1.The Old Covenant Is Obsolete - Zac Poonen

I want to read a verse first of all in 1 John and chapter 2 John wrote this letter towards the end of the first century and having observed the decline of Christianity in 60 years the tremendous decline that we see in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 the condition of some of those churches there were elders who are allowing their wives to be like Jezebel bringing spiritual light adultery into the church Babylon had started even then so-called Christian churches first century there were people who were preaching like Balaam for money you read it all in Revelation chapter two and three had lost their first love they were legalists when you lose your love you become a legalist every legalist is one who's lost his fervent love for Jesus and for others you see all of that in the first century and when john saw this he must have sought god he had a lot of time alone on the Isle of Patmos and he says in 1 John chapter two he says in verse eighteen children it is the last hour this is 95 KD more than 1,900 years ago he says it is the last hour and you heard there's a big Antichrist coming but already many Antichrist small antichrists have already appeared and these small Antichrist verse 19 have gone out from our midst that means they were sitting in the church for many years but the powerful preaching of the Apostle John drove them out they got offended they left but through the years as that John the Apostle died and now and then here and there there would be a few people preaching in the spirit of the Apostle John who would drive out the spirit the Antichrist from their local churches but in most places in the world that powerful preaching of the anointed preaching of the Apostle John was missing and so the Antichrist flooded the church the spirit of the Antichrist the spirit of the Antichrist is a spirit of pride it's a spirit of lying and hypocrisy it's a spirit that loves money and position and power this all comes right into the church and it's the opposite of the Spirit of Christ and he said when he saw all this at that time it is the last hour that means it's already the last hour we would say in modern terms 11 p.m. one hour before midnight and so when we think of the time in which we are living 2008 it's going to be 2009 in a few days we are past 11:59 p.m. we're in the last minute in a few seconds before the coming of Christ now it's one thing to talk about it but if you really believed it the way you would leave every day would be different your passion to live for Jesus to be like Jesus to fervently love him and to obey His commandments and to manifest his glory by our life and to build a church that manifest his glory that passion will be so great that everything else will fade into insignificance you know that song we sing turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace there is only one way to know that you are looking into the face of Jesus that the things of Earth are becoming dim your interests and your concern about your money or even your concern about your health and your wealth you see health and wealth are the main things being preached as of gospel today it's a false gospel and I have to show this world and Christendom that I leave my health and well to God I don't preach your health and wealth gospel and I'm not worried about health or wealth because God takes care of that do you live like that can you say before God that you believe that God will take care of your wealth needs and your health needs otherwise you got a very variation of the health wealth gospel also even though you may not preach it because you're so concerned about earthly things that things alone have not strangely dim I'll tell you something if you honor God alone are you if you seek to make Christ preeminent in everything he'll take care of all your financial needs you'll take care of all your physical needs and your children's needs and everything and we've got to be living demonstrations and every year our passion to demonstrate that to the world around us must be greater we must never come off never when I see young people teenagers and people in their twenties pathetic and sluggish I say you guys should be setting me on fire not me setting you on par you should be setting me I'm nearly 70 you guys at 20 and 30 what are you doing are you really allowing the Spirit of God to baptize you with fire so that you can be passionate for Jesus in these few seconds before he comes again it is the last minute dear friends dear brothers and sisters it is the last minute and there are many many more antichrists spirits of the Antichrist spirits there are contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ so we decided not to have a theme like we usually have for our conferences this time but we've encouraged all those who share to speak on anything but it must be the burden of their heart and I want to share whenever I speak the burden on my heart you know the Old Testament prophets would very often say the burden of the word of the Lord you know what that means the imagine carrying a heavy 100 kilo bag on your back and they bends you down you can't even lift up your head and you struggle along that's a burden and how relieved you will be when you've reached your destination with that hundred kilo burden and dump it where you should dump it that's the way the prophets felt in the Old Testament when they had delivered the message I mean whether people took accepted it or not was another thing most of the time the people didn't accept it it didn't make a difference but they were relieved of the burden the sad thing today is that many who preach don't have a burden they they have knowledge they study but they don't have a burden in their heart it's not from their heart it's from the head and that's why Christendom is in the state it is in today the burden of most preachers is to get honor or to make money or in our churches it's not to make money but it's probably to be a lord over others as an elder brother that is as bad and as evil as living for money and it distorts the message of the gospel you know very often we can think well we're not after money in our churches so we are ok no we're not we have many other problems that's why some of our elders can't get along with each other because they've known this something worse than money in their life it's the gospel of Jesus Christ has not become clear the gospel of the New Covenant you hardly hear much about the New Covenant gospel in the world today most people don't even know that the New Covenant is fundamentally different from the Old Covenant and if you ask me how different as different is light is from darkness I'm not saying that the Old Covenant was darkness no but the Old Covenant was like the light of the stars can you see the stars right now the daytime no they haven't disappeared you're not they're not dark in that sense but they have become dark because of the light of the Sun and the last chapter of Malachi it speaks of the Sun of righteousness arising recording to Jesus he drove away the darkness and in Hebrews chapter 8 we read words that many have not understood verse 7 if the first covenant was without fault there would have been no need for a second please meditate on that anyone who wants to live under the law and to relate to God by rules and regulations and do you know that in the Old Testament there were not only Ten Commandments there was 613 commandments whole lot of thou shalt do this and thou shalt not do that that's the law the law is thou shalt thou shalt not and whatever law it is thou shalt dress in this way thou shalt read that Bible every day thou shall pray for two hours every day whatever law you make brother it's a law and it is faulty the New Covenant is different why was this dull shalt and thou shalt not does not produce godly men and women you tell me those of you who have preached thou shalt and thou shalt not in your churches for so many years you tell me yourself whether you're living a godly life has that helped you to overcome lustful thoughts has that helped you to overcome your anger is that a feud overcome your anxiety it hasn't he just makes you look nice on the outside know the Old Covenant could not accomplish what God wanted to accomplish in man rules will never accomplish whether it's 613 commandments in the Old Testament or the many more that New Testament preachers are produced it's fundamentally different in the New Covenant and it says in verse 8 God himself finds fault with that and says I'm gonna make a new covenant which will not be like verse 9 like the Covenant I made with the Israelites it's a new covenant which will not be thou shalt thou shalt not thou shalt thou shall not but it will be God says I will verse 10 I will I will I will I will not they thou shalt not but verse 11 they shall not you know the difference between thou shalt not and they shall not the difference is that when God doesn't work in me I will not do something when God doesn't work in me I will begin to hate sin but if you just hear a message saying thou shalt hate sin thou shalt love righteousness you'll try but you'll be under the Old Covenant neither Lee one of the greatest needs in all of our churches and I would say the vast majority of our elder brothers as well is to understand the New Covenant is the need not of the hour but the need of the minute to understand the New Covenant it would radically change your life it changed mine I was defeated by anger lust bitterness jealousy everything you can think of after being a believer anxiety fear everything years after being a believer until I understood the gospel of the New Covenant and it's not a doctrine the fundamental difference let me say this clearly the Old Covenant was a doctrine the New Covenant is a person it's not it but him many people are seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit as in it it's not it it's him there's a lot of difference in it and him many people are seeking it they don't get it well you thank God you don't get it you'll never get it that's easy for the wrong thing seek for him when Jesus is the that is resurrection he saw Mary Magdalene he said what are you seeking whom are you seeking he said my lord I want to be like that all my life what are you seeking are you seeking to build my church no Lord I'm not saying to Billy oh my god build your church that's your business I'm seeking you I'm a worshiper I'm not a church planter I'm not a church builder I am a worshiper years ago I decided that I would be a worshiper and I don't care if I never preached in my whole life I've no less to preach no less to make money or get honor or any such thing because I've found everything in Jesus I'm a worshiper and as a by-product the church gets built and the Lord goes that's the way to do it dear brothers and sisters make Jesus the passion of your life that is the New Covenant and then verse 13 I want you to see this when God says a new covenant it means he has made the first obsolete obsolete means it's no longer valid you know it's like your car registration or scooter registration that is for a year and there's an expiry date on it and supposing it expires on 31st of December 2008 you can't go around with that certificate next year that is valid today but from January the 1st it's no longer valid you cannot go with that old certificate we all know that you know the police can pull you up with an insurance policy that's expired we all are careful about these things that our road tax is paid that it's current our insurance for our cars and scooters are paid dr. dey what about this which is obsolete I mean a policeman would look at your insurance or you can see that's obsolete what are you carrying around that for throw it away throw it in the trash what are you carrying around that last year's road tax certificate for throw it in the trash that's the meaning of obsolete and when I see the number of preachers who preach legalism today who preach means and thou shalt and thou shalt not he's like they're going around with this certificate which ended in not 2008 you know when 2980 when the police period was poured out expired imagine bringing around with a certificate it was 1980 years old and going around with that and you gotta be off your head to carry a certificate like that in takes five nineteen eighty years ago but that is the fundamental problem I have observed Christians for fifty years and I tell you that's the biggest problem they haven't understood that the Old Covenant and the whole spirit of the Old Covenant is obsolete it's not just the people who say that you've got to keep the Sabbath are you gonna pay your type people criticize the seventh-day adventists for saying you've got to keep the Sabbath what about all the multitudes especially Pentecostals and others say you've got to pay your tithe that is as much an Old Covenant as keeping the Sabbath see the thing is if you tell people to keep the Sabbath the pastor doesn't make any money but if you tell people to pay their tithe the pastor makes a lot of money that's why they emphasize that Christendom is full of deception today because they have not understood that that Old Covenant is obsolete there's not a single word in the New Covenant which says that you've got to keep the Sabbath or your time it's far higher in all these things the rest is every day our money belongs all to God is not for me to live and use as I as I like that's the way God wants us to live in a love relationship he wants to have a joint account with me because I'm his bride I'm not a servant no master we'll have a joint bank account with a servant you've got servants you've got employees if you're working as a businessman will you have a joint account with your worker or label or servant no will you have a joint account with your wife yes if you trust her nowadays in Western countries they don't have a joint account with their wives they have what's called a prenuptial agreement that in case we break up and divorce you keep your money and I give my money but Jesus doesn't do that he has a joint account with us those who want it but if you want the legalistic attitude of the Old Covenant where I'm a servant where you tell your master master you keep your bank account and I keep money my money is not yours I'll give you your taxes or whatever it is but my money is mine this is how most Christians are living and that's why the Christian life is so pathetic their relationship to Jesus is servant to master and not bride to bridegroom because they haven't understood the New Covenant they haven't understood the Old Covenant is obsolete let me turn now to second Corinthians in chapter 3 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 is the great chapter contrasting the old test Old Covenant with the New Covenant now there's the Old Testament Scriptures that is the Word of God and a lot of things that we can learn from the Old Testament the Old Testament Scriptures has not become obsolete we don't throw away the Old Testament I know all about creation I know all about God's plans I know all about the way God deals with man when I read the prophets when I read the history of Israel I learn a hundred and one things about the mistakes I should not make in my life from where from the mistakes that Israel made in the Old Testament the way the leaders made mistakes in the Old Testament I can learn lessons for myself lots of things we can learn from the Old Testament from the mistakes of David Abraham and the good things that Moses and Abraham and others did we can learn a lot of things but the old agreement that God made with man on Mount Sinai on the principle of - shalt and thou shalt not it's obsolete it's God and if you are preaching it my brother you should have been living 2,000 years ago you're living too late this is not the time this is the time to preach that if you you open yourself to God God will do over can you by His Holy Spirit you need the power of the Holy Spirit and then as God works in you you work out your salvation with fear and trembling but it is God who works in the tragedy in Christendom let me show you that verse before I come here Philippians 2 here are two extremes I have found in Christendom and it's good to know that and see whether you fall in one of these categories Philippians 2 we read in the last part work out your salvation with fear and trembling and we pause a moment I have met numerous god-fearing believers around the world for whom that is their favorite verse work out your salvation with fear and trembling they are some of the most gloomy miserable legalistic pharisaical believers I have met on the face of the earth and I'm not surprised and then I met some other believers who speak verse 13 their favorite verses God is at work in you brother or sister rejoice God is at work in you that's all they preach and they are some of the most sloppy and soulish and casual and not serious and shallow Christians I've ever met so here we are two categories what God has joined together let no man put asunder God let no man separate don't bring a divorce would you divorce a husband and wife would you bring a division between a married couple on goddess joined no there are many things God is joined like repentance and faith for salvation man has separated that some people preach only repentance a few 99% people preach only faith he doesn't work repentance and faith are like a husband and wife you can't have a child unless both are united a husband by himself can't reduce a child and a wife by herself can't reduce a child and repentance by itself will bring nobody to new birth and faith by itself will bring nobody to new birth but repentance in faith when they are joined together bring the new birth I hope you have repented and believed then you are born again I know a lot of people who come to CFC who thought they were born again have told me we never really got saved when we came here because we never heard about repentance all we heard about was faith is like a wife trying to produce a child all by herself as a virgin impossible you're gonna have repentance and faith not the same thing here listen to this very carefully let me read exactly like it is in Scripture work out your salvation with fear and trembling and that's not the end of the sentence work out your salvation with fear and trembling because because because for God is a first at work in you to will and to do his good pleasure that means to give you a desire to do his will and to give you the ability to do his will so which comes first now plain English I think even a 10 year old boy who knows English will be able to tell you which comes first does God working in you come first are you working it out come first it's so clear work it out because God is at work in you so which comes first he's not saying work it work out yourself so that God may work in you then that would come second no it's not work out your salvation is very trembling so that God can work in you but that's the way many of us have understood it if you work out your salvation with fear and trembling ah then God will reward you by working in you rubbish that's putting the cart in front of the horse have you ever seen a horse pushing a cart I've never seen it - today they're all types of upside-down things we have in the gospel today and you know why they get away with it you know how these preachers get away with it because the vast majority of Christians don't read the Bible they don't read the Bible carefully and I often say this if you don't read the Bible carefully you deserve to be deceived by the crooks in Christendom today you deserve to be deceived because God gave you a book and you won't read it you won't take time to study it you believe what some fella preaches on television or some kind of preaches in a big what they call a crusade a lot of it is garbage and if you know the scriptures you'll see through it the only reason these fellows can't fool me is because I know the scriptures but not because I'm better than you because I I say Lord I believe your word is accurate it's the inspired Word I believe that I must work out my salvation with fear and trembling because God is at work in me and what is God at work in me doing first of all to give me a tremendous passion to do the will of God that's what it means do to will his good pleasure a tremendous passion you see God's when God puts a desire in the person's heart is not a weak type of desire it's not like a matchstick he's not even like a candle our God is a consuming fire you know when it says he came on Mount Sinai it was a blazing furnace and that's the type of desire he puts inside you and I want to tell you this my brothers and sisters if God has not put a blazing furnace desire in you a terrific passion to do his will on earth as it is done in heaven you better seek God he hasn't done it because he sees you're not earnest about it you're earnest about one hundred and one other things you saw earnest about looking for a job looking for a house looking for a wife or a husband you go searching the internet to find a good husband or wife good nothing wrong in that search here and there go around here and there looking for a good house good nothing wrong in that or looking for a job very good what about seeking after God is that sort of number 10 in priority when that becomes your number one priority you'll find it you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart I'll tell you this my brothers and sisters we're not all at the same level spiritually you know that what is it that makes the difference between one person and another it's not age it's not color of skin is not intelligence it's not that if you are stupid and dumb God will choose you or you're very intelligent gotta choose you know he's got to do with God with God there is no partiality do you have a passion a passion for God God I want you you know something I'll never forget when I read the biography of seduced under sing the greatest Saint that India's produced as far as I know when he was 14 or 15 years old way back in the early 1900 or so this young boy his mother had died his mother had taught him to fear this creator and taken him to various sagas and all that and he was not satisfied he was against Christianity tore the Bible and all that but he wanted God man I mean have you found a 15 year old somewhere who's got such a passion for God that he's seeking for God boy Oh imagine if we could have children like that there would have been many more sadhus who their sings in India if there were people like that who had a passion for God at the age of 15 he was a Roma wealthy family he had everything he wanted on this earth but he had a passion for God that's what was missing and he kneels down in his room at night early morning I don't know four o'clock or something and saying God I mean he must have sought God many many days but this particular day he says I'm sick and tired of or something like that and if you don't reveal yourself to me I'll put my head on the train that goes by here around five o'clock in the morning I cannot live without you and he meant it he wasn't playing games with God and he expected to see some one of those deities that he thought would was the true God and he has a vision of Jesus Jesus he gets the shock of his life this person whom he hated appears to him and his whole life has changed in the moment do you believe a man's life can be changed in a moment or do you believe its gradual the person becomes spiritual over twenty years here's a person who is going headlong in the wrong direction just like the Apostle Paul going out to kill Christians and in one moment he's turned around 180 degrees why did not turn around Paul and saw the Sun they're saying like that and why do we find ourselves so sluggish and sluggish and sluggish we take twenty years 500 sermons and then we have turned about 90 degrees why is it so this one this thing died when he was about 44 converted when he was 15 lived just about 30 years as a Christian but see what he accomplished many of us have been believers for longer than 30 years does God have favorites dear brothers and sisters are you satisfied with just attending conferences accumulating knowledge till our head becomes bigger and bigger and bigger we need a passion in our heart a passion to know God and God when he sees that he will produce in that person a tremendous passion to do the will of God such a fashion that burns up all other desires to be great in the world or to make money or famous or famous and Christendom or famous in CFC circles it will all be burned up it'll be a tremendous passion to please God day and night every day like Jesus lived on earth don't be satisfied with that with anything less than that rather don't be satisfied with anything less than that and this is where I able to keep on telling people don't allow yourself to sink to the low level of other brothers and sisters in your church in CFC churches don't allow yourself to sink to that low level it is a pretty low level with many people in our churches I know that I don't want to judge them because God is their judge and I don't want to sink to their level I mean that's a decision I took when I was 21 when I got baptized at the age of 21 and I was in some assemblies where I didn't see many people passionate for God I didn't find the elders passionate for God they would just get up and give Bible studies on Hebrews the tabernacle or something like that I didn't find a passion for Jesus and I would come home to my room in the Naval Base and say Lord what shall I do I want a spiritual father and I don't find one I don't find one somebody who's got a passion for Jesus and the Lord said to me in my heart if you don't find someone on earth look at me and that's the time I started learning to look at Jesus and that solved my problem I didn't want to judge anybody but I didn't want to follow anyone who was not passionately following Jesus if you follow up the example of a person who is not a passionate disciple of Jesus you will also become sluggish like that person you'd start watching filthy movies like that person watches you will go to wrong sites on the internet like that person who goes when nobody see you because you you can't do those things when you have a passionate desire to follow Jesus the fire of God just burns up those desires you have a passionate desire to follow Jesus he works in you to will his good pleasure and then he works in you to do his good pleasure to do that means he gives you the desire first and then the ability you no desire alone is not enough you know that I can have a tremendous desire to do God's will and keep on doing my own will every day I need the ability the mighty power of God to put my fleshly lust to death I can't do that on my own the Bible says through the Holy Spirit Romans 8:13 you put to death the deeds of the body you got to do it but you got to use the part of the Holy Spirit and you know he's like running these fans or lights I can't do that I can't keep turning a generator to keep these lights burning but I can switch on put on the switch and let somebody else do the work for me but I got to put on the switch and whether what the fan or the light or anything it's like that I can't live this life but I can putting all the switches saying Lord Spirit of God just open to you I want you to help me to overcome this lust and overcome this terrible anger and overcome these on Christ like the son christ-like behavior in my home and in my office this tremendous love for money that I know this always getting upset and anxious and the read words that come out of my mouth even though I've heard a thousand sermons Lord I don't need another sermon I need the power of the Holy Spirit you go to God like that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and when it says when God works in you to will and to do his good pleasure you can work it out you can work it out he work out what God works works in it's like saying you went to the kitchen and got all that good food and distributed it to others you didn't have to cook it he just distributed it that's how it is you work out what God works saying it's wonderful it's like to me the first miracle that Jesus did was a picture of that none of those servants could produce wine Jesus did it but they went and gave it out that's working out what God works in Jesus had worked something in those water parts of water laundry water but he changed it into fantastic wine like they had never tasted before and this ordinary water of my human nature God Jesus does the miracle of changing it into supernatural wine the divine nature and the Lord says now go and give this to others and I give it to others and people say hey how did you become like this how did you overcome that how did this happen in your life I gave my empty water pot of water why water pot of water and Jesus he changed it into wine I don't think any credit for it I can't make one drop of wine but he did it what are you doing brothers sisters adding some sugar to the water and trying to give it to people fooling people it's wine this new covenant it is not let Jesus do a work in you he works in you work out that first miracle it says in John chapter 2 it was a sign have you noticed that in John 2 he doesn't call it a miracle he calls it a sign this beginning of science did Jesus at Cana it was a sign of this new covenant that he was coming with where he would take water and turn it into wine and you know we have plenty of water in our life tasteless colorless and the Lord wants to turn it to wine holy he can do it but I've got to serve it up work God what he works in okay now let's turn to 2nd Corinthians 3 2nd corinthians 3 we read about the difference between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant and it says in verse 6 God has made us adequate first of all verse why we are not adequate in ourselves to live this new covenant life to be a new covenant servant it's like those servants in Cana you tell them hey fellas can you make this water into wine and feed these fellows were all thirsty or we're not adequate you tell us to give water we can give water but why forget it we are not an adequate supposing I mean just think of it my brother's supposing you were one of those servants in Cana and the Lord said come on and convert this into wine and go and give it to people what would you say like the Americans say you got to be kidding me the Kami convert into wine Oh it'll be water I can stir it up a bit put a little prod add a little sugar Brad but I can't turn it away impossible do you recognize my brother how many of you can honestly say I recognize Lord I can never produce the divine nature in a thousand years if I live on earth just like I can't take what change water into wine we all agree that we can't change water into wine but we feel that we can be a little more christ-like next year because we are a little more determined now this conference is going to be a turning point in my life you probably said that 50 times in the last few years turning points turning point you keep turning around and just going around in circles you keep turning that's all you'll do you'll keep going around in a circle turning point turning point turning point turning point if I keep turning that's what's going to happen and still be facing the same direction no we got to recognize I cannot make water into wine I cannot produce the divine nature I can improve my human nature I can add a little sugar to the water and give it to people and people say how sweet but it's not wine it doesn't taste bitter like somebody else's water but it's just your refined human nature it is civilization what a lot of Christians have is they are civilized they know how to say thank you sorry we teach our children say thank you to Uncle say sorry to hunting yeah they learn that civilization it's not Christianity that's why the psychologists have a heyday in pulpits today they call themselves preachers of the gospel now there are psychologists soothing people they had them in the Old Testament too they preach peace peace when there is no peace they plaster a broken wall the Lord says the wall remains the same underneath just fool people they put laminate and make it people look there like it's it's not just laminate to scratch them and you'll find out it's true and we are not adequate that's the first thing you need to recognize we are not having Paul recognized I want to recognize that til the end of my life for anything not adequate to live the Christian life not adequate to minister the Christian gospel I believe that many of you who preach the Word of God the first thing you need to recognize which I took a learn a long time to understand he's without me you can do what's that say it again without me you can do nothing do you know what nothing means I'll tell you what it means nothing without Jesus I can do nothing it took me a long time to realize it I thought I could do a little bit at least not as good as Jesus but I could do something and the opposite that that's John 15 verse 5 the opposite of that is Philippians 4:13 with Christ I can do everything or all things I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me these are the two sides of the coin of the New Covenant so we are not adequate is the first lesson we've got to learn I'm not adequate to live the Christian life I'm not adequate to preach the way God wants me to preach I say that today I raised my hand first of all and say Lord I'm totally inadequate to preach the way you want me to preach I can give a classic clever sermon or a Bible study but to preach under the anointing of the Holy Spirit number one person to raise my hands inadequate totally inadequate don't ever think you can be adequate to preach this wonderful message any amount of study any amount of listening to CDs and tapes will never make you adequate you got to be humble broke recognize you're not adequate God is to make you adequate we are not adequate as to consider anything coming from ourselves there are a lot of things that can come from ourselves a lot of ministry in Christendom today is coming from oneself it's the water pot filled with water but it's water and they take out more water water water water and then make people pay their tax for it it's tragic when Jesus distributed wine he never charged anything and that's one way you can find out it's we cannot has nothing that comes from ourselves you know real divine nature cannot come from myself God has to do a work in me plan something in me you know that verse in Matthew 15 I think verse 14 it says every plant which my Heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted out I don't care whether there's a good plant did their Heavenly Father plant it that's the important question not is it good who planted it this humility that you have this goodness that you have is it yours or is it what God did in you if it's yours I tell you you can impress people for 100 years and God will pull it out one day I don't want it I don't want a humility or a patience or a love just produced by myself I want to work out but what God works in I don't want to work out something from myself nothing from myself but our adequacy is from God the Christian life in one sense is very simple Jesus said my yoke is easy my burden is light it's like the branch think of a branch that's producing fruit you see branch producing mangoes or oranges or anything and you ask how in the world do you do that I don't know anything I just abide in the tree the oranges really come out or the mangoes come out every branch that is their testimony I don't do anything I just lean but I do open myself up to all that SAP oh I'm hungry for sap from the tree every day whether I produce oranges or not mangoes or not I want the day I don't get sad I'm gonna dry up and die are you hungry for hungry for the Holy Spirit's power our adequacy is from God he has made us second Corinthians 3:6 adequate you know Paul said when I was a child I spoke like a child when I grew up I put away childish things one of the areas I'll tell you recently God has begun to show me is in the matter of victory over sin I used to say like this well finally I understood the secret and I got victory over sin I now realize that speaking like a child now I've got any more light on it now I say Jesus kept me from falling do you see a difference I got victory over that sin Jesus kept me from falling into that sin and a lot of difference one is it's true it's something like if the you know the boy who gave the five loaves and two fishes to Jesus five thousand were fed supposing he went and told his mother you know mom with my food we've had five thousand people today it would have been right but it wouldn't have been exactly right it would be more right for him to say I gave my five nose to Jesus and he fed the five thousand now I've discovered it you know God gives us light on these things how there's a subtle a very subtle element of pride in saying I got victory over sin which is eliminated when you say Jesus kept me from falling you know we need to get like pride is like an onion we think we've got rid of it completely and all of a sudden we discover another area love of money is like our adequacy is from God he made us servants of a new covenant not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life you know you can know that you're a servant of the New Covenant when you have succeeded in giving the spiritual life to people you know like the doctors sometimes give an injection to revive a dying man he suddenly jumps up you thought the guy was dying and suddenly he got something and he he got revived you know giving life when you've given life to a dying person spiritually speaking when your words challenge them and lifted them up from the depth of depression and doubt and gloom and bad moods and sin and fighting and quarreling and all that type of stuff the letter kills you can preach the letter even the New Testament letter you can preach about victory over sin in such a way that it kills I've heard enough preaching on victory over sin by people who were more unlike Christ than most other Christians they didn't even a single but true about it they didn't sing tonight it's so easy to take the letter the letter kills when I was a child I spoke like a child let me give you one example of another area where I discovered something many years ago and I was seeking a overcoming life the Lord finally showed me that the secret of an overcoming life was like it says in 1 Timothy 3:16 great is the mystery of godliness now I'd read that verse for many many years but I never saw it is the secret of a godly life till the Lord had mercy on me and opened my eyes and I got revelation and it changed my life completely and I preached it ever since more than preached it ever since I've tried to live it ever since but in the beginning I didn't understand it properly let me read it to you and see if you understand it properly how do you understand this read it carefully and tell me how you understand it great is the secret of godliness he that was Christ was revealed in the flesh was declared righteous in the spirit seen by angels proclaimed among nations believed on in the world taken up in glory ok what is the secret of godliness I'll tell you what I found is the secret of godliness when I was a child the secret of godliness is the doctrine that Christ came in the flesh and lived a pure life that means he was the holy spirit declared him to be pure and even the Angels soiled and saw that it was pure and that was the messages proclaim in the world and then he was taken up to glory so the doctrine that Christ came in the flesh as what gripped me first and I began to preach the doctrine and I thought if only I can convince people about this doctrine they will become ungodly you know what I discovered they didn't become godly and I found out a lot of people who preached the doctrine didn't become godly either it was a year or so later that the child grew up to be a man and I could see I missed something here it doesn't say great is the secret of godliness it is the doctrine of Christ coming in the flesh no great is the secret of godliness the secret of godliness is what he it's Christ not a doctrine it's not it but him that changed my whole life I saw that what I needed was not to understand a doctrine and to prove it from Romans 6 and Romans 8 and various other verses no no no in the first 50 years they never had a Bible even for anybody to prove there was no Romans 6 and no Romans 8 nothing they had the holy spirit but they could see Jesus in the flesh how could they see Jesus in the flesh nothing was written anywhere and another thing for 1,400 years people never had a printed Bible how in the world would they caught Romans 6 and Romans 8 and even the these episodes were divided up into chapters years later people didn't have a Bible today we think oh we know this from this verse and that version compare this version that verse in the other words and the people are not manifesting Christ how do you know that you have seen the secret of godliness which is Christ came in the flesh I will tell you there is one proof of it that Christ Himself the life of Jesus is increasingly manifest in your flesh that people see in you first of all you see in yourself forget others a freedom from anxiety that's a life of Jesus a freedom from fear of freedom from seeking to please man a freedom from trying to impress people with a double life and then other people begin to see it first of all your wife will see it and your husband will see it and your children will see it wife and children may be loyal to you but the servants in your home who are not loyal to you they will see I say they're loyal to you so they won't reveal the fact that you're not manifesting Christ but those who live with you all the time can see his Christ manifest in the flesh or not the secret is not a doctrine the secret is seeing Jesus looking under Jesus who endured the cross for thirty-three years in his flesh seeing that that has now become the passion of my life to see Jesus how he was in the days of his flesh how he lived in Nazareth and since Jesus called me to preach I spent my life studying how Jesus preached because I wanted Jesus to be manifest in the pleasure when I preached I wanted Jesus to be manifest in the flesh in the way I talked to my wife the way I talk to people and the way I talk to young people how would Jesus speak to young people how would Jesus react if somebody cheated him we deal with money and buying and selling and doing so many things and I been cheated many times because I'm not so smart in business things okay how do I react to these people who cheated me or do you take advantage of me financially I want to react exactly like Jesus which doctrine is that it's not in the Bible I see how Jesus reacted to Judas Iscariot who kept on stealing his money and I say Lord Jesus I want to be like you that is the new covenant it's not a doctrine it's him and my brothers and sisters I hope before the end of this conference you will see my Lord my Savior I hope you'll see Jesus not just saying we want to see you want to reach out and touch you actually see him it'll change your life more than any message of doctrine its power heads in prayer dear brothers and sisters call upon the Lord when he is near how do you know when he is near you know when he is near when you hear his voice loud and clear when you hear his voice faintly then he is very far away have you heard his voice loud and clear then he's near to you by this evening he made me far away while he is loud and clear seek the Lord while he can be found call upon him when he is near and say Lord I want this life this is the only thing worth living for heavenly father come across each one to live in the light of your word we pray in Jesus name

Channel: CFC India

Views: 9,805

Rating: 4.7913041 out of 5

Keywords: zac poonen, cfc, Christian Fellowship Church, Church, Fellowship, Christian, Zac, Poonen

Id: rVJQi6qCaP8

Length: 58min 0sec (3480 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 21 2014