4. Being Filled With the Spirit is the Answer | Bro. Zac Poonen

let's turn once again to luke and chapter 19 the passage we were looking at luke 19. why did this one man you know this parable of ten servants being given one meena each luke 19 verse 12 to 27. luke 19 was 12-27 why did this one man bury his meena in a handkerchief there was a reason why he did that and he gives us the reason he gives the reason himself to the lord in verse 22 it's very interesting for us to see why did he waste his talent why do you waste that one meena why is it we have wasted time and our one life so far he says in verse 21 uh luke 19 21 i was afraid of you master because you're a very demanding man you take up what you did not lay down you reap what you did not so in other words you're a very hard task master some of you may have had bosses in your place of work very hard and make you work much beyond your time and you don't get any bonus you don't get any extra salary they demand and if one thing goes wrong immediately they pull you up and say why did you do that and humiliate you and hard taskmaster there are some bosses like that if you have never experienced a boss like that you're a lucky man but there are many bosses like that and this man had the idea in his mind that god was like that demanding man god is a demanding god he must never get angry even once and other people you must never lust after a woman even once you must never watch pornography even once you must never tell a lie even once you must love your enemies every one of them not most of them but all your enemies you must forgive everybody who hurt you you must ask forgiveness from everybody whom you've hurt you hear all that and see you what a demanding god this is i'll tell you why we think like that it's because we think like that that we never come to genuine holiness because this man thought like that he this master of mine is such a demanding man that's why he buried his meena in the handkerchief and wasted it and one day when christ comes back and we stand before him we will discover the reason why some christians wasted their lives was because they did not know how much god loved them the devil fooled them that god was a very demanding hard task master and they completely forgot what jesus taught that he was the most loving person in the whole universe i want to ask you my brother if you look into your mind you may feel the times that god is a hard task monster particularly some of the things you hear in cfc now if you in many charismatic pentecostal churches is the opposite they keep saying god is such a loving father he cares for you and he loves you and it's almost like saying it doesn't bother him what you do so what if you watch pornography once in a while that is not serious god is a very merciful father what is there if you get angry i mean we are human we will get angry now and then but god understands that god understands we are human and our circumstances are tough so we get angry we lose our temper and uh and a lot of money of course if you live in this world you have to love money how in the world can you live otherwise god is very merciful and like that little by little the devil cancels out everything that jesus said under the pretext of oh god is very merciful and he's so loving and that's why i've seen a lot of these charismatics and pentecost their life is so shallow there's no victory over sin in their life that children are wayward their relationship as husband and wife is pathetic why because they think god is such a merciful loving father that's a wrong understanding of god's mercy at the opposite extreme there are these pharisees who think god is such a tyrant you cannot come on the sabbath day to get healing no come on all the other six days god is very strict about the sabbath and jesus rebuked it and said you evil man if your donkey falls into the ditch on the sabbath day do you pull him out or not or do you wait till you allow him to die and fill him out the next day you're a hypocrite and all these people who make these hard demanding laws are hypocrites they have not understood god's heart you can read the bible without understanding god's heart i'll tell you a good prayer to pray when you read the bible lord beyond the words on the page help me to see your heart in this command help me to see your heart in what you have said here then you will see he is not a hard task master when he says i don't want you to get angry it's like saying i don't want you to have even a small cancer in your life not even a small one when he says don't murmur he's it's like saying i don't want you to have even a little bit of leprosy just one bit of leprosy in her hand i don't even want you to have that is that a demanding thing and god loves you so much that he doesn't even want one speck of leprosy or one bit of cancer that is how he gives his gun that's a loving mother if a mother looks at a child having some serious sickness how will that mother look at that child oh my dear child i don't want you to be sick you're having you're always sick and fever and thin and not able to eat and and the mother will say i wish i could take your sickness and you be free that's how jesus came to the earth he saw us in our sickness in our sin not even realizing the seriousness of the sins we commit how many of you believe that grumbling and complaining is a serious sin i think many believers don't think so they grumble and complain regularly and think it's not serious they live under the old testament i should not commit adultery i should not kill anybody those are the only serious things brother then you're an old covenant person you know a new covenant is much more serious but it's serious for our good health everything god says is so that we he wants to be healthy just like a mother which of you parents tell me which of you parents will be happy if your children are 90 healthy 10 sick anybody only ten percent sick ninety percent healthy ninety percent of days they can they are healthy during the day you know ninety percent of the time but ten percent of the time they're sick ten percent in a year means what 36 days they are sick in a year you say i'm happy if my child is sick only 36 days in a year i'm very happy are you like that what about one day in a year suppose you say three six to four days they must be healthy but one day they are sick it's okay and not me i want them to be healthy every single day am i a demanding father are you a demanding mother when you want your child to be healthy every day of the year and not even have one sickness in the body are you a demanding mother no you're a loving mother you're a loving father and that's how god says i want you to give up all sin in your life the problem is you know little children don't realize the seriousness of sickness why does that two-year-old put mud in his mouth do you grown-ups put mud in your mouth why does that child crawling in the ground put mud inside his mouth ignorance it's not evil it's totally ignorant that this mud will make me sick that is exactly how baby believers are they mum or they complain it's like putting mud in their mouth and they don't say it's okay this mud tastes nice they enjoy grumbling and complaining you don't realize it's making them sick and they think god is a demanding god saying don't put any mud in your mouth don't put those stones in your mouth don't jump from the roof of the building are these all very serious demands when a father says to a two-year-old child don't jump from the roof of that building we give commands to our children and we know that we given out of love even though the child may think is very strict a grown-up person knows it is out of love and let me tell you this simple secret when you think any command in the bible is very hard and strict you are a baby you're a baby that's why you think what is that if i enjoy a little mud only once in a while i put some mud in my mouth only once in a while i watch pornography not regularly once or twice would you put one shot mud once or twice in your mouth now as you're a grown up person not every day once or twice a year no because you know it's it's makes you sick do you realize that lusting out of women and getting angry make you sick in the same way or do you think god is a very hard man remember this man who put his one talent in a handkerchief one meena sorry in a handkerchief and did not use it it's because he thought god is a hard man and i'll tell you this it's because you don't maybe don't realize this it's because you think god is a very hard person that you don't get victory over sin that's why you don't make proper use of your one life because you think god is very hard man i thought like that for 16 years after i was born again i was born again uh 62 years ago when i was 19 and a half and for the first 16 years after i was born again i was defeated i did not know victory over sin i mean not externally my testimony was good i didn't kill anybody or commit adultery honest this thing but my thoughts my words anger and being gloomy and discouragement was one of my number one sins frequently discouraged you don't think discouragement is a sin right it is i'll tell you that it's like putting mud in your mouth because it is uh when i'm discouraged i'm saying indirectly the devil is running this world he's the ruler of this world that's what you're saying if you say my loving father has rules this universe you won't be discouraged if you believe that everything god makes everything work together for your good you won't be discouraged these are little little things we take it lightly every command of god is for our good you know why the apostle john at the age of 95 wrote these wonderful words he had been a believer spirit-filled believer for 65 years he was around 30 years old the apostle john when on the day of pentecost the holy spirit filled him and just by the way that is the secret of the christian life to be filled with the holy spirit told you i got so fed up with my defeated life that by the end of my 16 years i said lord i'm so defeated that i don't believe i should continue preaching i'd already left my job and i was preaching but i was defeated you think every preacher who preaches is victorious no most of them i know are defeated i was defeated i was preaching and people admired my preaching but i was defeated in my private life but i was so fed up of that i went before god and said lord i'm not happy that other people are impressed by my preaching i'm defeated in my life i get angry i have dirty thoughts i want you to clean me up and if i cannot be clean i will stop preaching i'll go and do some other job and i won't give up being a christian but i'll sit at the back of some church and never preach again in my life because i'm a hypocrite i'm preaching things that are not true in my life and i don't want to continue like that and i became desperate as to fast and praying nothing happened finally like you know the graph your graph goes down down down down down and you get zero i think my graph went to minus not just zero and at that point when i reached the bottom god met with me one day it was january 1975 and filled me with the holy spirit just like those apostles in the day of pentecost and turned my life around like that i did not become perfect in one day but the graph started going up slowly and it has been going up ever since in the last 46 years be filled with the holy spirit and i did not get the fake the fake experience that pentecostals get many pentecostals i remember when i first sought for the baptism of the holy spirit i was a young 23 year old man i was still in the navy and somebody said you've got to go to the pentecostals they'll tell you how to be filled with the holy spirit you're attending the brethren assembly they don't talk about that so i went to a pentecostal pastor along with another man and that pastor said keep saying hallelujah keep on saying it and then if you keep on saying it out there maybe a hundred times your tongue will slip and then you'll battle something and you'll be through to the spirit now i thought what nonsense this is who went to the apostles on the day of pentecost and told them come on keep saying nobody all this coaching proves that is not from god this is human manipulation it is fake gold if you're going to buy gold i've never bought gold in my life so i don't know but if i have to buy gold sometime i won't go alone i'll go with an expert see i don't know what gold is like because there's a lot of things that look like gold which are not gold and there are a lot of things that look like the holy spirit that are not the holy spirit it's better to be cheated with gold than to be cheated in the matter of the holy spirit and i was very careful i said lord i will not receive a fake experience just to testify i'm not interested in a fake experience because my aim is not to testify that i am filled with the spirit but i really want to be full of the spirit and i even if i never testify about it i want to ask you my brothers and sisters do you believe that what changed those apostles was not some new teaching or some powerful preacher or some conference they attended no they were filled with the holy spirit that's what changed them and one of the first things that happens that happened to me when i got filled with the holy spirit was that i began to see god as a very loving father that was the most important thing that happened in my life when i got filled with the holy spirit i began to see like and that's in scripture you see in romans 8 and romans chapter 8 and verse 15 you have received the last part of verse 15 you have received the holy spirit a spirit of adoption which means a spirit that tells you you're a child of god that's the meaning of spirit of adoption you have received a spirit that tells you you're a child of god and that makes you cry out father abba is a hebrew word unfortunately they did not translate it if it is translated it should read like this you cry out daddy father that is what the holy spirit did to me and i was filled with the spirit i said father dad oh i began to know that he was not a strict man like that man who buried that one handkerchief one meena in a handkerchief i knew he was a loving father and everything that he said was out of his love just like a father longs that his child will be 100 healthy not 90 not 99 100 healthy and i saw that everything in the bible every command was to make me 100 healthy so i was telling you about the apostle john he was filled with the spirit on the day of pentecost i'm sure they all experienced god as a loving father till then they had this jewish concept which the pharisees had taught them in the synagogue god is very strict very straight if you disobey he's going to come so hard on you you'll never forget it for the rest of your life and then they got filled with the spirit and they cried out damn father and their they were not afraid of the enemies anymore till then they were locked in a room oh we better not witness everything disappeared they opened the doors and began to boldly preach they were not afraid of anybody anymore and john lived like that for 65 years life my experience is only 46 years he lived 65 years and at the end of 65 years listen to his testimony 1 john john wrote this when he was 95 years old and he says here in 1 john chapter 5 and verse 3. this is the love of god that we keep his commandments what that means is two things there's only one way that you can say you believe god loves you if i ask you do you believe god loves you you'll say yes i say words are not enough you prove it by keeping the commandments if you don't keep the commandments you're like that man who buried his meena in the handkerchief and said oh my master is very hard master that's why you don't keep the commandments that's why you preserve your self-will that meena as yourself will know and you never deny it jesus was so convinced that his father loved him that he denied his self-will every day any temptation came he would say no to his own will i'll do my father's will what did he read in here the last session john 6 38 i came from heaven not to die for the sins of the world i came from heaven john 6 38 to deny my own will and to do my father's will and there were no a lot of things a thousand things in that and one of those things one of those thousand things was dying for the sins of the world that is only one of the thousands every day denying my self-will in this denying myself in this denying myself finally in calvary also denying myself and dying for the sins of the world that is only one item but his entire life was i don't want to bury this thing in my handkerchief i know my father loves me he's not an osteo-strict man so i can easily deny myself when you don't deny your will to do the will of god you are indirectly saying the same thing which that man was saying god is a very strict man strict person no and then you say his commandments are difficult but see what john says now 1 john 5 3 i prove that god is a loving father by keeping his commandments and his commandments are not a burden can you say that can you say that every commandment of god in the new testament is not a burden i can say that today it's not a birth but i couldn't say that before i was filled with the holy spirit i thought of god as a very strict heart god i know it's not true it was a lie the devil was telling me all the time now i know the truth he's a loving father the most loving father no earthly father loves like him no mother on the earth loves life god says even a mother may forsake that child who's newly born i will not i will not forget you i'll remember you always isaiah 49 15. lovely verse so god is a loving father that's why we are happy to obey everything he says nothing is a burden nothing is a burden if you feel that any commandment of god is a burden my brother the underlying reason for that is you've got a wrong understanding of god so i'll tell you the great revelation that came to my heart when i was filled with the holy spirit one of the things john 17 well before that when you turn to matthew chapter one you know the day i was filled with the holy spirit for the first time [Music] in january 1975 the next morning i woke up and i said lord if what i had yesterday was a genuine experience from heaven and it was really the holy spirit then the bible should become a new book for me because the holy spirit brought this and if the holy spirit has filled me then when i read the bible now i should be seeing things in that which i have not seen for the last 16 years of studying it and i've studied the bible for 16 years and i've seen many wonderful things in it but i said imagine if the author comes to fill you with the author of a book comes to live in your house well then you will learn a lot of things about that book which you did not know when you were just reading it the author himself is sitting there with you and that's been so blessed for me in the last 46 years to have the author of the book sitting beside me when i read the bible do you have the author sitting with you when you read the bible or do you say oh i have to read the bible today otherwise i have an accident on my day to work is that why you read the bible or do you read it as a loving letter from your father let me tell you even if you don't read the bible you won't have an accident don't read the bible just to avoid an accident god loves you read the bible if you love jesus and you want to hear imagine if a wife gets a letter from a husband who is living in some far country will she open it and read it immediately or we'll say well i'll keep that maybe next week i'll read it no if they are a divorced couple then it'll be like that but if he's a loving wife he'll say boy the letter has come i don't even want to wait for breakfast i want to read it i believe that's how we want to hear what god has to say to us not just read the bible but to hear god speaking to us every day jesus said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god and that has been a verse always in front of me i cannot live only by eating food i live only if i receive god's word every day why every day because that's how the bible begins you turn to the first page of your bible what do you read first day god said something and there was light next day god said something and the waters were separated from the heavens next day god said something and then something else happened next day god said something and then and something happened next day god said something that's how it was for five six days and god said something something happened god said something something happens always something happens when god says something there's no day where it says god said this and nothing happened no that doesn't happen like that if it was not god then of course nothing will happen the devil said something or a man read the bible and nothing happened that's possible but if god spoke to you from the bible something will definitely happen that's what you read in the first page of the bible god said and it happened god said and it happened every day so i said lord i wanted to be like that in my life so i remember the day after i was filled with the holy spirit i said lord when i read the bible i want to know what the experience i had yesterday is it real or is it some just emotional experience like those fake experiences that pentecostal pastor wanted me to have 12 years ago is always a drill so i decided i'm going to start with the gospel of matthew and see if it was the holy spirit who filmed me yesterday and i said lord speak to me give me an assurance that what i had yesterday was genuine and as i read matthew chapter one i didn't seem to get any assurance abraham was the father of isaac and isaac was the father of jacob and jacob was the father of judah and his brothers and i said lord i'm not getting anything out of this judah was the father of paris and then someone else was the father of somebody else and somebody else was the father they went on and on and on and on and on and on and on but i persisted don't give up when you read the bible don't give up sometimes it's just a test i think matthew is written like this to see whether you'll give up or you'll continue reading and see god will definitely speak to you so i continued reading and i finally came to a word which said this is of the holy spirit i said wow this is exactly what i was looking for what happened yesterday was of the holy spirit and that is in verse 20 because you know joseph had a doubt i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know and the angel came and said don't be afraid this is the holy spirit the last part of verse 20. i said lord what a fantastic assurance i was looking for i thought i wouldn't get it when i read all those verses but finally you had it for me hidden there in the middle and i got it and then from there god expanded that message and began to tell me you know why i have filled you with the holy spirit tell me lord next verse mary would give birth to jesus aha the holy spirit came upon mary to produce the body of jesus in her womb the holy spirit spoke to me saying the holy spirit has come upon you to produce jesus in you wow not to make me a great preacher no not to make mary a great preacher no but to produce the body of jesus in her and the holy spirit come upon me to produce the life of jesus in me i've never forgotten that it was like a revelation and then from there the lord gave me a whole message do you know that mary was misunderstood after that everybody thought she was a unfaithful woman who got pregnant through some man before getting married she had a child and the lord said to me you will also be misunderstood people will tell all types of false stories about you once you are filled with the holy spirit others who don't understand the operation of the holy spirit will misunderstand you just like they misunderstood mary but mary knew that she was not an unfaithful woman and the lord said to me you know you did not manufacture this it was god who gave it to me i said yes lord i know but you will be misunderstood but christ will be formed in you little by little that baby did not grow in mary's womb in one day no it took months and months and months and so the lord said to me it was a whole message christ will be formed in you little by little by little by little that's why the holy spirit has come that was a message i haven't forgotten it till today and the holy spirit speaks to you and i realized that day that christ was fall was to be formed in me in the days to come that christ was to be glorified through my through my body that was what i realized the holy spirit has come for not to make me a great preacher but that i will be more christ-like christ will be seen more and more in me and people will misunderstand me but i know the truth and uh he went on to say there that they didn't as i said it didn't happen in one day by little by little by little it'll happen and god's purpose for mary was fulfilled like that and god's purpose for me will be fulfilled and one more thing see when god filled me with the holy spirit i also unexpectedly began to speak in tongues i did not want that i did not expect it and i did not produce it god gave me the gift suddenly i began to speak in tongues while i was praying the previous day and the lord said to me this day the gift of tongues is much abused this is a lot told me 46 years ago the gift of tongues has been much abused by so many christians 95 of it is fake i saw that but there is some which is genuine and the lord said to me i want you to exercise this gift in a godly way was mostly in private prayer to god not in public in private prayer to god so that as you exercise this gift with a christ-like life some people will again have faith in this gift which is misused abused and rejected it's one of the least of the gifts but it is one of the gifts i don't despise any gift and god gives me one rupee as a gift i'll value it he doesn't have to give me one million rupees if it comes from the hand of god even if it is one paisa i value it so there's no such thing as least gift or big gift whatever gift god gives i value it and the lord said i want you to exercise the gift backed up by a christ-like life and from that day onwards one by one god began to reveal amazing that's when i discovered the new covenant after that i never knew anything about the new covenant before that i never knew the terms of the new covenant or the experience of the new covenant i was just like every regular christian forgiving sins i never even saw this verse clearly in matthew 1 it's the other thing i saw that day the name jesus means what matthew 1 21 not he will forgive people's sins for all those years i was saying he will forgive our sins he'll forgive our sins but no he will save us from our sins not save us from hell my message was he forgive your sins and save you from hell the name of jesus means he'll forgive your sin the name of jesus means he'll save you from hell wrong both are wrong the name of jesus is not he will forgive your sins not he'll save you from hell which is the gospel most people are preaching he will save you from your sins so i realized that that was the message i had to preach not that he'll save you from health not that he'll forgive your sins but he save you from your sins you know the difference between being forgiven and being saved i remember talking to one believer i said brother why do you call jesus savior has he saved you from your anger in your conversations with your wife or husband he said no has he saved you from lust in your mind lusting in your mind no has he saved you from murmuring and complaining no has he saved you from being unthankful at different times no then what do you do he says i do these things but i ask him to forgive me i get angry and i say lord forgive me i lost and i say lord forgive me i murmur and then i say lord forgive me i come in some other sin i say lord ah i said then jesus is your forgiver not savior because he has not saved you from anger he's not saved before murmuring he has not saved you from lusting he's not saved you from bitterness he's forgiven you don't call him savior call him forgiver that's the truth you're telling alive when you say savior he's not your savior he saved you from nothing he said nobody saved me from hell that is at the end of your life i'm talking about now i'm not talking what is going to save you at the end of your life what's he saving you from now nothing zero but he's forgiving everything so be honest and say jesus is the forgiver you see how wrong it is to call him savior but he is the savior because the first promise in the new testament is he will save his people from their sins not you must struggle and save yourself that is another mistake ah we hear in cfc we must overcome these sins so from now on i'm going to fight the battle and i'm going to overcome and i'm going to be safe from my sin you will not be able to save yourself from your sin you can try for all your life i'll tell you right now i'll prophesy you will not be able to save yourself from any sin determine i got the message now i'm going to start you can try next year's conference will still be defeated he will save his people from their sins that is why his name is jesus the fundamental problem with most christians is they don't know the meaning of the name jesus they use it so globally in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus lord we pray in the name of jesus i say brother what does that name mean here it is jesus he will save matthew 1 21. he will save his people from their sins and i'll tell you something i read that verse for 16 years and i never saw it that's amazing i read about the new covenant for 16 years in the new testament i never saw it it's there and it's like there's a whale on top of your eyes see second corinthians 3 turn with me please to second corinthians in chapter 3 you know you can read the bible in the way people read the old covenant the israelites led the old testament thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt thou shalt keep the sabbath thou shalt not worship idols thou shalt not take the name of the lord in vain thou shalt not kill thou shalt not kill it's all come on come on thou shall not get angry i shall not murmur you know you read that same spirit into the new testament commandments thou shalt not divorce their wife thou shall not so many things thou shalt not murmur thou shalt not complain and that is called reading it like moses second corinthians 3 15 whenever moses is read that means whenever you read the bible in that old covenant moses spirit there's a whale over over it it's like you know i take a handkerchief and i put it on top of the bible and i try to read why i can't see that letter clearly there's a veil i can't read it i can't understand it because you're reading it in the spirit of the old covenant thou shalt thou shalt tell you say lord i can't understand it but when you're filled with the holy spirit when you turn to the lord which lord is that verse 16 and 17 the lord is the holy spirit when you turn to the holy spirit that veil is taken away he said wow now i can see something there it's not written that he will forgive my sin he'll save me from my sin but why is it i never saw that for 16 years of reading it there was a veil there was a veil over that verse i couldn't read it couldn't read it and i want to say to you there's a tremendous difference when you read the bible after being filled with the holy spirit and if you remain filled with holy spirit not clever ideas what's the difference between bible knowledge and revelation the bible speaks about revelation the revelation of god revelation changes your life knowledge will only increase your understanding won't change your life you may be able to preach also but it won't change your life you'll be just the same hard-hearted husband or wife at home but you'll be preaching wonderful things you'll be a first class hypocrite that's how what happens to people who are not genuinely filled with the holy spirit and who don't walk in the holy spirit every day dear brothers and sisters when they it says when you turn to the lord the spirit the veil is taken away and not only the whale is taken away verse 17 where the spirit of the lord is taken over there's freedom freedom from sin liberty from sin first of all understanding of the word and freedom from sin and not only that little by little verse 16 you begin to see more and more of the glory of jesus in the bible the mirror is the bible there james chapter 1 says the mirror is god's word beholding as in the god's word the glory of jesus so after the fill of the spirit when you read the bible you don't see commandments you see the glory of jesus and the holy spirit shows you the glory of jesus and changes you into that same likeness not in a moment but from one degree of glory to another to another from kindergarten to first standard second standard first standard for standard graduate postgraduate all the way up to becoming like christ that is god's goal for you the difference between old covenant and new covenant is in the old covenant they had to struggle and struggle and struggle to try and keep the commandments and they could not keep it they could not they tried 1500 years israel tried they failed you read the last book in the old testament malachi you see how god is so disappointed that israel has failed but then in malachi chapter 1 he says but something new is going to happen now in a few years from the east to the west i will my name will be great among all the nations you read malachi 11 all over the world a new covenant is coming that is through the coming of the holy spirit and then we read the same bible it's so different it became different for me and so the holy spirit opens the bible and explains to us and shows us the glory of jesus in the bible and makes us like that that's how we must read the bible it's not just oh i have to read the bible today i have to do that otherwise something will go wrong during the day a lot of people are superstitious okay okay i read about it no i have to live and breathe the bible the whole day even if i don't have it in front of me do you know that for 1 400 years after christ 1 400 years of christianity they never had a printed bible like this you know printing was discovered only around 1460 1460 80 or something just about 540 or 520 years ago 560 years ago the printing was discovered 1460 or sometime after that then the first book they printed in germany was the bible after that only people had printed books like this otherwise they used to write on parchments and it was so expensive to get a copy of the bible that 99 of christians couldn't afford to have one you had to go to the synagogue or one person had a copy go and read it from him how many of you would read the bible if the bible was kept in some building only one copy available in the town and but there you know i believe that god tested the eagerness think of a person like when jesus was a little boy how did he know the bible at the age of 12 when he did not have a bible at home can you imagine you're one of your children knowing the bible by the age of 12 and you don't have a bible at home how would he know it how would he know it's so well that he could question the priests in the temple i'll tell you i i thought about it i meditate i don't just read the bible i meditate on it i say how did jesus know it and i meditated and i came to this conclusion there was only one bible in nazareth and that is in the old testament in the synagogue so i can imagine that at the age of five jesus would go to the synagogue and tell the rabbi can you please turn to the old testament song book and read it for me the rabbi was excited this five-year-old boy wants to read the bible come sure i'll read it to you and he would read say maybe one chapter and jesus will be listening five-year-old boy listening listening listen listening and he says okay rabbi that's enough let me go home and think about that i'll come back tomorrow he's remembered all that he goes home and thinks about what he heard next day he comes rabbi can we go to the next chapter sure and like that or appeared every day for seven years by the time he was 12 he knew the whole bible old testament he was wholehearted you think he didn't want to do so many things the other five-year-old and six-year-old want to do he i'm not saying he was doing that the whole day but he gave up something even at the age of five in order to know the bible and if you want to know god's word you have to give up something some sacrifice of time you'll have to sacrifice something in order to that's the only way jesus knew it he did not he did not come to earth with the bible in his mind no he was born just like you and me the blank mind as far as the bible comes he had to learn it now these are little things i want to point out to you brothers and it's because many don't think that that god has gifted that person that's why he knows the scriptures and that's why he is following the lord more it's got nothing to do with gift he has taken that one meena and invested it in a wise way not wasted it he's taken the 24 hours which is the one meena he has every day and he didn't waste it he used it profitably don't i mean don't you use your oh your children waste money but you've all grown up people you don't waste your money even if you have a lot of money you invest it wisely i feel that many christians are more careful in investing their money than investing their time if you earned a hundred thousand rupees a month how do you invest it or some people will waste it they have nothing left at the end of their 30 years of service others have invested so wisely they've built a house they've got so many things maybe they got a car and when they retire they have enough to go on that's wise investment in the same way there are people who are born again and from the day they are born again just like from the day you guys went to [Music] the gulf countries you started earning money and you saved it and saved it and that's why you're a little bit of comfort in your life today so there are other christians also like that from the time they were converted they started reading the bible and investing their life every day the way scripture says and the result is spiritually they're very rich and others being christians for the same length of time are spiritually poor why is that they just wasted their time like the other people waste their money but these people felt time is money more important than money it's the one mena god has given me 24 hours a day please remember nobody has more than 24 hours if somebody got more out of the 24 hours it's because he was more disciplined i want to encourage you dear brothers take this seriously it's not enough to be filled with the holy spirit we must be filled with the holy spirit and allow the holy spirit to discipline our lives turn with me to 1 corinthians chapter 9 1 corinthians and chapter 9. paul was a man who was filled with the spirit many many times forget his gifts we are not all called to be apostles or prophets no forget to give he lived a godly life he never told people to have his gifts he said follow my life imitate me as i imitate christ how did for jesus follow how did paul follow jesus not by dying for the sins of the world or raising the dead no no no he is speaking about imitating christ in his life not in his ministry nobody can imitate christ in his ministry and nobody can imitate paul in his ministry i used to tell people in cfc from the beginning i said don't try to imitate me no god needs only one zack won in the church he doesn't need two i even told my children that god don't try to imitate me in my ministry imitate me in my life you see something christ like there but not ministry ministry is unique for each person nobody can have my ministry solely me and i can't have somebody else's ministry in my younger days when i was foolish if i admired some great preacher and said boy i wish i could have a ministry like that that's because i was young and foolish and stupid but as i grew up i realized that i'm not supposed to be like that the hand is not supposed to be like the year we're all different in the body of christ so don't imitate a person's ministry but say lord can i learn something from his life so learn something from paul's life 1 corinthians 9. here's a spirit-filled man speaking about another aspect of his life verse 24 don't you know that everybody runs in a race but only one person gets a prize first prize i think in those early days in the greek races in the first century paul has seen it there was no second third prize nowadays they have gold metal silver metal bronze metal those days there was only one olive wreath that they would put on the head of the winner only one winner no second prize one person receives a prize he came first everybody can run and he tells these corinthians now remember these corinthians were the most carnal of all the christians that paul dealt with thoroughly carnal fleshly worldly they were born again but they were really worldly and paul tells them you can run and get this first prize so even if one of you listening to me today you feel you're being very worldly a worldly christian till today probably like the corinthians careless fleshly defeated you know what the lord is saying to you a defeated careless christian run verse 24 in such a way that you can win the first prize the difference in the christian race is everybody can come first that's the meaning of that verse that verse is not written in one man's bible alone it's written in everybody's bible you can win the first prize it's very clear one person only wins a prize verse 24 you can run in such a way that you win that first prize and you say paul you mean every christian in corinth that worldly church in korean everybody can guess for first prize paul says yes that's what the holy spirit asked me to write that every single one of you worldly carnal christians can get the first price if you do what i tell you i'll tell you what you should do in the next verse if you want to win the first prize remember these people who win prizes they exercise self-control they deny their own will that self-will is denied and then they get this what they call a wreath that was the first prize there it is an olive wreath they put on their heads they got that which just perishes after some time but we are getting an imperishable prize and so he says in my own life that's what i do i don't run without an aim i'm running this marathon race but i know where to go i know where to turn you know the marathon race is usually through the roads in a city that's how they run with 40 kilometers but you can't see where the end is no it's in 100 meters you can see where the finishing line is but in the marathon race you don't even know the track but there there are markers along the way and there are people there to show you turn here turn right turn left here like that and finally 40 kilometers later they come to the end and he says so i don't run without an aim i've got a name i'm going to reach the finishing line and i must make progress i must not be in the same place i was in last year i must not even be in the same place i was in last month i've got to make progress progress progress i'm going to discipline myself to run in such a way and in order to do that verse 27 i have to discipline my body and make it my slave you see paul is applying this illustration of running the race hebrews 12 also says let us run this race looking unto jesus meaning that jesus is the first person who's run this race in front of us how did he run the race hebrews 4 15 he was tempted in all points as we are and did not sin and paul says that's how i'm disciplining my body like jesus who's gone ahead of me i run this race resisting temptation through the power of the holy spirit i discipline my body he says in verse 27 and i make it my slave the living bible has got a very beautiful paraphrase of that verse i listen to this this reads like this i make my body do what it should do not what it wants to do paul was tempted like us he says my in my body my eye wants to look in some direction which is sinful and might tell my body no you're not going to look at that person you're not going to look that is sinful i'm going to turn my eyes away or my body wants to read some some magazine which is dirty and i say no you eyes you're not going to do what you want to do i make my body do what it should do not what it wants to do or the tongue paul's tongue wanted to say something to somebody but he tells the tongue no no you're not going to say that i will tell you what to do i will speak lovingly graciously but you know he slipped up sometimes once when paul was taken to a court you read in acts 23 the judge told somebody to slap him on the face it's wrong for a judge to give such a command and so somebody slapped paul in the face and paul got very angry and he told the judge you whitewashed wall god will smite you somebody told him hey is that the way you speak to a judge and he immediately apologized i'm sorry and i'm sure he asked the lord to forgive him see that passage in acts 23 read it sometimes paul was about 60 years old then i say this man had been a spiritual believer for 30 years and he slipped up so if you slip up once don't get discouraged said it right immediately that's the lesson discipline your body make it your slave and if you don't do that one corinthians 9 27 after preaching to other people you'll be disqualified i've read of a number of races in the olympics and other games where a person comes running and comes first and all the people are clapping and he runs around the track saying i come first and afterwards the judges say no you're disqualified because somewhere in your race you went out of your track or you did went out of the track into somebody else's strike you're disqualified why you thought you had come first so it's possible to think i'm doing okay and somewhere along the line you broke the law and you didn't set it right so even paul says that such a great preacher as he is can be disqualified when you read that my brother sister do you get a little fear in your heart a healthy fear if paul could be disqualified what about me and how to avoid being disqualified he says i have to discipline my body verse 27 and discipline my body means making my body do what it should do i'll give you one example which i don't know whether you all do please examine yourself turn to matthew chapter five how to discipline your body one example matthew 5 he's talking about you should not be angry with your brother who is 22. if you're angry with your brother you're guilty already but and so one day you were angry with your brother and without settling that matter you come and come before god verse 23 to present your offering present the offering means you're praying oh father i want to pray something to you that is your offering of prayer and suddenly you remember in your conscience hey you remember yesterday you got angry with your brother or your wife or this morning you got upset with her or him your husband and you never apologize you never ask forgiveness stop praying you know there's a command in the bible to stop praying stop giving that offering to god leave your offering there verse 24 if your offering is a prayer stop praying don't pray so come on in the bible don't give that offering to god don't pray go first be reconciled to your brother or your wife or your husband or your neighbor or your enemy whom you hurt with angry words settle it with him ask his forgiveness ask her forgiveness and then come and say lord please hear my prayer many prayers god does not even hear because it says in psalm 66 18 there's sin in your heart god will not even hear you you dial the number god doesn't even pick up the phone he doesn't pick it up because he says this man is not settled matters he hurt his wife and he's not apologized she hurt her husband and she has not apologized i hear the telephone ringing but i won't pick it up she can keep on praying he can keep on praying god says i won't listen because if i regard iniquity in my heart the lord will not hear me he will not pick up the phone many prayers are not heard by god i believe that more than 90 of prayers that believers pray are not heard by god at all even all night prayers because there's something they have not settled with somebody whom they're hurt some matter in their life which is not said right some financial matter not set right somebody they got angry against they never ask their forgiveness and when should we ask forgiveness immediately not the next day paul got angry at the age of 60 he's a man who preached victory over sin but he slipped up and he got angry with the priest when did he apologize immediately if you hurt your wife or your husband when should you apologize next day or later in the evening your pride says no don't go and apologize now what she did was wrong what he did was wrong it's okay but getting angry was also wrong well let her apologize first let him apologize first this is a big question that comes up who should apologize first there's a conflict between a husband and wife i have said this so many times but i'm i i will repeat it again for the benefit of those who don't know follow god's example when god and man had a conflict who took the first step to restore that relationship who took the first step god or man you know the answer god took the first step he sent his son why because he was most spiritual so if you have a conflict with your marriage partner who should take the first step i'll tell you whoever is more spiritual and since both of you think you are more spiritual then you should be just running into each other's arms if you're a true christian but we think oh i'm more spiritual that person did wrong so he or she must come and apologize imagine if god is sat in heaven and said man is done wrong let him come and settle matters with me then i will help him we would all be lost in hell today he took the first step to restore that relationship and the lord says you do that too that's that's the true christianity i mean these things are not preached in other churches that's why we say cfc is a new covenant church we preach things that are not others are following moses not jesus they're following moses moses said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth if he takes out your eye because what he meant was don't take out both eyes take out one eye only from him if he breaks one tooth of yours don't break two teeth break one tooth that's not that's moses not jesus the other thing we need to do one is ask forgiveness the other thing matthew 6 if you forgive others your heavenly father will forgive your sins matthew 6 14. if you ask many christians today how does god forgive your sin they'll quote 1 john 1 i agree if we confess our sins he is faithful and just forgive us our sins i said don't stop there one more thing number two matthew 6 14. you must also forgive others then only your heavenly father forgive you supposing you confess your sin to the lord but you don't forgive somebody your heavenly father will not forgive you matthew 6 15. you don't forgive others your father will not forgive you even though you confess your sin to him do you know there are so many believers who according to one john 1 9 are confessing their sin to the lord and they're imagining i am forgiven they are not forgiven let me tell you because there's someone they have not forgiven themselves and according to matthew 6 15 they are not forgiven is this a hard commandment do you feel god is a very austere man demanding no he doesn't even want a small speck of cancer in your life not even a small speck of leprosy he doesn't want even a smallest little sickness in your life and sin is sickness an unforgiving spirit is leprosy an unforgiving attitude pride unwilling to humble yourself and ask forgiveness from somebody you hurt is cancer you see it like that you know if you tell an uneducated person in some village who doesn't know the meaning of cancer doctor says you've got cancer he'll sleep peacefully at night he's not disturbed by that because he thinks cancer is like a little cough it'll go off by in a few days but you go and tell an educated man he's got cancer you will not be able to sleep particularly if you tell him it is fourth stage but you tell an uneducated man he's got fourth stage cancer he sleeps peacefully he's ignorant now i want to apply that to you my brother sister if you can do something wrong in your life hurt somebody and not scarce not as forgiveness or not forgive somebody who's hurt you and you can sleep peacefully you're like that uneducated person spiritually uneducated that's how you sleep peacefully you should not be able to sleep peacefully because you've got cancer forth stage but it can be cured if you go and ask forgiveness and if you forgive that person this is the gospel of the new covenant you feel it's a burden john says after 65 years god's gones are not a bird it's like like the wings of a bird you ask a bird hey these wings that you have aren't there a burden isn't it a burden to have wings all the time see we men we don't have wings and the bird will say that's why you can't fly this is not a burden this is what makes me fly the commands of god are like the wings of a bird they're not a burden the people who use it fly god bless you may he fulfill all his purposes in your life let's pray heavenly father please help us to live according to the light of your word we publicly say your commands are not a burden they are like the wings of a bird that make us fly we want to fly higher from now on than we have ever flown in our whole life pray in jesus name amen

Channel: CFC DUBAI

Views: 1,646

Rating: 4.8571429 out of 5

Keywords: Zac Poonen, CFC Dubai, Blessing, Gods Love, Jesus Christ

Id: 5BE2xaGg-x4

Length: 74min 31sec (4471 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 23 2021