(2018 Atlanta) 3. Building A Godly Home - Zac Poonen

we're going to speak on marriage and family life and we see right in the beginning how as soon as God made the heaven and earth and it was corrupted by Satan's fall as he read in verse 2 of Genesis 1 and God remade the earth from that corrupted earth in six days and at the end of each day six times he said it is good and then for the first time notice that sequence yeah it was good right in verse four it was good in the second day he did not say it was good I think that's because in the heavens the devil was still there in the second heaven and then on the third day we read again it said it was good on verse 12 and then on the fourth day again he said verse 18 it was good and on the fifth day he said in verse 21 it was good and then again at the beginning of the sixth day when he brought for the living creatures in verse 25 he saw it was good so there it was and five days the early part is six days it was good and then for the first time he said something is not good so he's saying good good good good good and then something is not good and that is what we read in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 18 on the sixth day after saying it was good for five days the first part of 60 on six days says it is not good what is not good for man to be alone so that is the first thing that God said was not good after making everything good and then he made a woman to be a helper to the man and then he said at the end of the sixth day verse 31 of the watch chapter one it was very good see the tremendous difference not that a woman made but that a married couple made to the earth that was not good in the beginning so there you see the tremendous difference a married couple can make that it can make a good place very good but the devil was determined to make it very bad so he came between that married couple it's very interesting as soon as God unites Adam and Eve the very next thing after their marriage is chapter 3 the devil comes between I was speaking at a wedding once and I said I know you know newly married you don't like to hear about the devil on your wedding day but I might as well warn you it's better to be warned in advance that the first marriage immediately after their wedding the next thing the devil came so if you're warned about it you'll be prepared so that's the only reason I say and I look at all the marriages it's around the world that I've seen boy the devil has done a tremendous work tremendous work and in the midst of this Jesus has now come and here wants to establish married couples that are a testimony like a light this is as if the Lord is telling a couple directly man and woman you together are the light of the world now to show a corrupt world where marriage is almost destroyed by the devil how wonderful marriage can be even if you started badly it doesn't matter my wife and I were married father was when we were married we were born again we loved the Lord we loved each other we wanted to live for God I had quit my job and we were very poor because I had given all my savings for the Lord's work and we struggled along seeking for victory and God bringing brought us little by little into a very happy married life two months ago we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary and we're very happy we have four sons who are all following Jesus and preaching his word we have 17 grandchildren whom they are bringing up in the fear of God because we want another generation also to be witnesses for Christ so we have a little bit of experience we're not perfect but more and more our married life as our home has become a little more like heaven on earth that's how it is meant to be I never had a spiritual father to guide me when I was young many things in my life including the life of victory I sort of had to find out myself how to live and have a godly home I had to sort of struggle and find out myself because I didn't find many good examples around and I wouldn't dare to speak on this if it were not for the fact that God has done something in my life I remember as a young when married a man and I was preaching I said the Bible says that if a man cannot bring up his own children disciplined and orderly in his home he cannot be an elder in a church I saw many pastors with wayward children I didn't believe that they qualified to be pastors or elders according to God's Word in 1 Timothy 3 and I told the Lord that if any of my children went astray I'd stop preaching because I'm not qualified to preach anymore if I can't bring up four children at home how can I preach to hundreds in a church many people don't take these words of God seriously and they take most of God's Word carelessly and that's why their lives never bring forth eternal fruit so family life is very very important in the Old Testament it was not but in the New Testament it is the first book that was written in the Bible is the book of Joe Jonas aswer itten by Moses and Moses lived about 500 years after Joe Joe blurred around the time of Abraham there are many evidences of that in the book of Job I don't want to go into that now so Joe was the first of the 66 books that God wrote and it's interesting that the creation of the heaven and the earth and all that we read in Genesis 1 and 2 was written 500 years later it's almost as though God said creation of the earth heaven and earth can wait 500 years but what I want to write now first of all is about a man of God and his name was Joe so remember this that the when God wanted to write a book for man he didn't want to write about heaven and earth first he wanted to write about a man a godly man the first sentence of inspired scripture that God wrote is this job chapter 1 verse 1 there was a man whose name was Joe in the land of whose he was blameless upright fearing God and turning away from evil that is the first sentence of inspired scripture that God wrote never forget that it's not about the heaven and earth that God wants to tell man about God wants to tell about a man who was blameless upright fearing God and turning away from evil and about his children he had seven sons and three daughters born to him and he was a very rich man this amazing story of a man was very rich and also spiritual some people think you got to be poor to be spiritual is not true he's got nothing to do with poverty or wealth you can be poor and spiritual like the Apostle Paul and Peter on they were all poor people and Jesus himself was poor but you can also be rich like jobber Abraham also be spiritual and it says here that these sons were married the sons and daughters are married and they would have a birthday feast in their house I think Joe must have been about 130 years old by this time and when their days of feasting were survivor over Joe would call them and to his house and pray for them according to their understanding those days offer burnt offerings for them and listen to this in verse 5 God is writing not only about a man who's upright but a father who had a tremendous concern for his 10 children even though those children were grown up living in separate houses he was still concerned what was he concerned about not that their business should prosper no he was concerned that they should not sin this is the type of man that God wrote his first book of scripture about showing how much importance he gives to it he called his sons and he said perhaps my sons have sinned verse 5 and cursed God in their hearts not externally maybe they didn't do anything wrong externally good but job says in their heart they may have sinned so let me pray for them and this is not something once in a while he did it says in verse 5 the last part Joe did this continually and that's why when the devil appeared before Joe the Lord before God the Lord said to Satan have you verse 8 have you considered my servant Joe there's no one like him in the whole earth blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil it's amazing that in the first book of inspired Scripture God talks about a man he can boast to Satan about I remember reading that as a young Christian and I said Lord can you boast about me to Satan can you say to Satan have you considered that man there who lives in that town he's a blameless and an upright man I believe every one of us should have that desire it's no use men praising you men don't know 90% of your life your private life how you live at home how you handle money what's going on in your thought life they don't know anything and they praise you it's only what they see of your external life which is very little but when God who sees every part of your life can boast about you to Satan do you think Joe was perfect no there's no perfect man on the earth the only perfect man who walked this earth was Jesus Christ in many ways he was imperfect but according to the light he had he was perfect you know a child in first grade can get a hundred percent or A+ according to the light she he or she has they're not perfect in knowledge so God expects us to get a hundred percent or A+ at our level whether it's first grade or second grade there's a world of knowledge you don't have so same way at that level he was a perfect man and God could boast about him the other thing I want to show you is that this man had a very difficult wife can a man be a godly man who's got a very difficult wife here is an example in fact his wife was pretty bad and she bought ten children to him but when he became sick and God was testing him and she didn't know that and she told him what type of God is this you're serving jo-jo view you've served him so faithfully and he gives you sickness and his wife said to him in chapter 2 verse 9 I'm talking about family life do you still hold fast your integrity curse God and die here was a wife how could job die he can't just say I want to die he was telling her she was telling him to commit suicide this wretched god of yours who you served so faithfully and he treats you so badly don't waste your time don't hold fast your integrity trusting this God commit suicide and look what he says you speak as a foolish woman speaks verse 10 shall we accept good from God and not accept adversity and job did not sin he loved God more than his wife a godly man will always love God more than his wife a godly woman will love God more than her husband Jesus said that if you want to be my disciple you must love me more than you love your husband or wife or father or mother or anybody but the wonderful thing you read in the book of Job is because he was faithful and of course he made a few complaints he was in the Old Testament he didn't have the light we have he didn't have promises like God will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability the devil had not yet been defeated because Calvary's cross had not yet come up so he was tackling a devil who was still powerful he couldn't resist the devil like we could but yet he came through so don't look at his complaints and think you're better than him he was living in another time when he didn't have the light that we have he didn't have a Bible he didn't have fellowship but it's amazing what he accomplished finally hmm God could say about say this about him in zhengzhou 42 he told the others you've not spoken right of me like myself in Jogja joe 42 verse 8 and then we read in verse 10 the Lord restored the fortunes of joe verse 10 and then he blessed his latter days verse 12 more than the beginning and then he had another seven sons verse 13 and three daughters so his wife bore him twenty children and that means his first ten children died and here was his wife telling him to commit suicide that is strained relationship but I think once his wife saw how her husband went through all this and came out triumphant and God blessed him she changed her mind she repented so at the end of the story you find a repentant woman who was ready to have ten more children and who were blessed by God so what I want you to see is how this one man's life changed his wicked wife into a wonderful wife it's a great example in the first book of the Bible of how one man's integrity in the midst of trial and suffering holding on to God being faithful and not doing the stupid things his wife told him to do like commit suicide his faithfulness loving God more than he loved his wife ended up in his wife also being blessed it's a great example for me to think that that is the first book that God wrote ever an upright man who ended up with a wonderful married life and with children so God is very interested in our marriages but in the Old Testament because they didn't have the Holy Spirit within them there's not much written about married life you look at all the law which is given by Moses no mention of how husband and wife should live with each other only a brief mention in Proverbs about bringing up your children properly disciplining them nothing about home life and so the home life of many of these wonderful men in the Old Testament was not very good as I told you earlier about Moses and Samuel and David his home life was an absolute mess he was a man after God's own heart but he married seven or eight women and he didn't bring up his children properly one killed his brother and another truck tried to kill David himself overthrowing him from the throne he wasn't a good father but he was still a man after God's own heart and he completed his reign what I'm trying to tell you in all this is that married life was not important in the Old Testament and God did not expect a high standard because they didn't have the Holy Spirit without the Holy Spirit is impossible to have a good married life and if you don't honor the Holy Spirit in your married life I want to tell you your marriage will be like an Old Testament marriage pretty miserable and unhappy but if you honor the Holy Spirit in your married life you miss your Marilyn can be like it speaks up in the New Testament in the New Testament we read in Ephesians in chapter 5 how important married life is because it's come husband and wife are supposed to demonstrate the relationship between Christ and the church it's an amazing calling I don't know whether every person who gets married realizes this that you husband and your wife how to demonstrate to the world by your life the relationship between Christ and the church it's an amazing calling there's no greater calling than that in the world to demonstrate how Christ in the church function together in love and wife submitting and the husband not lording it over the wife what caring for her just like Christ cared for the church so there's a whole section there and husband and wife and children and parents and in those days all homes at sermons have masters no Street the servants and all of that is written here and again repeated in Colossians how husband and wife should live showing the tremendous importance of married life in the New Testament and when it comes to elders in the New Testament we read in 1 Timothy 3 that married life the married life of the elder is very very important to qualify to be an elder it says he must have a good testimony he must be married only to one woman divorced men were not allowed to be elders those who had married more than one woman are not allowed to be elders in those days the standard was so high in the New Testament whereas back in the Old Testament David could have eight wives and still be the leader of God's people but in the New Testament is 1 Timothy 3:2 must be the husband of one wife very clear and also he must be one verse 4 who manages his household well keeping his children under control with all dignity because if a man doesn't know how to manage his own family where is fine how can he manage the Church of God if he can't take better care of two or three children at home how is he going to take care of two 300 people in the church is it logical and right so you see the tremendous importance given to family life in the New Testament and I tell you if this word is implemented in most churches I think about 75% of pastors will have to resign from their jobs but people don't care for the Word of God that's why and the people in the congregation also don't have a clue what the Word of God says so they allow all types of unscriptural things to flourish in most Christian churches today there are many unchristian practices in Christian churches today because they ignore the Word of God in relation to married life in relation to money and many things like that and when you begin to uphold Christian standards and hold it up people saying oh you're being extreme and you're being fanatic and all that well they said that about Jesus they said that about Paul and they said that about every godly man through the centuries but we continue to hold up the standards and we've held up these standards for 43 years in all the many churches that we have planted with thousands of believers that we have in our churches for many from non-christian backgrounds we've never had one single divorce in any of our churches in these 43 years and not a single case of divorce or remarriage or any such thing we don't do that we don't we believe in the standards of God's Word and we uphold it we don't allow a single person I work with about a hundred and fifty elders about 75 churches we don't allow a single person to be an elder if you cannot bring up his children properly at home it's possible in this day and age to maintain God's standards if you want to if you hold it up and say I will not compromise compromise I have to remove an elder when his children are not following the Lord we do that because we believe that if we uphold God's standards God will support us we were more interested in God supporting us than increasing our numbers if the way to life is narrow and where if you find it we realize from the beginning we can never build a mega church it will be impossible the mega church will be full of people who are walking the Broadway many go in thereat and we didn't want people going on the way to destruction just because we want know our numbers we wanted quality you know the Bible says you can build with wood hay and straw or gold silver and precious stones so if you're given ten thousand dollars and you can either buy gold silver or precious stones or wood hay and straw well you can big a huge pile of wood hay and straw for ten thousand dollars and build a huge structure when God tested with fire nothing is left that's a mega church a huge structure built with wood hay and straw but if you're going to choose the narrow way and get people holy you preach the narrow way and say we're going to track people here we want the narrow way we don't attract anybody to our church by the singing or the music or entertainment or young people's programs but just preaching the way of the Cross it'll be quite a narrow way and it's like buying ten thousand dollars worth of gold silver and precious stones it won't be a big pile it will be a small little amount but in the day of judgment will come through the fire so a lot of people who call themselves Christians are not going to endure the final day of judgment I'll tell you that so we live in a day when standards are ignored and despised almost so we want to restore the standards and Christian marriage and the example given us in Ephesians 5 it's very interesting I want you to see this there's a great dispute nowadays in the world of what is the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit many people say it's speaking in tongues that's what the Pentecostals usually say most Pentecostal denominations now I don't believe that for a number of reasons because it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 not all speak in tongues very clear just like it says not all our Apostles not all our prophets not all our teachers to believe that everybody should speak in tongues is as ridiculous as believing that everybody should be an apostle or prophet according to 1 Corinthians 12 28 onwards but then what is and the other thing I want to say in a simple principle of Bible study that I've discovered after more than 50 years of studying the Bible is that if you take a doctrine from the historical sections of Scripture you can go astray you must get a doctrine from the teaching sections of scripture there are two types of scriptures in the New Testament teaching sections historical sections don't get a doctrine from historical sections that's history what Jesus did what the Apostles did go to what Jesus taught and what the Apostles taught in the episodes that's where we get the doctrine from otherwise you can go astray you can teach all types of wrong things jesus healed all the sick people history not doctrine you'd get a doctrine from that and say that God's going to heal all the sick people it doesn't happen he doesn't happen even in the churches where the people preach it it's deceiving people because it's a fact that God does not halls heal all sick people he does I believe in healing is one of the gifts and God does heal people I myself ever experienced it but to say that God heals everybody is just not true you know you've got to keep your eyes open and you'll know that and your mind open as well so there are many other scriptures in which they all spoke in tongues where do you find that in the teaching section no in the historical section in Acts chapter 2 you can't get a doctrine from that you know I've asked some of these people who take doctrine from acts 2:4 they were all spoken tongues I say why don't you also wear take was 44 where it says they shared all their goods together and they had a common purse one one common bank account for the whole church which is the Pentecostal church practicing that selectively they shared everything in common is there any church that does that maybe the Hutterites apart from that I don't know anyone so that is historical don't take doctrine from that when you come to the Epis it doesn't say you must share all things and government doesn't share is say everybody must speak in tongues I'm just giving you an example so what is the mark of being filled with the holy spirit Ephesians chapter 5 let's see that Ephesians 5 and it says in verse 18 now listen very carefully I'm not this is not history this is teaching teaching sections of Scripture even when you go to the Gospels take the teaching of Jesus not Jesus walked on the water you take that as a doctrine you're going to drown I will tell you that I'm just giving you some ridiculous examples of you try to you have a big wedding feast and you bring five loaves and two fishes to feed everybody you're going to get into very compromising situations don't take that the historical sections and preach doctrine out of it okay teaching section being filled with the Holy Spirit the Fijians 5 verse 18 don't get drunk with wine for that is dissipation but be filled with the spirit and here is the result it's a long result of being filled of the spirit speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing making melody with your heart is a load always giving thanks for all things in the name of Jesus Christ and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ it's an attitude of Thanksgiving and giving thanks for everything and fear of Christ verse 21 now it's not stopped there it's be filled with the spirit and wives be subject to your own husband this is the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit your spirit filled wives you'll be subject to your husband's if you speak in tongues and you're not subject your husbands that's a fake fullness of the Holy Spirit husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church if you speak in tongues and you don't love the church don't even seek to love your wives as Christ loved the church it's a fake this is the result of being filled with the spirit remember and children obey your parents if you don't obey your parents you're not really I mean if you're at home that means and fathers you don't bring up your children Ephesians 6:4 in the discipline and instruction of the Lord your fullness of the Spirit is fake and you don't treat your servants at home properly verse 9 of chapter 6 and then be filled with the spirit will result in standing against all the schemes of the devil verse 11 fighting the devil and overcoming him this is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit and married life is a very very important part of it teaching us that the most important thing for a husband and wife and they get married is not just to put a ring on each other's finger but be filled with the Holy Spirit most important I mean how in the world can you live this life to people with a completely different personality brought up in different ways imperfect man and woman coming together to demonstrate what a happy Christian marriage should be it's impossible without being filled with the Holy Spirit that's the most important thing that every house newly married husband or wife should seek for to be filled the Holy Spirit so that I can relate to my partner in the way god wants me to very very important in the New Testament in the Old Testament not even mentioned why because they could not have the Holy Spirit within them when it speaks in the Old Testament about the fullness of the Spirit is like this here's man's heart this glass here is it's closed man's spirit was closed to the Holy Spirit like the veil in the temple was closed you couldn't go into the most holy place the most holy place in the temple is a picture of man's spirit the outer court is a picture of man's body the holy place is a picture of man's mind and emotions his soul body soul and spirit I was out at court wholly placing most holy place in the holy place was closed up with a veil man the holy spirit could not enter man spirit in the Old Testament so when the Holy Spirit was poured upon man it was only a pawn upon upon upon Gideon upon David even upon John the Baptist and that was called Old Covenant filling with the Holy Spirit was upon but it flowed like a river and floored and blessed Millions through Moses and John the Baptist everybody in the New Testament the veil was rent because Jesus died and the way into the most holy place was opened the EM tree opened to man's heart was opened to spirit to the spirit and the Holy Spirit could come in and fills the heart first and from the innermost being the rivers flow that's the difference there were rivers in the Old Testament too but was from a pond but in the New Covenant it is from inside so this fullness of the Spirit spoken in Ephesians 5 I'm talking about married life by the way it's begins on the inside in John chapter 7 and verse 37 it says jesus said if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink from his innermost being that's the most important phrase in verse 38 from his innermost being the rivers will flow that's from first the innermost being is filled and then overflows not like in the Old Testament where it was on the outer side and that then you can understand verse 39 which says the last part of verse 39 of John 7 the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not glorified but you say what about the spirit in the Old Testament read it in its context from his innermost being verse 38 the Spirit was not given in this way to flow from the innermost being until Jesus was glorified the spirit could not dwell in man till man's heart was cleansed in the blood of Jesus nobody in the Old Covenant not even John the Baptist at the Holy Spirit within here but so what I'm saying that is that when you if you want to live the type of married life described in the New Testament you need to have the Holy Spirit filling you inside so that from your innermost being you love your wife a lot of love for one's wife and husband is very superficial these days it's not from within and that's why I showed you that context of Ephesians 5 from within filled of the spirit you build a married a home husband wife parent children and in those days they had servants as well and then and the other side of that section is fighting of the devil so you have this section on marriage as it will bracketed on one side of the bracket is be filled with the Holy Spirit and then this whole section in Ephesians 5 and 6 about husband wife parents children and then the other side of the bracket is fighting the devil so this home is here between being filled with the spirit and fighting with the devil and you see that that means the devil is going to attack the home you see the significance of where this home section comes in Ephesians we want men must be filled with the spirit and we must stand together against the schemes of the devil who wants to destroy your home just like he destroyed it the home of Adam and Eve so there's one thing I want to say in this connection as soon as Adam and Eve slipped and fell there are a few things we can learn from there the first thing is that the Lord made Eve to be a helper to Adam he was the head of the home and we read here that when the devil came through the serpent Genesis 3 to speak to the woman Adam was standing there watching the whole thing what type of dumb husband was he just allowing the devil to speak to his wife his wife having a discussion with Satan and Adam standing there with his mouth open wondering what's happening instead of stopping her and saying he don't do that stop talking to him that's what he should have done what do you husbands do when you're when you see the devil is leading your wife has trade you at least tell her you may not be able to stop her she may be rebellious and not willing to listen to you but I do you at least tell her you're going the wrong direction darling that's not the way to go there you see Adams mistake he was made to be the head of his home and he did not exercise his authority there I mean he may not have listened to him that's another story but he could have at least warned her I've seen many cases like this of the devil enters a home and their husband just stands there gaping not doing anything about it your responsibility begins there my brother's if you're married you're the head of your home and you got to make sure the devil doesn't come in there now if your wife doesn't listen to you she may fall prey to the devil but here we see that's the first mistake Adam made and the second thing is that when he he I mean he saw his wife slip up and his wife gives the fruit to him and he eats it and then you know how as soon as you commit sin you become dumb I mean spiritually dumb and stupid and you see the stupidity of Adam that he thinks he can hide from God by going behind a tree can you imagine anything more stupid than that if I get behind this tree God won't catch me it's like some hide-and-seek game and God comes after him and says Adam where are you and he comes from behind the tree and he asks him did you one question Genesis 3:11 did you eat from the tree which I told you not to eat there's only yes or no answer but he says before I tell you that Lord do you know what is the cause of it this woman can you see this picture of a man pointing his finger at his wife which is seen throughout human history since then it began here instead of saying Lord it's my fault I opened my mouth and I ate it points his wife and she's the one who gave it to me and God don't forget who gave her to me it's you so indirectly blaming whatever wife did you give me do you know the number of husbands who stand with this attitude it's her fault I've been in numerous counseling sessions with husbands and wives in the last 50 years and I've seen this picture Genesis 3 picture now it is both ways wife also points of husband it's his fault it's her fault it began there and once you start accusing you know that you're falling apprai to Satan because he is called the accuser of the brothers the moment you begin to accuse your wife or your husband you can know who is speaking through you you don't have to have the slightest doubt this woman whom you gave me this man whom you gave me beware of that whom you gave why in the world did you give me such a husband or such a wife let me divorce her now let me divorce him now this is the devil that's why the section the only one place in the New Testament where it speaks about spiritual warfare stand against the schemes of the devil where does it come immediately after the section on the Christian home because that's the one he's going to attack just like in Genesis 3 so don't add to his attacks by holding hands with him and accusing each other one of the first lessons to learn when Jesus came he didn't have any pointing finger to accuse he could have if there was one person who walked on this earth who could have accused everybody because he never did anything wrong it was Jesus every all the other people did wrong to him he never did anything wrong but his hands are not pointing at anybody his hands are nailed to the cross saying I'm not gonna accuse anyone and they all accused him and he took the blame that my dear brothers and sisters is the difference between the devil and Jesus Christ never forget it and in your home you're following one of these two either being willing to be crucified and say I don't have any finger pointing at anybody or with the accusing finger blaming your children blaming your parents blaming your wife or husband anybody that's how the devil gets into homes and that's what finally leads to divorce and many other unhappiness so if we can recognize these things are all written in Scripture if you read carefully you see it very clearly and the Lord in the midst of all this darkness that the devil has brought even in the Christian world the devil wants the Lord wants to raise up people who are the light of the world whose homes are like a light you know sometimes when you fly in an airplane at night or some dark deserted areas there you see sometimes one home with the light and you look down and you see it's all dark but one home is lit here and another home is lit there I mean that's how God sees this world when he looks from heaven all darkness all around the globe but here one light and there one light another one light our home must be like that at least one light burning for God in the midst of a dark world make your home like that and the first thing you want to eliminate from your home if you want to be a light is accusation blaming each other eliminate that completely from your life because that is of the devil there's a beautiful picture in the book of Zechariah chapter 3 which we is speaking here about Joshua the high priest but we can learn a lesson for married couples Zechariah was a young man we read about that in chapter 2 verse 4 that Zachariah was a young prophet because an angel said gone speak to that young man it's Zechariah anyway the angel showed in chapter 3 verse 1 Joshua the high priest and Satan standing to accuse him Joshua is a picture of child of God and Satan is there standing there picture this in your mind here's a child of God and Satan standing to accuse him and the Lord said to Satan Lord rebuke you Satan this child of God I plucked him out of the fire he's my child now Joshua was not clean verse 3 he had filthy garments that's why the devil could accuse him there was sin in the man's life just like there's sin in all of our lives nobody is free from sin completely so here it's a picture of us with some imperfection in our life some imperfect maybe it's a picture of your wife or your husband Joshua is a picture of your wife or your husband with something wrong and while the devil is trying to find fault with that filth in that person in your wife or your husband the Lord is saying no I'm going to clothe them with the the Lord says in verse 4 take away his filthy garments and put a new dress on him and he's clothed with festal robes it says in verse 4 so here you see the picture here's a believer the devil standing to accuse him on one side and God saying no no no cover up his nakedness and his filth which strobes husbands and wives you're going to take either side with the Lord or with the devil the devil's going to find out some fault in your marriage partner see he's got this wrong and he's right he is filthy or she is filthy but the Lord on the other side says no I'm ruining removing that filth I'm gonna close my personal garments and see what Zachariah does is wonderful to see it when he's gets so excited and he's going to take the side of the Lord not the side of the devil he says in verse 5 Lord not only festal garments put a glorious clean turban on his head as well you know this is called the making your brother glorious making your sister glorious the one who's got some fault in him or her but you see the Lord clothing that person in the righteousness of Christ and you joins hands with Jesus and saying put a turban on his head as well make him glorious make making your faulty wife glorious so that the devil is put to shame making your faulty husband glorious so that the devil is put to shame this is the Ministry of a truly Christian husband or wife that's how a married life should be there nope there's no perfect man or woman in the world marriage is to imperfect people being brought together by the Lord to help each other press on to perfection that is if you see yourself like that I believe you can make your home a little foretaste of heaven that's how our home should be our homes our children should grow up with a foretaste of heaven my wife and I felt that the greatest inheritance we could give our children is not a lot of money but they could when they leave home and our children left home when they were very young to college and then they would visit us now and then but they should see in us a foretaste of heaven in our home that is the inheritance we wanted to give our children an atmosphere they saw of heaven in the home so that when they build a home they can carry that inheritance with them and seek to build a home like that there in their home like that from generation to generation we can have godly Christian homes and I'm very happy to see the beginning of that in my own four children's homes now because they've seen something they've seen what is important they've seen that money is not the most important thing but to have a godly home is the important thing to have a husband and wife who are not imperfect they are imperfect but was seeking to be quick to ask each other's forgiveness it's not that we never make a mistake let me give you an example in the New Testament acts to the Apostles in chapter 23 in Acts of the Apostles in chapter 23 Paul stands before a high priest and says I have lived with a perfectly good conscience till this day Paul was probably close to 60 years old by then thirty years he'd been a Jew lived with a good conscience in the ten commandments and the remaining twenty five thirty years he was a Christian living with a higher standard of a good conscience of the New Covenant and he says all my life I've lived with a perfectly good conscience and the high priest who did not have a good conscience got upset with that and he tells the man slap him on his face and he slaps Paul on the face and immediately Paul loses his good conscience and he tells the high priest you whitewashed wall you're trying it telling somebody to do something against the law did Jesus speak like that when somebody slapped him no anything that Jesus would not do is sin and Paul was doing what Jesus did not do he sinned he lost his good conscience but he fell down but he immediately got up that's the important thing he's oh I'm sorry I didn't know it was a high priest and I believe he apologized to the high priest that is where we learn what it is to have a good conscience not that I never made a mistake but as as soon as I slip up I apologize for it and said it right that's how we maintain the good conscience all his life so I learned something there man who says I got a good conscience is not saying I lived a perfect life but he's saying as soon as I fell down I got up as soon as I got a thorn in my foot I pulled it out as soon as I got a speck in the eye I washed it off I slipped and fell in the road but I got up so it's possible for a husband and wife to live with a perfectly good conscience that means as soon as they accidentally spoke a rude word or sometimes deliberately a rude word okay and you realize it you say I'm sorry darling for saying speaking like that you maintain a good conscience this brothers and sisters is the way God's children should live together not I've never made a mistake but I'm get up as soon as I am aware of it sometimes in married life we misunderstand each other it happens you meant one thing and your partner understood it another way it always happens in an imperfect world it happens between brothers it happens between sisters it happens between husband and wife we must make allowance for it don't always attribute the worst possible motive attribute the best possible motive the more godly you are you try to cover up you know that verse which says love covers a multitude of sins and 1 Peter for love covers a multitude of sins so this is the way if you slip up immediately ask forgiveness I've told people if you have a big struggle with overcoming anger here's my prescription guaranteed to work you want permanent victory over anger whether it's with your husband and wife or with others as soon as you are aware that you spoke the wrong word or a rude word or an angry word immediately apologize I'm sorry to someone in the office I'm sorry sir - Yoho in your home I'm sorry darling that I hurt you immediately and if you do that maybe you have to do it 10 times a day ok do it 10 times a day I guarantee you'll get victory or anger pretty soon initially you'll get victory because you're pretty ashamed to have to keep on asking for forgiveness not necessarily in the fear of God but gradually it will come because say Lord I want to keep a sensitive conscience I want to be holy if you don't believe me try it from this evening onwards when you get upset with your wife or husband try apologizing immediately and tomorrow and day after and see if some change doesn't come there's something wonderful about humbling yourself and saying I'm sorry I'm not the perfect person I make myself out to be I'm imperfect and I believe that's a mark of love God so loved that he forgave us we must be willing to forgive one another also immediately I remember when young married couples come and ask me for an advice I say listen I'll give you a one-sentence advice that will help you throughout your life be quick to ask forgiveness and be quick to forgive one another that's it if you need it for the next 50 years but we'll carry you through and you'll have a wonderful married life so that's one very important part of relationships and to be sensitive to one another's needs that's another thing you read that in Ephesians 5 the husbands love your wives it says the husband is the head of the wife and so because of that verse Ephesians 5:28 he must love his wife as his own body you read that there are two times were heads one is the head of the government or the head of a company and the physical head of your body so the husband is not the head of department head of the body head of departments means you can order the people in your department around that's not the type of head a husband should be it is head of the body the head of the body is not only controlling the body but it's very sensitive you know if an ant comes and bites your for ants crawled up on your wrist and is biting it that when does your head become aware of it immediately and it does the other hand go and do something about it imagine a husband who's ahead like that so sensitive to his wife's pain or suffering that immediately does something to relieve it that is being the head of the home not departmental head giving orders go here go there and all that other stuff the head of the body and the wife being subject to the husband like the churches to Christ and if your husband is a godly man it it'll be very easy but even if your husband is not a godly man the Bible says in 1 Peter and Chapter three that those are disobedient husbands 1 Peter 3:1 in the same way you wives be submissive to your husband so that even if they are disobedient to the word you can win them without preaching to them by your behavior many born again converted wives want to bring their husbands to Christ and it says here you can win them by your behavior without preaching to them I've actually seen examples of this in our church of wives who have non-christian husbands who would not allow their wives to come to the church and then I baptized some of these converted sisters secretly and I told them go home now and submit your husband and show her submit not like a slave but in a godly way sure your husband your respect for him and let him see that Christ has changed your life and I've seen how that husband gets converted and comes to the church not by preaching but by the submissive behavior of the wife but I've also seen other women who husbands aren't converted and they're always preaching to them to their husband and the husband never gets converted it says by your behavior you can win that person if you're just preaching and it's not manifested in your conduct I'm not talking about being a slave to an abusive husband I've told I want to balance this out by saying that if a husband is very abusive unfortunately there are husbands like that who physically hurt their wives I've told the wives you can't divorce your husband but he can live separately because otherwise he may kill you stay away protect your life there's nothing wrong in that so I'm not talking about submitting submiss submitting to an abusive husband but I'm saying otherwise this is the way to win your husband so I want to say a word about children I read that verse in Timothy which says that if your children are not brought up in a good way you can't be an elder is the responsibility of the father to bring up the children in the fear of the Lord and I believe it's possible because it says in Proverbs in chapter 22 and verse 6 train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it now either that is the Word of God is true or it isn't like many other promises in Scripture there's a condition you fulfill the condition the promise will be fulfilled the condition is you train up a child in the way you should go God's promises when he's old he won't depart from it now either the Word of God is true or it isn't is it possible that you did your part and God did not do his part can it ever be like that can God signed a contract with you and he won't fulfill his part of the deal your part of the deal is bring up your children in the fear of God God's part of the deal is I'll make sure they don't go stray from that so I've seen I'm not trying to condemn anybody whose spiritual and I've gone astray I believe that even if your children have grown up and you were a failure in your life and bringing them up and you see them today all astray from the Lord I want to say this hope for you the message of the gospel is always a message of hope and that is I tell them listen you parents your children have left home they've gone astray from the Lord what can you do for them I'll tell you what to do follow this prescription first both of you husband and wife kneel down before the Lord and say Lord we did not bring them up properly it is 100% our fault don't be like Adam pointing the finger at somebody else it was our fault that's the first step please forgive us for not maybe you were ignorant okay whatever it is you didn't bring them up in a godly way now Lord forgive us now please bring us children back to you and I say to them if you both will pray kneel down before the Lord confess your sin and love one another and pray unitedly for your children I can guarantee God will do his part and bring them back to to him yes prayer is like a long rope that you put around like a lasso you put around your children and there may be a lot of slack in it they'll go away for some time but gradually one day they come to the end of that rope and you pull them in that's how prayer is so never give up however far your children are drifted from the Lord determined Lord I have faith that you will bring them back to you as hope for everyone while there's life there's hope and parents must be very strict in disciplining their children now not allow them to do what they like and in a particularly our day when little children are being given smartphones you don't know what they're watching on it without any discipline they are allowed to watch all types of movies and television things and you know and then they go astray because you yourself have fed them it's spiritual poison I mean if you take your child to a doctor and saying my child's having severe stomach pain and the doctor is what I've been feeding him I've been giving him good food but just one spoon of poison every day just because it likes the taste of it and the doctor says one spoon of poison every day only one spoon doctor not I mean most of his food is good food but for taste we add 1 spoon of poison is how you crazy or what that's it you know you say he watches a little bit of some r-rated movie and not much just few minutes of it have you seen with these r-rated movies that you have watched there maybe five seconds of some provocative sexual scene there 15 years later you have forgotten all about the story of the movie but you remember that five seconds what does that teach you these people who make movies know how to stimulate people how to attract people that's what stuck in your mind you've forgotten the story and this is the poison you give to your children to watch they don't know they are ignorant and you have harmed them for life no wonder over a period of time they go astray and you don't take them take the pains to teach them God's Word you say you send them to Sunday School Sunday school is for the children of unconverted people if you are born again it's at home that they should learn the Word of God I have for my children went to Sunday School in church but I said that's extra it's my responsibility to make sure before they leave my home that they know the Word of God most important and I made sure that before my boys left home every one of them knew God's Word knew the principles of God's Word and to be upright in our schools in India there's a lot of cheating that goes on in the examination time you know how looking at somebody else's answer paper and asking questions I remember asking one of my son's I said you know how it is you know all about all the others in your class and I asked him once tell me who cheats in the examination and he said that everybody except two of us and both of us from our heart from our church CFC why was that because we teach children in our church they should not cheat in an examination I remember I went to another Christian school there and the principal was telling me I was overseeing an examination hall one day and I saw a little child taking a slip of paper out of its pocket to answer some question and I asked that son why you brought the slip of paper he said sir mommy put it in my pocket and told me to take it out during the examination time so he was the pretty principal is telling me miss mr. poon and what shall I do when the mothers themselves are encouraging their children to cheat in the examination it's terrible what all goes on if we don't teach these things to children they will just follow what other children do it's very important to teach and when a father does not do the job we read of Timothy's mother he brought up her child in such such a fear of God that when that child was about 20 years old the Apostle Paul who was such a strict man looked at this 20 year old Timothy and said I want him on my team boy that should have made any parent proud if the Apostle Paul selected your 20 year old son to be on his team but that was the single-handed work of his mother the father was just a Greek businessman who was more interested in making money so even where a father doesn't do the job a mother can single-handedly bring up a godly young man some great Saints were brought up by godly mothers like John Wesley brought up by a saintly mother soul is very important in the Christian life to take the principles of God's Word seriously and when I've made a mistake to say Lord I'm sorry I did not bring up my children in the ways of the Lord that's why they've gone astray I gave them a small spoonful of poison now and then what shall we do about the past Lord forgive me I got some light today on the seriousness and the importance of the Christian home and I want to repent if so if you're like that I want to give you a promise today to all parents who are repentant about the way they have brought up that children Acts chapter 17 - all husbands and wives who are repentant about the way we have lived with each other and hurt each other here is a promise in acts 2 the Apostles in chapter 17 and worse 30 take it as a promise for yourself God has overlooked your past times of ignorance but he's now declaring that you should repent he has overlooked your times of ignorance maybe some of you did not realize how important your family life was God says okay forget it I'm going to overlook it but now turn around and ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and that you and your husband and you and your wife are going to stand together against the devil and you're gonna pray for your children I believe that's hope for everyone sitting in this Hall today not one of you is without hope I don't care what your past mistakes have been God is a God of hope and he can help you believe me he can I've seen some amazing miracles in people with messed up lives who repented and took God at His Word and put their entire past under the blood of Jesus Christ and said I'm gonna move forward in the power of the Holy Spirit let's pray Heavenly Father there are many needy people here please help each one of us to be to build the type of home that you want us to build to be the type of parents husbands wives that we should be fill us with the Holy Spirit give us light on the schemes of the devil deliver us from the Spirit of accusation and help us to bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord so there will be a generation in the days to come that bears witness to you we pray in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: AtlantaCFC

Views: 1,804

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Zac, Poonen, Atlanta, CFC, Jesus, Christ, God, Bible, Gospel, Salvation, Light, Darkness, Satan, Good, News, truth, sin

Id: _AgDHPBwOTI

Length: 68min 30sec (4110 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 16 2018