So let's go to the word, and most of you know I share a very deep relationship with Pastor Sam. Even I won't believe me many times. While in the city church, I was worshiping, I stood with him for eight long years, every Sunday. Many times I stand there, I still feel I'm standing next to him. That's the kind of sense I carry in my spirit. So I'm so glad to carry on that relationship with the Next Generation, the deep relationship with Pastor Joel and Pastor Sandy. We're excited to have them in our midst. Give them a round of huge Applause and welcome person as he comes to share the word with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Pastor Manoha. It's so good to be in the house of the Lord. It's such a joy and honor to be with each one of you this morning. Thank you, Pastor Manohar, Hima, and all the leadership for this privilege to bring God's word to you all. It's such a joy to have my mom. She's been around, heard me preach a few times in Singapore. I miss my dad, but without a doubt, I know that he's cheering me on from the clouds of witnesses. I didn't want to get emotional, but when Pastor Manohar was sharing, I had to control my tears. But God is a God who understands.

God, Jesus himself, wept, so he understands our pain, our sorrow, the separation that we feel. You know, I don't know how many of you have your Bibles, but this amazing book that we have the privilege of reading, of spending time with, of carrying week in and week out, is the bestseller of all time. Bestseller of all time. It sold over five billion copies to date. It was written over a span of 1,500 years by 40 different authors, fishermen, prophets, kings. This book, most of you know, is divided into two: the Old Testament and the New. Thirty-nine books in The Old, 27 books in the New, combined together, 66 books, 1,189 chapters, roughly on average 600,000 words. The Bible, the bestseller, has a rich history of 2,000 years, but this book is still relevant for my life and your life today. All of the words, all of the pages, all of the chapters, both the Old and the New, intricately woven together, pointing out to one person. And who is that person? Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. I love the worship and the exaltation and going into the word. It's all about Jesus, the name above every other name, the King of Kings, the Lord of lords, the Messiah, my Savior, our Redeemer, the lover of our soul, the soon coming King. Jesus. Jesus.

Can I just encourage you to stand up for two minutes or two or three minutes of just a few seconds of just asking Jesus to be so present in our lives? Jesus. Jesus. We just honor you, our Redeemer, our Savior, our very best friend, the lover of our soul. We just honor you, Jesus. Be glorified in our midst today. Be exalted. And as you are glorified, draw all of us, draw all men to you. Father, we thank you. We honor you. We give you glory in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. My sharing today is titled "Run and Remain." Can we all say together, "Run and Remain"? You know, towards the last quarter—you, that means the dead end of 2023—I felt like a nudge from the Holy Spirit to study the book of Deuteronomy. How do I know it was the Holy Spirit? Because naturally, I don't have an instinct to study certain books in the Bible, and one of them is Deuteronomy. So when I had the urge not just to read it but to study it, I knew it was the Holy Spirit. And so I'm going to be sharing from my study. Amen. Amen.

Okay, so we're going to look at fortified cities. And when I talk about fortified cities, most people will think of Jericho, right? A fortified city in the Old Testament. But these cities were a bit different. We're looking at fortified cities called Cities of Refuge, and we see them mentioned in Numbers, in Deuteronomy, as well as in Joshua. So our first text that we're going to read today is from Deuteronomy 19:1-10. If you have your Bible, turn with us. Deuteronomy 19:1-10. "When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he's given you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their own towns and houses, then set aside for yourself three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. Determine the distance involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee to the refuge, to one of those cities. This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety. Anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice or forethought—for instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his axe to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit the neighbor and kill him—that man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him, even though he's not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice or forethought. This is why I command you to set aside for yourself three cities. If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he's promised them, because you carefully follow all of these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him—then you are to set aside three more cities. Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed."

Wow, it's a mouthful, right? That's why most of us are like, "Oh, Deuteronomy, maybe some other time." The Lord your God, the Lord your God. But this is a powerful passage. You know, many of us have a different picture of the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. They're the same God, by the way. But we think of the God of the Old Testament to be more stern, stricter, more fierce. However, the God of the New Testament to be loving, kind, gracious, and compassionate. But when we read this passage, can you see the compassion of God? These are the words God spoke to his servant Moses, God telling Moses, "You know, set aside three cities on this side, on the East, and three cities on the west of Trans Jordan." He's giving him clear detail with such intentionality in terms of the distance. Isn't

Our God the same God yesterday, today, and forever? The God of the Old Testament was a compassionate God. The God of the New Testament was a compassionate God. The God of our lives now is a compassionate God. The God who's coming for us continues to be compassionate, kind, grace-filled, gracious, loving. Amen. Amen. So what does this passage—sorry, what does this passage tell us? It says if a person unintentionally or accidentally kills somebody, he can run to the city, this fortified city. You must be thinking, "Why are you sharing this with me now? If I unintentionally kill somebody, I go to jail anyway." But the Bible was so clear. God had given these rules to Moses and said, "If somebody unintentionally does that, we want to create a safe haven for them so they can come to this fortified city." And then they talk about the avenger of blood. I don't know if you've heard of avengers of blood before, but we surely have heard of The Avengers, right? But avengers of blood was mainly a male relative of the deceased coming to take revenge against the accused. So that was the avenger of blood. Okay, just giving you some context as we go on, all right? Let's fast forward to Joshua 20:1-6. "Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood. When they flee to one of these cities, they are to stand in the entrance—listen to this carefully—when they flee to one of these cities, they are to stand in the entrance of the city gate, state their case before the elders of that city. Then the elders are to admit The Fugitive into the city and provide a place to live among them. If the avenger of blood comes in pursuit, the elders must not surrender

The Fugitive because the fugitive killed their neighbor unintentionally and without malice or forethought. They are to stay in that city until they have stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who was serving at that time. Then they may go back to their home in the town from which they fled.'" So The Fugitive, the accused, is running away from all that he knows, running into an unknown place. But what does he promise there? That he will be heard, he can state his case, he can state his side of the story, he can state his case, and the elders will hear him, not just hear him, open up the gate and say, "Hey, come on in, you've got a place with us." And if the avenger of blood comes after him, the elders are not meant to give the accused or The Fugitive to the avenger of blood. Please remember these things. We're going to draw a parallel very, very soon, okay? Our last passage from the Old Testament, Numbers 35:26-28. "But if the Slayer ever leaves the limit of the city of refuge and the avenger finds him outside the city and kills him, it will not be considered murder. The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his property." Is anybody drawing parallels? You will eventually. So the accused, The Fugitive, running for his life, letting go of everything. But he must stay in the city of refuge in order to be safe. However, if he chooses to leave the city of refuge, the avenger of blood can come and kill him, and it will not be held against him as murder. The accused, The Fugitive, has to stay in the city of refuge until who dies? The high priest. The high priest that is serving dies. And when the high priest dies, the accused can go back home, he gets his freedom.

Again, many of you must be thinking, "Wow, these cities sound great, but we don't have them in Bangalore or we don't have them in Singapore or we don't have them anywhere in this world at this point in time. I wish they were there." But all of us, most of us, if not all of us, can agree that we have been accused of something or the other that has caused us deep, deep pain. How many of you have been accused? [Pauses] You're scared to lift your hand? Okay, we've all gone through accusations, some not so painful, some very, very painful accusations. So, we can relate to the accused, can't we? And some of you who say, "Hey, I've never been accused," trust me, there is a time coming. We will all face that because it grows us. It's not for any other reason; everything happens under the safe covering of the Lord. But those kinds of seasons, they grow us like nothing else will. So, when we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, he will bring beauty for ashes. Amen, amen.

So, we looked at the accused, you and me. Who is the Avenger of blood? Great, our Avenger of blood is Satan. Sometimes when we look at the natural perspective, right, we always look, "Oh, Joel is doing this to me," or, "Pastor Manoa is doing this to me." We look at it from a natural perspective. But we are spiritual beings, and we are called to do things differently, called to have a different vision. So, if you want to open up Revelations 12:10, it says, "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before God day and night." The Avenger of Blood, also known as the accuser of the brethren, taking our case to God day and night, day and night. And that's why there's so much condemnation, so much guilt. But Jesus came to set us free, hasn't he? He has come to set us free. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but we've got to be in Christ Jesus in order for no condemnation. Amen.

Ephesians 6:12 says, "Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but it's against evil powers and rulers in authority." John 10:10 says, "The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy." The Avenger of blood, the accuser of the brethren, he comes to kill, steal, destroy. But Jesus came so that we may have life, not just life, life more abundantly. Amen. Now, we've got the accused, we've got the Avenger of blood, the accuser of the brethren, and now we've got a high priest.

So, what did it say in the Old Testament? When the high priest died, then the accuser got freedom to go back. Hebrews 4:14, I get goosebumps every time I read this. Hebrews 4:14, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." We don't just have a high priest, we have a great high priest who came down to this earth, who gave his life, his blood, his sweat, his oil so that you and I can be set free. So that you and I can be set free. It is finished. You know, I didn't share with the worship team or Pastor Manor what I was going to share, but when everything flows together, you know it is the Holy Spirit. What are you holding on to today that you've not laid at the foot of the cross? Jesus came so that you and I can be set free, once and for all. Not just a high priest, but a great high priest paying a great price to set us free so that we can live, not just live, but live abundantly. Amen, amen, amen.

So, as we go into 2024, can I challenge us to run to Jesus? Because no longer do we have a place, but our safety is found in a person, and his name is Jesus. Jesus, because Proverbs chapter 18:10 says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and they are safe." Run to Jesus before you dial a friend or dial your hubby or dial your mom or your dad. Dial Jesus, because he's willing to hear you. Sometimes when you go through trouble, we just want somebody to hear us out. The fortified cities, remember when the accused used to run to the city, the elders heard them? And sometimes we just want somebody to hear us, and Jesus is here. He's willing to hear you. He wants to hear you. Not just does he hear you, but he will protect and keep you safe. So, run to Jesus and to remain in Jesus, who is our ultimate refuge. In him, we find safety. In him, we find protection. In him, we find forgiveness of our sins. Therefore, we have no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because Psalm 46:1, we all probably know this verse by heart. It says, "God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble." Run to Jesus, where you will be heard, where you will be safe, where you will be protected.

2024, it's going to be a different year because we will run and remain in Jesus, the person of Jesus. Amen, amen. May God bless this word. Amen. Hallelujah. Let's just give a loud clap offering. Awesome, praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. I always say to everyone that my wife is a very anointed speaker. It's not just the message or the sermon; it's the anointing in the message that breaks the yoke. Amen. And here today, there is a time now for God to break some yokes, some strongholds need to be broken, some bondages need to be broken. Now, I'm standing here between you and your lunch. It's way past 12:30, 12:40 right now. But I'm just going to say that as Jesus said, man shall not live on bread alone, but from every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Amen. And here God wants to speak to you, and God wants to tell you something. And today, we don't want you to go without responding to this message. Amen.

I just want to invite the worship team to lead us in the song "Cornerstone." Um, Jesus is our cornerstone. I just want to again elaborate on what Pastor Sandy said. Some of you might have the spirit of discernment and might look at things from the spiritual realm, and some of you don't, because a lot of you just look at it in a natural sense. It's so important to look at it from the spiritual sense. You know, Satan's waging war against us. There are troubles, there are accusations, there's persecution, there's so much that's been prepared against us. It

's already there; it has been there. And guess what? It's only going to get worse. The intensity is only going to get worse. If you have read Revelation, if you have read Matthew chapter 24, if you've read Ezekiel and Daniel, you know, if you're living in the end times, today it will only get tougher. And today, we want each and every one of you to make a decision that no longer that each of you is just going to dial your father or mother or call Pastor or call your close friend or a spouse or a boyfriend, girlfriend when trouble hits you, but you will choose to make a decision to go run to Jesus when the trouble hits you. Run to Jesus and remain in him. Amen. Can we all ask you to just rise? Let's just take some time to worship.

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness

Let there not I dare not trust the sweetest frame

But wholly trust in Jesus' name

Say Christ alone, Christ alone

Cornerstone, weak made strong

In the Savior's love, through the storm

He is Lord, He is Lord of all

When darkness seems to hide His face,

I rest on His unchanging grace.

In every high and stormy gale,

My anchor holds within the veil.

Today's word is prophetic, urging us to build the church, to become stronger in the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We don't want to simply go through the motions each week, but to actively change and grow closer to Jesus. He calls us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, and each lesson learned should be a seed planted in our hearts, bringing us closer to resembling Jesus.

In these end times, it's crucial to run to Jesus and remain in Him. Despite the challenges and persecutions we face, Satan aims to keep us away from Him. But we must recognize his tactics and choose to seek Jesus first in every situation. He is our refuge, our fortress, and our strength.

Let us take a moment to reflect on any barriers keeping us from God and make a decision to prioritize Him above all else. We must allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in this commitment, as we cannot do it alone. Let's surrender to God's will and allow Him to speak to us, guiding us in His love.

As we commit to running to Jesus first and remaining in Him, let us worship Him wholeheartedly. Let us pray for the strength to endure and bear fruit for His glory. May His grace, love, and fellowship be with us always.

Amen.