful is [music] my [singing] Savior's love. Let's sing it one more time. How marvelous, how [music] marvelous, how wonderful [singing] and my [music] song shall ever be. Oh myior's

47:23 love for me. Go ahead, [music] church. Give the Lord a mighty hand. Take a few minutes, open your mouth, take time to praise him. [music] Every sad song is going to change into songs of marvelous grace. Every songs [music] of pain and suffering, let it turn into songs of marvelous grace and joy. Every [music] song of depression and fear turn into songs of grace and joy that are marvelous. [music] Oh, the anointing of the Holy Spirit fill [music] every life. Come on everybody, let there not be a person here who [music] is afraid to praise, who is afraid to worship. Everybody be bold in the [music] spirit. Your song is changing into a marvelous song. Your life song is changing into [music] a

48:27 sanctified glorious song. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come on. Wherever you are standing, give the Lord a mighty hand. Clap your hands. Open your mouth. Go ahead. Praise [music] him. God of [music] miracles, God of signs and wonders, the glorious son of God that [music] walketh in the minora, holding the stars in his hand, [music] the alpha and the omega, the eternal. We worship [music] you the name above every other name. We worship you. Hallelujah. Every [music] knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus the son of God to the glory of the father. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

49:36 How [screaming] marvelous, how wonderful, and my song [singing] shall ever be. How [music] marvelous, how [singing] wonderful is my savior's love for [music] me. Yes Lord we want to thank you that you have changed the song of our lives. [music] Hallelujah. Thank you Lord that you have commanded [music] let the weak say I am strong. Let the poor say I am rich [music] because of what the Lord has done. Father we thank you that you have sanctified our lives [music] and you continue to cleanse us. You continue to work on us [music] as making us masterpieces of your plan. We thank you Lord that all of [music] what we go through is somehow useful in your hand.

50:39 Much of what we do to ourselves or the society does [music] to us or the mistakes that happen or the success. We thank you that none [music] of those things surprise you. We thank you that through it all you are shaping us for your glory. Thank you Lord. The one thing we know is the [music] only fingerprint we want on us is your holy fingerprints. [music] Let your touch be mighty. Your breath of your holy spirit [music] be mighty on each one of us. Father, we especially thank you for all of us who [music] are here today as visitors who are here as guests. They have come for the first time. May your saving grace be [music] upon them. May your blessing be upon them. Thank you for pastor Shelley Ready and their wonderful ministry [music] that God you're using them around the world. Father we thank you for your goodness and we pray for those who are celebrating their [music] birthdays or their marriage anniversaries this week.

51:41 Oh father let it be a blessed year [music] ahead in their lives. We pray for those who are traveling that your journey mercies will go [music] with them. Father God, we pray over the tithes, the offerings that we give you from a heart of love. [music] Everything we have in our life is blessing from you. Anything good in our life has surely come [music] from you. And as we give you back a portion of it financially, as [music] an act of worship and thanksgiving, it's our prayer that your blessing be upon it, oh God. [music] Father, now we pray for some of our homes that are going through pain. [music] Last week was probably so disastrous. They lost a loved one. [music] They've gone through a tragedy. Holy Spirit, we thank you that you are there with us even in our moments of pain. [music] Thank you. And we really pray for such people believed

52:45 that are going through maybe some shame [music] or pain. May this week and the weeks ahead become seasons of strength and comfort. Help them to run closer to you. Help them to come and hold [music] you and find grace from you as every demonic and evil will try to take them away from you. [music] Holy Spirit, we pray for your strength in their hearts that they will become victorious and [music] successful that through it all your grace will be mighty upon them. [music] Lord, as your servant today, I pronounce your blessings upon each one here. May the coming week be a blessed week in their life. Full of your victory, full of your grace, full of your greater plan, full of your glory. To you be all the glory and honor in Jesus most holy and matchless name we pray. And the people said, "Amen." The grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of our heavenly

53:48 father, and the sweet abiding presence of the Holy Spirit [music] rest and abide upon each one of us from now and forever more. Amen. Amen. Love you. God bless you. Have a blessed week ahead. Bye-bye. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.