(2017 Atlanta) Questions & Answers - Part 2 - Zac Poonen

okay we will try and finish these other questions can you explain what it means when it says Jesus is a king and what duties does a king do over us well in those days what we call to the government was called Kingdom he say Government of India government of the United States those days it was Kingdom because every nation had a king and so many of the parables Jesus spoke it was always about a kingdom or a king today the very few kings Kingdom and all is very few but the meaning is a government seek the kingdom of God first means what seek the government of God in your life what does it mean to be under the rule of the government of the United States whenever you are in the United States directory you have to follow the rules of the government if I am living in India wherever Indian government has control I must obey the rules of the Carmela's get into problems so to follow to be to seek the government of God first means if I want to be in an area where God is governing every area of my life I obey the rules of God I'll be under his government and this tremendous protection under the government of God but if I go outside that I open myself to the territory of the devil so for Jesus to be king is to for Jesus to govern my life and rule me in every area you know the Bible says the devil is the Prince of ruler of darkness so there's a whole area called darkness which God is allotted to Satan so whenever I move into some darkness in my life means I go against my conscience I'm moving into directly that's been handed over to Satan and if I get into problems it's because I'm moving in the wrong area that is not the government of God God is be God is light and his kingdom is a kingdom of light it's very important to understand this principle and if I go outside that then I suffer what is the part I have to do as a believer to have victory over my fleshly desires well you know that God could have made it such that he automatically gives us victory without our doing anything some people teach like that that God has selected you before the worlds are created and you'll automatically be saved and you can never be lost it's a very dangerous teaching because I believe that teaching has sent more people to hell than any other teaching because if God has selected people then how can somebody goes to hell blame God say you only you didn't select me as I am and he'll either be very unrighteous even an earthly judge will not be so unrighteous so you know the Christian life is a cooperation Jesus said take my yoke upon you and in the villages in India you seen a yoke which is on two bollocks they plowed together so Jesus is saying take my yoke upon you he's the senior bullet and I am the junior one and he's teaching me how to plow a straight furrow it's a partnership if everything was up to God I have to do nothing then I'll be a robot and God could have made Adam like a robot then he would never have sinned but he could never be a child of God either for example the planets the planets have never disobeyed God in thousands of years they never sinned but they can be chillin of God either the trees a mango tree will always produce mangoes always it never produces apples never disobeys God's law he doesn't sing but it cannot be a child of God so remember if god made man like that Adam would be like a robot you come near the Tree of Life no the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the program will say turn right and you will turn and go away he doesn't sin but he can't be a child of God to be a child of God you need a conscience and you need freewill the trees don't have free will and dogs got free will but they don't have a conscience man is superior to trees and dogs because it's got conscience and a free will if you take away either of them you cannot sin and you cannot be a child about a dog cannot sin a tree cannot sin to sin you need conscience and free will to be a child of God you need conscience and a free will so there's a cooperation so I have to cooperate with God that when the Holy Spirit prompts me saying don't look at that or you're seeing a magazine to some filthy picture and the Lord has turned the page or in a computer suddenly you come without even expecting it on some tempting teacher you that Lord says switch that off you turn away you know the Bible says that we must run away from immorality so we have to do our part that is run away see 1 Corinthians in chapter 6 verse 18 flee from immorality that's something we don't stand there and fight flee from immorality and it also says in the same thing in 1 second Timothy and chapter 2 verse 20 to flee from youthful lusts flee is more than run free means run for your life like a lion chasing you run for your life now the Bible never says we must run away from Satan that's the opposite when Satan comes in front of you in any way it temps you it says in James 4:7 resist the devil and he will flee but if an immoral woman comes in front of you you must flee so who's more dangerous Satan or an immoral woman I'll tell you in one case it says resist the devil evil fie in the other case it says you run away otherwise you'll fall so when you're tempted to go to some pornographic site on a computer or on your phone turn it off and run away there's no other way to overcome if you stand there and try to fight it you will not overcome it I'll tell you that flee from immorality that's your part next question is how do I discern demonic work and from what comes my fleshly nature it doesn't matter whether it's Satan tempting me or my own desires tempting me if it's my conscience is telling me that's wrong I avoid it I don't have to distinguish who who is tempting me if it's wrong I avoid it what is the Bible say about divorce and remarriage very clear you read James Matthew chapter 5 and Matthew chapter 19 is very clear that if you divorce your that's exactly what Jesus said anyone who divorces his wife and marries somebody else commits adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery now what about someone who was unconverted and did not know the laws of God and did those things and then now they're married when they have children the Lord has said in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel you must not punish children for the sins of their fathers very clear command you cannot punish a child child for the sin of the father even a earthly judge will not do it God will not do it so here's a person in his unconverted days he divorced and married again and he's got children and now they are both born again and they come to you now some churches will say some extreme churches they say no to Beltre you must put away that wife because it's you divorced and married and then what will happen to the team the children will suffer without a father and probably have difficulty financially as well so then the children are suffering so in many of these complicated cases it's very important that we act in truth as well as grace that doesn't mean we say that the divorce was right it is not right there was is never right my James sorry Malachi 2:16 God says I hate divorce and chapter 3 Malachi 3:8 he says I don't change put those two verses together I hate divorce and I don't change he hasn't changed he hates divorce even today but God is merciful to people who did it in ignorance acts 17 verse 30 says the times of ignorance God overlooked but now he tells everyone to repent so what we do is if someone comes to our church who's already divorced this unconverted days and as children would say we are not going to punish the children by telling the father to separate from the wife will be merciful to them and if we see that they are really born again and God has accepted them we will accept them as believers but I will tell such a person brother I want to tell you you may be a child of God but you've got two wives let's face it one the one you're divorced the one you're living with now so you can never have any spiritual ministry in this church that I want you to know some churches may give you a spiritual mercy but not in this church because the Bible says a man is who's got more than one wife cannot have a ministry that's one thing but we love except you as a believer you can break bread with us you can pray and you can testify but you cannot share the word here or have any spiritual ministry we will not let you teach Sunday School or any such thing that's how we balance grace and truth so some cases are more complicated but we must not compromise on God's standards that's very very important and in our churches in 42 years we've never had one single divorce till today by God's grace and I've never conducted a divorced persons marriage and I never will conduct it if somebody wants to get married I should go and find some other place not our church so that's our position on divorce and remarriage it's a balance of praise and truth when I read the Bible by myself I don't see much revelation how do I develop the habit of listening to God to receive revelation you see it depends on after that I'm willing to meditate on it if you I'm in a hurry and I'm not interested in meditating on particular verses seem to obey the more you obey the more you'll get revelation so you see some word for example forgive others your heavenly Father will not forgive you if you don't forgive others I don't need not your revelation on that I just say okay ask yourself stop all right is there anybody I'm not forgiving forgive and if you'll find it difficult for you ask God to help you any command that you find difficult to obey ask God to help you he's there to help you the Holy Spirit is called a helper so he's never helped me to obey that difficult command any command running away from pornography or overcoming covetousness or forgiving somebody Lord I'm finding it difficult help me God will always help he runs to help us we read in Hebrews chapter 2 the last verse so if I look at a command in the Bible and I say Lord I want to obey them I'm serious about obeying and God will give us more and more revelation that is if you obey what you're given God will give you more if that's how we get revelation there are times when I've read the Bible and I come to a verse and it's like a red light I can't move traffic has stopped so I can't move I shouldn't run past the traffic light I have to stop at that verse and say God's trying to teach me something there and I read it I'm not interested in finishing reading the chapter some people are more interested in finishing reading the chapter I'm more interested in obeying that one verse and I'm stuck at one verse and the next day comes and the red light is still there that means I've still got something to learn from that verse and then once it's become clear it becomes green I can move to the next verse so if you are serious about obedience you'll find that God gives you a revelation but if you're not serious about obedience you just want to have Bible knowledge or you want to prepare a sermon you'll never get revelation how do I know that I have what I have is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit just like you know about salvation how do you know that your sins are forgiven I told you by the Word of God and by the witness of the Holy Spirit in your heart so the fullness of the Holy Spirit is the same way by their fruit you shall know them the Holy Spirit will bear witness with your heart that you're a child of God and I and if there's some room in your heart not yield it gotta show you there was one case of a man who was a preacher more than a hundred years ago I think hundred and thirty years ago or so in Boston he was a very famous preacher but he was not filled with the Holy Spirit and he read about deal moody and all in those states deal Moody was a great evangelist in the last Hill late 1800s and now bill Moody's life was chained for the baptism the Holy Spirit so this man began to pray for the baptism Holy Spirit may heal it everything but he was still not baptized in the Holy Spirit and he said Lord what's wrong show me and the Lord said you want to be a great preacher like deal Moody surrender left so sometimes you know you hear about some mighty man of God who was filled with the Holy Spirit and your desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to become a man of God like that some great preacher or something you're seeking honor let me look like a good thing that you want to serve God but it's not just serving God you want to get the honor of men and God says I'm sorry you can't feel the spirit your seeking your own honor so that man surrendered that also and then he was who the Holy Spirit but then God told him believe that church and leave that pulpit and he went enjoying the Salvation Army in England who were working among the poor people and this great preacher came to join the Salvation Army led by William Booth in England and William Booth was a very godly man he knew how to treat great preachers he said your first job is to go and polish all the shoes of all the people here that's your job so he spent the next many weeks polishing shoes but he accepted it and he grew up to be one of the most godly leaders in the Salvation Army after some years so if you surrender everything God will fill you with always filled without a doubt how does a person truly forgive someone who's wronged them and has not repented see it's a question of there's a difference between fellowship and forgiveness when Jesus was hung hanging on the cross the people who killed him had not repented no they were happy to kill Jesus but he said Father forgive them because I don't know what they're doing now you say how can a man kill somebody and not know what he's doing no that's not the point they did not know who they were killing this is the Son of God that's what he meant by saying they don't know what they're doing but they did not repent what he said Father forgive them so when you're dealing with people we don't have any fellowship with who have harmed you whether they repent or not we follow Jesus example on the cross saying father I forgive them please forgive them but if it is the question of fellowship with that person then it is not possible until he repents because only after repentance fellowship can come so it depends on whether it's a person with whom you want to build fellowship or is a person who is unconverted and with whom you have no fellowship and as I said if you find it difficult to forgive then ask God to help you I just want to show you three or four things Jesus said in a parable about unforgiveness Matthew 18 verse 22 2:35 there was this man who was forgiven ten thousand gallons and it says here in my margin of my Bible that is equal to ten million dollars seventy nasb that's Matthew chapter 18 and verse 24 so here was a man who was forgiven ten million dollars he said I can't pay it King said okay forgiven now he went out and caught hold of a man who owed him verse twenty-eight a hundred denarii which is a hundred day's wages and maybe two thousand years ago one day's wage was about one dollar so let's assume this guy owed him a hundred dollars now one hundred dollars is not a small amount of money hundred dollars is quite a lot of money but one hundred dollars is nothing compared to ten million dollars so if he has been forgiven ten million dollars he should be willing to forgive hundred dollars and he was not willing he took that fellow to court and put him in prison and when the King heard it it sends hear a call him back okay listen I forgave you 10 million and you couldn't forgive that fellow hundred okay you come back and pay up your 10 million what is that teachers number one lesson if you don't forgive others whatever they did to you is one hundred thousandth of what you've done against God if you don't forgive others God will put back on your head all the sins that he forgave you long ago that's called unforgiving since that are forgiven it's a very dangerous thing some people think God is it is forgiven he doesn't even bother about it no he will not bother about it provided you forgive others but if you don't forgive others this parable teaches he put it back on your head number one secondly verse 32 Matthew 18 32 he calls you a wicked person if you don't forgive others you're a wicked person third it says in verse 34 he was angry with him God is angry with you if you haven't forgiven others and number four verse 34 he hand you over to the demons to torture you with sickness there are many sicknesses that believers have which will never be healed with injections or tablets they'll be healed when they forgive somebody that's it but people say that guy's done so much terrible evil I say no not as much as you've done against God you haven't seen how much your sins are that's why you think that he's committed a greater crime against you now does it mean you're to fellowship with him no I remember one sister came to me after a meeting and said my brother-in-law raised me I've forgiven him but should I meet him again I said no please don't go anywhere near him because the danger is that you know you don't have anything to avoid him completely because such people are dangerous so forgiveness does not mean here to fellowship with them or meet him or anything no no forgiveness is an act of your will you have forgiven him let God judge him but I'm not here to what I did not fellowship some people think forgiveness means I was going visit him not at all some people you should not visit but we must forgive from our heart and I'll tell you how we discover whether you forgive from our heart if you're forgiving somebody and later on you hear that something bad happened to him and you feel a little happy then you know that you're not forgiven from the heart or something good happened to him and you feel very sad then you know that you're not forgiven from the heart these are little ways in which God shows you you haven't forgiven from your heart then you're to repent and say Lord I'm sorry I didn't forgive from my heart I want to forget from my heart I don't want I don't want efficiently evil to anybody in the world you tell me does God wish any evil to anybody in the world no the Bible says God wants all men to repent so if you are in fellowship with God you'll want everybody in the world to repent if you who is the one who wishes evil for anybody in the world only the devil so if I wish evil for somebody who ever is I'm in fellowship with Satan at that moment and who's who is happy when something good happens to someone God who's unhappy the devil so if I'm unhappy because something good happen to someone I must be in fellowship with the devil again so you know many believers are actually intelligible the devil is for a little while now and then because they're happy when something bad happens to somebody or the unhappy when something good happens to someone I think we win the world are you in fellowship with wake up and I believe that if you are serious about these things God will give us more light on other things the reason why many Christians don't get more light on their life is because when God tells them something they don't take it seriously and on some practical questions can a Christian have life insurance to provide for my wife and children's future sure to me that is just like having a savings account you know what a savings account a savings account means I don't spend all my money today I keep it for use in the future do you know that Jesus had a savings account the bank was a bad one and judas iscariot but he was saving money if he in other words he didn't spend it the same day got it he got a gift today I want to spend it all today no why did Judas keep a bag because Jesus said hey we may need it next week we may need it for food perhaps next month so let's keep it so there's nothing wrong and having a savings account because you're saving the future there's a verse in Proverbs 6 which says go to the ant you lazy man and learn wisdom from that and how in summer it saves up food for the winter hi I'm amazed that I see the size of an ad and I think of the size of its brain and amazing how much intelligence that little brain has that winter is covering you I better save up some grain for the winter and here are human beings who don't have that sense to save up something for the future for time when it may be difficult no so maybe you lose your job you should have some money saved up for that go to the ant and learn so from all these words we see that it's right to save if the motive is good the Jesus did say don't save up treasure for yourself that's written in 96 very clearly but it also says in 2nd Corinthians 12 and was 14 that you must save up for your children I grant that verse second Timothy 12 says 2nd Corinthians 12:14 deadens should save up for that children so there nothing wrong in a parent saving up something with their children so they get children can a good start in life for their education so many things the Bible is very balanced if you take one verse by itself you'll become a fanatic and a false teacher always find the balance you know deep the devil quoted one verse to Jesus you know that it is written jesus said it is also written you read that in Matthew 4 so if you want the full truth it is not only in the desert and it is written and it is also written you take both verses together you get the truth many people go astray because they take one verse go to a teacher and ask them to show you the other words which balances then one verse in you won't go astray that's one of the advantages of question answer time what are treasures in heaven okay I've looked at it like this man jesus said you'd get crowns and heaven mansions until you honestly I'm not looking for a 14 bedroom mansion in heaven all I do with it you can have it I'm not interested in the 14 section and I'm not interested in ten crowns sitting on my head the Bible says we throw the crowns down in the faded Jesus in any case Jesus is using the picture of crowns and mansions because those are the important things on earth he's using picture language to tell you that you'll be very rich in heaven will heavens riches on earth which is our huge houses crowns and so he's using that language so I ask myself what is the greatest wealth I can look for in heaven have you ever thought of that supposing the Lord says to you what do you want when you go to heaven what do you say large house or follow five crowns and you know what some other religions teach a lot of sexual pleasure it strange things that people teach of what you're going to get in heaven I have said Lord there's only one thing I want when I go to heaven closeness to Jesus you give me that I don't want a mansion I don't want a crown I don't want any other thing all my life I wanted to be close to Jesus and if you give me that in heaven all the time I'll never ask for anything else I mean I've even said this I said Lord I'm ready to go to hell if you are there because hell is but I'm heaven for me to me heaven is not golden streets and mansions and crowns to me heaven is the presence of Jesus Christ and that has begun for me already my first heaven has already begun in my life now it's going to be fuller over there so to me riches in heaven our closeness to Christ and you'll discover that when you go there and if you are faithful here you have more of it there I don't let me tell you honestly what I believe in heaven everybody may be there who's born again but some will be much closer to Jesus than others and I want to be one of those were closer to because that is to me the greatest thing here on this earth as well okay this I am answered already why does God keep Satan alive why not destroy him because God using him to strengthen us he uses temptation to make us strong otherwise you could have freed us from temptation the moment we are born again how can I be humble in reality and not just theoretically that is not to take pride in looks or abilities there is only one way to remain humble and that is walk with a humble man and the humblest man who walked on this earth of Jesus Christ walk with him every day and study from his life humility and you will automatically be humbled you cannot walk with Jesus and be proud impossible I say impossible because he was the humblest man that walked on the earth and if you walk with him and study from his life as you read in the Gospels how he never complained he never grumbled as mark of humanity now I can learn from him so that is the way to remain humble and you compare yourself with him all the time let me tell you a little thing about pride and humility cannot supposing in a tailor take a classroom a student in a class in I don't know here you have a + D + and all that type of stuff in India we give marks all there's no a + b ABCD it is not graves in india schools it is all marks out of 100 a 40% is past 100 % is full marks so I have people this question supposing a student got 10% in mathematics can he be proud it's a trick question yes or no yes if all the others in the class got 5 4 3 2 1 0 he comes home and say mom I came first in the class today I wanted to get 10% how did he become proud by comparison or pride comes by comparison you compare yourself with other believers who you think are not as good as you even though you got 10% you're very proud now you take that same child and put him in another class where everybody is getting 99 and hundred he suddenly becomes humble how is that again by comparison so we learn something humility comes by comparison Frye's comes by comparison so you compare yourself with other believers who you think are worse than you you'll be proud you compare yourself with Jesus Christ all the time what lesson a few books you won't be proud even for one second that is a secret I'm very thankful I learned that a long time ago so that I said Lord I cannot be proud of my Bible knowledge or ministry or anything because I want to compare myself with Jesus that's what the meaning of looking unto Jesus let us run the race what does that mean compare yourselves with Jesus we are not doing it that's why we become proud what is the key to starting a church well I'll tell you fall into the ground and die like a grain of wheat there will always be much fruit Jesus said that John 12:24 that's what I decided to do forty-two years ago and I had a great gift of preaching even then and I was traveling so many countries as an international speaker so many conferences my dad wanted me to continue that ministry he was very happy that I was traveling and then the Lord showed me that he wanted me to build the church and I cancelled all my invitations and I never went anywhere and I started meeting with two or three people in my home and said I want to build the Church of Jesus Christ I died to all those opportunities and fame and greatness and everything I say I want to build my church and today I see the result of that falling into the ground and die now I want to say to any of you God can use anybody to build his church the principle is the same you take a grain of wheat and plant it anywhere in the world if it dies it will bring forth much fruit what is it disqualifies a believer from me ministering the Word of God if there's sin in his life does hypocrisy if he loves money this children are wayward you should stop preaching so these are some of the things I already spoke about it earlier women pastors and preachers can a woman be a pastor or a preacher evangelist I think they can be evangelists some of the greatest evangelists and history have been missionaries or women Amy Carmichael in India marries lesser in Africa it's a very godly woman but teachers know 1 Timothy 2 I don't worst well this is the Holy Spirit saying through Paul I do not allow a woman to teach if you think that's Paul's opinion scratch it out of the Bible if you believe the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit then say that's the Holy Spirit I cannot scratch it out I do not allow a woman to teach or to be an elder or rule over man so I don't believe a woman can be a leader or teacher they are not called for that but that doesn't mean they are inferior then you say what can a woman do we don't don't we don't start test off with one was let's read further but a woman can bear children verse 15 and bring them up properly like Timothy's mother brought him up and you see what a woman cannot teach well I say a man cannot bear children what about that does that make a man Imperial it says here in the same context a woman cannot teach a man cannot bear children mm-hmm both of God a weakness one has got a superiority in bearing children another has got a superiority in teaching so it's not a comparison God is saying a woman's calling is to bear children and bring them up in the godly way of man's calling is to teach and take leadership in the home and in the church so then you say what about does it mean God never blesses a woman's ministry I think there are women whom God is used I don't believe that because God uses somebody he approves of it because he blesses some woman's ministry does not mean he approves of it and I'll prove it to you from Scripture do you remember in numbers chapter 20 and 40 years after the first time Moses hit the rock in Exodus 17 now he's there was no water God said this time speak to the rock don't hit it you remember that you remember it don't hit why should you not hit because hitting the rock is a picture of Christ's crucifixion and he must be crucified only once so second time he said don't hit the rock speak to it but what did Moses do he disobeyed he got angry and he hit the rock now my question is best there were two million people there who were thirsty did they get water or not yes or no does God bless a man's disobedience why did he bless Moses disappearance because he loved two million people who were thirsty why should they suffer because Moses disobey so we learned something there if a servant of God is disobedient God may still blessed that person's ministry because he loves the people so a woman may disobey God and teach God who blessed - because he loves the people but what did he do with Moses after that he punished Moses so strictly he said Moses I told you to speak to the rock and you got angry and hit it now you know what your punishment is for 40 years you've been waiting to enter the land of Canaan I will not let you enter it I tell you Moses would have rather got leprosy and miss that that is the worst punishment he could ever get God was very strict you cannot entertain any so does God finally deal with people who are disobedient even women or men yes right now he may bless them with thousands and millions blessed but afterwards really deal with them so don't forget that for everything as an antonín scripture how can we have the courage to say to Satan that he's being defeated first of all you must know it in Scripture now it's God to fill you with the Holy Spirit how can I know the difference between my will and God's perfect will because I don't want to do some good things just because I only want to do God's will see that can only come if you read the Bible and meditate on it and get to know the mind of God through the Bible Romans 12 verse 1 and 2 tells us first of all present your body to God the Old Testament it was present your type in the New Testament it is present your body it's much easier to pay your tithe I'll tell you that then to present your body isn't it easier to give 10% of your income then to give your eyes and your tongue to God 30 days a month without ever seeing or saying anything that hurts Oh much easier to give 10% but the Bible says I don't the Lord says I don't want your 10% I want your body I want your eyes I want your tongue I want every part of your body present it to God Romans 12:1 and second let your mind be renewed through the scriptures then you will prove what is the perfect will of God that's how we know God's will and there's a book of mine there called finding God so you can read more is it biblical to see a psychiatrist for counseling I wouldn't say yes or no to that because to me it's something like medicine there are some sicknesses of the brain which can be treated by giving certain tablets and now the tablets cannot do anything to the physical aspect of your brain because the tablets go into your bloodstream but certain the tablets are certain chemicals and when certain chemicals are lacking in your bloodstream you can act in a funny way for example a potassium was lacking and so they give you some tablets to put those missing elements into your blood and then you hear you don't speak crazy things so that type of advice of a doctor can give our psychiatrist can give it as good but I believe the best is if it's apart from that it is some mental sickness all that a psychiatrist can do is you know subdue it and sometimes they can help with medicines that subdue that mental sickness I don't know the reason for all the mental sickness in the world or any other sickness but I do believe the best thing to do is to pray so I'm not against doctors or psychiatrists certainly the doctors and I can touch our physical body I'd be a little more careful with psychiatrists but I would not rule out altogether okay if a man is backslidden up falling from grace was he ever Banach and in the first place perhaps not but it could be also when he was born again and then fell away because it says in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 5 the Lord says if you overcome I will not erase your name from the book of life what does that mean if you don't overcome I will erase your name from the book of life seems to indicate that a man can be born again and loses salvation you know Hebrews 3 verse 14 we become partakers of Christ not just by receiving Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end what if we don't hold fast then you don't become a partaker of Christ you may have started well but is how we end our race you know how in a marathon race so many people start well there's no prize for starting well is the one who finishes well who gets the prize does Jesus appear to people today is not an angel but Jesus does he appear to help people get saved how do we discern between Jesus and st. Jules Satan coming as an angel of light if the result is good that's I would say the fly that fruity shall know them I think you know Jesus appeared to Stephen in the sky and Paul in the sky I don't believe those who say that Jesus came and sat on the table sat on a chair in my bed I don't believe those stories that could be a dream he's not telling a lie but he saw a dream and he thought it was real you know how sometimes we see a dream and we think it was real it's like that if people Meister had a dream but Jesus has never left heaven if he has already landed come so many times were then there's no second coming as for a thousand coming there no there is a second coming of Christ which means he has never come a second time so that is why I believe that he never came to anybody's room but people may have seen him in heaven like Steve and then Paul but you see the fruit in their life and Stephen saw Jesus he said Father forgive them don't lay this sin to their charge when Saul saw Jesus and heaven his life got converted so it's possible for people to see in a dream or a vision Jesus never like saw the same they're saying in India was a fanatic non-christian and he was so earnest to see the true God he didn't believe in Jesus we toured the Bible you should read the story of salvation they're saying amazing story when he was fifteen years old or so he was so desperate he said oh god I don't know who you are but if you don't reveal to meet him to by a some five o'clock in the morning when the train comes by I will put my head on the rails and commit suicide I want to know you and he got a vision of Jesus and he was converted and his non-christian father tried to poison it somehow he escaped and he became what I consider to be the greatest saint India has ever seen if you haven't read a story read it shadows and they're saying he saw Jesus completely changed his life he died when he was about 42 years old he's converted when he wrote 15 and he went to Tibet and amazing what that man is devotion to the Lord so there are people who but it's very rare don't believe everybody who says they had a vision of Jesus I don't believe that does one principal advice you give to young people who are seeking God what would it be I would say be very careful about your friends bad company corrupts you as the main advice I would give to young people select your friends wisely select godly people to be your friends that's the most important thing because that'll help you many of us are tend to because that means we do our own job in the time we spend in our secular work how do we relate to others how do we give receive criticism correction discipline yeah see 99% of Christians are not full-time Christian workers 99.9 percent of Christians are in a secular job and in that secular job we must be witnesses by our life primarily Jesus said you're the salt of the earth and you're the light of the world can you tell me something very similar you're all intelligent people I can see that by your faces you're tell me what is similar about light and salt both of them don't make any sound right if one of these bugs start making a sound you know something wrong with it but do you enter a room you know whether there's light there or not you put 1 spoon of food in your mouth you immediately know where the salt or not it hasn't made any sound this is how our primary witness must be without a sound by our life which is like light which is like salt and then we speech that means people say here there's something different about you how many people have come to Christ like that when they see a man was upright in his work I remember in the Navy when used to go for the parties that naval officers used to have a nice always pray Lord give me an opportunity to two people and the naval officers parties that all be drinking whiskey and all the alcoholic stuff and I stand there with a glass of orange juice and then come and ask me hey Zack why you bringing oranges okay you asked for it now I'm going to tell you gospel he opened the door I didn't take so be a witness play your life okay is there a way for single people to find other godly single people from CFC for the purpose of marriage si si s he is a very small church does that mean God will not allow you to find a gaudiya partner you're not the only believers in the world God can find as I told you there are many godly believers and many denominations but whenever you are considering a partner be very careful to find out all that you can about that person from people who know that person perhaps from the pastor or somebody you know it's very important because you don't want to marry in a haste and spend your whole life repenting no so but God can provide you know Adam God put Adam to sleep and he provided a wife for him I often use that example and say listen if you are at rest doing the will of God in your life faithfully honestly wholeheartedly you can be pretty sure that somewhere like God prepared a wife somewhere for Adam God is already preparing a way for you and he will bring her to you at the right time but make sure you're going to do the will of God and don't be in a rush many people have rushed and then marry the wrong person I'm not here to judge them they were ignorant or they did not have godly elders but if you have godly elders seek their advice and it doesn't have to be from your particular church but it must be a godly person because otherwise one will be a drag on you it must be going in the same direction and the same desires and got into wonderful things you can bring somebody from the other side of the earth to how do we love like Jesus did in this corrupt world by our the Holy Spirit that's the only way and Jesus said if you hurt your brother you must go and ask his forgiveness before you offer your gift but what if he refuses to forgive you your responsibility is over if I ask somebody's forgiveness and he says I won't forgive you okay god bless you goodbye I'm not gonna worry about it I'm going to not going to torture myself because God didn't say you must make him forgive you no no he only said you must ask his forgiveness at all now there are a number of questions here relating to family problems where I don't want to read them because some of you will have a fight when you go home saying did you write that question so I'm here to promote peace so see all husbands and wives will have tensions but if we learn to die to ourselves at least one partner we can have peace I use an example here husband and wife this is a fight but if one person says no I refuse to fight no sound you see either partner one partner must say I died to myself and if both partners say I died to myself fellowship so one partner is willing to die to himself or herself there's peace in the home if both are willing to die to himself this fellowship that's the way and that's the answer to a lot of these questions we have sometimes you know we sit and say I'm right and the other person is wrong and tell you brother holy God is right all of us are a bit wrong here or there always somebody you know all my four sons are following the Lord by God's grace somebody asked me brother Zack why don't you write a book about bringing up children I said if I write a book it title will be all the mistakes I made as a father because that's all I can think of I made so many mistakes I punished them wrongly sometimes I punished them too hard and sometimes I was too hard on them and I didn't spend enough time with them sometimes I used to try and take each of my children out on a date one by one to spend time with them alone when they were small I wish I had spent more time with them but God was merciful my wife and I used to pray for them so we all make mistakes but we feel quick to acknowledge them when my children left home all of them left at the age of 18 to go to college I told them please remember that you never had a perfect father but you had an honest father who always spoke the truth never deceived you if he did something wrong he acknowledged it and you would ask forgiveness for the wrong that he did and remember when you become fathers you will not be a perfect father you would be an honest heart be an honest husband you'll not be a perfect husband so that's all we can do be honest with our children and with our husband and wife and pray that God will be merciful to them some of these questions relate to family things I don't want to talk too much about it the Bible says you should not pray for brother who's committed a sin that leads to death what is the sin that leads to death well Jesus spoke about sin against the Holy Spirit which is never forgiven there are two types of sins one is sin of action the other sin of attitude for example is telling a life as an action slapping somebody that's an action jealousy that's an attitude pride is an attitude so I believe the sin against the Holy Spirit isn't not even sin of action that it just did it once it's an attitude of continuously resisting the Holy Spirit like the Pharisees refused to acknowledge that Jesus was doing his miracles by the Holy Spirit so that is a sin against the Holy Spirit when you keep on resisting and I picture it like this then God draws a red line in front of people and if they keep on resisting resisting resisting resisting resisting the Holy Spirit one day they cross the red line they can never be saved I think I met only one person like that in my whole life it doesn't always happen okay some of these I've already answered what does it mean when it says let 1 Corinthians 16:22 if anyone doesn't love Jesus let him be a curse set it's very difficult words to interpret but I think it would mean that he will finally be cursed if he dies without loving Jesus Christ and that's how I look at it you know it doesn't matter to me if there are certain difficulties in the Bible that I cannot explain because it doesn't apply to me so don't worry about verses that don't apply to you what about believers who celebrate Christmas and Easter which is not in the Bible well I don't celebrate Christmas or Easter because I don't find them in the Bible but Romans 14 says that if you find somebody celebrating a day as unto the Lord let him do it don't judge him this is a question about how my Christian life began there's a book of mine called day of small beginnings why did God deal severely with people in the Old Testament I think that's because you know people didn't have the Holy Spirit that is relaxed didn't have the Holy Spirit so the only ways was to eliminate the Canaanites to protect the Israelites from witchcraft and so many other things some of these other things are not really related to our life but different do we need to seek for signs and wonders always stick with the Word of God see signs and wonders we must leave to God to do whenever he wants to and we must not you know man like Elijah who did double the miracles that Elijah did you know who Elijah died the Bible says he was sick and he died of a sickness so sometimes God doesn't always answer the way we think there are some other questions which are related to what should we convince religious leaders about Romans 1 22 to 32 this talk talking about homosexuality and things like that we may not be able to convince religious leaders Scripture is given for us to follow ourselves we must see what is sin I don't believe that I can convince every religious leader about what is sin most of them may not care for God's Word and they don't want to follow God's Word that's fine but we also follow the standards of God's Word so I trust that will help those who ask questions and if there are other things you go to God and say Lord I was not satisfied with the answers for the sake can you please answer me by the Holy Spirit he longs for you let's pray

Channel: AtlantaCFC

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Keywords: zac poonen, atlanta, church, gospel, jesus, christ, questions, answers

Id: WqTnZqb67jg

Length: 56min 30sec (3390 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 08 2017