A Non-Judgmental Life by Zac Poonen

praise the Lord for His goodness to us or the last year he has promised to give us his word every day and I believe that we should seek to hear the Lord speak to us every day the early Christians never had a Bible but they could still listen because they were dependent on the Holy Spirit we need to make more dependent on the Holy Spirit this year one of the first things we read in the Bible when God created man immediately after he created him he had a whole day of fellowship with him that's how their life began the first thing that Adam lived on earth was a day of fellowship with God and based on that fellowship with God from the next day he was tested that's what we read in the Bible God created man he had fellowship with him and he tested it God brought you and me two new birds if you have been born again primarily so you can have fellowship with him we must develop that this year and then he will test us Jesus was tested in the wilderness throughout those forty days in the last three testings we see what he was tested in many many ways and I'm sure in those thirty years that he was in Jerusalem I mean in Nazareth also he was tested in numerous situations in his home how he would react to his parents how he would react to his irritating brothers and sisters and is only at the end of that period of thirty years not one or two days that the father said I am well pleased with you now I anoint you go forth into fulfill my ministry many Christians would like to take a shortcut to try and oh God fill me anoint me the Holy Spirit don't test me or anything just for me always bird make me a mighty servant of God you can pray that for a hundred years nothing will happen because if you fail in the test God is not going to say I'm well pleased with you God this title given to God from Jeremiah he's a God who examines our heart jeremiah spoke to mince lord you who test the righteous Jeremiah 12 the Lord says now Jeremiah says in the middle of verse three you examine my heart's attitude towards you you're a God who examines my heart's attitude towards you do you believe God is like that is always examining our hearts attitude towards him while human beings around us judge us by our appearance and the way we dress and the way our position in life and all types of worthless things God examines our hearts attitude towards him man looks on the outward appearance but God looks at the heart God told Samuel and one way he examines our hearts attitude towards him and he's going to do that throughout this year is by seeing what is already due to other people because you know John says at the end of his life in 1 John 4 the last verse if you say that you love God that your hearts added you to what God is right but your hearts added you towards your brother is not right you don't love him you're a liar you're not a believer you're just a plain old liar or perhaps thoroughly deceived now I don't want to be deceived I'll tell you that I do not want to be deceived during my earthly life and discover when I stand before the Lord in the final day as all of us will stand we are approaching coming of the Lord and the day will come and you and I will one by one by one before the Lord to give an account of our life to him I do not want to discover in that day that I fooled myself that I was a spiritual person because other people thought I was that or because I had a ministry or a gift or because I belong to CFC or because I did a few good things here and there I do not want to be deceived now I would urge you to fear God and reverence him and make sure you're not deceived and I'll tell you this I'll guarantee you that if you love the truth about yourself you will never be deceived love the truth I've decided many years ago to wholeheartedly love the truth about myself when I hear it from God when I hear it from other people I say yes Lord there is some truth there and like Tozer once said it meant knew me as intimately as I know myself they will never spend a time praising me and appreciating it men knew you as intimately as you know yourself some of those praises that people give you may not be valid so it's good for us to live before God's face and allow him to examine our heart so that we're not disturbed by people's criticism and we're not excited by their praise because we continue to live before God's face and that's all that matters when you know Jesus said that the two commandments that were primary was to love God with all our heart to love our neighbor as ourselves or as Jesus expanded it to say to love one another as he loved us and I think it's easier to love God than to love others I think you'll all agree with me because it's easier to love someone was perfect I mean imagine if um you have a perfect neighbor who's always so kind and good is it difficult love that's why we find it easy to love God or we think we're loving God he's so perfect he never does anything wrong but when we live on earth we are surrounded by people and even this year you will discover throughout the year that you meet people and even believers who let you down and who don't measure up to the way you think they should behave and then the Lord will exact examine my heart's attitude towards him to see whether I can receive that person in the same way that Christ received me at all Jesus never asks us to do anything that he did not do himself that's a great comfort to me he never you know the military we were taught that you're an officer you must never ask your soldier to go somewhere for you're scared to go you may have never asked him to do a task that you're scared to do and Jesus is the captain of our salvation never asks us to do what he hasn't done himself if he asks you to love an unlovely person it's because he loved an unlovely person like you remember else has to do something he hasn't done himself unless you are so proud and conceited to think that you're such a lovely creature whom Jesus loved no I'm not I know Jesus loved me in my sin when I had no interest in him and he says receipt and when I when Christ first received me way back fifty years at all I'm sure there were a million things wrong in my life which hadn't all changed I mean even now there's so many things still that need to be rectified in my life of selfishness and hidden pride and I don't know what else there is but he still he receives we often say that he rejoices over us with shouts of joy not because we are perfect it's like a mother whose rejoicing over a child who is not perfect in many ways who's got sicknesses but rejoices that the child is there hates those sicknesses and tries his best to get rid of those sicknesses but loves the child that's how God loves every one of us and he examines our hearts attitude towards others in our watch night service on 1st 31st December I was sharing that in that coming year we need to be more disciplined in our life many people never become holy because they are not disciplined they are filled with the Holy Spirit but they are not disciplined we need to be disciplined I said in the way we use our time many Christians most Christians have wasted their time if you look back over 2009 you will see so many hours and wasted and I suggested that you spend 15 minutes a day at least studying the Bible with our verse-by-verse Bible study 15 minutes it's not a long time and if you discipline yourself and I'll tell you you will never do it unless you discipline yourself I would I believe I would have had no ministry today if I hadn't disciplined myself to study the word is it possible that some of you that God had a fantastic ministry for you today but he cannot fulfill it because he saw in your past life you were just too lazy to study his word he just came faithfully to the meeting to hear his word which is good dear brothers and sisters never say oh I don't have a gift maybe that is one reason is also possible that you never disciplined yourself any amount of prayer will not replace the need for discipline you know sometimes children come to me and say uncle Zack please pray for me I've got an examination coming up next week I said did you study for it if you didn't study for it any amount of Prayer I pray for you now it's not going to help you I mean it's like a farmer who you're in seeing seed sowing time does not sow any CD's sleeps and is lazy but all the other farmers are busy sowing seed he doesn't water anything in his garden and then at harvest time he comes in - brother Zack please pray that I'll have a wonderful harvest like these other people I see you're not going to get it no matter how much I pray you're not going to get a harvest because in the time when you should have been sowing seed you were sleeping how could God do that he led to violated all his rules and laws so if we don't sow the seed and then we pray that God will give us a harvest it won't happen so I tell children if you don't study how if you study hard we certainly pray that God bless your you and give you supernatural ability when you do the examination but if you don't study hard you're just lazy you're not going to get anything the same thing you see if you don't discipline ourselves in the use of our time and say Oh God fill me with the Holy Spirit and all the wonderful fantastic spiritual prayers we pray what is the result of that in the last year is it possible that the missing factor was discipline discipline in the use of your time that you don't waste your time so much of time is wasted in unnecessary gossip in all types of things which I don't produce any profit and I said the second area we must discipline ourselves in the way we use our money that is a very very important area I believe there are so few profits in the world because where if you are faithful with money Jesus said that that if you're unfaithful with write unrighteous mammon God will never give you the true riches so when you don't have true riches from God the riches of becoming more christ-like and revelation on his word and anointing of the holy sprit don't say God didn't give it to me consider the bus you know you always like to put the blame on God he didn't give me a gift he didn't give me the anointing it's like Adam saying you gave me this wife what to do you gave me a wife who gave me the fruit man has got that tendency from day one of his creation put the blame on God the examined the question paper was too tough instead of saying I didn't study hard how is it other people got 90% you got 30% to stuff for everybody all human beings are the same how is it some people overcome certain sins and you don't how is it some people overcome anger and you don't you say no no his temperament is different governing nothing to temper him even Jesus was tempted in all points as we are and so is that other brother he's also tempted to be angry and jealous and bitter but he isn't because he really seeks to take up the cross so don't put the blame on God I would encourage you in this coming year to take a lot of the blame on yourself don't blame your wife don't blame God don't blame your husband and you find a lot more progress so in this area of money if you are disciplined in the area of money you'll find tremendous progress in this year don't waste your money on unnecessary purchases and don't waste your money on things that you don't need be wise in the use of it the third thing I said is be disciplined they used in the way you disciplined in your bodily habits eating especially I think we'll all be healthy repeat a little less this year and we would all be spiritually healthier if we are a little more careful with the use of our tongue this year it's discipline that means I feel like eating something and I say no I'm not gonna eat it I feel like saying something and I say no I'm not going to say that's discipline but when you say no I'm gonna eat it because I feel like it I'm gonna say it because I feel like it 2009 will find you worse than a 2010 at the end of it will find you worse than you were at the end of 2000 I got to tell you the truth you want to be a better person you want to become more christ-like you need discipline that's in our relationship with God so I want to share a little bit our relationship with others you see love God that's the vertical and the love one another is the horizontal so God examines our hearts attitude towards him there was a man who once when Jesus said that he said you got to love your neighbor as yourself you know it's hard to Luke chapter 10 where this is where Jesus quoted these two verses when somebody asked him in verse 25 what shall I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus said what's written in the law how does it read it see you got the Bible but you asked me it's written in the Bible you see yea I know the answer you ought to love the Lord your God Luke 10 and verse 27 with all your heart with all your soul and all your strength and with all your mind and you must love your neighbor as yourself and he said that's right it's written in the Bible you answered correctly do this and you will live but he was a true child of Adam just like us wanting to justify himself you know what a tremendous lust I call it a lust there is in all of us to justify ourselves we're okay wanting to justify himself just think of that phrase and see if you're ever guilty of it in your life in your relationship with other people wanting to justify yourself Jesus once turned to the Pharisees and said to them and Luke 16 verse 15 you are those who justify yourself before men but that which is great in the eyes of men is an abomination to God Luke 16 15 so I learned from that that if I try to justify myself before men I may convince them but God thinks I'm an abomination and just in case you want to compare Scripture with Scripture there was something that God called an abomination in the Old Testament you know what it was he told the Israelites in the wilderness when you go out to the toilet they didn't have taught us there go out outside the camp take a Spade with you dig aground and when you finished cover it up otherwise the Lord will see an abomination that's the abomination we are when we justify ourselves before men I never in my life want to justify myself before men because it makes me a stinking abomination before God I'd rather those people think wrong of me then God think I'm an abomination so he wanting to justify himself the moment you begin to justify yourself you begin to say I'm all right you know I'm trying to keep those Commandments but my problem is who's my neighbor that's why you asked a mission Jesus said ok I'll tell you who is your neighbor and remember he was speaking to a brotherhood of Israeli people who were all descendants of Abraham we must not look at the nation of Israel like the nation of India no the nation of Israel is not a picture of a nation on the earth today it's a picture of the church which is called the Israel of God in Galatians 6 it's a picture of the church so when you read the story you're thinking not of some stranger but of a brother because everybody in Israel were brothers in the story of the rich man and Lazarus the Lazarus the beggar sitting outside his gate was his brother not just any odd beggar that you find anywhere on the streets if you don't bear that in mind when you read the Gospels you can have all types of wrong ideas in your mind so jesus replied there was a man going down from Jerusalem Jericho he was a son of Abraham and unfortunately he fell among robbers and they stripped him and beat him and went away leaving him half dead and there was a priest going down the road when he saw him he passed by the others this is what I call the sin of doing nothing the sin of doing nothing now many people do not know there is a sin in doing nothing they know the sin of doing something where you hurt somebody or harm somebody or speak evil now this guy never spoke evil of me never kicked in we never spat on him and never spoke evil of amiga's ignored him and went on then there was a Levite Jesus spoke about these people who are supposed to know the Scriptures better than anybody else and I suppose that applies to us perhaps there's I wonder if there are people in Bangalore who know the Scriptures as well as we do well then this applies to us you see a brother it was being beaten up by the devil or a sister who's been beaten up by the devil and in your attitude towards that person God examines your heart this is what the Lord was saying that my attitude to my brother our sister is going to really reveal to me if I want to see it my heart's attitude towards God now I want to say dear brothers and sisters if you watch this if you watch this diligently during this year I can give you in writing you will be a more christ-like person by 31st December this year but that's up to you and then they did this guy also busted by on the other side and he was probably busy meditating on Scripture or preparing for the sermon he got to preach in the temple and probably inwardly judge this man's and why in the world is he going from Jerusalem to Jericho he should be going towards Jerusalem the meeting is there why is he going somewhere else do you judge people who don't come to the meeting I think lot of us do he should be going to the meeting why is he going to Jericho why is he going somewhere else not my business I don't go for my relatives weddings when there's a meeting in CFC but I never judge another person who does that because my convictions are for myself it's not for a single other person do you judge someone who doesn't do what you do or does who doesn't have the same sense of priority that you had okay he decides to go from Jerusalem to Jericho and I'm going to Jerusalem for the meeting it's none of my business that's none of my business Devin you deserve it that you had an accident because you should have been going to the meeting not going away from it it's so easy it is self-righteousness that makes me feel I'm holy I'm going to the right place this guy's going the wrong direction and he deserves it be careful of that and then there was this Samaritan now I want you to understand the Samaritans were people on the Jews had nothing to do with Samaria was captured 700 years before Christ by the king of Assyria read that in the Old Testament and he came and captured the northern part of Israel which is called his where the southern part was called Judah and he sent the Assyrians into Samaria and there was a lot of mixed marriages you know and you know how in India we know people despised mixed marriages we like to keep our tribe pure so the Jews despised the Samaritans so they say ah they're all mixed they're not pure Jews like us mixed race and so you know that mean the Jews were so despised Samaritans so much they wouldn't even walk through Samaria they'd go ride round and take the long walk in they say I won't have nothing to do with going through this people and here was a group of people who were despised you know this could apply to Christians whom you despise in other denominations perhaps and that Samaritan came by he wasn't probably going to a meeting and I don't know which way was going where they were going to a jericho jerusalem when he was on a journey and he saw this man and he never knew the bible as much as this priest and the Levite but he felt compassion now remember this is not a picture of some man lying on a road in India it's a picture of a brother whom you see need spiritually perhaps who's failed or done something wrong slipped up beaten up by the devil young man perhaps who slipped up and fell into bad company unfortunately your children are not like that you say well parents didn't bring him up right I brought up my children right that guy didn't bring his children up right what to do he's got to suffer that's the attitude of the Pharisee not Jesus naughty cute or he's of a mixed race you want too much to do with him this man he had compassion bandaged up his wounds poured oil and wine on him why did he do it he was a total stranger he was not even you know pure descendant of Abraham he was mixed with a Syrian blood in him the Samaritan he put him on his beast and took him to a little hotel and took care of him and then he gave him two days wages to the innkeeper two denarii means two day's wages he took out his own money and said will you please take care of this man I don't know what's happened to him and I'll be coming this way again if you spend more I'll repay you but please help this man and Jesus said no all these three people verse 36 who do you think was a real neighbor who proved to be a neighbor who loved his neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers hands and he said the one who showed mercy towards him as God has been merciful to us first of all this man beaten up is a picture of you and me beaten up on the road going away from God and Jesus came picked herself and he says now you treat other people the same way and Jesus said stop justifying yourself just go and do the same thing dear brothers and sisters I'm not talking about social work the first commandment is not love your neighbor as yourself all people who spend that time doing social work they think the first commandment is love your neighbors yourself it is not that is to put head down and feet up the first commandment is love God loved Jesus with all your heart soul and strength in mind then from there flows a love for others the world will admire you if you don't love Jesus but just love your neighbors yourself you may get a Nobel Prize or about a threat now or something like that but if you love Jesus first with all your heart and seek to be a witness for him it's very unlikely you'll get a Nobel Prize even if you do good to others but you do good in the name of Jesus and you're primarily interested in a person's spiritual welfare not in his physical welfare I often think of the story of the prodigal son if you had done social work and help that prodigal son and Ernie is with the pigs just give him food and money and food and money what would you have done you'd have eased your conscience I'm such a good man I'm helping this poor boy who's at the level of the pigs but you'd have hindered God's purposes for him made sure he never went back to his father's house I've seen a lot of social work all it accomplishes is prevent people from going into God's kingdom because for such people the first commandment is love your neighbor as yourself it's not love God with all your heart soul and strength in mind but since we already know the first commandment is love God with all your heart soul strength and mind and study the scriptures and pray and do all those spiritual things we need to hear the other side more you know our vehicle has gone off to the other side of the road [Music] that our attitude to other human beings can be very critical and judgmental and we can think I'm better than all those people I'm sure this priest and Levite felt I'm so much better than the Samaritan guys wrong doctrine and make Streisand but I've got the right doctrine and I'm doing what is right and I'm going to the meetings regularly and yet Jesus picked up this is Samaritan to be the hero in this story I want to ask you even if you don't agree with somebody's doctrine may be the Samaritans doctrine is bad and if his doctrine is bad his life should be worse than ours what shall I do when I find a Samaritan whose doctrine is not as good as mine but his life is better than mine what shall I do do you know the number of criticisms I've got from converted Roman Catholics for appreciating Mother Teresa I don't care what they say I still appreciate Mother Teresa a hundred times more than those converted Roman Catholics with those converted Roman Catholic only go around giving tracts to others and condemn them mother Teresa has taught me something about how to care for all the poor beggars in India and I don't go to have a doctrine I don't go to an automobile shop to buy toothpaste no I go to toothpaste shop to buy toothpaste and I go to out of my mouth show up to get spare parts for a scooter or car so I don't go to mother trees of a doctrine in us no we go to a person to see something in one area maybe she can teach me nothing about dr. maybe in your eyes she is Samaritan and you're the Levite and the priest going to the meetings reading the Bible but the person beating down the road is that poor Samaritan who does something for that person while we just ignore it because we are going to the meeting even if he can't do anything for that beaten person at least let's have a good attitude towards the Samaritan who is helping that burst can't we do that instead of being critical and think we are so spiritual we're super spiritual and righteous some of the biggest Pharisees I had met on the face of the earth our people who do nothing for the poor but who are regular in the meeting singing songs and praising the Lord I don't want you to get a surprise the day of judgement that's why I share my heart with you not asking you to go into Social Work no I told you that but let's remember let's start with our attitude to people in this church in your home first you know the different circle jesus said you must be my witnesses first in Jerusalem why because that's why you're right now and then in a bigger circle Judea then Samaria and then the other most parts of the earth so you got to be witness in Samaritans too he mentioned that but must start in Jerusalem that means to me Jerusalem is my home and then once I'm a witness to the Lord that means my husband and my wife and my children can testify about my life in my home first and especially the servants who work in my home we've had servants work in our home and I'm very very interested to know the testimony of those servants about me yea about me and my wife now we treated them I thank God that one of them was converted from Hinduism is now the wife of one of the elders in one of our churches because we said Lord if it doesn't work in our home it's no use giving it out to others as I've often said if you have a CD player that doesn't work in your own home would you give it as a gift to somebody else it may look very nice otherwise tell him honestly this is a gift for you but it doesn't work so when you a gospel that does not work in your own home why you want to give that gospel in a tract to other people otherwise tell them here's a tract it doesn't work in my own home I hope it will help you it's crazy that we would never give a CD player that doesn't work in our own home as a gift to others give to other people a gospel that has not worked in our own home do you know the number of preachers who have divorced their wives we're standing up today before television cameras and telling people giving things that does not work in their own home they should shut their then go and repent I've seen a lot of people who come here to India from America and as I wish these people never crossed these oceans and come here they come because they've got a lot of money one of they got the same are they leading people to godliness corrupting India's Christianity with pushing people down and teaching people prosperity and all that when they should be teaching people God Buddhist dear brothers and sisters we are living in a time of compromised corruption and we need to be balanced in our Christianity so let's keep this in mind Lord what does it mean to love my neighbor as myself I start in my own home and I ask myself what do what is my husband and my wife think about my Christianity is it going to be better in 2010 and 2009 or is it just gonna be more meetings now I got to go over the Levite and the priest go reading my Bible and ignoring my wife and children and all that in the home you want to hear God speak to you well God says be my witness in your home first of all don't try to fool other people that your wonderful Christian if you're not a good Christian at home Jerusalem first then the next circle is our local church you should belong to a local church if you still don't belong to a local church you better hurry up and become a part of a local church many people don't like to be a part of a local church because it brings responsibility they treat a church like a restaurant you know you go to a restaurant you don't have to wash the clothes you don't don't have to wash the plates you don't have to do anything just don't have to cook the food just eat give some money and go away a lot of people go to church like that come eat the spiritual food put some money in the offering box or put nothing go away but there are others who recognize the churches of home where I have to sweep the floor I do clean the toilets I've got to do so many things I'm part of the home many people don't want that responsibility and I can guarantee that such people will never grow those who treat churches like restaurants never grow spiritually we're building rest a family not restaurant so first a local Home Jerusalem then the local church in other words what do they do I have a right attitude to every single brother and sister in this local church I'm not worried about their attitude towards me that's not my business what is my attitude towards them and some of them are unlovely just like you were when Christ accepted you some of them are so stubborn exactly not as stubborn as you were when Christ accepted you some of them are so inconsiderate and selfish not as inconsiderate and selfish as you were in God's eyes when Christ accepted you all he's saying is receive them like I received you that's all he's saying is he asking us to do anything less than he did for us no oh I can't forgive what that person did well you know that God couldn't forgive what you did but he still forgave you even gave His Son to die for you to forgive you I tell you I believe that the Christianity of many Bible believing fundamentalist Christians is not Christianity at all it's just religion with a lot of Bible study and Bible knowledge but does not change their heart attitude year after year after year after year there is keep on increasing in Bible knowledge and losing with Bible knowledge not becoming more spiritual and I want to make sure dear brothers and sisters this year does not become a failure for you as past years I want to encourage you to take it seriously and say Lord I want to be christ-like not more Pharisee like this year I want to be more like you and you're going to examine my heart's attitude towards you by my attitude towards other people first my home and then my local church and then gradually we can go to the uttermost parts of the world sure but don't think that yours Christianity is tested by your corresponding with somebody in America or Australia and saying oh we have wonderful time corresponding it means nothing if you are not good in your own home it's a deception everybody can have a wonderful time with people whom they meet once in a while you know you have a wonderful time conference with people you meet once in a while you have no problem with them but as the people you live with whom you meet with regularly in your church in your home first and so I want to urge you my brothers start with your home this year and then start next circle is the local church make sure you have a very good relationship this year with everybody in your home and then you treat everybody in your home the way Jesus treated you that's all the way Jesus treated you all these years is a good example to follow towards other people in your home you're going to be demanding that they should be perfect Oh imagine if Jesus demanded that I should be perfect before before before he had any fellowship with me I would be doomed I'd get so discouraged I give up even today he accepts me as an imperfect person is your servant in your home not perfect terrible isn't it do you know the meaning of Mercy you know the meaning of goodness to people who are at a much lower level than you I'll tell you in the past year I have been convicted myself oh not servants I think we've not had any in our home but sometimes when I've spoken to someone who was a little lower than me in a social level a shopkeeper rose and I think of a few instances like that in the past where I was not absolutely kind in the way I spoke and I repented like anything almost immediately within 24 hours I said Lord I'm so sorry because the way that came to me was like this see I says let's say some shopkeeper cheated okay and then maybe I speak and I don't get angry but I can speak a little unkindly to him and then the Lord says okay now try giving the gospel to him give the gospel down [Music] isn't he a sinner from Jesus died don't you need to tell him now that Jesus died for him after you the way you've spoken to me just now and I go hanging my head in shame and I say Lord I can never give the gospel to that man I hope he forgets my face so that I can one day come back and give the gospel to him imagine that I have to pray like that Lord I pray you forget my face that one day I can give the gospel to but you know what happens I keep doing that a few times it makes me a better person and gradually it's not overnight it doesn't happen overnight gradually gradually gradually I begin to have a little more control over people who cheat me or do something wrong or don't do the way things should be done don't give up the battle I've decided not to give up the battle or if I fall a hundred times I'm going to get up a hundred times I'm going to be a better man at the end of 2010 and I want to speak to every human being in 2010 you know in such a way that at the end of my conversation with them I can give the gospel to him isn't that a good goal to have Lord anybody anybody in all these difficult people we shall meet in this year I want to speak to them in such a way that at the end of my con whatever comments I have made on his behavior I should be able to get the gospel turn and say hey I'll tell you something that can help you on me the gospel please keep that in mind these guys we yell at you're going to give the gospel that's servant in your home don't you want her to be saved or is she going to stand before the Lord one day and say Lord I worked in the home of one of your children for five years and they never give they behave in such a bad way I couldn't believe that you're the Savior that'll be terrible that'd be terrible if somebody stands before the lord and says ice lord I worked in the house of one of your children and the way they behaved I couldn't believe that you are the savior of the world impossible it couldn't be you only talked religious stuff god help me many of my neighbors have to say that we all have difficult neighbors and I've tried my best through all years and I've lived here to be good never to get into a fight with anyone and they take advantage of me fine I may be good to them if I lose financially fine I want them to see that I'm a Christian that I'm not money is nothing if a little bit loses that's okay I deny myself buy a little less for my home but I want to be able Tristan to my neighbours dear brothers and sisters please keep that in mind Jesus give us an example he spoke the story true story two stories I want to show you first was in Luke 15 this is a parable the other is a true story the first is a parable is the parable of the prodigal son and here also now read it as the parable of the elder son many of us were prodigal sons once upon a time but now we have given up that and come to the Lord and now we are in danger of being like the elder son that's our problem so I don't think when you read the prodigal son you need to meditate on the prodigal son so much I would suggest that as you read the story of the prodigal son meditate on the elder son what is his attitude towards this guy who's gone completely wrong in his life who's gone astray and then comes back and the father receives it and in the story of that prodigal son you see that he's disturbed because he's no longer the center of attraction in the home you like to be the center of attraction in the church children like to be that you know children are very disturbed when they were the center of attraction somewhere now they are not there's something in human nature that wants us to be always in the center there's a funny story said about a German King the early part of the 20th century you always like to be the bridegroom at every wedding and he wanted to be the one whose birthday was being celebrated and in a funeral he wished he were the dead person all this attention was focused on there's something in that eNOS you know you see somebody else the center of attraction and that's what disturbed that elder brother hey I was this one was appreciated till now now everybody's in appreciating this younger guy and look at the way he lived there are younger people coming into CFC who have proved themselves over the last year of to to be more zealous more faithful more devoted to Christ into the church than many who have sat here for 25 years and just warmed the seats and gone home who probably done close to zero for the church what is your attitude towards them you think you are senior they are junior they are mild senior to you not in terms of number of years in CFC that doesn't count of God but attitude towards God but how long have you been CFC eight months but boy you're miles ahead of that other guy who's been here thirty years you're a senior brother yo I know you're half his age but you're a senior brother as far as I can see and I've seen your brother is hard God's concerned it's its commitment that the Lord sees is your attitude like the elder brother I've been here longer it's like those people who came to work at six o'clock in the morning and they look down on the fellows who work little and said how can you make them equal to us we've been here long enough very long very much longer Jesus was constantly telling parables of Pharisees who look down on others who thought they were Junior and how can he make them equal to us there's a lot of it in Christendom there are young brothers in their 20s and 30s who I believe should be leading the work in many churches but they're being suppressed by older people in their 50s 60s who take the no no no we are the senior ones amen on the sisters don't think that just because you've been here for many years you're a senior sister now if you're humble and godly and you're not pitching to give people advice then you're a senior sister if you are itching to give advice to young sisters brother sister you should just go and bury your head in the sand and disappear these people are always itching to give advice I tell young sisters if you see some older sister pitching to give you advice please run in the opposite direction they can't help you know there are some sisters like they're always itching to give advice to younger sisters they're the most ungodly women in this church you should live such a life that young sisters will come to you and say sister may I like to learn something from you then open your mouth and give him advice that's the best way I don't go wrong giving advice to people I see people come to me I give them advice I have no lust to give advice or any time to go hurry in the world no people came to Jesus and people has come to us so let's examine ourselves in the light in this story of this elder son his attitude how can this person who's messed up his life so much be more accepted in the church than me well he's got a humbler attitude and that's the thing that matters so Jesus was speaking stories like this about self righteousness story the Pharisee and the publican in fact many of Jesus parables the Pharisee and the publican this fellow despising that other man because he doesn't know the Bible like Amy Concord the Bible like in many praise and he thinks he's so holy because he prays and fasts and these are exposing see such people the story of the laborers who came at 6:00 in the morning despising the other guys who came at 5:00 in the evening I'll take this story this is a true story now in Luke chapter 16 talking about this second aspect of loving your neighbor as yourself here with two brothers in the church one was a rich man Luke 16:19 and the other was poor Lazarus verse 20 lying at the gate to me this is a story which is very appropriate for today how do I apply it to today I apply it here is a rich brother who believes in the prosperity gospel of rich pastor perhaps who's got his own private jet and his all types of things that he's made money off other people and he's living in grand style like all these television personalities who make money from poor people and who many of you admire the eyes open thinking they are godly men because you have no discernment this rich man is like that sitting like that and the poor man is I think of some of the poor brothers in some of our villages who are a million times more godly than that television preacher they don't have private jets and they don't perhaps know the Bible like them but they're much more humble and much more god-fearing and here's this rich man sitting there and thanking God that he has understood the prosperity gospel and God's blessed him and made him very rich and got a lot of money and this poor brother he's struggling in life sometimes yay eats only one meal a day struggling living in a little little old hut I praise God for these brothers whom I know I've been to many of their homes through the last 2530 years they blessed me much more than any one of these prosperity preachers on television any day and the rich man doesn't care for these poor people you think any of these prosperity preachers will come down to the poor villages there where there are poor people struggling to earn their living no they only go among the rich and preach where people can give them $10,000 for one message etc I'm surprised I'm not surprised at them I'm surprised at the dumb blind believers who believe these people are men of God that's what surprises me more I'm surprised that some people in CFC believe all this rubbish after all they here well I suppose some people will never understand the Bible says that some people will ever be learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth I really believe there are people in CFC like that mention in 2nd Timothy 3 ever learning but never able to attain the knowledge of the truth they're just learning and learning and learning and learning but they still can't find the 2+2 is 4 finally both die and boy what a difference in eternity what a difference some like the rich prosperity gospel preacher will stand Lord in your name we caused our demons we did miracles we prophesied in your name Jesus say get away from me you who live in sin and his poor brother he's in paradise one who is despised that poor person was a test to the rich man the rich man was tested by his attitude towards that poor person you may be the rich person you know that God is testing your hearts attitude by your attitude to someone who does not perhaps have as much spiritually or materially or intellectually maybe he doesn't speak with that posh English accent that you have as English is more broken or some bad accent and you despise him for that you don't realize that God is testing you I believe God tests us through the way some people speak the bad accent and things like that so many things I'm not saying that we should get those people up to preach I'm saying that what is your attitude towards that's what I do do we despise somebody for something which has no eternal value this man despised this poor man he ended up in hell I don't want to be like that let me show you another true incident in Jesus life in John chapter 8 I preached a sermon on this one saying legalism is worse than adultery legalism is worse than adultery I don't know how many of you are guilty of adultery I hope nobody but I fear that number of you are guilty of legalism and legalism is worse than adultery that's what I want you to see from John chapter 8 verses 1 to 12 I'll show you you know the story so I don't have to read it Jesus is standing in the middle on one side or all the legalists the Pharisees who know their Bible well who go to the meetings regularly who pray and sing and do all the right things on the other side is a poor woman caught in adultery whom the Bible says must be stoned to death Moses said that as a law in the Old Testament and the legalists have got their verses ready and say Lord according to this verse this woman's got to be stoned to death and Jesus says that's right I'm not against Scripture stone her to death but let the one who is not committed sin throw the first stone now that's not written in the Old Testament but that's the spirit of the Old Testament now if you and I were there those Pharisees would have picked up stones because we don't know their private life say I am ready but they couldn't do that with Jesus standing there because if one person had picked up a stone jesus said okay you want me to tell everybody all the secret sins in your life no no I'm going home thank you thank you they knew that they couldn't fool him so they quietly walked away study says starting with the oldest well they were the biggest crooks starting with the oldest they all went there all the senior people went away first and then the junior people also had to leave finally there was one man left who had no sin in him who could throw the stone that was Jesus he was qualified to pick up a stone and fulfill the scriptures but Jesus doesn't throw stones at people did you know that do you know that Jesus didn't throw stones at anybody not even at sinners not even at people who had disobeyed God's Word thoroughly like women caught in adultery no he's got no stones in his pockets I thank God that I have a savior who's got no stones to throw at me preachers may throw stones at you not Jesus have you heard preachers stand in this pulpit and throw a stone at particular I remember a brother once getting up in a Wednesday meeting here many years ago and he was sharing something it was so obvious to me that he was speaking to his wife who was sitting there I think was obvious to everybody he wanted to preach a message to his wife he didn't have the guts to tell her at home so he got up in the pulpit and decided to give it to her here he was without sin throw the first stone at him okay so Jesus said I don't have any storms no one condemned you all these legalism right away no Lord no man I do not condemn you does that mean he tolerate adultery no no no no no but don't sin again you know that's the full gospel John 8 verse 11 I don't condemn you that's the first part of the gospel the second part of the gospel is don't sin anymore that's the word Lord spoken to me I don't condemn you for all your past life now don't sin anymore yes Lord I take both parts I'm not gonna take one product and then Jesus said these amazing words verse 15 you people judge according to the flesh I don't judge anybody because God my father didn't send me into the world to judge the world but to save the world when you were born how many of you think that God allowed you to be born to be a judge of other believers I'm sorry to say I was stupid idiotic and foolish to think that God sent me into the world to be a judge of other believers but I have repented I've woken up and discovered God did not send me into the world to be a judge of other believers he did not even send Jesus to be a judge of others he sent me to bless people and to save them if they don't want to be saved they don't want to be blessed okay fine well I don't judge it's not my business God is the only judge James 4 says remember there is only one judge and only one lawgiver only one lawgiver and judge that verse in James 4 has been a tremendous deliverance for me I don't have to make laws for other people you know so many husbands and wives they have fights at home because they made laws for each other thou shalt do like this and thou shalt do like this there an additional lawgiver - god it's good to have rules for ourselves but don't make laws for others perfectionist it's good to be a perfectionist if you stick to yourself in your perfectionism but don't demand it of others even in the church let's press on to perfection but in not pressing on to perfection let's be merciful to one another God is examining our hearts attitude remember the story of Job you know the prosperity preacher the rich man sitting there could have looked at Lazarus and say why why is he sick because he doesn't trust God as a healer why is he poor because he doesn't trust God to provide all his knee do you despise people like that the para cease despise the woman caught notary the rich man despised Lazarus and in the book of Job the preachers despise job why is he sick something's wrong why did his children die because something is wrong all these judges why not take a humbler attitude I don't know how many people judged others for getting sick during the last conference I hope you didn't I say Lord I thank God for those who didn't judge but who helped and I thank God for those who say Lord that could have happened to me and to those I thank God for those who did not even judge those who organized the conference did you judge them did you judge the people who tried hard but you know probably made some mistakes jesus said I am not judging anyone he never had to judge himself there is no sin in him what about us we have so much to do judging ourselves and here we go around passing opinions on every Tom Dick and Harry alright we messed up the year 2009 let's make sure 2010 is not going to be like that may God have mercy on us let's pray Heavenly Father help us we pray deliver us from this persistent evil habit that we have a passing opinions about others in judging others getting all types of opinions when we most of the time we don't even know the full story please give us grace that this year will be a glorious year where we should love our neighbors as ourselves we shall treat other people the way you treated us we should seek to have the power of the Holy Spirit to be gracious to others so we know this is a major part of the life of victory over sin and we believe that as we seek the power of your Holy Spirit to treat other people right we'll also get victory over our lasting with our eyes and our anger and many other things because you treat us the way we treat others help us we pray in Jesus name

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Keywords: Zac, Poonen, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: TnYNMvMjz_U

Length: 60min 24sec (3624 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 03 2010