6. Zac Poonen - Love That Does Not Seek One's Own

I want to turn to 1 Corinthians in chapter 13 in 1 Corinthians the three chapters that speak about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and gifts are not for living the Christian life but for service and the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faithfulness meekness self-control mentioned in Galatians 5:22 23 that's for our life everybody must have all those gifts all those fruit of the Spirit but the gifts of the Spirit are given different functions like different parts of the body and 1 Corinthians 13 tells us how to exercise them it must be exercised in love so there's one characteristic of love which I want to mention I don't want to go through the whole chapter since you're in verse 5 the middle of that words love does not seek its own that's one of the primary characteristics of divine love it's the opposite of what human beings call love when a when a boy says I've fallen in love with a girl he's seeking his own he's not seeking the good and that girl he wants something from that girl maybe sex and when a girl says I'm in love with a boy she wants something probably his money not love it's a deception but true love divine love when the characteristic of it is it does not seek its own so the greatest love that the world has seen which when God wants to talk about his love for us he does not talk about the love of a boy for a girl or a girl for a boy because that type of love is very selfish a lot of love that husbands and wives say here they have for each other is very selfish and that's why they have so many problems in their married life as well selfless love is so through rare to be seen so when here's the characteristic of the divine love he does not seek his own always keep that in mind and this it comes in the between two chapters on the gifts of the Holy Spirit give us a preaching healing speaking in tongues all types of things and what he's saying is the right way to exercise any gift of the Holy Spirit is by not seeking your own if you're seeking your own you cannot exercise the gift of the Holy Spirit in a proper way and unfortunately what we find today is a lot of people with gifts they're using it to promote themselves they're using it to show off I can speak in tongues or I can preach better than you are I've got a gift of healing it's not they're not they're seeking their own through and through and that means it's not being exercised in a divine way so the true love does not seek its own and when God wants to describe his love for us what human example does he take the turn with me to Isaiah 49 he wants to use a human example of love to describe his love and he does not choose the love of moon boy or girl or girl for boy because he knows that's thoroughly selfish but he chooses an example which is the one case you can see on earth of totally unselfish love Isaiah 49 verse 15 can a woman forget her nursing child have no compassion on the son of her womb even these may forget but I will not forget you so when God wants to take the highest example of love on this earth it is not husband wife is not wife husband is the love of a mother not for a grown up rebellious child but for a newborn baby that if you want to see the purest example of love on this earth is the love of a good mother for a newborn baby a mother who longed and long and longed to have a baby for many years and then gets a baby you see there how she cares for it and never makes any demand on it know that baby can do nothing for its mother it's making demands of that mother 24 hours a day she can't even sleep properly at night to clean the baby watch the baby feed the baby all types of things and the mother keeps on doing it keeps on doing it day after day after day after day after day after day and God says that is the only example I can take on earth to show you my love for you it's unending so whenever you want to understand something about God's love I mentioned earlier that this love is like that of a father who provides for his children in so many ways but it's also like that of a mother who endlessly cares for the child that's making demands on it love the day and there is an example of love that it does not seek its own I told you avoiding the girl love each other they are seeking their own somewhere or the other and even in marriage there's a lot of seeking ones on but in a mother's love for this child a newly born child that is zero seeking and so on they don't want anything just wants to serve and serve and serve that child whatever the child is sick of the child is needs his diaper changed a day it doesn't make a difference it just keeps on serving and that is divine love so when we think about you know Jesus said you must love one another in the church this by the way is the standard and who can reach this standard it's impossible but that's what the Lord does through the Holy Spirit when you turn to 1 Corinthians and sorry Romans in chapter 5 people ask me what is the evidence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit I say it is not speaking in tongues this is my understanding of when you're filled with the Holy Spirit this is what laughing Romans 5 verse 5 the love of God is poured out in our hearts so the Holy Spirit we're secure in God's love that's the first thing the Holy Spirit fills my heart with an assurance that God loves me immensely like a mother loves his child have you got that assurance that's what the fullness of the Holy Spirit does assures you deep in your heart like a father provides first children everything that it means like a mother will care for its newborn baby constantly and never get tired God is never tired to care for me I believe that and that's that's the security I find that's the number one I have to get that love the Holy Spirit filling my heart with the love of God and if you don't allow the Holy Spirit to make that clear to you your life will always be insecure as I said earlier and you'll have constant problems in your relationships with other people but if you find yourself secure in God's love I assure you murmuring and complaining will be eliminated from your life 100% can you think what your home will be like there's no murmuring or complaining there about anything a little bit of heaven it's exactly what the devil doesn't want and it's exactly what God wants so that's why the Holy Spirit first of all assures me fills my heart it says here what's the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit here it is that I'm deeply assured that my avonlea father loves me like a father cares for his child and like a mother cares for his newborn baby that gives me a deep assurance and security in my life that what is there to complain about what's that a murmur about my God will supply all your need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus there's nothing he will not provide and even in trial and testing he will take me through triumphantly he will never allow me to be tempted beyond my ability 1 Corinthians 10:13 and even the evil that other people do to me will work for my good what more do I want externally things are going to work for my god internally the Holy Spirit's working in me I'm the most blessed person on the face of the earth and so are you if you can understand it what are you complaining about that is the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit and if that is not there he doesn't matter if you speak in tongues from now till eternity you're not filled with the Holy Spirit this is the mark of God's love the love of God is she'd abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and that love then becomes manifest in me first in the vertical direction that I love God with all my heart and God becomes more important to me than anybody on earth very important if I want to love other people properly I must love God more than I love them I'll tell you this if you love your wife if you more than you love Jesus Christ you will not be able to love her the way God wants you to love her if you really want to love your wife the way God wants you to love her you gotta love Jesus more she said if you want to be my disciple you've got to love me more than you love your father mother brother sister wife children that is the way you'll be able to love your wife or your husband the way God wants you to make Christ is supreme in your life you love him more than anything else that's the Tree of Life I mentioned that yesterday how Paul says I'm afraid 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 3 that the devil will lead you astray like he led heave from that simple pure devotion to Jesus Christ that's the tree of life never forget it get to the tree of life Lord I want to love you more than anything else and as I said yesterday before sin came into the earth access to the Tree of Life was easy and now there's a sword there a sword that must fall on my self life before I can access that tree yeah that's the only way that's why Jesus said you've got to think of the cross if you want to follow me there's a close connection between the spirit filled life and walking the way of the Cross which I spoke about yesterday never forget that if you separate these two these are me joined together and what God is joined together let no one put asunder the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the way of the Cross now tell you Christendom has separated what God is joined together and that's why there's such a lot of confusion in the lives of many people who claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit if you are really filled with the Holy Spirit and you decide to wear what they are the way of the Cross you find your life simply triumphant all the time your life will be victorious 24 hours a day that's the way God wants you to walk but you can't separate these two had to be filled with the Holy Spirit too short of God's love for me and walk the way of the cross and I'll be able to love God with all my heart and I'll be able to love others as Jesus loved me so that's the mark of God's love this love that does not seek its own so if that is divine love the opposite of that this human love is seeking its own you know they seek their own and it's possible to be a Christian a good Christian in many ways in the eyes of the world and yet to be a very self seeking Christian in Philippians in chapter 2 I want to show you an example you know if you ever gotten to Paul's apostolic team imagine if all selected you to be one of his team members that'll be one of the greatest honors in the first century it'll be next to Jesus selecting you to be his disciple that Paul selected you to be one of his team and so Paul selected some of the finest Christians to be on his team and among those fine Christians on false team he says in Philippians 2 when I want to send one of them to Philip I to see the condition of the church there he said I can only find Timothy among all those team members who were with him at that time he says in Philippians 2:19 I can only send Timothy because in verse 20 I don't have anyone else of the same spirit who will genuinely be concerned about your welfare because here's the opposite of love verse 21 they all seek their own what did we say was the primary mark of divine love it does not seek its own and here is Paul's for co-workers full-time Christian workers who are speaking in tongues and so-called filled with the spirit and everything else who started out so well you were so good when Paul selected them a few years later they're seeking their own and I'll tell you something most of great preachers I've heard often men they all seek their own it's very sad this seeking money do you know that many of the most famous preachers in America will not go to preach in a place unless they're guaranteed sort of ten thousand dollars per evening did you know that plus first-class plane travel and five-star hotel accommodation all that plus ten thousand dollars for one meeting in the evening and you got a three and not only for them but you gotta pay for all their bodyguards will come with them these followers of Jesus of water how many bodyguards did Jesus have when he went around he had the Angels he didn't need human bodyguards this is the tragedy in Christendom today and these are the people who the preachers whom so many dumb Christians watch and admire on television say wow what a man of God he's not a man of God he's a crook but how many people see that they seek their own and always discerning these guys were not asking for $10,000 an evening to speak but yet Paul said I can see that they are seeking their own they are not really servants of God but Timothy was different he didn't see his own he saw the things that were Christ's they were not seeking their own interests so the thing that we need to ask ourselves is folk yesterday about judging ourselves the area where we need to judge ourselves is where am i seeking my own interest here or seeking the things of God what is my motive in the things I do that determines the value of an action or anything I do or speak it's the motive you know in 1 Corinthians in chapter 4 the reason why Paul says we should not judge others and Jesus said in John Matthew 7 don't judge anybody but here the reason is given why we should not judge others why should you not judge other people because you can only see their action you can only hear their words you cannot see their motive their motive sometimes a person into a good action with a bad motive and what looks like you to an action which you can't understand but with a good motive what would you have thought of Jesus taking your whip and chasing out the money changers and you know making all the gloves fly away into the air and chasing out the sheep and throwing the money on the ground you if you if you had seen that and you didn't know who was doing it you see that's a guy who seems to have lost his temper why can't you go and tell them will you gentlemen please move your tables away from here and please back up your money and go he didn't do that which is the divine waive divine ways to turn the tables and let the money fly around and all the children excited and laugh and they see that and Jesus opens the doors for all the doves and all to fly away and chase out the Sheep is that the divine way to discipline yes many people can't understand that because they don't know God there's a human sense of decency there and God is not like that no because they were doing it in the in the house of God in the house of God even the smallest thing that you do seeing your own profit and gain the Lord chases out he didn't do that in the marketplace in Jerusalem in the marketplace you can go and make as much money as you like not to do what you like but don't you dare come into the house of God to make money and you know that most of today's preachers are in God's house making money for themselves and from poor people what do you think Jesus would do he came to did it to his church he chased them out of the web and that's one of the ministries of the body of Christ one ministry in the body of Christ is to chase people such people out with it's not the only ministry the other ministries will put your armor on the lepers and to come fertile Samaritan women who divorced five times that is another ministry and Jesus did all of it but all of us can't do all of it he gives different people a task teach persons got a task he hasn't called me to care for lepers he's called me to use the width I use it I don't say everybody should do it it's one member and the body of Christ does it that's it but the fundamental principle whichever ministry you do it must be that I don't seek my own I seek the glory of God in everything so if you can keep that in mind the motive is what is important 1 Corinthians 4:5 you should not pass judgment before the time so those of you who have a lust to judge others and most of us have it the Lord says I'll give you an opportunity to judge others just hang on hang on don't be in a hurry just wait it when the time comes you can judge them and the time is after the Lord has returned because when the Lord has returned he will open the people's hearts and show what is the motive verse 5 with which that person did that thing which you were judging and you may feel ashamed of yourself when you see the LAT thing you judged he did with a good model and or the that thing was purely accidental does not deliberate and you will feel ashamed of yourself so he says if you don't want to be ashamed of yourself in the day when God reveals secrets just don't judge when the Lord comes and he reveals all the motives judge as much as you like because then you're judging the motives and you're judging the hidden things the things in darkness then the hidden things and darkness are the things there is nobody sees in your life I mean how much you pray in secret who knows how much you pray in public everybody can see but how much you pray in secret who knows that how much do you pray when you wake up in the morning from bed who knows that only God and that will be revealed in that day the secret things the secret ways in which you helped others in a way they don't even know that you're the one who helped them who knows that only God that will all be revealed in that day and that is the day when many who you think are last will be first and many you think up first here on earth because they did all their works to show others they'll be lost I mean that's the reason why many will be first and last because a lot of people did their works to show others I'm a Christian I'm doing this I'm doing that and I'm active and you get all your honor here and the Lord says there's nothing left for you in the final day because everything you did was to get honour from men when those other people who you despised because you thought they were doing nothing for the Lord you'll discover in that day they did such a lot for God only thing they didn't display and they didn't show off and they didn't advertise to everybody what they were doing and you get a surprise in that day wow these people did such a lot for the Lord I didn't I thought they were doing nothing so those are the people who live before God's face they didn't seek their own this is you know anything to think if you can have a church you think you're building a beautiful family well everyone who comes there is determined not to seek there all t matter what church that'll be where everybody says I don't want to do anything to impress other people I have to do it I'm some of the things I do people will see what can I do I can't hide it but I'm not doing it for them to see I'm doing it for the Lord and I don't care whether they see it or not and I'm going to do a lot of things in secret with other people don't see and I want to do a lot of things in the darkness which other people don't ever know about I think if you have a church like that we're brothers and sisters alike what a church it will be you know where mothers think of mothers and fathers who do a lot of things that they secretly planned for their children see many of you who are here today your mothers and fathers planned for you when you were a little child they sought your good they sacrificed in order to give you an education and to get you where you are today and they did it in secret they didn't do it to show off to you they didn't secret and you got the benefit of it and they themselves probably don't get the comfort that you enjoyed today they sacrificed in order for you to live a comfortable life in order to you to achieve something that's the spirit of a true parent that is what it means not to seek your own can you imagine it a church where everybody's like that that's a real family of God everybody is saying Lord I want to be like that I want to be like Jesus he was always thinking ahead of others you know I love that people passage one of the last things you read that Jesus did you remember one of the last things that Jesus did after his resurrection John chapter 21 you know that was the day when they went fishing all night and they caught nothing and Jesus came and said to them have you caught any fish and they said no just cast your net on the other side and they cast the net and they drew in such an large number of fish in the net was fully in John 21 and verse 8 and they dragged the net full of fish and listen to this have you been excited when you see this when they came to the land and saw Jesus there was already a charcoal fire there and fish placed on it and bread Jesus had already made breakfast for these fishermen he said these guys were toiling all night they need something and he had prepared breakfast for them I don't know where he got the fish from but he got it and the bread when did he get it from I wondered you know he had resurrected he wasn't you know frizzy old days he could just go to the market and buy something but now he's resurrected to moving on where do you get that fish and bread from I've often wondered did he create it or I don't know but there was the fire and there was the charcoal and when he'd get the charcoal from where to get the fire and the bread from I read these verses and I asked such questions I'm the questioning type whenever I read the Bible I question how did that happen and I discovered so many things I see something about the life of Jesus and these things actually Lord I want to be like that you know secretly to do something for somebody and when they come it's already there that's the Spirit of Christ and he said and he didn't act is this the other part of it you wanna see hey fellas I don't want any of your fish I already made some no no no no he says in verse 10 bring us some of your fish also let's cook it also I'd love that you know give the other person also sense of you participated in making the breakfast even though he didn't need that fish one bit he could have produced a thousand fish there if you wanted but he says bring some other fishes you caught just now I love that you know to make that hoo-wee person feel a sense of importance in the church I think of it like this sometimes if I'm carrying a table from one room to the other in my house and a little three-year-old son says daddy let me help you now I know he'd be more of a hindrance then I help if I allow him to help me but I say it's your son just hold that corner and he holds the corner and we go together to the other room and he's so excited that he helped daddy to carry the table to the other room and he's going to tell mommy you know I and daddy carried the table to the other room that's right and that's the pleasure God wants us to have that is Christianity when we can be in the church like that where we don't make anybody another person feel small and say oh well your contribution is nothing you've got my ability here I've got I can handle all this I want your help that's not Christianity even if that guy's good for nothing to say bring some of your fish sure let's do it together I don't want the honor of myself these are the key little examples you see oh please it's not seeking his own and if you read through the Gospels like this I tell you you can see so many examples and if your passion in life see ever since my passion in life became to become like Jesus in every possible area I discover little things like this in the Bible it's amazing it's there and you don't see it but when your passion is to become like Jesus the Holy Spirit will show you there's a promise in John chapter 16 we read here John chapter 16 and verse 14 the Holy Spirit speaking in verse 13 and by the Holy Spirit when he comes he will guide you into all the truth John 16:13 and verse 14 he will glorify me and listen to this John 16 14 he will take of mine and will reveal it to you disclose means reveal he will take certain things of mine and show it to you which you can't see otherwise now that's not healing the sick I don't when I read the Bible and got the Gospels I don't need the Holy Spirit to show me that jesus healed the sick it's written flame even a child can understand Jesus heal the same oh Jesus raise the dead oh Jesus cast out a demon but these are the other hidden things which are not so obvious like I just showed you just now the Holy Spirit will take the head and show it to you I tell us weed so exciting for me to see these things how when everybody went to their home Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and he never talked about it the next day or when they came up to catching fish he already had breakfast ready for them and he didn't like selfish you say you bring your fish to little little things the Holy Spirit will take it and show it to you and he'll make you like that I tell you it's the most wonderful journey you can take to discover how Jesus lived his earthly life and little little things you know the I I don't know whether you noticed that other place where it says when Jesus rose from the dead they the napkin that I was tied over his head was folded and put away it's in one of those resurrection passages they went to see the tomb and they found that the napkin the knee cover that was folded and put there do you think the angel folded that no angels don't fall clothes they just roll away the stone and sit there it was Jesus who when he rose from the dead he folded in it why because that was his habit with all through life when he got up from home as a little boy in Nazareth he didn't just leave there's machines and all like that he did his bed and got up I learned from that I say that's how I must be that's how I must keep my things away and not just throw them around because Jesus was like that so to become like Jesus is not just going around healing the sick it's putting your clothes away in the proper place taking care of these things and teaching teaching our children things like that used to be like Jesus small small things because I'm making life easier for other people otherwise somebody else has to do it and Jesus never wanted other people to do that we always to seek not seek our own means I always think am I making life a little bit more difficult for somebody by ignoring this thing by not doing this we need to get constant light on the selfishness there is in our life selfishness is like a huge onion and like I said yesterday you discover it when you get married what a lot of selfishness there is in you because before you're married you know we're always acting with others saying the nice things and doing nice thing because you want a reputation when you get married you don't want a repetition with your wife she's already married yay she's stuck with you of her life so you're not seeking for a reputation with her anymore and so the selfishness comes out in so many ways and if you really want to be like Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to show you he'll show you layer after layer after layer how do I know yes discovered it myself layer after layer and I tell you I'm still discovering it area after area after area if you get close to my wife she may tell you some of the areas but perhaps you won't discover both both sides you know there's nobody perfectly like Christ on earth so we discover and as we cleanse ourselves and even in the church we really become a beautiful family will become a family that Jesus can be proud of you know where I often think of that passage the first book of the Bible you know the first book written in the Bible is the book of Joel it was written 500 years before Genesis because Jobe lived 500 years before Moses who wrote Genesis perhaps you didn't know that some of you didn't know it but the first job is put in the middle of the Bible because all the poetic books are put together job Psalms proverbs Ecclesiastes not being put together in the order in which it was written even the Gospels mark was written long before Matthew and Thessalonians was written before the other episodes so their letters are not put in this proper order but if it were in the proper order job would be number one because he lived 500 years before Moses and he wrote that about about his experience with God and the interesting thing or whoever wrote it was there the thing that comes to me from that book is that when God wanted to write a book for man called the Bible the first book he wrote was not about the creation of the heaven and earth God said that can wait another 500 years I want to first write about a man of God whom I was proud of that's the first book he wrote how excites me Lord you're more interested in a man of God whom you can be proud of on earth whom you can point out to the devil and say to the devil have you seen a man like Joe there's nobody like him on the whole earth that's the first book in the Bible not to heaven and earth creation of heaven and earth so many people have arguments about heaven turns in what is a gap between verse 1 into I think I'm not interested I'm interested in the book of Job can the Lord point me out to the devil and say have you seen a man like him all these people who argue about whether the world was created in six days or millions of years I'm not interested that's not the first book of the Bible for me it's Joe don't get taken up with all these arguments that clever people have be like a little child and you'll find that the Lord is interested in a man whom we can find out a Satan a family a home that he can point out to Satan you know the devil says to God look at all the hypocrites there are even in Joseph's time there are all those preachers who are hypocrites and gone and God said yeah there are not a hypocrite so a lot of hypocritical christians today there are preachers who are making money but have you seen that man who lives on that Street in that tunnel can God say that about you can he say that about you can he said that about your church and the devil says look at all these churches God they are seeking they're wrong they're living from money in there but God says yeah that's all true what you say is true about all these dudes but have you seen this one that meets on this particular street they don't even have a building are there all have you seen that one church is not a building have you seen those people who form a church there that should be our longing that God should be able to point our church out to the devil that should be our greatest longing it's certainly my greatest long and I remember when we started our first church that's exactly that came to my heart I say Lord I don't care what all of Christendom thinks of us whether we are heretics or whatever they call us I want you to be able to point us out to the devil and say there's a group of people who love one another who will lay down their lives for one another who are not seeing their own what seeing the glory of God they are not competing with each other to show that one is greater than the other no they do things in secret without the other people knowing what they did and they don't want any honor they don't want any money they don't want any honor they don't they don't anything for themselves have you seen that Church in the devil's mouth is shut I remember as a young man before I ever started you know planning churches when I was just me alone before my marriage also I read that to worsen job and I said Lord can you point me out to the devil there's a man who studies the scripture day and night because he wants to know what I'm like not to preach sermons I said lord I want to study the scriptures and I started studying scriptures when I was from the time I was baptized I studied scriptures every spare moment I just say description I didn't know that God was going to give me a teaching ministry in the church I had no clue about that I had no interest in that I wanted to read no one gods mind was like I said I want to know God's heart that's why I read the Bible and can God saying that about you there's some there's a young man there's a young woman there have you seen him he's not like all the others for more interest in watching television and listening to all those useless stories they have there who study the Bible and understand my ways and understand my thoughts if God can't see that in you my brothers sisters no you're sitting here in a conference and listening to all these wonderful things and accumulating more knowledge you're just wasting your time be a man and the woman whom God can find out of the devil that is the most important thing if you've got a family you're married say Lord I want you to be able to point out my home to the devil see they're not just behaving nicely when other people are around it makes no difference if nobody's there the way they behave with each other as husband and wife it's as if Jesus is actually living in that home look at the way they talk to each other I'm talking about the devil and God asking the développé go and watch that husband and wife watch them when nobody's watching them see how they talk to each other see how when things go wrong how they react to it when there's not enough money see how they live see if they waste their money in their home or where they are frugal and careful with money see how they bring up their children see how they discipline their children and teach them God's were in God's ways look at them learn something from see how they are kind to others and good to others what a testimony oh look at that family look at that church that's what we should long for the linked God should be able to say that's what I learned from the book of Job the first book when God wrote and we also see something in that book that a person God demonstrated in that book that when a man follows me it doesn't mean he won't face trials in the entire bible there's nobody who faced as many as great a trial as Joe nobody so what do you learn from the first book of the Bible that the people who follow me will go through many trials imagining losing all your children and your all your business in one day we ever heard of anything is almost like fiction the people who say it didn't actually happen it did happen because james-scott saloon coats about Joe vu in James chapter fire is true it's not fiction that a man on earth lost all his ten children in one day and lost all his business in one day - and what did he do at the end of it he fell down before God and said god I have no complaints I came to this world naked and when I go out of this world I'll go naked all the time on earth you gave me you have every right to take away what you gave from me where do you find Christians like that job puts many of us to shame he didn't have a Bible he didn't have conferences he didn't have the Holy Spirit he didn't know about Jesus dying for our sins we know so much and he never questioned God that's how it was the beginning we know that later on he did question God that's because he didn't have the Holy Spirit but because I grabbed the Holy Spirit I never have to get into John chapter 3 onwards I can live in job chapter 1 into all my life never going to job chapter 3 onwards which is all questioning why did this why that because I have the Holy Spirit I don't recover question whatever God does and shame can't there must be some purpose job didn't have Romans 8:28 that told him that everything worked for good he didn't have 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says he'll never allow you to be tempted beyond your ability but I have that I have all those promises and therefore I I don't have questions I don't have to job is like a person who's always quiet God why have you treated me like this and this than the other no case nearly dries up and all my redeemer lives that's not the way we're supposed to live with occasional spurts of failure continiously our life must be one of continuously the Bible says the path of the righteous is like the shining light like the light of the dawn that becomes brighter and brighter and brighter till Jesus comes again so beautiful worse proverbs 4:18 the way God wants a Christian to live its proverbs 4 verse 18 the path of the righteous he says it's like sunrise that's when you're born again it's but dark before that Sun rises when you're born again and then the noonday position is Christ's return to the earth and from the time you're born again till Christ's coming it says it just keep gets brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter the Sun never back slides by the waying it never goes back it's just steadily going up and that is God's perfect plan for every one of us now I never knew that for so many years of my life I thought backsliding is a regular part of most Christians lives it is not when you backslide you're out of the will of God I say Lord I want to be in the will of God and please from the time I got light I want to be in the will of God I want every day to be better than the previous one I want to become better and better with more of this onion of selfishness peeled off not yet fully like Christ but growing in faith so these are the things that he is see you know as we and there was a question that was asked about concerning my speaking about brokenness how does God break us well I'll tell you in my life for many years God brought me through having to submit it to spiritual authorities in a church who did not treat me right see God gave me a gift the supernatural gift to teach his world about two years I got baptized when I was 23 years old I was baptized when I was 21 and in two years ago fill me with the spirit and gave me the supernatural gift to be able to teach God's Word and so when I was 23 years old I was preaching to 5,000 people I don't take any credit for it when God gives you a gift if you're Samuel you're seven years old and you can be a prophet so when God gives a gift it's not something you can be proud of I'm just telling you what God did but the result of it was then when I went into the churches and I was a member of the church and people would love to hear me some of the elders in the church were jealous of my ministry because they didn't have that gift I'm telling you the truth and I experienced it in church after church after church and they would suppress me and push me down and the Lord said submit to them don't judge them don't speak evil of them they are the elders in the church he must submit to that authority so I said sure and I never spoke evil of them i sat there submitting to them and if I got a chance I'd go out into the streets and preach there you see you didn't need anybody's permission to preach on the streets about Christ so I got with another brother and preached on the streets I remember the town where I was working in the Naval Base in two years I covered every street in that town to drive on my scooter with another brother stand in a corner sing a few songs and a few powerful people would gather round wondering what this two crazy guys are doing and I'd share the gospel in a few minutes just five minutes and that's it have a few tracks if anybody wanted to give it out here on the scooter and go to the next street corner it was a wonderful experience I learned to preach on the streets because I was not permitted to speak in churches but that's why God brought me and brought me through submission to authorities who were jealous of me and the Lord said loved him don't judge them don't run away to some of the church where you get a chance to preach this is the best church in this locality be here that those are ways in which God brought me and then through other circumstances through situations where you experience something and somebody makes a mistake and you get upset with that person and the Lord says forgive him I remember once when I had to missus before my marriage I had to go to a doctor for a little stitching Abood and he put me under anesthesia and a few days later I discovered a severe this is just about a month before I was getting married I found a severe pain down my hand a nerve pain and I was wondering what happened so I went to see a neurosurgeon and he asked me he said I did did you have anesthesia or something recently yes I said yes few days ago in another hospital and he said ah that's what happened you were you know honest easier you are not conscious and when they lifted you from that bed unit as a village Hospital small base and they lifted you of the bed they didn't hold your head up properly and so it fell back in an awkward angle and some nerve there got affected I don't remember exactly what he said in that's what's caused this you probably have to live with it for the rest of your life and this was one month before I was going to get married and this doctor who had gone to was a Christian I didn't have victory over sin those days by the way so I wrote a real stinker of a letter to him I said you're so careless Here I am one month before my marriage I'm stuck with this thing and I came back home after posting that letter and the Lord said that's not the way to write he didn't do it deliberately you got to write another letter asking forgiveness I knew I was wrong you know sometimes in temper we write something and I said sure Lord I'm sorry I write it and I wrote another letter I said brother I'm really sorry I mean the way I wrote I just was overwhelmed by his pain and everything that made me feel like that but I want to say I love you thank you for taking care of me and it's your accidental it can happen to anyone I wonder I want to tell you if I forgive you and I want you to forgive me for writing that way to you please forgive me and you know what happened this thing I was supposed to live with for the rest of my life in a few days it disappeared I learned something there when a doctor makes a mistake and because of it you suffer in your body you want to be healed forgive that doctor you'll be healed I'll tell you that it's amazing what God can do forgiveness has such tremendous power and that's one of the first times I discovered it it's really true it affects your whole body but God had to break me through such situations and different different situations like that he was brokenness means you know it's like taking me all confidence in myself making me depend upon God for everything everything because he was preparing me for a ministry to preach the word and he didn't want me to preach the word depending on my cleverness he wanted me to preach the word depending on his power and his wisdom and so he had to teach me through different circumstances break me and take me away from dependence on man and then when I left the Navy I'd saved I was earning a huge salary as a military officer and all the years I served there for eight years the Lord said take it all and give it all away for my work so my entire life savings from the hate and a half years I'd earned in the Navy I gave it all away for God's work no I'm not telling anybody else to do that you should not do it if God doesn't call you to in my case it was God specifically told me to do it you know God Jesus never told everybody to sell all that they have he told one man one rich young ruler sell all that you have Zacchaeus give really half his goods to the ports in Khartoum Jesus said that's fine Mary and Martha and Lazarus they didn't have to sell their house they could keep it so but in some cases the Lord says give away all that you have and in my case he said that give away all that you have so I gave it all away I left to zero in my bank account and I came out to serve the Lord and then I got I was single so it was easy and then I got married and we were really poor really poor in had the son was born and we had to take care of ourselves and those are the situation's God broke us through struggling financially that's another way God breaks us when you have to struggle financially and you refuse to borrow because the Bible says oh no man anything Romans 13 verse 8 we satisfied what you have you don't have to buy new clothes just take care of use the clothes you have if they get torn stitch them and wear them again and little things like this and don't worry what people think about you so god breaks us through submission to authorities in a church God breaks us through financial struggles and in those final struggles you refuse to borrow and you refuse to buy things which you want but we you can't afford and you refuse to buy things on credit these are wins God makes you there are many way if you want God to really break you I'll tell you this just obey everything written in scripture or no man anything determined in your life that you'll never have a credit card debt imagine if you take one decision I've heard that 90% of people in America have credit card debt it's an absolutely shameful thing for a Christian to be in debt when Romans 13:8 says or no man anything now why do people get into credit card debt because they have covetous they want what that family has and they want what that family has well they got it through credit card debt why should you do it you're a Christian you can live without it we discovered in those days my wife and I that we could live without many things which other people thought were essential how did people live 5,000 years ago 2,000 years ago many of these things that you see in billboard saying you need this you can't have your home without this is a lot of rubbish just ask yourself how did people live a thousand years ago they didn't have that and they lived how do the Christians live so many years ago it's a lie advert advertising is a lie very often and if you're a Christian you got to resist all that that's how God breaks you God breaks you through poverty God breaks you the other way garden broke me was through false accusations people spread all types of rumors about me absolutely false I mean because we were preaching the high standard of victory over sin that offended and we were preaching about the gift of tongues in a balanced way not the extreme and acosta way and people didn't like all that okay so all type of false accusations many strange accusations I don't want to list all of them but God said keep quiet don't ever defend yourself I will take care of them and okay you become small in other people's eyes great so there are various ways to answer that question somebody in Austin how did God break you these are some other ways and with God break me and I say I praise God for it I did not realize and God took me like that for over cleared of at least about ten years I didn't realize then what God was actually doing so when I was 35 years old we started a church in our home which has grown into many many churches now in many places a new covenant church to 1975 then I knew why God had taken me through that period of breaking for so many years and then as I began to study the life of Jesus I saw that in his home the father must have broken Jesus in so many ways in 30 years have you seen this verse in Isaiah 53 and that 53 is speaking about some of the hidden sufferings of Jesus you see how Jesus also for example it says he was despised and forsaken of men verse 3 he was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief Isaiah 53 verse 3 people hit their face from him was despised and not esteemed etc etc and it goes on to say in verse 10 the Lord was pleased to crush him wow that's the brokenness I'm talking about the father was pleased to crush Jesus I say Lord how is that his will was crushed for example I used to think that when he's at home you know mark chapter 6 tells us that he had four younger brothers and at least two sisters I don't know how many but at least two so he was he had six siblings and his Joseph they probably died and his mother was widowed and he was the eldest brother in that home and the responsibility of earning living as a carpenter fell on him and he had learned his living and he had these four brothers younger to him in John chapter 7 says none of his brothers believed in him even when he was thirty years old even though the mother must have told those four brothers do you know that this is the son of God the older brother do you know he was not born naturally it was a supernatural birth I had the Holy Spirit came on me and before I married Jose it was the Holy Spirit came on me and this he's not like all of you he's special he's the son of God he said rubbish mom don't tell us all those stories they didn't believe in heaven you read that in John chapter 7 so can you imagine these four people teasing Jesus all you know how young people younger brothers siblings can gang up on their older one they think he's very special and I mean I've seen that in homes and they weren't sure they ganged up on Jesus and irritated him and troubled him and when you see a brother never getting irritated you really take it as a challenge I have to irritate him some way or the other I can imagine how they tried and tried and tried and tried and they never succeeded for thirty years that's how Jesus lived he was crushed crushed crushed crushed crushed how is it even get irritated back how is he didn't answer back he denied himself I said thank you Lord you've given me an example I seen you the way you lived at home all those years I see other examples like I you know I I imagine situations he must have been in for example he was out playing games with his friends and in the middle of the time say something like baseball I'm sure every game in the history of him and he was the bat and the ball was Cricket in India our baseball here or whatever they had in Nazareth 2,000 years ago must have included bat on the ball so it comes for time for Jesus to bat and Mary says Jesus come here I want some help the time when you don't want mommy to call you is when it's your time to bat at least that's how it is in cricket anyway and what did he do what do today is boy say hang on mama just come just five minutes you know five minutes means 45 minutes you know what Jesus did he denied himself and dropped the bat who went and his mom wanted him gone get some water from the well he did it he was a crushed you know what it means to a twelve-year-old boy while he's in the middle of a game to be called away from it and to do some tasks at home for his mother these are the little little things and you can use your imagination think of all the things that little children face at home where their will is crossed and jesus never sinned just in that one sentence he was tempted in all points as we are like a little boy and he never sinned you can use your imagination in and imagine all the type of situations he faced and he never sinned that's how he was broken and there's our example and at the end of it the father says from heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased had he done any miracles no had he cast out any demons no had he preached a sermon no what happened in those thirty years that please the father he submitted and denied his will never sinning with his younger brothers or his sister's always obeying Mary and Joseph and the father said I'm delighted do you want to delight the father's heart you don't have to preach sermons you don't need to cast out demons you better just deny your will in those home situations ordinary situations at home that is how God breaks us and when he breaks us it's like the breaking of the alabaster vial of perfume the whole house will be filled with the fragrance of the perfume it's like a breaking of the atom that releases power to produce electricity for a whole cities amazing what God can do when he succeeds in breaking a man and as I told you when we started our church that's when I realized why God had taken me through this long period of breaking in different ways because he was now going to give me authority and I was seen through the years in the last 42 years in different churches Authority in the hands of an unbroken man will make him a dictator and God didn't want me to be a dictator he wanted me to be a servant and so that could not be fulfilled if he hadn't broken it and so I want to say to you my brothers and sisters if God is breaking us with a purpose he's got a ministry for you and but if you fail in the spirit of breaking he will not be able to accomplish the ministry he has for you so if you want to be a useful servant of God and I believe God wants all of you to be useful servants of his even girls Mary must have been about 18 or 19 years old when she got married you girls ask yourself if you were living in Nazareth 2,000 years ago wouldn't God have selected you to be the mother of Jesus it's a good question to ask yourself do you think God just pick it any anyone there he must have observed all the girls every girl in Israel wanted to be the mother of the Messiah they knew the Messiah was going to be born and ever and it would be born through a woman it says written Isaiah chapter seven verse seven hundred years before and every young girl knew about that prophecy and I'm sure they all wanted to be the mother of Messiah why did God choose Mary because he saw something in merriment is with the brokenness and a humility I'm sure in obedience to her parents and all those qualities he saw in her that he looked all over Israel said that's the wife was going to be the mother of Jesus and you young girls I got an example in her you see unfortunately the wrong Catholics were she to marry so much that we are scared to talk about Mary but she's an outstanding example for young girls as to how to be a disciple of Jesus so there's a ministry for girls and boys in it but it's always through a crushing and a brokenness may God do that in our lives let's pray Heavenly Father we pray that you'll help us not just to understand these things but to be gripped by them and to live by these principles we pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: NCCF Church

Views: 3,041

Rating: 4.8400002 out of 5

Keywords: NCCF, CHRISTIAN, ZAC POONEN

Id: Mq0q3hBVR4E

Length: 64min 6sec (3846 seconds)

Published: Sun May 13 2018