3) Question and Answer (General) - Zac Poonen

okay this is going to be a question and answer time if you have read the Gospels you will notice that Jesus had many informal question-answer times not that he asked people to write questions and give it but many times you read in the Gospels people would come up to Jesus and say what about this or what about that and there were times when he answered them in detail there were other times when he did not answer them and he felt the spirit of the questioner was wrong you know once some people asked him a question and he said before I answer that let me ask you a question was John the Baptist was his baptism from heaven or from men and they were tossing it out on their mind if we say it was from men all the people who turn against us because they knew he was a prophet if we say it's from heaven he'll ask us why didn't you believe him in them so they were diplomatic and they said Lord we can't answer that she said well I'm not going to answer your question either so I find that Jesus did not answer everybody who came to him if you read the Gospels with an open mind one of the wonderful things I see because he had discernment one of the greatest needs of leadership in the church today is discernment I don't mean the type of discernment that we get through growing up and becoming mature as human beings it's a supernatural gift God gives by which you can make out present in genuine or is a crook I'm not saying Jesus didn't have discernment when he allowed you this is scary to be there but there was a purpose sometimes God allows crooks like Judas Iscariot to be in a church I remember in it was not really a CFC person but another person who was a bit crooked and he had been taking advantage of a lot of people and finally I was involved in that situation and I had to remove him from leadership but by the time he had already exploited so many people financially I mean so part of the reason was he he was never a CFC person he came in from outside never understood our values so when I discovered that he had cheated so many people I asked the Lord I said Lord why did you why didn't you allow me to discover this earlier but so many people have been exploited and the Lord said to me this is many years ago he said you're not as patient as I am so then I discovered sometimes God is long-suffering with people like he allowed Judas Iscariot three and a half years to repent in though he knew he was a crook so sometimes God allows a crooked person to remain in a church for some time before exposing him because God is patient with him hoping he will change and if he doesn't change then he is exposed so Lord's ways are always wisest and as human beings we need to learn divine wisdom okay now these are questions that a few of them I shall try and answer in our procession many of these questions are about marriage okay first question is obviously someone who is single what should I look for when looking for a spouse by our goal well number one obviously the person must be one who loves Jesus Christ and who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ otherwise we have to see that there's a difference between those who know the Lord those who don't know the Lord and if God sees that I'm more interested in earthly values so a person's a good looking person or persons a rich person or it's got a good job or it's got a good car or a good house or he's a very pleasant person to talk to these things will not lead you to a good marriage the best marriage in the world is the one where Christ is always in the middle so before you get married itself Christ must be number one in that person's life and Christ must be number one in your life then when you come together you will not make each other number one if you make Jesus number one and your spouse will be number two that is the best and happiest marriage that they can ever be they'll never be a divorce that marriage that will never separate if they keep Jesus as number one in the middle it's when they make each other number one you can end up in divorce you can end up with a lot of fighting and Garlin because there's no one in the middle to keep them together Christ must be in the middle so the first thing you got to look for in the spouses does he love Jesus Christ does she love Jesus is there some evidence of it in their life that they and you can find that out my number of things you can find that out by talking to that person just for example by asking simple question like I asked people when did you come to know Jesus as your Savior and Lord and I've heard some people tell me well I've known him from I was born in a Christian family and I knew him from childhood then I know the guy's not converted at all nobody is born as a Christian they're all born as healer the time must come when we pass out of darkness into life so whenever I thought people give me this time this type of answer so I was born in a Christian family and I always been doctoring and my parents were god-fearing and have known Christ from the beginning I said it's clear to me this person doesn't know Jesus at all he doesn't know the difference between religion and Christ so that's the first thing you need to discern when you talk to a person doesn't person know Jesus and just since man is spirit soul and body in the verse 1 Thessalonians 5:23 which says man is three parts just like God is a Trinity man is also in one sense a trinity spirit soul and body spirit is the deepest part of us by which we connect with Christ soul is our mind and our emotions etc so in considering a person we need to think about our intellectual compatibility in a sense of being able to communicate those are things that worldly people also look at so I don't need to mention it that we're able to communicate with each other etc and then of course body is another part we are not angels so there has to be a certain amount of physical attraction as well physical attraction is not a sin because God has made us with bodies our physical attraction doesn't mean that the boy has got to be the most handsome person in the world of the girl is a beauty queen any such thing like the proverb says beauty is in the eyes of the beholder so you can consider someone very attractive who somebody else does not consider tractor that's okay person must be attractive in your eyes so spirit soul and body where you give primary value to what is spiritual and then to the other social intellectual qualities and physical attractiveness this is what we look for in that in that order and then of course we must pray because maybe a number of people like that or suitable Lord who is the one most suited for me and as you pray about it God will give you a peace in your heart as you consider someone or as you talk to a person more and more but these increases in your heart that is how we know the will of God there's a verse in Romans 8 verse 6 which says the mind of the Holy Spirit is peace that's how we know the mind of the Holy Spirit there's a peace in my heart as I think about that particular course of action whether it's marrying a person choosing a job buying a house or anything peace in the heart hmm okay another question is how long should we date free engagement now this is there's no standard answer on this and it's different in different cultures in India it's not advisable for a Christian person to go out regularly with a girl you know he's considering for marriage because without sir will is such that you your testimony will be spoiled so one has to consider the culture we live in and not offend people my conduct that doesn't look good in their eyes you may say do we have to bother about what other people say I'll be free from that well not entirely because the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 8 in verse 21 we must have a concern for what is right not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men however you have seen that where 2nd Corinthians 8 21 we must be concerned about our testimony before people that they don't get a wrong impression this is in other words in Thessalonians which says abstain from the appearance of evil not just evil but even the appearance of evil that's in 1 Thessalonians and chapter 5 so we have to stay away from anything that will give people about impression so in this matter of dating here the purpose is if I'm not if you're not seriously considering a person for marriage I don't think you should raise hopes in that person by going out frequently that person that's not fair to a person it's only if you know after meeting a person and spending a little time some time with him or her you discover you're not suited that's okay but it right from the beginning you don't really have any serious intention of marriage you just want to have some fun and I don't mean sexual fun just the fun of going out with someone that's in you give ideas particularly girls can get ideas very easily and we must be fair to them so there's no fixed period on this if we teach because the Bible doesn't lay down a period like this and once you're engaged I would say one should get married as soon as possible very often I've found that people say I don't have enough money to have a wedding all the expenses connected to the wedding well you know if you're willing to be free from the opinions of men you can have a very simple wedding where you don't have much expense because so much of expense in a wedding is honor seeking seeking honor from people that hire a grand wedding and I invited so many people and we had a grand meal what song was it for in India it's a poor country I tell people don't waste too much money on a wedding feast if you don't have my and never borrow money to conduct a wedding that's a sin but it's a hone oh man anything if you can't afford a grand dinner like other people can find in my peoples wedding just be honest and say I can't afford that and we've encouraged many people just sometimes after wedding just a cup of tea and a cup of coffee and cookie and that's it now a lot of people feel that's terrible well what what is the other alternative borrow money disobey God's Word I thank God for brothers in our church who've been bold enough to be free from the opinions of men I remember one wedding in one CFC wedding where the brother was very poor and I thought these people strongly never get into debt and if you have some amount of money use that money to buy something for your home instead of wasting it all on day one on a grand wedding just to get honor from people so we've taught some radical things so this brother had very little so the wedding after the whole wedding was over in the hall he said folks there's a can of coke outside there that's our reception pick up one as you go up I'm proud of that brother because he was more interested in obeying God's Word which says oh no man anything then seeing honour from men and if you had a little money used it for his family but they're very few people most people have such slaves to the opinions of men that they always want to get honor Fernan know somebody has got many money I've got no objection you know like they say cut your coat according to your cloth God has given different amounts of money for different people I always think of our income or our bank balance as a circle God is drawn around us think of it and don't go outside that circle some people circle is very small stay inside the circle some people circle is huge don't envy them stay inside the circle that's all I say don't get into debt and don't waste money how old should you be there again to get married there again it's different for different the main thing is it says in the book of Proverbs you must first establish of business and then give your house which means first earn your live be able to earn your living enough to support a family then get married that's a sensible thing and then of course you must be mature enough to get married so one cannot make a law in this the Old Testament the law was until you're twenty years old you're not an adult I know in the United States a person becomes out of the age of eighteen but do you read the Old Testament you know when the people who came the Israelites who came to the came out of Egypt not at all those were twenty was join the army all the others are not cannot and when they came to the borders of the promised land he said all those are over 20 they're going to be punished for forty years because you disobeyed what about those who are under 20 well we treat them like children they will not be punished so I see many places in the Old Testament that's so I'd say that was the age God chose for a between adult and child and certainly we must be adult but you must also be able to support ourselves financially before we get married is a personal question while your children were at home how did you conduct family worship the Ocean fellowship time was it scheduled sporadic long or short okay I'll tell you honestly I wanted my children not to be ritualistic Christians who did all the right things according to the book but did not love Jesus I wanted them to grow up to love Jesus Christ I wanted them to grow up to love the church we had a small house church I wanted them to grow to love the brothers and sisters in the church and I wanted them to be feel free to do anything which is not sinful and which is not going to hurt other people and I didn't want to make so many rules but you can't do this and you can't do that and you can't do the other thing if it was sinful yes we would avoid it so I did not even make a rule concerning family prayer now I say this you don't have to follow my what I did because in the Bible there is no place which says he must get up in the morning get everybody out of bed and have a family prayer it's a very good thing and a lot of people do it but I've also seen a lot of families that do it where the children grow up rebellious so I knew having observed it I observed a lot before I got married and had children I said lot that doesn't seem to be the solution to get people in the natural way to love Jesus and that in the family we don't keep religion like a something we got to just do and get out of the way and then get on with life we enjoy ourselves we want religion Christianity itself to be the enjoyable thing that we enjoy doing what is right we enjoy fellowship it's not some burden so our children had goes to school there's no such thing as homeschooling in India everybody goes to a public school and so they get up early in the morning to go to school and I didn't want to pull them all out of bed at 5:30 in the morning and they sit there sleepily and say we're having family prayer and I never wanted to do that they get fed up with God if I did that now some people do it I say fine I'm just telling you the question is how I did it and I'm not saying that is the right way I'm just telling you how I did it and I'll tell you the reason why I did I did not want them to turn turn off against Christ and Christianity I wanted them to see Christianity as a thoroughly enjoyable thing not enjoyable sinfully but something we can really enjoy and so when they were getting ready in the morning for school we never had any such thing as reading the Bible or family prayer I mean if it was I would get up in the morning and read the scripture myself they wouldn't always be up so early and I felt that the only thing we did in the morning was just before they went to school I would pray with them you know one minute so that we commit them to the Lord as they go to school that day and they would go that's what we did and then the day was busy then in the evening when we came together for dinner that was the time where we were more relaxed because the day was over school was over and we would sit at the table and then I would take out some type of daily reading book with just a few verses on the same subject per day you know there are some books like that for daily reading not commentaries written by men there's a little book called daily light which is just compilations of Scripture on the same topic for each day so we read scripture scripture on the same topic and that's what we read at the dining table and read the verses and if sometimes make a few comments on it and then we would pray and have our meal and that was not the end of our talking about spiritual things while we were eating we would continue not always sometimes about what happened in school or why we don't do certain things and why we don't cheat not every day same subject but different different things would come up but in a very natural way I didn't try to force religion or religious subjects at our dinner time in a very natural way if something came up and there was an opportunity to explain the reason why we do things in a certain way as Christians it is a great opportunity but it is in a more relaxed atmosphere so this is how we did it and I personally say that if I had to live my life again I would do it the same way I don't regret it because none of my children turned out against religion or Christ because I didn't trust it down that vote we did it in a natural way we taught them and just not just that sometimes you know during the day we were playing together some indoor game or something like that the question could come up so it was very natural to talk about spiritual things during the day as well you know something happened in school and some but he did something wrong why don't we don't do that as Christians why we don't cheat in examinations and why we don't give bribes to people it is a very common thing people get breads to the teachers to get more marks more in college than in school why we don't do these things because we are Christians and it's better to fail and the cheat and pass things like this so when Christianity becomes a normal subject of conversation in ordinary situations throughout the day we don't have to a specified half an hour when we say okay now we don't talk about spiritual things and they say okay thank god that's over now we can talk about everything else in the world it's not to be like that's that has been my philosophy and it's the same today I don't regret it because I see Jesus lived in a very natural way but we did have when we when it came to Sunday we did that specified time when we go to a meeting or Wednesday evening meeting if if they had a an examination to study for on Thursday they were permitted not to come for the Wednesday evening meeting okay sit down and study per exam because I didn't feel that if you haven't studied for your examination tomorrow morning going for a meeting this evening is not the wisest thing to do I think if you out dizzy to sit down and study there's no glory in failing tomorrow morning the examination saying I went to a meeting today that's my philosophy I'm not a religious person I'm a Christian I'm not illegal is to think that these things if you pick off the Coptic oh I'm a Christian a lot of rubbish Christianity should be a natural thing for me that's why it to me my Christianity is being exciting I see so many creatures who've been serving the Lord in a few years they are Borg I'm not bored I've been preaching 50 years and full-time Christian work but it's the most exciting life for me because it's not as but something in one compartment all of my life is Christianity and I wanted my children all of their life to be Christian if they went to work you must be a Christian in your place of work never treat anybody unfairly be kind and merciful to everyone so that's why we wanted a natural type of Christianity in our home okay okay how careful should we be in allowing our children to have friendships with Christians whose doctrines are different well see in India we have 98% non-christian so 98% of the children in your neighborhood are going to be non-christian so we didn't have the luxury of selecting only wholehearted believers to play with okay children playing games I can play anybody and they can learn things there I remember when I mean they play outside our house to the other neighbors children and I remember one incident where one of my children may have four or five years old playing with the neighbor children they hit each other and then let everything happen with children so I don't remember all the details but I didn't know who was at fault first who who it first was very difficult to find out when the fire who hit first so I only said see if you had any us apologize well he's going to apologize to you or not his unimportant so I took my little son I went to the neighbor's house not said said to the dad there my son wants to say something to your son already you know tutored in what to say say I'm sorry so he said I'm sorry and that other by graciously accepted without apologizing himself I say fine I came back and said see they're not Christians so we don't expect them to say sorry not at all don't wait for them to say sorry but we've got to do it even if he hit you first but you hit him back okay you feel sorry for that and say so there were little things like this where you know in small small things we didn't say we must only play with Christians or but I think we learn a lot when we allow our children from childhood to mingle with others but I would not allow them to go to somebody's home if I felt that they could be watching something there on television which I would not approve of so I was very very strict about allowing my children to go to someone else's home until they were you know 16 17 years old and they understood something when they were small why I was very careful on that even if I got offended with that they wouldn't understand the reason for that's fine so we had to be we had to protect our children from influences which they don't know bad for them particularly nowadays and I'm talking about 35 years ago in India when things were naughty here so we had to be careful so how do I make sure that my Bible study leads to life and not just to the tree of knowledge okay one is if I see something written here which I have not obeyed I see a lot I want to obey that and take it seriously until you've obeyed it and it may take years but for example I read verses in Scripture like saying give you one example Ephesians 4 verse 31 let all bitterness all rot all anger all slander we put away from you along with all malice I think there was only one verse in the whole Bible just that one verse you can spend your lifetime just trying to obey that all bitterness to be put away from you that means you don't have a bitterness against a single person in the universe in the world no bitterness against your wife or mother-in-law anyone or relatives or neighbors or no bitterness against anyone it says all put away and that's I'm just there are 31 thousand verses in the Bible this is just one of them let all anger as I say let's remove all the chairs from this Hall how many chairs will be left zero let all anger be put away how much is left it should be zero so when you read verses like that tree of knowledge means you memorize it for camera remember and sharp eyes the Ephesians 4:31 I learned I memorize it let all bitterness and wrath and anger and malice and let me put away along with slander along with all of Anna's okay got it now go to the next verse what do you got nothing but if you stop there and say have I done that slander if I stop speaking evil about others that all slander be put away you can stop at that one words you know there are times when I've meditated on Scripture I'll tell you honestly hi when I'm reading through scripture consistently from chapter by chapter and I come sometimes come to a verse it used to happen more in the olden days and I said boy there's something in that verse I haven't taken seriously it's like a red light and I've learned not to run past red lights stop I got something to study here memorize started think about next morning I'm continuing my Bible study I'm and that verse in the red light still burning I can't move from that verse that is the Lord's trial tell me there's more you've got to get from that one worse than what you got yesterday sometimes two or three days at one worse so I'm not so interested in going through the Bible and I'm interested in the Bible going through me instead of reading the Bible 50 times I want the Bible to go through me once so no so if you read like that for example I read once in Philippians 4:4 rejoice in the Lord always I said lord I know it always means 24/7 I'll tell you honestly Laura I'm not rejoicing in you always I'm a Christian I'm not doubt about that my sins are all forgiven I believe the Bible is the Word of God I believe I meant to obey it but I read this for years and I've never bought it never even bothered about it just go to the next verse rejoice in the Lord always am I supposed to do that I read in the Old Testament no such command which means in the Old Testament they couldn't do it that's why the command was not there why was there no command in the Old Testament saying don't be angry I mean that could have been 11th commandment don't be angry for a 12th commandment saying don't lust after women why wasn't it there because until the Holy Spirit came to dwell in a person's heart it's impossible to obey then why the world give children a command which they can't available that's why he never gave that in the Old Covenant but you won't find a verse like this in the Old Testament rejoice in the Lord always because it is impossible but it is in the New Testament which means it's possible now and so I say God it must be possible now that means I've not made full use of the power of the Holy Spirit that I can have you know it says in Romans 14:17 the kingdom of God is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit so that's the thing if I'm free to the Holy Spirit I'm able to rejoice always if I take up my cross every day and die to myself every day from morning onwards I will be able to rejoice in a lot always and I want that life it took years but I was determined determined to come to that place and by God's grace I can say I'm there today for some time now then I went to verses down and I read in other words Philippians 4:6 be anxious for nothing nothing now there's a difference between being concerned and being anxious I need to distinguish within that I mean if your children are supposed to come back from school at a certain time they don't turn up and there are more than one hour late and if you are not concerned you're a pretty useless parent you should be concerned but anxious is another thing anxious to get into a panic as if there's no God anywhere and I'm on my own now I'm never on my own whatever may happen I'm never on my own God is there and I must I've been in numerous situations in my life I'm 77 now I can imagine how many situations like it and I've been converted for 57 years only situations I must have faced in my life there possibility of anxiety in the earlier days I used to be anxious because nobody taught me these are important commands to obey but once I began to take my Christian life seriously after I entered into the New Covenant I'm being filled with the Holy Spirit then I began to take command seriously a lot of Christians are not really filled with the Holy Spirit they just go through some emotional experience and some Pentecostal charismatic said you got it I see you got nothing the oven do you know when you learn to take scripture seriously what type of Holy Spirit was that the Holy Spirit wrote this book and he fills you he teach you something from it so if you're not taking these commands seriously something is wrong so that is what how we ensure that it doesn't become just a book of knowledge but I never did I just give me one or two example there are other words like and everything give thanks you never find that verse in the Old Testament because people couldn't do it but they can in the New Testament so what I learned is when you filter the Holy Spirit some wonderful possibilities it's like saying you go back two centuries two hundred years ago they didn't have computers they didn't have cars they didn't have electricity and so many other things we had today all the expensive equipment in hospitals to detect sicknesses and all would you like to go back to two hundred years ago or two hundred and fifty years ago this is not in a free country on the other stage you are under the British you want to go back to that people say no no no no we'd like to live in this time it's exactly like that two thousand years ago on the day of Pentecost nearly 2,000 years ago the old covenant was abolished it's like in in this country in 1776 George Washington said the British are gone they are no longer your rulers great that's what happened on the day of Pentecost the old covenant is abolished you're not under that anymore you're on a new covenant the Holy Spirit is come now you can rejoice always you can be anxious for nothing you can give thanks always a wonderful possibility freedom no more bondage so if you take it like that the book Bible will never be a book of knowledge it will be life okay how can a wife practically respect her husband and how can a husband practically love his wife well you know these are the two things mentioned in Ephesians 5 and verse 33 the two things mentioned for husband and wife after section on husband wife relationships is sums it up the Holy Spirit sums it up by two statements one the husband must love his wife has himself what we teaches me what does a wife need most of all from her husband love and she must be sure of it that you really love her in a world filled with other women and all types of temptations that you love her and you're not interested in anybody else and you will not be interested in but you really love her and she must know it he's not just enough to say well I told you that 30 years ago that I loved you okay no she must know today I'm not saying that like the psychologists say collar up 10 times a day and say I love you honey Yeller I'm not talking about that type of stuff she must see it that you really love her and as the Bible says love is seen in action and she's sure that you really love her whichever way you show it may be different in different cultures but if she is sure that that's the most important thing all husband's must know the most important thing a wife wants from you is assurance that you love her Ephesians 5:33 okay and the wives must see to it that she respects her husband so what is the most important thing your husband expects from your wives respect respect more than sex believe it or not respect and if you really want a good relationship as husband and wife these are the two things who Ephesians 5:33 though husband must show sure his wife that he loves her my action attitude and the wife shows a respect for her husband by attitude action etc and words so I believe that is the best way to show it in different ways I'm fix them no need to mention different things you know he I notice here in the United States a lot of husbands bring flowers for their wives on the anniversary nobody does it in India first of all is a waste of money you know I'll tell you I've discovered one thing between difference between West and East three patients with me I born and brought up in India all my life in the West I'm is more important than money in the East money is more important than because we earn so little here if somebody's clothes get a bit frayed who's gonna mend it and stitch it throw it away too much time mending it time is very important no no shortage of money go and buy another one in India they'll mend it ten times and keep using it and the same thing in many many areas so that's the reason why people don't waste money buying flowers for their wives on buy something practical useful for the whole some kitchen gadget instead of a useless flower but I can quite understand here the flowers means like a lot so please go ahead and buy it for your house I never bought one flower for my head I bought a lot of useful things for the house and I'm just saying there are different ways in which we show our love and affection the important thing is the wife must know that you really love her and that does one must know that you really respect it's very important that you don't you know mean your husband or your wife publicly I mean if you do crack a joke racket at yourself not a cure pot and never say anything that will be demeaning we have to respect each person's indignity that song in order you and they'll know we are Christians by our love by our love one line in it says will guard each man's dignity I really appreciate that line save each man's dignity and the sense of pride in being a human being that's how we show a lot okay and very important because sometimes we don't respect the dignity of the other person in public okay if someone did evil to me someone is close to me and I forgive him but whenever I see my feel angry does this mean that I have not forgiven him know that anger could be a temptation you know I'm not saying you will never be tempted to be angry but you can say no to it you know that even Jesus was tempted let me ask you if a thought comes into your mind fall down and worship the devil would you feel bad boy what a horrible thought you know that cotton begins how did Satan tempt Jesus how does he tempt us by putting a thought in our mind and he put a thought into Jesus mind fall down and worship Me he said no what do I learn from that to fall down and worship the devil is the most horrible thing you can ever think of teaching us that even the most horrible temptation could come to Jesus it doesn't matter you're not defiled you are defiled only when you yield to it and one of the best illustrations I have understood of it and that I've seen of it is a James chapter 1 it's a very beautiful picture of what is temptation and what is sin in James 1 it says it uses the picture of conception and birth you know how a baby is conceived and how it is born okay lust James 1 verse 14 and 15 everyone is tempted when he's enticed and dies means being attracted like a magnet but when you use that then lust conceives and gives birth to sin so the picture I get here is here's a very attractive girl going down the road and there's a very handsome man there inviting him combining her come on come with me come with me and she's really drawn to him because he's a very attractive guy very pleasant but she says no she got further down the road there's another very handsome attractive man young man telling her come come let come with me sleep with me she's very much attracted but she says no was she attracted yes if you can see no she understood it the fact that you're attracted to something does not mean you're a sinner if money had no attraction for you there's no temptation and money why was the tree of knowledge of good and evil for temptation because it was so attractive made your mouth water it does no attraction in anything there's no temptation if every woman in the world was horrible looking and ugly and with beards I mean no nobody would be attracted to them there's no temptation so don't think that attraction is same no what do you do with it you say no I don't want to keep looking at what's not mine what God is not given to be you see a girl and somebody ask you is she attractive yes but I don't wanna keep looking at her she's not what someone God's given to me so attraction is not a sin but if you keep one thing longing looking something bad you're not getting it it's sin has already been formed a conception has taken place in your mind so anger you feeling like getting angry at somebody and you say no I'm not going to get angry person I've forgiven that person you haven't sinned so don't think that you come to the place where you won't even be tempted you'll be tempted to remember some of the past things you did but we don't have total control over our emotions but we do have control over what we're going to say and what we allow ourselves to keep thinking about I have to resist resist for example I tell you discouragement was a big problem with me for many times many many years I was almost so slaved to discourage me even after getting him becoming a believer if I slipped up and fell in some way and discouraged discouraged discarded then I'd fall morph I never realized in a long time the discouragement is not God's will for me self condemnation and discouraging it or never God's will so I decided to resist it once God fill me in the Holy Spirit I decided I'm going to resist this discouragement so now when I'm tempted be discouraged I keep on resisting it and I say Lord I'm going to think of all the wonderful positive things you've done for me and how you're on my side and quote scripture Jesus quoted scripture that's how we grow the devil away we can beYOU can call scripture my God is on the throne he's my father the hairs on my head are numbered and he cares for me more than the birds of the air I'm quoting scripture just like Jesus quoted scripture and temptation goes away that's why we must know scripture jesus knew Scripture and Eko description that's how he drew the devil away so if you're resisting it you're okay it's when you yield to it in your mind so naturally if somebody I remember what if somebody has raped you well you got a premium otherwise you'll destroy yourself what he did was completely wrong and maybe you need to report it to the police that's okay there's nothing wrong to forgive a person does not mean that a crime must not be reported we got to understand that if somebody has molested a child if he needs to be reported to the authorities he needs to be reported why because you have to do good to your neighbor that person may go and molest somebody else and to save him from to save your neighborhood from being ruined by that person you are protecting your neighborhood by reporting the matter so you've got to understand that now if in some case God says okay forget it that's up to you but what I'm saying is if someone has committed a crime to report it does not conflict with forgiving that person I mentioned that but it's here's a person you're forgiven those raped you I say don't go anywhere near that person try and avoid such people as far as possible so we must avoid as you know we pray Lord lead us not into temptation so good prayer to pray how do you know if you have the gift of tongues how do you speak in tongues for the first time well see in many charismatic and Pentecostal churches they almost quote you to speak in tongues that's the surest way to get a counterfeit that's the surest way to fool yourself into something which God never gave you nobody's coached into speaking in tongues it's a gift God gives and it's a it's a gift all Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14 pick up take 1 Corinthians 14 sometime and have a look at it at 2 or 3 things Paul said 1 he said in the church I would rather speak five words one contains 1419 with mine own language than ten thousand words in an unknown so from that I learned that English is two thousand times better than speaking in tongues how many of you believe that speaking in English is two thousand better times better than speaking in tongues it's 1 Corinthians 14 19 five words with a known language or ten thousand words in an unknown tongue now if you want to know more about it you go to the CFC website there is a article of mine there called the truth about speaking in tongues very small article you can read the whole thing if God gives it to you you take it it's very clear in 1 Corinthians 12 not all speak in tongues everybody doesn't speak and for some reason God gives it to so it's one of the gifts it's like the gift of preaching teaching now you cannot have my gift of teaching if you God doesn't give it to you if he gives it you can have it but if you just try to imitate what you see in me it won't be the genuine gift a gift of God is not something you imitate by watching somebody else it has to be given by God to you and if he doesn't give it to you that means God sees that you don't need it don't have it what you don't have the right only gift God tells us to covet is to give to share God's Word to prophesy to share God's Word in a way that'll edify others so leave it to God I never sought for it God gave it to me when I didn't wasn't even expecting it okay God chooses not to remember my sins because of the blood of Jesus what will be judged in the judgment seat of Christ I'll tell you the only sins which you did not confess after you were born again you know before you're born again you say Lord I'm a sinner and everything's blotted out and then you come to the Lord and then you sin and you don't set it right you don't apologize to the person you're wrong jesus said that if you did something to hurt somebody to Matthew 5 you got angry with someone you hurt him and then you come and bring an offering to the Lord lots of leaders offering their God's not gonna accept her offering go and settle that with that person first then come and bring your offering but think if it is like that till the day of judgment you haven't settled it even up to the day of judgment that matter is unsettled it's better settle it now so there are matters which will remain unsettled which and the other thing is like I said this morning if you haven't forgiven somebody then all that you did will be put back on your head that is the message what Jesus said in Matthew 18 so will my Heavenly Father do to you if you don't forgive your brothers from your heart there are six requests so the Lord gave us the Lord's Prayer hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done free concerning God and give us this day our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive others and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil 3 will requests concerning God that comes first and three requests concerning ourselves our physical need food forgiveness and overcoming sin he taught us to pray overcome the devil and out of all these six out we finished the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 he took out one of them he said I want to make special mention of forgiveness Matthew 6 this is how you must pray our Father who art in heaven and so on but at the end he said remember this one is important if you forgive men their transgressions your heavenly Father forgive you Matthew 6:14 if you don't forgive them your father will not forgive you that means you're a child of God all right because he's your father but he won't forgive you he doesn't think God will not forgive you because if he said God then we can say Oh probably is referring to unbelievers your father so who are you you're a child of God Matthew 6:15 your father will not forgive you you're a child of God he's your father but he will not forgive you because you haven't forgiven somebody else now my question is can a man into heaven with even one sin not forgiving no that's why forgiveness is very important and don't wait till your deathbed to do it so that's very important there are things that will come up at the judgment seat of Christ which we didn't settle on earth how do you hear the Holy Spirit talking to you it's by an inner witness in our heart the more you read the scriptures the more you become familiar with what God is speaking that's how you become familiar with God's voice if you don't read the Bible at all you will not become familiar with God's voice you will not hear the Holy Spirit saying something to you even Jesus when he was tempted to turn the stones into bread he heard the Holy Spirit saying man shall not live by bread alone how did he know that that's the verse from Deuteronomy I think what Jesus had memorized Deuteronomy when he was a child he would go to the synagogue and ask the rabbi to read scripture to him that's how he memorized Scripture years later when he's tempted that verse comes back to his mind and jump off the temple through his angels will God you and immediately in other words comes to his mind you shall not tempt the Lord your God so that's how if he was not if he hadn't read and meditated on those verses he would not have heard the holy spirit so if you if you neglect the scriptures you're not going to be able to hear the Holy Spirit saying something to you and that's why it's very important to bring the scriptures and what if my marriage partner is not wholehearted if I my wife's do I have to submit to him well it depends on what he asks you to do if he ask you to bow down to an idol I tell Christian wives who got non-christian parents in India don't listen to your husband if he asks you to do something against the Word of God tell a lie sorry God's Word says I shouldn't tell a lie bow down to the Seidel sorry I will not do that but if he says don't go to the church meeting today listen to him don't go that's not a command that you must go to a church meeting every Sunday morning if he allows you to go go but let him learn that you respect him and love him and one day he let you go and himself get converted we ever had examples like that in our church how non-christian women who submitted to unconverted no sorry non-christian families where the wife got converted and submitted to the non-christian husband in all earthly matters but never in any spiritual matter and they wouldn't allow her to go to church she didn't go but one day then comes when he himself sees that kind changes brings her to the church and comes at a tense meeting himself we've seen that happen more than once what about you opening about children being involved in the sports team that often conflicts with Sunday fellowship meetings I won't make a rule on this I believe that we must teach our children to put God first in Christ first but I've never had a rule that you cannot play games on Sunday now some people have that rule I respect them Romans 14 says one man has certain rules for a particular day respect him but you be convinced in your own mind Romans 14 is a great chapter read it one man esteems a day to another man all days are alike to me I'll tell you honestly the Old Testament Jews Saturday was the holy day six days you could do what you like today for some Christian Sundays the holy the other days you do what you like I see to me every day is a holy day Monday did you see if I can play football on Tuesday I can play football on Sunday so say the same to me it's not but we take the opportunity to go on Sunday play the most convenient day to have a church service and we have churches in the in Dubai and those cult countries where the holidays of Friday they don't meet on a Sunday they meet on Friday the meetings are on Friday so there's no special day which is holy so I would not make a rule on that but if children are always missing Sunday meetings because of export then something is seriously going too far but an occasional missing it it's like supposing you have to you're a doctor and you've got to go to work on a Sunday you supposed to work on ceremony mr. meaning sure if that's your duty time on Sunday you have to go you gotta allow that patient there to be neglected or if you have an examination on a Sunday that happens sometimes in India I should go and do the examination but not neglecting every Sunday that you go for sports okay at what point when your children were children did you feel it was difficult or almost impossible for you to fellowship with others because for the needs of the children well I'll tell you how the policy we have taught in our churches in your life the Lord must be first your family must be second and all ministries and fellowships and church activity must be third in that order so don't put Church activity and ministry above family we've never taught that and I've never practiced it and we have to find the balance I'm not saying that we have so taken up at our family that we have no time for ministry that's another extreme but in 1 Timothy 3 when it speaks about the qualities of an elder it says he should be able to have brought up his children under control with dignity because it says in 1 Timothy 3:5 if he can't take care of his own family how can he take care of the church so in other words the family he's got to prove himself in the family before he can take care of the church so that's why I say family comes before the church so we don't neglect it's not that I just keep listening to my wife and keep always hanging around the house but I must see if I neglect my wife and thinking I'm doing something spiritual I could be going astray like I've used this example many times here's the husband sitting having his morning quiet I'm reading the Bible and he's studying Hebrews or something like that and his wife is struggling with two three small children in the kitchen and he's saying lord please speak to me he's wondering what the meaning of the tabernacle is and God says shut that book and go and help your wife but he doesn't hear that but that's what God's eye is ADA so sometimes we have this religious idea that these things are more important than that Christianity is intensely practical please remember that it's by our life that we witness okay if my partner does not allow me to give money to my needy parents when they are old even though I'm earning money what should I do simple don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing simple your spouse is your left hand only know what's happening just quietly give it to you you have an obligation to your parents jesus said in mark chapter 7 you religious people you tell your parents no no I can't give any money to you I've given it to God he says you canceled out the Word of God the Bible says honor your parents and you read package up and mark chapter 7 verse 12 or 14 or something where it says that one way of honoring his parents is taking care of them when they are in need financially okay they deliberately put this is the last question some child is written what is your favorite thing to do it's not reading the Bible my favorite thing to do is to have fellowship with my wife and children and God's people and have a lot of fun I really like fun Christianity is an extremely enjoyable faith are we gonna have a break now okay let's just pray thank you Father for this time the note suggested in our mind please clarify to us through the Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: CFC India

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

Id: QjQNQ-hsSiQ

Length: 63min 52sec (3832 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 02 2017